This started as a beg for help thread, but since the GS4 is coming up on 3 generations old, help is quite slow, yet does still exist as of this edit (3-20-15).
None the less, I will try to explain what happened so that people searching for similar problems might find this thread and resolve their issues.
I soft bricked the phone flashing PacMan. ... The instructions CLEARLY stated that you need to flash the rom, then flash GApps. Well, I forgot to Flash Gapps because I was so excited that I had a successful root and new rom to test that I finger ganged the phone.... The phone booted just fine and worked just fine, but I did not have ANY google apps, and went into a panic... LESSON #1 DO NOT PANIC......
What I failed to realize is that Android Lolipop (at least PacMan's version) requires the user to select options in the developer section of the settings menu to enable you to boot into your custom recovery after you have flashed your custom rom.... I DID NOT KNOW THIS and the information was NOT readily available. So what happened was I panicked and tried to flash another recovery which was apparently NOT the correct recovery for my phone.. (the cascade of errors began here). My phone was soft bricked and NOTHING I did would get me out of it.
So, after at least 50 attempts using Odin to try and flash a good recovery, re-root the phone, whatever I could think of, I finally got out of soft brick, and back to a working phone, yet still no google apps, and no recovery (or so I thought).
By this time, I had asked ....no. begged for help on 2 or 3 different threads to no avail when what I thought was a brain storm came to me.... I googled and located the google play store apk, and google play services apk and thought that if I could just get these 2 things installed, I would be able to log onto the google play store and download the apps I need and all would be right with the world....... Yeah.... Remember the cascade of errors thing I mentioned a few lines up ^^^ ?
Once I installed those 2 apk's and rebooted the phone, I was in nag screen hell with no way out, no custom recovery (remember...or so I thought) and no way to access ANYTHING on the phone because literally the second I hit "ok" on the nag screen, it would immediately pop back up...This "nag screen" was the one that pops up and tells you that "google play services has stopped working".. I came inches away from launching the phone against the wall and buying another one... something... anything but a Samsung GS4.
So here we are, 14 hours (of actual face in the phone, Odin, XDA, Google, YouTube) frantically searching for ANY solution.....and NOTHING presented itself, when I decided to take a step back and walk away from it for a couple of hours.......
The next thing I tried was pounding my way through the nag screen... Literally hitting the "ok" toggle to clear the screen, while instantly trying to hit any other button on the screen to get me into the settings menu, because during my little self imposed time out, I had an epiphany.... of sorts..... What really happened is that I remembered seeing a "factory reset" toggle in the settings menus somewhere.....and I was determined to find it........ SO....... 13,386,329 clicks of the "ok" button later, I managed to engage the factory reset switch at the exact right moment, followed by another 4,388 presses of the "ok" button to get to the "confirm" button.......... and like a beacon from heaven...... My phone rebooted, and factory reset, and the #%g^7**&^|@# nag screen was GONE !!!!! Oh my GOD it was GONE !!!!!!! After recovering from my full blown conniption, catching my breath and feeling like a raver must feel after a good night of Molly and glow stick euphoria, I had a working phone again..... almost.
What I did next was go immediately to Odin, re-root the phone, install a DIFFERENT rom, and the latest version of TWRP and like another beacon from the gods I had a wonderfully functional phone with all of the google apps I needed.... and all was good with the world........Pretty much....
I am nearly certain that I cost myself 5 years of healthy living with the stress I imposed upon myself throughout this ordeal ---- The following are lessons learned. Hopefully they save you from madness...
(1) Do NOT use a USB hub to connect your phone to the computer. The phone MUST be connected directly to a USB port on your machine.
(2) Understand the workings of the rom you are going to flash BEFORE you flash it.
(3) DO NOT PANIC
(4) DO NOT randomly install apk's just because you think you are smarter than a 5th grader, and you are so mad your phone doesn't work, you are going to try anything regardless of how retarded it might be.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST and actually probably the MOST IMPORTANT thing to do is locate, download and CONFIRM GOOD a stock firmware for YOUR phone BEFORE YOU ROOT or flash a new rom..... If you get to brick he11 like I did, you will spend more time searching for the tools to get back to zero than you can imagine. You will be revved up, angry with the world, and your google fu will fail you......miserably I might add......
Get all of your ducks in a row BEFORE you root, and before you flash a new rom. That means finding the stock firmware and opening it up in Odin with your phone connected to CONFIRM you have a good firmware to go back to should you fail miserably.... Your very sanity could depend on it...
Team Scream said:
Does anyone have and is willing to share a stock Galaxy S4 rom so I can go back to stock on my phone? I am currently soft bricked and completely dead in the water...
