Tutorial/Walkthrough How to update your Droid R2D2 Phone using 2.2 if it fails to update to Gingerbread 2.3.3 Build 4.5.1_57_DR2-32
After spending a few days dealing with my phone automatically downloading and trying to install the updating and failing at 25%. I had to fix this since it will killing my battery.
With the instructions below this should restore your phone to the stock version of your Droid R2D2. This method will not delete anything on your phone. I would recommend backing up everything before you proceed just in case something does go wrong but I didn't have any issues. It will only restore all the original settings on your phone. This includes unrooting your phone and restoring all apk's and system files edited/removed from your device.
WARNING : This must be done using your PC. Do not attempt this using your cell phone
This information is provided without warranty. I cannot be held responsible if you brick or damage up your cell phone. I simply wrote a walkthrough/tutorial to help deal with an update issue on your Droid R2D2. I did not produce the procedure or the steps below. I just simply consolidated all the information from multiple sources to make it easier to understand and execute. You are welcome to share this information anywhere you want. If needed I will reformat the instructions so it's easier to understand.
1) First download and install the Motorola RSD Lite v5.5 (I attached the file at the bottom of this thread)
2) Download the Motorola 5.2.0 Driver with Motohelper and install from the link below
Motorola Drivers - http://www.motorola.com/Support/US-...tware_and_Drivers/USB-and-PC-Charging-Drivers
3) Download the SBF Droid R2D2 file VRZ_A957_2.4.5_1FF_01.
http://www.multiupload.com/8XGQBDG3GV
4) Once you download the VRZ_A957_2.4.5_1FF_01 file. Unzip the file into a folder. You will be using this file shortly
5) Launch RSD Lite. Once the application is launched click on the button with the 3 dots.
Navigate to the SBF file you just unzipped and once you find it click open.
You will see on the right side in the File properties window
Filename: VRZ_A957_2.4.5_1FF_01.sbf
Creation Date: 09/15/2010 03:16:26
File size: 455655933
RAM DL Version: N / A
Bootloader Version: N / A
Platform: 4G OMAP
HAB Type: Signed Production
This is a video to give you an idea how to use RSD Lite. I used this as a guide to make sure I was doing everything in the correct order.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9udWx-KXwGY&feature=player_embedded#!
6) (This step isn't necessary, but you can do it.)
Back up anything on your SD card to your computer. Plug in your Droid2 to the computer via USB cable. Pull down the notification menu/blind, choose USB connection, and then choose USB Mass Storage Device. Now there should be a removable storage in your "My Computer." Go through your SD card and back up your important things. Probably the DCIM and download folder. You should also make sure that your phone is set up to "Back Up Data." Go to the system menu (the 4 squares icon/button in the lower left), choose Settings, then Privacy, then make sure the "Back up my data" and "Automatic restore" are checked.
7) Plug the USB cable into your cell phone and Power off your phone. Once your phone is powered off, Slide out your keyboard and hold the Up Arrow and press the power button. You will see a boot loader screen pop up and it will say Battery OK, Transfer mode USB. You will see the computer detect the USB device and install the new drivers onto Windows.
If the drivers in Windows Fail DO NOT PROCEED. Reinstall the Motorola drivers and try this again
8) Once you see the Transfer mode say USB. Go back to RSD Lite and click Start. You will see the progress bar Executing and slowing moving up to 100%. Your phone will eventually Power on.
Do not unplug or touch it until it hits 100% if you unplug the phone early you risk screwing up the system files on your phone.
You'll know when it is done when the Progress field in the table of RSD Lite says complete. This will take between 5-10 minutes to complete
9) Once it hits 100% you will see the status change and say Please manually power up this phone.(You phone should be already powered on if not you could power it on). Once this is completed you could either turn off your phone and power it back on or you could click Close in RSD lite. A pop up window will appear saying Application is currently busy. Do you wish to continue click Yes.
UPDATE 10/27/11
After your phone reboots and doesn't get past the boot animation
1) Turn off your phone
2) Hold down X on the keyboard
3) Turn on your phone while continuing to hold X( it will boot into the recovery mode after the Motorola logo disappears)
4) When you get the Android guy with a '!' in a triangle push the search button on the keyboard (the magnifying glass button, two keys to the left of the space bar)
5) Select both 'wipe cache' and 'wipe data' from the menu.
6) Select Reboot your phone
10) Once you unplug your phone you should see all the apks or applications which were removed originally off the device back on the device (I removed practically everything and everything was restored). If you have used z4root you will notice if you open the application it is no longer rooted.
I had a Blue triangle in my notification bar. To clear this you will need to reactivate your phone. Dial *228 and press send. Once you hear the options press 1 to activate your phone. Once this is completed you get a message saying your phone is activated and to wait up to 15 mins. You will also see the blue triangle disappear and will see the 3g reappear.
11) Once you are connected start downloading over the air the new gingerbread update to your phone. Once it is complete your phone will reboot and start installing the file and once it completed you should have the new gingerbread update on your phone
To Root your Droid R2D2 Please follow the directions below (Special Thanks to psouza4 for creating this program) http://www.psouza4.com/droid3/
NOTE: Do this at your own risk. I am not responsible for any damage caused.
1. First step is that you need to make sure if all Drivers are installed.
2. Once that is done, download and install
(Windows) http://www.mediafire.com/?g226n7as6cb1y6e
(Mac/Linux) http://www.mediafire.com/?2ugcdue4cw7dtc5
3. Now, go to Settings > Applications > Development on your Droid R2D2 and enable the USB debugging option.
4. Now connect your device to the computer and make sure you select the ” Charge Only ” mode.
5. Go the folder where you extracted the zip and run MotorolaOneClickRoot.exe (Windows) or run_to_root_your_droid3.sh (Mac/Linux).
