[Q] Unable to remove custom padlock stock lolipop - Verizon Galaxy Note 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I have tried everything I can possibly think of in a short period of time, and need an answer in a hurry. The phone (Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 3 N-900V) was rooted back when kitkat was the main OS using geohot's towelroot (or possibly kingo root I can't remember which i used after I got the phone and upgraded from ICS). I have 2 of these exact same phones, used the exact same rooting method, and unrooted by uninstalling the superuser app, rebooted, and installed the OTA update to lolipop. My phone works fine, (the one I'm typing from) however, my other phone decided to take a dump. It's a software bug between the samsung firmware and the new lolipop OS. It was working for several months, then all the sudden it wouldn't recognize/register the APN. Now it doesn't see anything just about with the phone. Not even the IMEI from the phones serial number. The sim card has been replaced twice and has worked for a matter of a few hours, however, upon restarting the phone, it goes back to no service, and nothing is registered or recognized. I reflashed the phone with the stock 5.0 Lolipop using Odin several times to no avail. My phone (one I'm using now) once did this months ago, and I was able to access the service menu and reregister the SIM card and phone has worked fine since. With this other phone, I can't get into the service menu at all because nothing is registering. So, after reflashing 4 or 5 times, factory reseting from both the OS and from recovery booting, it still has the same issue. Here is my question. It used to be when I reflashed, the custom padlock would disappear. I'm getting a new phone tomorrow, and I need to get rid of the custom padlock before I return the old phone. I can use Odin, or whatever but it has to be something, I can do while it stays stock. The knox counter has not been tripped, and the flash counter is not tripped nor showing anything on the download mode. Everything lools, and feels stock, except that custom padlock. Is there a way to get rid of that custom padlock unrooted, by reflashing? I even used a pit file to repartition, but that didn't work either. Need help A.S.A.P.!

I would just hard brick the phone just before returning it...they will just throw it out at that point and your secret will be safe.

Hard Brick
xxperrin said:
I would just hard brick the phone just before returning it...they will just throw it out at that point and your secret will be safe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You thinking maybe a NAND erase?

Hard Brick
I've thought about flashing the wrong rom too but dunno if that will work 100%. I either need to fix it, or make it 100% unrecoverable. Any advice?

Related

[Q] Having a problem with S4 "soft bricking"

Hello,
I recently tried to root my AT&T Galaxy S4 and install cyanogean mod on it. I screwed something up along the way but I'm not sure what. I tried rooting my phone with Kingo Root Tool, which it said I was successfully rooted. I made the mistake of then accepting an OTA, and of course that soft bricked my phone. I am able to get the phone out of soft brick mode by taking the battery out and putting back in, then entering download mode, and cancelling out. That fixes it every time. As I'm on android 4.2.2, and I understand that I need 4.4.2 for CM11, I thought that I would un-root using the tool, and then try the update again. I un-rooted, it said that it was successful at this. I then tried to install the OTA again, unfortunately it softbricked my phone again. I reset it back to normal, then I figured my best option would be to try and do a factory reset. When I tried the reset, it once again soft bricked my phone. I've reset it back to normal, and everything is working fine, however I'm a little confused as to what's going on. My amateur assumption is that by rooting, it tripped some file rooted deep inside the phone, and now it knows that I tried rooting, therefore it'll block me from updates. If someone could help me this, and possibly help me try and fix it I would really appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

WIFI not working after using KIES to update

Hi all,
Phone Details:
Spring Galaxy S4
Baseband Version L720TVPUBNG5
Used CF autoroot
This all started a few days ago. The latest OTA update came out and my phone kept telling me I had insufficient storage for the update. I figured it was because I had it rooted. I followed QBking77's video for Unroot / Unbrick. Downloaded all files recommended in the video.
Every time I try to flash with ODIN I get a failure. I have tried three different .tar versions at this point, it always seems to fail after "aboot" attempts to flash. Two different cables, both came with an SGS4.
I finally had enough and used the factory reset. After factory reset I used KIES for my update. The phone took it fine and rebooted. Although now I have no WIFI.
When initiating WIFI it will tell me that the security application has rejected a request to protect my phone. I deleted lookout security even though I have never used it.
Does this have something to do with KNOX? Knox flag is at 0x1 so I know it is tripped. Is there a way to completely flash my phone back to a stock state with the original recovery and rom?
Are there any options for me to get my phone back in order. I really dont give a **** about root or roms, I just need my WIFI. Would my best bet be to use a custom firmware?
Your correct thread have to go: HERE.

Semi bricked phone and can't flash stock

Hello guys,
suddenly my Note 4 won't work anymore, it freezes and reboots every 30 seconds. The sim card won't be recognized and in the settings things like IMEI and the carrier are unknown. Deleting cache in recovery didn't solve anything. I didn't do anything, the phone wasn't rooted, I didn't try to flash something, it justs got semi-bricked one day! Then I got a new battery and then it worked again! At least for some hours. Then it froze and rebooted again.
So I tried to flash stock with odin. Didn't work, even with the pit file and different versions of odin. It stops right at the beginning.
It's a N910F from T-mobile AT if you want to know.
And yeah, KNOX counter still at 0x0. But I don't have warranty any more.
Thanks in advance!