I need to be able to flash the rom using Odin since that is the ONLY way I can communicate with this phone right now....I can flash whatever recovery I want using Odin, but I cannot boot into that recovery once successfully flashed with Odin. It boot loops and goes back to the completely useless PacMan 5.02 rom I flashed previously that repeatedly shows the "google play services has stopped working" screen.... and no number of attempts to clear it by hitting ok will get me to a working desktop
I bricked my phone by flashing PacMan and forgetting to flash GAPPS before rebooting, then trying to install google play services apk and google play store apk manually because I could not get back into recovery for whatever reason....
I have spent the ENTIRE day searching for a stock rom that I can flash with Odin so I can at least get back to zero with this S4 which is actually a brand new phone for me....
PLEASE do not link me to mediafire or rapidgator downloads because I have tried every one of those that google will reveal.. I need one that YOU know is good, and will work. NONE.... NOT ONE of the files I have been able to find online are legitimate .tar files... They ALL unzip with errors and I have tried them on multiple computers.....Multiple download attempts and NOTHING... I have literally been at this for 10 hours now and really need some love.
On a side note, if I can pull the stock rom from my wifes brand new S4 without screwing up her phone, PLEASE tell me how to do that. She literally picked up her brand new replacement S4 today...
Any help is genuinely appreciated... PLEASE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.rwilco12.com/downloads.php?dir=Files/Devices/Samsung Galaxy S4 (SPH-L720)/Stock ROMs
KennyG123 said:
http://www.rwilco12.com/downloads.php?dir=Files/Devices/Samsung Galaxy S4 (SPH-L720)/Stock ROMs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Man thank you! THANK YOU! I really appreciate it... I woke this morning to find this reply after leaving my computer running all night for another corrupted downloaded image file.... I have my fingers crossed !!! THANK YOU
P.S. how do I know which one of those files I actually need? I have no idea what the difference is in each of those folders.... Forgive me for noob but I really am pretty noob at this.....
I just looked at the link to help you and noticed that Wilco stops at the NAE baseband. A lot of phones are on the NG2 baseband and if you have a 720T, it could be even a different baseband. Go to settings, "About Phone". Look for" "Baseband" and "Model Number". Write that information down. Once you have that, the last three characters are what is in the list in the link KennyG123 sent you. (For example, I have the original S4 so I have a SPH-L720 and my baseband is L720VPUFNG2 (or NG2 for short. Which was not on that list.) If it is not on the list, go to www.sammobile.com and search for your model number (For example, I am on the SPH-L720. If you just bought your phone from Sprint, you probably have the SPH-L720 or SPH-L720T). You can download the tar file from there. It is a little slow but it will get it done for you. The tar file for both phones are here in this forum if you want to search but going to Sammobile would probably be a little easier from the sounds of it.
dyandell said:
I just looked at the link to help you and noticed that Wilco stops at the NAE baseband. <snip>
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey brother, thank you so much for the help and reply. I might have forgot to mention that I cannot get into the phone to read the model # or get any information from it at all. The nag screen telling me that google play services has stopped working is so persistent that I can't do anything with the phone once it boots.
Is there a way to brute force wipe the phone so that the only thing left when that process is done is a custom recovery like TWRP or Philz or anything other than stock?
If so, would you be so kind as to point me in the direction of a tutorial that would help me get through that process.... I am either not using the right search terms or I am just too old to be good at this and should have stayed home when the rooting lessons were being handed out...
Anyway, I genuinely appreciate your help... Thank you so much !!
Ok I was able to pound my way through the nag screen to the settings menu and eventually got to the baseband and model #
baseband: L720TVPUBOA3
model #: SPH-L720
I have tried 3 times to download the only version I can find on the sammobile.com website using the baseband to search and the file fails to download after getting about 2/3 complete.... I have tried it on 2 separate computers from 2 different locations now...... This is horrifying ...... Every single force that can be working against me, is working against me.
Ugh...... If you have a link to a method I can use to force wipe the phone without a stock rom, but with a recovery I can boot into to flash a rom I have on my external SD card, I would love to see it...... im losing my mind here...
<<<<<<<< EDIT>>>>>>>>>
I was also able to pound my way into the settings menu and do a factory reset which removed the google play nag. From there I was able to root around in the developer options folder where I discovered that in order to be able to boot into recovery, you need to select the "boot options" tab and allow the device to boot into recovery....
I know this device is old now and most people have moved on, and I am pleased that there are some people who stick around here to keep this device alive. I only wish that someone would have advised me to check the boot options selection when I indicated I could not boot into recovery... That would have saved me 2 days of manic obsessive he11....... This was complete he11...... But I am on the other side of it now, and have reflashed another rom... I am back among the living.
Team Scream said:
Ok I was able to pound my way through the nag screen to the settings menu and eventually got to the baseband and model #
baseband: L720TVPUBOA3
model #: SPH-L720
I have tried 3 times to download the only version I can find on the sammobile.com website using the baseband to search and the file fails to download after getting about 2/3 complete.... I have tried it on 2 separate computers from 2 different locations now...... This is horrifying ...... Every single force that can be working against me, is working against me.