6. Once it finished just click any button to exit the program and you will see superuser installed on your Phone.
Thats it. Hopefully this was easy to understand and works for everyone.
I cannot even root my phone. It will not go past the first rebooting stage. Any advice?
Are you currently on 2.3.3 or you still on 2.2?
Also make sure debugging mode is on and you have the correct motorola drivers installed.
Cant get VRZ file to work.
Hello,
I am trying to run threw this to reset my R2D2 Droid 2. When I try and download the VRZ_A957_2.4.5_1FF_01 file from the the link you provided all I get is a rar file that doesn't work on RSD Lite. Am i missing something on the download sight for the VRZ file?
---------- Post added at 08:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:09 PM ----------
Hello again,
Sorry for my stupidity I forgot a rar file is a compressed file and I had to download win zip to decompress it. Don't deal with a lot of compressed files. Thank you for all this info will post if I got it to work.
all good. let me know if it works or if you get stuck
ok so i've been working at doing this for roughly an hour the damn drivers won't install on my computer...
Where you able to install Download Motorola 5.2.0 Driver with MotoHelper or are you getting stuck when your phone is connected to the pc?
Worked for me
Awesome, worked for me from my mac. I did get an error between phases 2 and 3 of the root process, but it worked anyway:
* Running exploit [part 2 of 3]...
*
* Rebooting the phone... when the reboot is complete, you may need to unlock the phone to continue.
*
error: protocol fault (no status)
* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *
* Running exploit [part 3 of 3]...
remount succeeded
Does this only work for the Motorola Droid R2D2 or will it work for the Motorola Droid 2 with the Gingerbread 2.3.3? Which I thought are the same phone except for the R2D2 add-on's.
ehrune - I am glad it worked for you. I will write a email to psouza and see what he says on it or ill look for an new update maybe it was a known issue which is now fixed
dfthompson - I own a droid R2D2 phone which is technically a Droid 2 with all the add-ins as you stated. I wrote the instructions because if you were like me and deleted all the bloat and junk off your phone (when you originally purchased it) you are unable to do the OTH gingerbread update because it will fail once you are doing the installation.
The file is for 2.2
thank you for posting this. my phone has been trying to update for weeks every night around midnight and failing, this is a huge help.
I must admit, after using it for a week, this update sucks big-time. Everything is much slower, button presses take a second or two to register, etc. Anyone else seeing this?
well said, guys these instructions are flawless. basic computer skills required
Ok so does this exe file get run from the computer or launch it from the phone?
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App
Everything is done using the PC the only thing you need to do with the phone is plug it into the computer and to turn it on to go into the boot screen as instructed.
Ehrune - Yes i notice a few things running slower. i removed a ton of apk's and changed some settings and it works a lot better
boot loop
the flash was 100% successful, but now my phone is stuck in a boot loop. should I try reflashing?
edit: I ended up booting into recovery & doing a factory reset. I was able to boot & run the update from there. Good thing I backed up first..
still locked! afther full flash & no way to factory reset on my phone
i only need to factory reset ive try any times with
---------------------------------------------------
Power down the DROID 2 by holding the power button and then selecting Power Off
Hold the X key on the keyboard and turn the power back on, keep holding down the X key until you see a yellow triangle icon
Now close the slider and hold down the Volume Up button, then press the Camera button while still holding volume up
A menu will appear and one of the choices will be "wipe data/factory reset" -- use the direction pad on they keyboard to select this option
Scroll down using the direction pad to the "yes" option and select it with the d-pad select key
---------------------------------------------------
& with
---------------------------------------------------
a. Turn off your phone
b. Hold down X on the keyboard
c. Turn on your phone while continuing to hold X
d. When you get the Android guy with a '!' in a triangle push the search button on the keyboard (the magnifying glass button, two keys to the left of the space bar)
e. Select both 'wipe cache' and 'wipe data' from the menu.
f. Reboot your phone
---------------------------------------------------
the hard reset no work for my with any form (& the keys7Buttons are working properly)
i been full flashed Thanks to your tutorial
But still locked
Too many attempts
any ideas¿?
I lost my SBF file for R2-D2, and the link not available for now (multiupload). can anyone help me where I can find the file?
Thanks
I'm also looking for the r2-d2 sbf. All the links I come across are 1 of 2 dead links. Either the multiupload or the adrive links. None of which are standing today. Am I to believe that no one has a copy to upload elsewhere? So can someone please point me in the right direction.
I already found the file.
u can email me for the link, I don't have any right to post the link here
my email: [email protected]
UPDATE: Problem solved! Subsequent attempts at Odin flashing succeeded. So...Nevermind!
Hello XDA sages!
I'm an avid Android user and I like to mess around, but I have no genuine technical skills or training and it's now bitten me pretty hard. I just got engaged and I was trying to clean out my phone and gift it to my new mother-in-law...with disastrous consequences. So this is my SOS to this incredible community! (Please note, I have searched many other Note 2 bootloop threads but I've seen nothing describing my situation and their solutions have not helped. Though I do apologize if I've missed something!