Tracfone SM-S902L: Bad ROM flashes, need to recover stock ROM

Hello all,
I recently discovered that my S5 was only running KitKat despite Marshmallow having been released for it. I checked for OTA updates and it found nothing, so I decided to flash a custom 6.0 ROM onto it (and for some reason I ended up deciding not to make a backup of the phone beforehand, the ultimate mistake).
The problem became that it didn't recognize Tracfone for my service provider and wouldn't connect to the mobile network. I then downgraded it to a 5.0 ROM, and it no longer even recognized the SIM card, saying there was none.
So I tried to flash the original stock ROM a few times, but every time either got errors from ODIN, the phone itself, or the TWRP bootloader.
Long story short, I seem to have screwed up multiple times trying to install a ROM to get around KitKat and now my phone appears to be softbricked. I can get into the TWRP menu and the "download" mode, but when trying to start the phone, it sits on the "Samsung Galaxy S5" screen with the "Set Warrenty Bit : kernel" text at the top left.
I'm just wondering if there's a way to fix it at this point, or if I've completely trashed the phone.
If anybody has suggestions or experience with this, all help is welcome!
Thanks!
MevNav said:
Hello all,
I recently discovered that my S5 was only running KitKat despite Marshmallow having been released for it. I checked for OTA updates and it found nothing, so I decided to flash a custom 6.0 ROM onto it (and for some reason I ended up deciding not to make a backup of the phone beforehand, the ultimate mistake).
The problem became that it didn't recognize Tracfone for my service provider and wouldn't connect to the mobile network. I then downgraded it to a 5.0 ROM, and it no longer even recognized the SIM card, saying there was none.
So I tried to flash the original stock ROM a few times, but every time either got errors from ODIN, the phone itself, or the TWRP bootloader.
Long story short, I seem to have screwed up multiple times trying to install a ROM to get around KitKat and now my phone appears to be softbricked. I can get into the TWRP menu and the "download" mode, but when trying to start the phone, it sits on the "Samsung Galaxy S5" screen with the "Set Warrenty Bit : kernel" text at the top left.
I'm just wondering if there's a way to fix it at this point, or if I've completely trashed the phone.
If anybody has suggestions or experience with this, all help is welcome!
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you sure you have the stock firmware for the 902l and not the 903vl? The reason you didn't get the update for 6.0 is you have the 902l model. If you had the 903vl model you'd have 6.0. Straight talk never released it for the 902l model. No idea why being both models are very similar. Im not sure but if you make it back to stock on kitkat. I think you can use safestrap from the Verizon s5 to use some custom roms that run kitkat. If your bootloader is in fact unlocked and you can install a custom recovery other then safestrap. I believe you can install pretty much anything but I'm pretty sure straight talk ships the phones with the Toshiba chip so the bootloader isn't unlockable

Sprint GS7 - No WIFI and "CUSTOM" after last OTA update. KNOX 0x0.

Ok, so this is my wife's phone. After the last OTA update to QE1, she noticed that the WIFI would not turn on. I kinda ignored her for a couple of weeks until she really made a fuss of it. When I finally got around to it I also noticed that "CUSTOM" was present in the phone information area as well as upon bootup. I've searched XDA as well as other sites and tried everything I could think of but nothing has helped. I cannot mess with any WIFI settings because it will not turn on at all so I can't even access the menu. Neither Sprint nor Samsung will touch the phone because they claim I rooted it. I didn't. I have factory reset it numerous times with no luck. I have ODIN'd the software for a full reset and used all older software versions even. Following Sprint's own software updates, no luck. I have used the Samsung SmartSwitch program on the computer to also do a full reset to factory multiple times with no luck. The Samsung rep at the local Best Buy even tried it. The only thing that a full reset helps with is getting rid of the "CUSTOM" notification until you reboot the phone. It doesn't fix WIFI.
Has anyone had experience with this problem? I am getting ready to root it, but I'm not sure if that will even help. Additionally, the phone currently does not have Sprint service, I had to activate her old phone... So, I don't have access to the internet with the phone unless I reactivate it on an account... I looked at a root option, but it requires wifi...
I'm open to suggestions. Please help..
Ok, so no one has any input on how to fix my problem. Is it not possible with the locked bootloader?
dochummer said:
Ok, so no one has any input on how to fix my problem. What about hard bricking the phone? I've tried ODIN with different model firmware and I can't get a hard brick. Is it not possible with the locked bootloader?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After running odin with stock firmware, go into recovery and hard reset the device again . As far as Hard Bricking on Purpose, that would be fraud, something not allowed to be discussed here. Mods please lock this thread.
Thanks for the reply. Sorry about breaking the forum rules, I went ahead and edited my original posting. I've already tried odin with stock firmware and hard resetting the device numerous times with no luck... I'd like to be able to dig deeper into the phone but I'm guessing that won't be possible with the locked boot loader?

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