Ugh...... If you have a link to a method I can use to force wipe the phone without a stock rom, but with a recovery I can boot into to flash a rom I have on my external SD card, I would love to see it...... im losing my mind here...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sprint phones have always been able to downgrade and thinking that has not changed. You should be able to Odin the last one listed on the link I gave you...NAE...then your phone should boot...you can then take the Sprint OTA if you like then root and recovery as normal. Then you can get to the stuff on your SD and flash. The only issues I remember popping up these days is if you mismatch the modem and OS...which wouldn't be the case if you Odin'd NAE.
Team Scream said:
Ok I was able to pound my way through the nag screen to the settings menu and eventually got to the baseband and model #
baseband: L720TVPUBOA3
model #: SPH-L720
I have tried 3 times to download the only version I can find on the sammobile.com website using the baseband to search and the file fails to download after getting about 2/3 complete.... I have tried it on 2 separate computers from 2 different locations now...... This is horrifying ...... Every single force that can be working against me, is working against me.
Ugh...... If you have a link to a method I can use to force wipe the phone without a stock rom, but with a recovery I can boot into to flash a rom I have on my external SD card, I would love to see it...... im losing my mind here...
<<<<<<<< EDIT>>>>>>>>>
I was also able to pound my way into the settings menu and do a factory reset which removed the google play nag. From there I was able to root around in the developer options folder where I discovered that in order to be able to boot into recovery, you need to select the "boot options" tab and allow the device to boot into recovery....
I know this device is old now and most people have moved on, and I am pleased that there are some people who stick around here to keep this device alive. I only wish that someone would have advised me to check the boot options selection when I indicated I could not boot into recovery... That would have saved me 2 days of manic obsessive he11....... This was complete he11...... But I am on the other side of it now, and have reflashed another rom... I am back among the living.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad you got it fixed! I have had my phone for over a year now and never heard of a boot options tab. I guess you learn something new every day.
Also glad you got it fixed. But let's keep this open in case someone else has the same or similar issue.
KennyG123 said:
Sprint phones have always been able to downgrade and thinking that has not changed. You should be able to Odin the last one listed on the link I gave you...NAE...then your phone should boot...you can then take the Sprint OTA if you like then root and recovery as normal. Then you can get to the stuff on your SD and flash. The only issues I remember popping up these days is if you mismatch the modem and OS...which wouldn't be the case if you Odin'd NAE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well not being able to leave well enough alone, I locked my phone up again.
Because I was able to get out of soft brick without needing a stock firmware, I never bothered downloading NAE from the link you provided.
Turns out after 2 separate downloads (one using Chrome and one using Firefox) I have determined that the md5.tar files on that site http://www.rwilco12.com/downloads.php?dir=Files/Devices/Samsung%20Galaxy%20S4%20%28SPH-L720%29/Stock%20ROMs are worthless.... BOTH downloads failed in Odin before I could even get out of the gate....
They failed the md5 check that Odin performs and would not allow me to continue.... IS there something I am missing?
Team Scream said:
Well not being able to leave well enough alone, I locked my phone up again.
Because I was able to get out of soft brick without needing a stock firmware, I never bothered downloading NAE from the link you provided.
Turns out after 2 separate downloads (one using Chrome and one using Firefox) I have determined that the md5.tar files on that site http://www.rwilco12.com/downloads.php?dir=Files/Devices/Samsung%20Galaxy%20S4%20%28SPH-L720%29/Stock%20ROMs are worthless.... BOTH downloads failed in Odin before I could even get out of the gate....
They failed the md5 check that Odin performs and would not allow me to continue.... IS there something I am missing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Remove the .md5 extension at the end and try again.
KennyG123 said:
Remove the .md5 extension at the end and try again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sweet baby Jeezes please tell me that is not all I had to do.... I spent 4 hours staring at the screen downloading files last night .... I waited 4 hours and finally could not stay awake any more but I finally got the OA3 firmware from SamMobile downloaded successfully. I left the .md5 extension and it is now flashing via Odin as I type this.... I could have saved myself a few more hours of misery if I had known you can remove the .md5 extension..... This learning curve is hard on an old man like me hahaha!
Thanks Kenny
<edit> Ahhhhh.... the sweet smell of success !!! I am now booted back into a stock phone!!!
Man I hope this thread can help save someone else from the anguish I have put myself through with this thing....
Team Scream said:
Sweet baby Jeezes please tell me that is not all I had to do.... I spent 4 hours staring at the screen downloading files last night .... I waited 4 hours and finally could not stay awake any more but I finally got the OA3 firmware from SamMobile downloaded successfully. I left the .md5 extension and it is now flashing via Odin as I type this.... I could have saved myself a few more hours of misery if I had known you can remove the .md5 extension..... This learning curve is hard on an old man like me hahaha!