My current situation:
* Upon restart, the phone (Note 2 GT-N7100, unlocked) is stuck in a terrible bootloop, where the "Samsung Galaxy NoteII GT-N7100" logo appears for 6 seconds, and is then replaced by the Clockwok mod recovery logo (not recovery mode screen, just the hat+geer+orange arrow logo in the center, with "ClockworkMod Recovery v6.0.4.3" in small letters at the bottom). That logo lasts for about 1 second and then it goes black for 1 second, then repeats with the Samsung logo. And so on.
* Many other threads have suggesting entering recovery mode by holding power + home + volume up. This only causes the Samsung logo to refresh every few seconds (i.e. it eliminates the Clockwork mod logo interlude but does nothing else)
* Down+power+home does stop the loop and change to the custom OS download option screen. Pressing volume up then does enter the "Downloading..." screen with the picture of the green Android. (pressing volume up restarts the phone and the loop begins again).
* I've tried loading a stock firmware package onto the device in this mode with Odin v.3.0.9 (obtained via this post) but it doesn't recognize my device. I'm guessing this is because USB debugging was not turned on before the crash.
How I got here:
* I first rooted and flashed a custom rom several months ago using the Cynogen Mod custom installer. I installed the only "stable" release for the N7100 (here.)
* About 1 month ago I used the Rom Manager app and CWM to flash OmniRom, from a zip file on my external SD card. Just before the crash happened last night, I successfully completed an OTA to the latest OmniRom nightly.
* As mentioned, I was preparing the phone to be gifted to my new mother-in-law, and wanted to clean it out. I started by booting into recovery mode (from the Rom Manager app) and then initiating a factory reset.
* Upon rebooting, I noticed that somehow a bunch of my data was still hiding on the phone. Photos and videos and some songs were mysteriously still present, and the storage analysis in settings showed only about 6 gigs were free out of 16. A subsequent Factory Reset did nothing to change this. (All other aspects appeared to be working perfectly, however, as far as returning to a clean install of a fresh copy of OmniRom Android 4.4.2 -- no account data was preset, all my apps were gone and all the stock apps were in the default folders, etc.)
* I booted into Recovery Mode and initiated a "Media Data wipe" (I think that's what it was called) in an attempt to clear out the stubborn media files that weren't being erased.
* I then initiated a "data wipe" (which appeared to just be one level of storage hierarchy above the media data wipe I had just completed).
* I'm pretty sure I also separately initiated a "cache wipe". (But not a "Dalvik Cache" wipe that I have seen referenced on other threads, as I don't believe I saw a reference to that within the recovery mode interface).
* After these wipes I restarted, and all appeared to be fine. The stubborn media data was wiped clean. Finally, after logging back into my Google account to use the App Store to download Rom Manager one last time, (and I honestly can't quite remember why I needed to that) I wanted to complete the process with one more factory reset to eliminate my account data before handing over the phone. This time, I initiated the reset from within the settings menu of the phone in normal operational mode. (This was the first of the various factory wipes I've mentioned that I initiated this way -- all the other factory resets were initiated from within recovery mode).
* I think this is when the current loop started. But to be embarrassingly honest, I had the phone face down and didn't look at it after initiating that final factory restart until I subsequently popped out the battery in order to remove the SIM card. I think the factory reset was complete by that time, but I'm not sure. (In other words, I might have interrupted the factory reset by removing the battery before it was complete).
* After that point this evil loop began.
* To my amateurish eye, the two leading contenders for how I did this are a) the "media wipe" or "data wipe" which I completed before the penultimate restart (although the phone did boot and operate just fine after those were completed, or b) the final factory reset which I may have interrupted by removing the battery.
Three other notes which may or may not be relevant:
* Every time I did a factory reset or data wipe and then went to restart the phone from within the recovery mode, a warning screen came on saying that something might have messed up root access and asked me if I wanted to fix. I always said that I did,
* I had selected TWRP recovery in the Rom Manager app on the advice of the Omnirom site, and I think I saw a reference to TWRP on the recovery mode screen, but I had previously installed ClockWorkMod Recovery and thought maybe that was still active in a way it shouldn't be. (I can't remember what those indications were exactly, but I think it might have just been seeing the logo in the recovery page). But the presence of the ClockWorkMod Recovery logo in my evil boot loop makes me think this may be relevant.
* Before my first factory reset I had made a full backup copy of the current Rom (omnirom) onto my external SD card, which is still in the phone.
I would be eternally grateful for any help, tips, references or suggestions! My fate is in your hands!!
Many thanks,
- Your overeager n00b
Try simple things first. Reinstall kies so you know drivers isnt corupted and then flash stock rom with odin. And also try to switch usb cable and if that doesnt work switch to another pc. Try that and well go on.
Edit: i see you solved it gj.
Do not touch somebody else's phone if they are going to kill you when something goes bad
Next time better think twice
Brandzel said:
UPDATE: Problem solved! Subsequent attempts at Odin flashing succeeded. So...Nevermind!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice to hear you solved it You flashed stock, i guess?
By the way, I recommend changing the tag to [SOLVED] :good:
I think I've brought this upon myself - probably had a "delete all data after X incorrect password tried" set up, then my phone was in my sweaty pocket and the buttons pressed randomly...
Here's what happens when I turn the phone on
1) Normal boot into Android
2) Immediately a popup is visible "Deleting all data..."
3) Lockscreen is visible behind the popup but not accessible
4) Unable to take any step except reboot phone because I can't provide my PIN
5) Things start up as normal in the background, apps load, notifications come in, etc
6) Phone abruptly reboots into a blue screen that reads "Erasing..."