Thanks Kenny
<edit> Ahhhhh.... the sweet smell of success !!! I am now booted back into a stock phone!!!
Man I hope this thread can help save someone else from the anguish I have put myself through with this thing....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am sure it will! Glad you got it working and glad I helped! Some versions of Odin don't care about the md5 extension and others barf it up. With the way your luck went....well...don't buy a lottery ticket this week...hahaha.
Related
I did a search and couldn't find much help.
I recently dropped my phone and the screen got a slight crack, so the insurance company sent me a new one.
I figured I'd use ROM manager to backup my old phone, and restore it on my new phone.
New phone restores, reboots, and gets stuck at the black Vibrant screen.
I can get back into recovery mode fine, but nothing seems to work.
I let it sit at the Vibrant screen for about an hour before I try again.
Its attempt 3 when I decided to come on this site for some help.
Specs:
Stock
Rooted
Launcher pro
Nothing too much to be confusing and brick, so wtf?
Oh and I understand I could use odin to reflash my phone, please please please don't suggest odin, because I don't own a PC, I own a mac. Please don't tell me to go out and buy a PC or to download a program that costs $50 to use PC programs on a mac. I could have told myself that kind of information.
HELP, my brand new phone is destroyed wahhhh
From the sound of it you still have your old phone. If so, rather than restore using nandroid, try downloading a copy of titanium backup to backup/restore your apps. I have found that sms restore does a good job restoring texts. For me those two apps get the job done restoring my info. Also, if you haven't, sync your contacts to google and they will auto sync upon load. Of course this all assumes you still have your old phone in working order. ..
Also, there are stock roms flashable via clockwork that basically do the same as odin. Check the ' bible' sticky for links.
Hope this helps
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
a400meter said:
From the sound of it you still have your old phone. If so, rather than restore using nandroid, try downloading a copy of titanium backup to backup/restore your apps. I have found that sms restore does a good job restoring texts. For me those two apps get the job done restoring my info. Also, if you haven't, sync your contacts to google and they will auto sync upon load. Of course this all assumes you still have your old phone in working order. ..
Also, there are stock roms flashable via clockwork that basically do the same as odin. Check the ' bible' sticky for links.
Hope this helps
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I still have my old phone in working order, but that doesn't help the fact that my new phone is stuck on bootup, and can only enter recovery mode...
yelowbottlecaps said:
I still have my old phone in working order, but that doesn't help the fact that my new phone is stuck on bootup, and can only enter recovery mode...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only way I can think of that a nandroid restore would soft brick you, is because you have restored a version of android with a different kernel.
If the original phone had the original firmware (JFD), and the replacement had the most recent (JI6), this is what would be expected to happen.
Since you seem unable and unwilling to use Odin, your going to have to tell us more details (i.e. which versions of the firmware as related above were actually in play) before we can begin to help. If you don't know, well....
You can also simply take it back to a local T-Mobile store and do another swap, or you can find a friend with a Windows PC and Odin (or Samsung's Mini KIES with JI6). These are your only real options...
both phones had JI6
Thank you for the quick responses.
I'm not unwilling to use odin, but unless anyone knows of a free software to use PC programs on a mac, I'm SOL.
so, you got the new phone, rooted, got rom manager and then got clockwork recovery right?
You did a nandroid backup right (on the new phone), before flashing anything right?
Why not just download Fusion and flash that to get the phone up and running?
yelowbottlecaps said:
both phones had JI6
Thank you for the quick responses.
I'm not unwilling to use odin, but unless anyone knows of a free software to use PC programs on a mac, I'm SOL.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well hmm....so much for guessing on my part. Crossing different build kernels is one sure fire way to brick...
Well, there is a solution for Mac and Linux for reloading firmware on a Samsung phone from Download Mode, an open project called Heimdall. It does everything Odin does, but without a GUI, so it depends on how comfortable you are with commandline/shell.
I'll pass you the relevant links so you can see for yourself what's going on.
[PROGRAM] Heimdall - Cross-Platform Open-Source Flashing Software (1.0.0 Available)
Heimdall's Website, with downloads...
XDA Dev Thread with JI6 Odin .tar file....
Best of luck!
s15274n said:
so, you got the new phone, rooted, got rom manager and then got clockwork recovery right?
You did a nandroid backup right (on the new phone), before flashing anything right?
Why not just download Fusion and flash that to get the phone up and running?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True that...Why didn't I think of that obvious ploy. If he can get into Recovery, and bounce over to clockwork...Well now's a good a time as any to try Bionix or Bionix Fusion...or a few other of the CW Recovery installable builds...Definitely easier than Heimdall or working out Odin on a mac....and definitely preferable to staring at a Vibrant logo...
{{facepalm}}
masterotaku said:
Well hmm....so much for guessing on my part. Crossing different build kernels is one sure fire way to brick...
Well, there is a solution for Mac and Linux for reloading firmware on a Samsung phone from Download Mode, an open project called Heimdall. It does everything Odin does, but without a GUI, so it depends on how comfortable you are with commandline/shell.
I'll pass you the relevant links so you can see for yourself what's going on.
Best of luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If there was a step by step walkthrough, I have no problem trying this out.
But I downloaded it and have no idea what I'm doing. Therefore, still SOL
^ are you? You didn't answer my questions.
I'm gonna guess and say you also dl'd the oclf from the market to root too... so now you can't get back into CwR... right?
If you can get adb to recognize your phone then your not SOL. Im not sure what the exact command lines would be but you could delete the update.zip and replace it with another ROM. GL
I just tried using Odin on my roommates PC. An error happened and now the phone is showing a picture of a phone, a couple dots, an exclamation mark, a couple dots, and a computer.
Nothing I can do is taking it out of this screen. Unplugged from computer, took out battery, took out sd card, put it back in... nothing
Am I bricked for good now?
This is a terrible day.
edit: i managed to be able to get the phone into download mode.
No you are not completely bricked! Honestly that is almost impossible on this phone. The only way you'll lose this phone is if YOU give up.
Just keep trying and take a few deep breathes. Take a break actually. Just redo the process from step one.
Edit: you're half way there. Just flash Eugene's froyo that doesn't brixk, reboot, flash JFD or JI6, reboot... then you'll be right back to out of the box status.
All~G1 said:
I'm gonna guess and say you also dl'd the oclf from the market to root too... so now you can't get back into CwR... right?
If you can get adb to recognize your phone then your not SOL. Im not sure what the exact command lines would be but you could delete the update.zip and replace it with another ROM. GL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If someone can back this up with some instructions that would be amazing.
All~G1 said:
No you are not completely bricked! Honestly that is almost impossible on this phone. The only way you'll lose this phone is if YOU give up.
Just keep trying and take a few deep breathes. Take a break actually. Just redo the process from step one.
Edit: you're half way there. Just flash Eugene's froyo that doesn't brixk, reboot, flash JFD or JI6, reboot... then you'll be right back to out of the box status.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the motivation!
yelowbottlecaps said:
Thank you for the motivation!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No worries, we've all been there. It took me 6 hours lol. Best part is after you go through this once it will only take you 5-10 mins the next time. The hard part is just getting everything setup in the mist of anger, frustration, fear & panic.
All~G1 said:
No worries, we've all been there. It took me 6 hours lol. Best part is after you go through this once it will only take you 5-10 mins the next time. The hard part is just getting everything setup in the mist of anger, frustration, fear & panic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and in the midst of a roommate that needs his pc back.
I still need a fix that would work for macs... if not, I'd have to wait for my roommate to let me bum his pc again
Do my posts not show up or something? wtf.
s15274n said:
Do my posts not show up or something? wtf.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
/me pats s15274n on the back....don't get mad...get even! =P
Honestly, sounds like yelow's focusing on getting all the help s/he needs from All~G1. I wouldn't worry about it.
~SB
I don't think I've bricked my phone, I hope you can help me. Done some reading here, but still a big time noob! Trying to flash back to stock for the Verizon upgrade, my phone is stuck on the screen with a gold triangle and a exclamation point in the center of a cell Phone and a computer. I found a thread with a similar problem. I can't seem to have a successful flash in odin. I keep getting a fail when i flash the test file. I would be content if I could just get the phone to boot and have my Miunia Rom working again. Someone please help.
Al bergie man1 said:
I don't think I've bricked my phone, I hope you can help me. Done some reading here, but still a big time noob! Trying to flash back to stock for the Verizon upgrade, my phone is stuck on the screen with a gold triangle and a exclamation point in the center of a cell Phone and a computer. I found a thread with a similar problem. I can't seem to have a successful flash in odin. I keep getting a fail when i flash the test file. I would be content if I could just get the phone to boot and have my Miunia Rom working again. Someone please help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That means you have no kernel our rom in the phone. Not sure what this "test file" you are trying to flash is, but I'm not surprised its failing. Flashing dl 17 should work. If not, flash the ec07 leak, with the proper pit file, repartition unchecked. Then flash dl17.
Dished out by my dumb digits
now it's worse, I hit the dark abyss
So, I flashed(with odin) the clean Eco7 stock with with the correct pit file. It seemed to be doing fine, it got all the way to recov.bin but then I froze there for about an hour. At this point i didn't think it was going to pass anyway so i unplugged the phone and stopped the program(oops?). Now my phone is even worse, it seems lifeless. The phone won't even go to down load mode. I found on another post where someone else was also getting nothing, no power just blackness, and I followed those directions. Still a black screen. It seems more grim than ever! One thing I have noticed that while attempting to flash, a few times my computer completely rebooted. Out of know where! This has happened about 5 or 6 times. I'm just about ready to turn on my old flip phone but I just don't want to give up yet! Any more suggestions?!