7) Phone reboots into recovery
8) I can then reboot the phone into Android again, go back to 1) above
Here's what I recall of how I've set up my phone
- Rooted via engineering boot image
- No custom bootloader
I don't think any data is actually deleted which is strange... everything that happens behind the "Deleting all data..." popup leads me to believe it's not successfully deleting (at least most) data.
Is there any way I can get out of this loop? Or possible backup all my phone data and restore it after I've reflashed the phone?
Any advice greatly appreciated, thanks
ninegoodthings said:
I think I've brought this upon myself - probably had a "delete all data after X incorrect password tried" set up, then my phone was in my sweaty pocket and the buttons pressed randomly...
Here's what happens when I turn the phone on
1) Normal boot into Android
2) Immediately a popup is visible "Deleting all data..."
3) Lockscreen is visible behind the popup but not accessible
4) Unable to take any step except reboot phone because I can't provide my PIN
5) Things start up as normal in the background, apps load, notifications come in, etc
6) Phone abruptly reboots into a blue screen that reads "Erasing..."
7) Phone reboots into recovery
8) I can then reboot the phone into Android again, go back to 1) above
Here's what I recall of how I've set up my phone
- Rooted via engineering boot image
- No custom bootloader
I don't think any data is actually deleted which is strange... everything that happens behind the "Deleting all data..." popup leads me to believe it's not successfully deleting (at least most) data.
Is there any way I can get out of this loop? Or possible backup all my phone data and restore it after I've reflashed the phone?
Any advice greatly appreciated, thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wipe all except sd in twrp recovery
Restore with stock rom or use twrp backup
to recovery^
ninegoodthings said:
I think I've brought this upon myself - probably had a "delete all data after X incorrect password tried" set up, then my phone was in my sweaty pocket and the buttons pressed randomly...
Here's what happens when I turn the phone on
1) Normal boot into Android
2) Immediately a popup is visible "Deleting all data..."
3) Lockscreen is visible behind the popup but not accessible
4) Unable to take any step except reboot phone because I can't provide my PIN
5) Things start up as normal in the background, apps load, notifications come in, etc
6) Phone abruptly reboots into a blue screen that reads "Erasing..."
7) Phone reboots into recovery
8) I can then reboot the phone into Android again, go back to 1) above
Here's what I recall of how I've set up my phone
- Rooted via engineering boot image
- No custom bootloader
I don't think any data is actually deleted which is strange... everything that happens behind the "Deleting all data..." popup leads me to believe it's not successfully deleting (at least most) data.
Is there any way I can get out of this loop? Or possible backup all my phone data and restore it after I've reflashed the phone?
Any advice greatly appreciated, thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i was having the same problem when rooting my phone .Go to recovery , immediately keep pressing vol up & down ,u r in recovery. do a full wipe data settle the problem
My Galaxy Note 9 is also stuck in deleting all data due to wrong passcode entered too many times, yet my situation is slightly different.
-The phone is powered on.
-Unable to power off (must enter pin to turn off phone)
-It has a popup "Deleting all data..."
-Lockscreen is visible behind the popup but not accessible
-Unable to take any step because I can't provide my PIN
My phone is not rooted. Its normal and I am not all that tech savvy.
-Is it safe to pull the battery?
There are lots of root and recovery guides here, so why am I posting this? Well, because I tried them, and they either didn't work or were outdated. Also, the install instructions on Lineage OS's site flat out wouldn't work. So here's how I did it!
These instructions are for Windows users, and uses Odin not Heimdall. I'm using Windows 10 Pro. I can't guarantee that it will work on other versions, but I can't see why it wouldn't. YMMV on other versions. I tried Heimdall and no matter what I did, I could not get it to flash anything to my tablet. After much google-fu, I found several people saying Heimdall is broken. I don't know if it is, but it wouldn't work for my on Windows or on Debian linux. So this install uses Odin, which was super easy and I wished I'd have done it in the first place and saved a ton of time and frustration messing around.
For those of you that know what you're doing already, here's the short version:
Enable OEM Unlock in the Developer settings of your stock Samsung OS.
Download TWRP recovery image (the .img.tar version, not the .img version), Lineage OS zip, Lineage Add-on SU zip, Gapps, and Odin (latest versions of all - links are below in the more detailed instructions)
Make sure your stock OS tablet can be seen by your PC - you can copy files back and forth between them. Copy over the Lineage OS, Add-on SU, and Gapps files to your tablet's SD card.
Boot your tablet into Download Mode (Home + Power + Volume Down), tap Vol Up to accept the warning message.
Open Odin on your PC, then plug in your tablet to the PC, note the green COM port number.
Open the Options tab of Odin and make sure the ONLY option checked is the F. Reset Time option. (You don't want it to auto-reboot, and you definitely do NOT want it to re-partition anything).
Click the AP button in Odin and select your TWRP image file. Then click Start in Odin to flash it.
When it's done flashing, disconnect the USB cable from the tablet and exit Download Mode (hold Power + Home + Vol Down), but release them as soon as the screen goes blank and switch to Power + Home + Volume Up so that it boots into recovery. If you miss it, booting into the stock OS will wipe out the TWRP recovery and you'll have to flash it again with Odin.
Once in TWRP recovery, flash the lineage OS file, the add-on-su file, and the gapps file. If asked about encryption, go ahead and tell it to wipe everything out. It's going to wipe your data partition anyway, and if you don't it will screw things up and you'll end up locking TWRP out of the data partition. This can be resolved by rebooting into Recovery and using TWRP to wipe the data partition and then flashing the lineage OS, add-on, and gapps files again.