Oops, is right. You may have hard bricked yourself. I've tried helping people out of this one before, with no sucess. That is the reason I told you to make sure repartition was unchecked. You can try to power on, and issue an adb command, if you have it installed. But, I doubt it will work. The reason you don't have download, at this point, is because you don't have a secondary bootloader on your phone, anymore. It turns into a catch 22. Download mode is supposedly hard written on the chip. So, you could use a jig to force it into download mode. I'd say that that is your best bet, at this point.
did uncheck repartition
I did uncheck repartition but obviously with no avail. I Will try the"jig" but I don't know anything about it. Is this a file I can download or what?
No matter what happens, thanks soooo much for the efforts to help me!!! Especially wolf??
No. A jig is a piece of hardware. Do a youtube search for 'download mode jig' and you''' get some good hits. You'd have to construct it, or get ahold of some of the devs that have. I don't recall the name, but one dev made one for the Fascinate. I'd imagine it would work for our phone too.
If anyone can remember who it is (I want to say Adam Outler, but I might be wrong) pipe up.
I have the att s4 with the mf3 build which I received via an ota update. I recently did the root for this build which worked perfectly, afterwards I read through 47 pages of forums and was trying to do the work around djrbliss put out, around page 40 someone says if your phone is rooted just download goomanager and installscriptrecovery. then reboot recovery. I downloaded goomanager then installed script, after this I hit the reboot recovery and the phone went into download mode. and it will stay there. If i restart it returns to download mode. Any Ideas?
Im not 100% but u may hve read wrong. This has happened to everyone who has tryed to flash a recovery on mf3. You can only have root there is no custom recovery for this build. Ok now this is wat you do take your phone to bestbuy tell them kies f'd ur phone up nd they can reflash mf3.at this moment mf3 isnt available to general public
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app
Yeah, read the forums. I mean seriously, almost every other post, including the one you read, tells you that drjbliss's exploit was patched in mf3, and can brick your device if you attempt to install a custom recovery. It is, quite literally, the biggest topic in the S4 forums. Also, there is no odin flashable image for mf3, so you cannot return to stock without taking it to bestbuy. Read more in the q&a section, as this same mistake has been made and asked about at least a hundred times. Literally.
In conclusion, you have a paperweight till you take it to get it flashed back to normal.
ok thanks for the help
cooljg said:
ok thanks for the help
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Click to collapse
Read this thread. Best buy can flash the stock mf3 firmware and get your recovery back. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=45457012
Either that or J-Tag.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Hey guys thanks for chiming in. I want to give a thank you to those who have gave me a serious answer. I will go back to best buy and try again, but I sent my wife up there and she said the cell phone department told her they do not flash firmware there. She said she asked them if the service section did and the lady told her no again. I am fairly familiar with flashing the firmware on an s3 I just haven't messed with the s4 that much,and obviously I didn't read as well as I thought I did or it wouldn't be bricked. I do have one other question tho if Best Buy can flash it back to stock firmware, is it safe to assume at some point I should be able to flash it back via odin when the mf3 build is released by sammobile? Either way if best buy doesn't flash it back i'm screwed on this one and i'll just have to pick up another s4 tomorrow. I just want to know if this one can be fixed i'd really hate to waste a perfectly good phone.
If and when mf3 firmware is available you should be able to flash with odin. Best buy seems to be using a new software package other than Odin so who knows if an odin package will be available.
I believe at best buy they have to have a "Samsung Experience" booth or area to do the flashing. The normal best buy service counter can't do it.
~wolverine~ said:
I believe at best buy they have to have a "Samsung Experience" booth or area to do the flashing. The normal best buy service counter can't do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct
Question on brick fix
Hey guys thanks for the helpful info. I took it to the samsung experience part of best buy and the guy fixed it. He didn't have to flash the firmware tho, he took the back off and replaced the battery then I don't know what combination of buttons he hit or what but he held something and it was able to reset the phone and came up normally. Does anyone know what he could of hit? The phone was stuck in download mode no matter what you hit it would only reset to it. I had tried booting and holding volume up and home and releasing home for the recovery boot. As a recap of what happened I had rooted the phone and then downloaded goomanager and ran the installed script option under settings then I reset and was stuck in download mode. I just found it crazy that he never had to hook it to his computer to fix it.
cooljg said:
Hey guys thanks for the helpful info. I took it to the samsung experience part of best buy and the guy fixed it. He didn't have to flash the firmware tho, he took the back off and replaced the battery then I don't know what combination of buttons he hit or what but he held something and it was able to reset the phone and came up normally. Does anyone know what he could of hit? The phone was stuck in download mode no matter what you hit it would only reset to it. I had tried booting and holding volume up and home and releasing home for the recovery boot. As a recap of what happened I had rooted the phone and then downloaded goomanager and ran the installed script option under settings then I reset and was stuck in download mode. I just found it crazy that he never had to hook it to his computer to fix it.
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Click to collapse
Hmm, that is interesting. Did he replace the battery temporarily while 'resetting the phone with combination of buttons'?
Or did he place the battery inside and let you have it?
Sounds like a simple factory reset...
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
haremmon said:
Hmm, that is interesting. Did he replace the battery temporarily while 'resetting the phone with combination of buttons'?
Or did he place the battery inside and let you have it?
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Click to collapse
He originally plugged my phone up when I gave it to him but it wouldn't come on so he unplugged it and replaced the battery. The battery I had was completely dead. After he replaced the battery he turned it on and it went to the download screen with the little green alien. After that he held some buttons and kept looking at the back and then the front of the phone. I couldn't really see what he hit but shortly afterwards it came up with my lock screen picture. After that he said it doesn't need flashing but he would flash the firmware if I wanted so I said ok and he did. I have the phone now working great but it doesn't show rooted anymore.
Omg how do people not know this already. I have had my S4 for 2 days even i know better and I cant believe people dont read
Edit: Solved... probably
Trying to flash Eclipse ROM following this guide:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=54674079&highlight=guide#post54674079
I got stuck on a black screen. I was told to ODIN the nc2kernel but didn't know what that meant.
I was able to figure out how to use ODIN and get it to recognize the device by plugging it in to the computer and taking out the battery.
This video helped me figure out ODIN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7qjZDouPMo
I put Beans' nc2kernel in the AP slot of ODIN v3.09 and hit start.
https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=23501681358549122
The phone rebooted to the Eclipse splash/loading screen but got stuck for a long time (30 + minutes)
I took the battery out, went back in to SafeStrap and did a factory wipe which preserved the internal SD data I think?, then re-installed the Eclipse ROM .zip from the downloads folder and let it reboot.
Suddenly, it worked!!! I'm still not entirely sure what just happened but my phone seems to be working again and I'm really happy about that. Hopefully anyone else new to this and totally lost like I was might see this and be helped.
pacerMike1978 said:
Edit: Solved... probably
Trying to flash Eclipse ROM following this guide:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=54674079&highlight=guide#post54674079
I got stuck on a black screen. I was told to ODIN the nc2kernel but didn't know what that meant.
I was able to figure out how to use ODIN and get it to recognize the device by plugging it in to the computer and taking out the battery.
This video helped me figure out ODIN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7qjZDouPMo
I put Beans' nc2kernel in the AP slot of ODIN v3.09 and hit start.
https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=23501681358549122
The phone rebooted to the Eclipse splash/loading screen but got stuck for a long time (30 + minutes)
I took the battery out, went back in to SafeStrap and did a factory wipe which preserved the internal SD data I think?, then re-installed the Eclipse ROM .zip from the downloads folder and let it reboot.
Suddenly, it worked!!! I'm still not entirely sure what just happened but my phone seems to be working again and I'm really happy about that. Hopefully anyone else new to this and totally lost like I was might see this and be helped.
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Click to collapse
Glad you figured it out, there's some helpful folks around here. We would have gotten you going.
thegamerdarkseid said:
Glad you figured it out, there's some helpful folks around here. We would have gotten you going.
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Click to collapse
Thanks. I appreciate that and am glad to know there's a place to get help if I get stuck!
When I thought I bricked my phone I was super freaked out and wished I'd never started down this path but now that it's working... oh man, totally worth it. This ROM is everything I wanted it to be.
Everything about the Samsung skin was so ugly I almost didn't like using the phone at all. First I tried installing different launchers thinking that would be good enough but when I found out you couldn't circumvent their dialer when calling (the ugliest part in my opinion) I decided to give rooting a try. Maybe that's a stupid reason but I just really hated that dialer!
I just don't understand where Samsung is going with their interface design. Plus all the extra bloat they saddle the phone down with. Unless they take their future phones out of lockdown I don't think I'll be getting another non Nexus phone from them in the future.