Once you've flashed lineage OS, add-on-su, and gapps, go ahead and use the on-screen option to wipe the cache and davlik partitions, then reboot into the system.
The first boot will take some time, so go get a beer/coffee/soda and relax. Once it is booted up, it will take you through the Lineage OS setup.
After you complete the setup, you can enable Root on this device by going into Developer Options (under Settings > System > Advanced > Developer Options) and tapping Root Access and selecting from Disabled, Apps Only, ADB Only, Apps and ADB options.
Notes (lessons learned):
Don't flash any of Chainfire's SuperSU packages. They won't work with Lineage OS and will goober up the add-on-su package install. I had to wipe my device and reinstall Lineage from scratch (with the add-on-su and not Chainfire's SuperSU) before mine would work.
Also, I ran into trouble with the encryption of the Data partition. I can't remember the exact sequence of events, but there was a selection when I was installing Lineage for the first time about the encryption of the partition, and apparently I chose wrong. The OS didn't install, it didn't boot right, and TWRP refused to mount the Data partition. I had to reboot into recovery (from recovery) and use TWRP to wipe the Data partition, then reflash lineage OS, add-on-su, and gapps. Then it worked fine.
The LONG Version (more detailed instructions):
Step 1) Gather the files you'll need:
Go to lineage's site and grab the latest OS version. Currently that's v16.0 (Android v9.0 Pie)
https://download.lineageos.org/gts28vewifi
Go to lineage's site and grab the add-on-SU package. Get the arm64 one (second from the top) named addonsu-16.0-arm64-signed.zip
https://download.lineageos.org/extras
Go to Team Win's site and download the twrp package for the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 (known as "gts28vewifi" on most of these sites). Be sure to grab the .img.tar version of the file, NOT the .img version.
https://dl.twrp.me/gts28vewifi/
Go to the Odin website and download the latest version of Odin. (At the time of this writing, it is v3.13.1) Note there are links there for multiple versions. I used v3.12.3, but v3.13.1 will work too.
https://odindownload.com/
Go to the OpenGapps.org site and grab the nano version of Gapps. Be sure to select ARM64 for the platform, v9.0 for the Android version, and nano for the variant. (You can choose any variant you like. I used nano. If you know what you're choosing, go for it.)
https://opengapps.org/
Step 2) Enable OEM Unlock on your tablet
On your tablet, go into the Developer settings and enable OEM Unlock. (If you don't have Developer settings in your Settings menu, go to About Tablet and tap the Build Number several times in a row. (As you tap it, it will countdown the number of taps until Developer mode is turned on. Once you've tapped it seven or so times, you can go back to the Settings menu and there will be a new entry there Developer settings. The OEM Unlock is in there, enable it.
Also, back up your tablet contents, because this will wipe your tablet's internal storage (not your SD card though). How you backup is up to you and beyond the scope of this post.
Step 3) Get a good quality/reliable USB-to-micro-USB cable (one came with your tablet).
Using a cheap cable will cause you headaches, and you don't won't to be flashing your recovery partition using a lousy cable.
Step4) Copy the needed files to your tablet's SD card.
In my case, those files were:
lineage-16.0-20190523-nightly-gts28vewifi-signed.zip (517MB)
addonsu-15.1-arm64-signed.zip (1MB)
open_gapps-arm64-9.0-nano-20190529.zip (175MB)
Do not copy it to the tablet's internal storage, as that's gonna get wiped out. You can make a new folder on the SD card or just put it in the root of the card. The simplest way to do this is to have your tablet powered up under the original factory OS and just plug it into your PC with the USB-to-micro-USB cable. It will appear in Windows as a device with two "folders" in it - one for internal storage and one for the SD card. Just drag and drop the files over.
Step 5) Let's flash that recovery! (this is the tricky part):
Make sure your tablet has at least 75% charge before you begin this step. If it doesn't charge it until it does.
Disconnect your tablet from your PC. (unplug the USB cable)
Unzip Odin to a folder - it doesn't really matter where, I put mine on my Desktop. It is handy if you copy the twrp .img.tar file into the Odin folder, but not necessary. When I started Odin, I right-clicked on it and clicked Run As Administrator, then clicked Yes to the windows pop-up. I probably did NOT need to do this, but I didn't want anything getting in the way when it came time to flash the recovery partition of my tablet.
With Odin open, you'll notice that all the blocks across the top are greyed out and blank. That's good because we haven't done anything yet. Notice the left-most small grey block has ID:COM written above it. When you plug in your tablet, it will show what COM port your tablet is on.
Before you plug in your tablet, you need to boot it into Download Mode. To do so, power off the tablet. Then hold the Home button, the Volume Down button, and the Power button at the same time. Within a few seconds, it will boot into a light blue screen that warns you about the dangers you are about to embark upon. Let go of the three buttons you're holding and tap the Volume Up button to let it know that you've got this and you're gonna make this tablet submit to your will! Once you press the Volume Up button, it will go to another light blue screen that says Download and has a message about not turning off the device.
Once you're at that light blue Download screen, you can plug your tablet into your PC with the USB cable. Almost immediately, the ID:COM box should turn green and show a com port number, such as COM4. If you don't get anything give it a minute. If nothing happens, then you may need to install drivers for your tablet. The easy way to do that is to install Samsung's official PC application. It used to be Kies, but now it is called Smart Switch. You can download it here:
https://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/app/smart-switch
If you need to install Smart Switch, close Odin and unplug the USB from your tablet. Take the tablet out of Download Mode while you take care of business installing Smart Switch. To get the tablet out of Download Mode hold the Home, Volume Down, and Power buttons at the same time for about 10 seconds. When the light blue screen goes away release the buttons or you'll end up back in Download Mode.