Anyway, the amount of information on this forum is incredible and I'm really grateful for all the work everyone puts in to developing all these tools and methods. It's got to be a ton of hard work and then they just share them with everyone... amazing. I can't wait to read about all the other cool things people here are doing
Greetings everyone,
So will not try to type out a book here, but want to try to include all the info/everything I have done do this point. I recently purchased a Galaxy S4 ( SGH-I337) ATT model. My end goal was to have it rooted with CM 11 installed on it. This is only the second phone I have attempted to root ( First was Atrix HD which went overall fine). I'm basing my end goal off of it, in that I am wanting to have it rooted with CM 11 installed. I started off by downloading Odin and used towel and was able to get the phone rooted. That seemed to have gone without too many problems. I tried to do as much reading as I could, but I'm sure I either misread or overlooked where I went wrong next. I then installed TWRP in the hopes of getting CM 11 installed. This is where the problems start. After installing TWRP ( later reading I saw I probably should have used Philz soft touch??) and restarting my phone it would only go into " Download Mode" and would forever just sit there. I did some searching and saw how to get past this simply by just restarting and holding the volume up and selecting now that I did not want to enter into Download mode. At this point I decided to go download the stock ROM and start over. I downloaded and followed the instructions from
Greetings everyone,
So will not try to type out a book here, but want to try to include all the info/everything I have done do this point. I recently purchased a Galaxy S4 ( SGH-I337) ATT model. My end goal was to have it rooted with CM 11 installed on it. This is only the second phone I have attempted to root ( First was Atrix HD which went overall fine). I'm basing my end goal off of it, in that I am wanting to have it rooted with CM 11 installed. I started off by downloading Odin and used towel and was able to get the phone rooted. That seemed to have gone without too many problems. I tried to do as much reading as I could, but I'm sure I either misread or overlooked where I went wrong next. I then installed TWRP in the hopes of getting CM 11 installed. This is where the problems start. After installing TWRP ( later reading I saw I probably should have used Philz soft touch??) and restarting my phone it would only go into " Download Mode" and would forever just sit there. I did some searching and saw how to get past this simply by just restarting and holding the volume up and selecting now that I did not want to enter into Download mode. At this point I decided to go download the stock ROM and start over. I downloaded and followed the instructions from
androidrootz.com/2014/03/how-to-unrootunbrick-at-galaxy-s4-sgh.html . From that point is where things went to hell in a hand-basket. My phone will load but whenever I try to turn on Wifi to try to re-root I get a Security Information message saying that it has blocked Wifi from turning on. Quick Google search says this is built in security "Knox"? that is causing this. Posts say that I have the wrong firmware for this phone? The bigger problem seems to be that now when I try to boot into recovery, I get a background that says "No Command" and red lettering at the top that says " Android system recovery <3e>. I have options to reboot system now, update from ADB and others. At the bottom it says #Manual Mode# Successfully applied multi-CSC. So somehow I think i have corrupted the boot loader. Of course Odin will not recognize the phone in this state to try to push any kind of firmware or boot-loader to it. At this point I truley am clueless and lost. Not at all above saying I'm above my head and need some guidence or help from someone who knows a lot more about this then I do. I really thought I had read and done plenty of research before I tried this, but non the less I have a phone I can't get into recovery and once booted, I can't get wifi to work. Thanks for your time and insight. From that point is where things went to hell in a hand-basket. My phone will load but whenever I try to turn on Wifi to try to re-root I get a Security Information message saying that it has blocked Wifi from turning on. Quick Google search says this is built in security "Knox"? that is causing this. Posts say that I have the wrong firmware for this phone? The bigger problem seems to be that now when I try to boot into recovery, I get a background that says "No Command" and red lettering at the top that says " Android system recovery <3e>. I have options to reboot system now, update from ADB and others. At the bottom it says #Manual Mode# Successfully applied multi-CSC. So somehow I think i have corrupted the boot loader. Of course Odin will not recognize the phone in this state to try to push any kind of firmware or boot-loader to it. At this point I truley am clueless and lost. Not at all above saying I'm above my head and need some guidence or help from someone who knows a lot more about this then I do. I really thought I had read and done plenty of research before I tried this, but non the less I have a phone I can't get into recovery and once booted, I can't get wifi to work. Thanks for your time and insight.
Tl,dr sure looks like a book to me. If you just got an s4 I'm sure the bootloader can't be exploited and you can't use cm. Look through this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=53758227
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app
jd1639 said:
Tl,dr sure looks like a book to me. If you just got an s4 I'm sure the bootloader can't be exploited and you can't use cm. Look through this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=53758227
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the link. Very helpful info. Problem I can't seem to get around is that since any ROM i download will not pass the signature inside the recovery mode, I don't know how to get to where I can flash any kind of ROM to it. Yes sorry for the book, I just see too often people don't ever post enough info on what they have or what they have done. In essence how do i use Odin if i can't get into download mode and recovery mode will not accept any file cause it says it fails the md5 signature? Thanks for the help
bryantjb said:
Thanks for the link. Very helpful info. Problem I can't seem to get around is that since any ROM i download will not pass the signature inside the recovery mode, I don't know how to get to where I can flash any kind of ROM to it. Yes sorry for the book, I just see too often people don't ever post enough info on what they have or what they have done. In essence how do i use Odin if i can't get into download mode and recovery mode will not accept any file cause it says it fails the md5 signature? Thanks for the help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't want to give you useless information, but make sure you're using the right steps to get into download mode.
1) Power off your device
2) Remove battery for 10 seconds
3) Replace battery
4) Hold POWER + HOME + VOLUME DOWN until you see the "Warning" Screen
5) Quickly hit the VOLUME UP button.
Then you can connect to ODIN, and go from there.