After installing Smart Switch, plug in your tablet via USB (make sure it is booted up in the stock OS, not in Download Mode) and make sure your PC detects the tablet and that you can copy files to/from the tablet. When it does, you're ready to disconnect the USB to the tablet and boot the tablet into Download Mode again. Then start Odin, then plug in the USB to the tablet and see if you get a nice green com port showing.
Now that you've got Odin running, the tablet connected, and the com port showing green, you're ready to flash TWRP. Click the AP button in Odin, which will open a standard Windows open-a-file window. Navigate to where you saved the twrp .img.tar file (in my case it was named twrp-3.3.1-0-gts28vewifi.img.tar). Select that file and click OK. Now the Odin window will show the location/filename of your twrp file next to the AP button.
On the left side of the Odin window, click on the Options tab. By default the Auto Reboot and F. Reset Time options will be checked. Uncheck the Auto Reboot option and MAKE SURE THE F. RESET TIME OPTION IS THE ONLY OPTION CHECKED!
Now you're ready to click the Start button which is what flashes the TWRP recovery to your tablet. Go ahead and click Start. The flash will take about 20 seconds or so, and when it is done, the grey blocks above the ID:COM block will be green and will say PASS and have a time under it. (It might have said OK instead of PASS, I can't remember now...) Anyway, you'll know it was OK because its green. If the flash did not work, it will be red and say FAIL! If it fails, make sure you specified the twrp .img.tar file with the AP button and NOT a twrp .img file. (common mistake - .img.tar files are for Odin and .img files are for Heimdall) You can also try rebooting your tablet back into Download Mode, and make sure it is seen by Odin (Odin shows the com port in green).
Assuming that Odin is green and OK, you're ready to unplug the tablet from the PC.
The next step is a little tricky so get your head right before you do it. You're going to reboot the tablet out of Download Mode and directly into Recovery. It is important that you do NOT allow the tablet to boot as normal into the OS. (That's because the stock OS will see that your recovery partition has been changed and it will change it back to the stock recovery and you'd have to start over and flash twrp again.). To make this happen correctly you have to hold the Home + Power +Volume Down at the same time, BUT as soon as the light blue screen goes away, let all three go, then hold Home + Power + Volume Up! So you're basically switching one finger from Volume Down to Volume Up. It may sound tricky, but it really isn't. Just be sure to switch as soon as the light blue screen goes away. Worst case, you miss it and it boots back into the factory OS and you have to do this whole step over again.
Step 6) Time to flash the OS and other goodies!
Once you completed the above step and successfully booted into TWRP recovery, you've completed the tricky parts. The rest is rather simple and done entirely on the tablet.
In TWRP Recovery tap the Install button. Tap the Select Storage button at the bottom. Select MicroSD from the list and tap OK. Now use the folder structure on-screen to navigate to where you saved the lineage OS, add-on-su, and gapps files. If you're smart, you saved them to the root of the SD card and they're already listed on the screen. Tap the Lineage OS file first (in my case it was the lineage-16.0-20190523-nightly-gts28vewifi-signed.zip file). The screen will change and have an Add More Zips button, tap it. Tap the add-on-su file (addonsu-15.1-arm64-signed.zip) and tap Add More Zips, and tap the Gapps file (open_gapps-arm64-9.0-nano-20190529.zip). Now you're ready to flash, so swipe the bar at the bottom to the right. It will start the flash and this will take a few minutes.
Now, I apologize for this next part, I didn't write down exactly what happened... but the gist of it is: the Data partition of my tablet was encrypted (according to TWRP, I hadn't encrypted it via the stock OS), and that messed up the flash. TWRP asked me about the encryption but I was unclear what option to pick. Obviously I picked wrong, because the result was that the flash didn't work, and the Data partition of my tablet was unwritable/unmountable for TWRP and the process blew a bunch of errors. The good part is that the fix was simple. I rebooted from TWRP back into TWRP (tap Reboot then tap Recovery). After rebooting back into TWRP, I tapped Wipe, then Advanced Wipe, checked the Data partition and swiped right. It wiped the encrypted Data partition, and I flashed the lineago OS, add-on-su, and gapps files again. That time it went perfectly. So, if you're reading this now, you may just want to save yourself a little bit of time and before you try to flash the first time, wipe the Data partition. Warning: there's no going back from this, your Data partition will be blank, so be sure to have backed it up before you started down this road, or be ready to proceed with flashing Lineage OS and don't look back.
When the flash process is complete (and error free), go ahead and tap the option to wipe your cache and davlik partitions, then reboot. Both options are on the screen that shows right after the flash process.
Step 7) Let it boot into Lineage OS and enable Root (or not)!
The first boot will take some time, so go get a drink and be patient. It didn't take a whole 10 minutes, but it seemed like it. Once it boots, it will take you through the Lineage/Android setup process. Go ahead through that, then if you want Root, go to Settings > About Tablet and tap the build number seven times, it will do a countdown as you tap to turn on Developer Mode. Hit the back button, tap System > Advanced > Developer Options and scroll down until you find Root Access. Tap it and select from the options: Disabled, Apps Only, ADB Only, Apps and ADB. I suggest Apps Only, as I don't need ADB. YMMV. You now have a rooted Samsung Galaxt Tab S2 with Lineage OS and TWRP. Congrats!
I seem to have painted myself into a corner. After the flashing step apparently I encountered the encryption problem, too. However, no matter what I try I cannot wipe the data partition. I just fails every time. I can get into TWRP. But if I let it try to boot normally I get an error that it needs a factory reset. Even letting it do that doesn't seem to help. Not sure what my next step should be.
EDIT:
Oh wait, I think I got it. What I did in this state was power off (using power button) and choose power off from the menu that pops up. Then I rebooted back into TWRP. Before I tried anything else I chose to format data then wipe data (probably redundant but I don't care). Then I reflashed the 3 packages. That seems to work now...
EDIT 2:
So yeah it did work. Thanks so much! I haven't had a rooted Android device in years. Nice to have that ability back. Wish I could do that to my phone (Verizon S10+).
Will this work for Tab S2 9.7 T813 too? What is the device name of it? gts210vewifi is that correct? So I just have to download the TWRP for gts210vewifi and follow the same guide? What is different to your guide compared to the Lineage OS guide https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/gts210vewifi/install ?
First of all, thank you very much for this detailed post. Worked like a charm on my client's T713.
The only thing I cannot do is enable encryption, it just reboots the phone. I've tried everything and am running into brick walls. My guy needs to get on work VPN, so encryption is a must. If anyone has an idea, please chime in, I'd be indebted to you.
I keep getting an error 255 and then I read you need to flash a 64 bit rom with an unofficial 64 bit twrp, which I can't find. Anyone know where I can find it or a link? Thanks.
To those having Error 7 while flashing, Open the updater-script file and add TZ.BF.3.0.3-00021 (If you android 6.0) or delete the assert lines altogether.
Man, I followed your instruction word in word and I didn't a single problem upgrading my Tab S2 713 from 7.0 stock to Lineage 16.0. I really appreciate the detailed instruction on how to do this.
Hey there. Found this guide as I recently got a tab s2 and it's very well written, but one step is really hard and it's the whole "boot into recovery from download mode". Whatever I try I can't get it to work.
I assume when you say to hold the Download mode combo (pwr+home+volDown) you mean while the screen is blue with the message "Downloading....". I do this and as soon as the screen turns off I switch to recovery combo (pwr+home+volUp) but I always land at the "Samsung Galaxy Tab S2" screen and it just stays there.
Is there a way to completely turn OFF the tablet from Download mode so I can start into recovery easier? I don't know why it's not working for me tbh. I've tried timing it, tried being a second earlier, later, whatever. Always the same thing. I fear I might be doing something wrong tbh.
(A note: I don't have the "enable unlock OEM" option in my developer options but apparently that means I don't need to enable it. Odin works just fine and I get a pass after 3 seconds. Oh, and my KNOX WARRANTY VOID: went from 0 to 1 so I assume it worked).
EDIT: I want to add my TabS2 is model SM-T815, in case that matters.
One must not click "install TWRP" or it will boot loop into recovery after loading the OS. This is very frustrating, make sure you do not load the TWRP app when installing!
Hope this saves someone time.
Thanks for this post! SUPER helpful.
any guide on how to enable encryption ?
I already format data using twrp 3.2.3.
I did that and now cannot get out of it. UGH
---------- Post added at 06:46 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:18 AM ----------
avongil911 said:
One must not click "install TWRP" or it will boot loop into recovery after loading the OS. This is very frustrating, make sure you do not load the TWRP app when installing!
Hope this saves someone time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any way to fix this? I screwed up and installed it.
Hi
Very detailed guide.
I am writing to ask for your help:
I managed to boot into TWRP after ODIN, but it seems i am unable to access micro sd card. There is the option micro sd but i can't select it. As a result, i can't flash lineage.
I click install - select storage -
Internal storage (0mb)
MicroSd (0mb)
USB OTG (0mb)
Do you have any ideas?
I have the lineageos files,gapps to sd card.
Should i proceed with TWRP--> Wipe, then Advanced Wipe-> Data partition -- swipe right, then should i able to access the sd card?
Edit: just tried wipe - advanced wipe - data - and i get Wipe complete: FAILED
could not mount/data and unable to find crypto footer.
Failed to mounf /data (invalid argument)
unable to recreate /data/media folder
Unable to mount storage
Hello. Does the fingerprint scanner work with lineage os ? Thanks in advance!
Edit: yes it does, found it
---------- Post added at 02:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:50 PM ----------
First time i got the failed to mount /data error.
I fixed it like this
Press back at recovery.
=> Wipe
=>advance wipe
=>check data
=>repair or change file system
=>ext2
swipe right
now go back, change file system again to ext4.
Now just install as per OPs instructions and all will be great.
morfeas-dsl- said:
Hello. Does the fingerprint scanner work with lineage os ? Thanks in advance!
Edit: yes it does, found it
---------- Post added at 02:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:50 PM ----------
Mine always fails with too many tries, so I just use a PIN.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lloydsw said:
morfeas-dsl- said:
Hello. Does the fingerprint scanner work with lineage os ? Thanks in advance!
Edit: yes it does, found it
---------- Post added at 02:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:50 PM ----------
Mine always fails with too many tries, so I just use a PIN.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try registering your fingerprint from different angles and sideways.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I have one issue, my father was given one by an older gentleman from his work its a brand new looking 713 it has been registered. however, the man does not remember what account nor the perspective password for this tablet, will this work without enabling OEM unlock? if not it goes back to being a fancy paperweight once again.
Sadly, it seem the OEM Unlock is blocked out for me on my S2 with July 2018 as the last update for it, Tried the change date back and auto off steps and such several times but it just does not appear, guess Samsung for even more greedy and blocked that method, so nice of them to make a $600 tablet a paper weight with a 3 year old OS stuck on it..Last time i buy a Samsung device.
morfeas-dsl- said:
lloydsw said:
Try registering your fingerprint from different angles and sideways.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Worked! Thanks you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello! Could I flash only TWRP and Magisk following this guide? I have Android 7.
I'd like also to know if the tablet would get formatted during these operations thank you in advance!
Ok, so... this is gonna be quite long to tell, but I need to explain the situation as carefully as possible because the problem I have seems to be very specific and potentially solutionless.
So, a week ago my Samung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite (SM-P610, CSC: ITV, which is the Italian Country Code and it's for unbranded devices, since my model is Wi-Fi only), suddenly started to restart itself and it's been stuck for days in a bootloop (i.e. it's stuck on the logo and if I hard restart it with Volume Down + Power, it gets stuck there again). Yesterday I found out that it's most likely a software problem, so re-installing the Android version should fix everything up... right? Well, I did just that but the device is still stuck on the bootloop.
Here I want to be more detailed: firstly, I'm 100% positive that the problem I have is NOT due to a virus, as I've never done ANYTHING that could potentially lead me to taking a virus (such as downloading apps outisde Google Play, visiting risky sites etc.); secondly, I followed a procedure that was supposed to repair my device without losing data. That's because I've stupidly never made a backup and I can't afford to make a factory reset. The procedure I followed consisted in finding the Android update I needed with Frija, and then downloading everything in the tablet with Odin. Also, I'm 100% positive that I made NO mistakes during the installation procedure. The only step that I did differently is HOW I installed the update: I did it with Download Mode, not with fastboot, because when I go into Recovery Mode and reboot the device into bootloader, the PC doesn't recognize my Tab, even if the PC does recognize that it's connected, as it makes the typical sound of when you plug something in a USB port (I have the USB drivers installed in my PC, I think it doesn't work because I never unlocked bootloader). What I get when I reboot into bootloader is "entering fastboot..." stuck screen and the PC and Odin aren't able to recognize it.
My questions are therefore these:
Is there a way to make a backup of the data of my device if I can't boot it (maybe via Download Mode)?
Is there a way to make fastboot work if I can't boot my device?
Is there some other way to repair my tablet that I can try?
Thank you for any help, this is my last hope to find a solution for my problem.
neo4458232 said:
When your device is stuck on an Android boot loop issue then you can fix it by simply doing a soft reset. Turn off your device and the problem will be resolved.
Here are the steps to follow:
First, switch off your device and take out your battery from the phone.
If your battery is non-removable then turn off the phone for 3 to 5 minutes and again turn it on.
This method works effectively to fix the error of the boot loop issue. But if a soft reset does not work for you to fix Android phones stuck in the boot loop issue then you should follow the next method.
Method 3: Reboot System in Recovery ModeRebooting a phone in the Recovery Mode is known for fixing several errors and issues on your Android phone. So, if you are unable to start your phone in normal mode or your Android is stuck in a reboot loop, then restart your phone in Recovery Mode.
Method 4: Remove and Reinsert SD CardYou may also try to remove the SD card to fix the boot loop in Android. According to several user reports, this trick worked for them. So, you should try this.
First, turn off your phone > remove the SD card > turn on your phone normally, and check if your phone is out from the boot loop or not.
If it is still stuck in the boot loop, then go for the other solution.
Method 5: Reboot the Phone in Safe ModeThis problem may also occur due to problematic 3rd party apps. If you have recently installed an app on your phone and then you started facing this issue, then remove it from your device.
Or, if you are not sure which app is responsible, then try rebooting your phone in safe mode. Doing this will disable all the third-party apps on your Android phone and then you can easily find out if this is the reason behind this issue or not.
To do this, you need to follow these steps:
Start rebooting your phone.
When the device logo appears on the screen, long-press the volume-down button at the same time.
Now, your phone will automatically switch to Safe mode.
If your phone is no more getting into the boot loop, then it means one of the third-party apps installed on the device was causing this issue.
Now, find out the problematic app and uninstall it to fix the Android boot loop without losing data.
Method 6: Use Custom Recovery ModeWhen you find your Android is stuck on the startup screen due to the boot loop issue, then you must try to restart the phone in the Custom Recovery mode. Here is the guide to do so:
To enter into the Custom Recovery mode press the Power + Volume down buttons simultaneously.
Select the “Advanced” option in the Custom Recovery menu.
Next, choose “Wipe Dalvik Cache”. Choose “Yes” when prompted for confirmation.
Move to the “Mounts and Storage” option and choose “format/cache”. It will clear the cache files completely.
Restart your device.
Method 7: Fix Android Bootloop Error Via CWM Recovery [For Rooted Phone]Maybe you are not aware of this method but it’s a useful way to fix the boot loop issue on Android after the update. Remember that this method is only for rooted phones. Here CWM means ClockworkMod and if your phone is stuck on the Android boot loop then it must be downloaded and installed on phone. Read me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for replying but I already tried every method listed here.
At this point it sounds like you need to bring it in to a local repair shop & see if they have a fix.
The solution is to wait on the turned on screen until the battery dies completely. Then put it to charge and after a bit using the reset combo (pwr+volume down) once the circular battery charging indicator with the green border comes. (It's a matter of luck, this keeps happening to my tablet and even the official samsung store can't fix it even though they took money to do the same)