Database Users

[Q] GT-i9500 has no OS installed.

Hi everyone I just recently purchased a used S4 the GT-i9500. Everything seemed fine until I got home. It detected my T-Mobile Sim fine but I could only access 2G data and could not connect to any WiFi network I came across. The rom was stock 4.2.2 and the phone was rooted pre purchase. So after fiddling around for a few minutes I discovered the previous owner had flashed TWRP v2.4.1.0 as his choice for a Custom Recovery. Now at this point I had decided to flash on a Custom Rom and of course I first made a backup before flashing on WanamLite. Now after attempting to flash it I immediately received a failure. I tried turning off the signature verification and it did not flash. Now in my frustration i attempted to wipe everything and tried flashing Omega Rom v14. Now i was able to go through with the installation and choose what I wished to install and when I pressed Install things went along smoothly until I hit the app SecSafetyAssurance.apk where it freezes. This is a bump that I've run into at least 5 times already. I changed certain options I wanted to install and eventually made it past this and I am prompted to reboot. Now when I do this to my dismay I just receive a black screen. Upon pulling out the battery and attempting to reboot I still receive a black screen. when I boot back into the Recovery and attempt to reboot the system from within TWRP it warns me saying No OS Installed Are you sure you want to reboot. Im at a loss of what to do. I have read about other members suggesting to use ODIN but I am very confused about how to access Download Mode in order to flash a stock rom from SamMobile.com. I could use a few tips or maybe a few options that I'm left with in order to obtain the operation of my phone again. I would like to get my phone back and Im sure some users can relate to how Im feeling so any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much in advanced!

JmastahJay56 said:
Hi everyone I just recently purchased a used S4 the GT-i9500. Everything seemed fine until I got home. It detected my T-Mobile Sim fine but I could only access 2G data and could not connect to any WiFi network I came across. The rom was stock 4.2.2 and the phone was rooted pre purchase. So after fiddling around for a few minutes I discovered the previous owner had flashed TWRP v2.4.1.0 as his choice for a Custom Recovery. Now at this point I had decided to flash on a Custom Rom and of course I first made a backup before flashing on WanamLite. Now after attempting to flash it I immediately received a failure. I tried turning off the signature verification and it did not flash. Now in my frustration i attempted to wipe everything and tried flashing Omega Rom v14. Now i was able to go through with the installation and choose what I wished to install and when I pressed Install things went along smoothly until I hit the app SecSafetyAssurance.apk where it freezes. This is a bump that I've run into at least 5 times already. I changed certain options I wanted to install and eventually made it past this and I am prompted to reboot. Now when I do this to my dismay I just receive a black screen. Upon pulling out the battery and attempting to reboot I still receive a black screen. when I boot back into the Recovery and attempt to reboot the system from within TWRP it warns me saying No OS Installed Are you sure you want to reboot. Im at a loss of what to do. I have read about other members suggesting to use ODIN but I am very confused about how to access Download Mode in order to flash a stock rom from SamMobile.com. I could use a few tips or maybe a few options that I'm left with in order to obtain the operation of my phone again. I would like to get my phone back and Im sure some users can relate to how Im feeling so any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much in advanced!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well first thing is get the latest stock firmware for your variant from my sign and get odin 3.07
For download mode power off phone unplug,, press volume down home and power all together till something pops up and release then press volume up and connect to pc
Open odin click pda and select that firmware u downloaded start the process
For more info check my sign help thread link it has more options on the same
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JmastahJay56 said:
Hi everyone I just recently purchased a used S4 the GT-i9500. Everything seemed fine until I got home. It detected my T-Mobile Sim fine but I could only access 2G data and could not connect to any WiFi network I came across. The rom was stock 4.2.2 and the phone was rooted pre purchase. So after fiddling around for a few minutes I discovered the previous owner had flashed TWRP v2.4.1.0 as his choice for a Custom Recovery. Now at this point I had decided to flash on a Custom Rom and of course I first made a backup before flashing on WanamLite. Now after attempting to flash it I immediately received a failure. I tried turning off the signature verification and it did not flash. Now in my frustration i attempted to wipe everything and tried flashing Omega Rom v14. Now i was able to go through with the installation and choose what I wished to install and when I pressed Install things went along smoothly until I hit the app SecSafetyAssurance.apk where it freezes. This is a bump that I've run into at least 5 times already. I changed certain options I wanted to install and eventually made it past this and I am prompted to reboot. Now when I do this to my dismay I just receive a black screen. Upon pulling out the battery and attempting to reboot I still receive a black screen. when I boot back into the Recovery and attempt to reboot the system from within TWRP it warns me saying No OS Installed Are you sure you want to reboot. Im at a loss of what to do. I have read about other members suggesting to use ODIN but I am very confused about how to access Download Mode in order to flash a stock rom from SamMobile.com. I could use a few tips or maybe a few options that I'm left with in order to obtain the operation of my phone again. I would like to get my phone back and Im sure some users can relate to how Im feeling so any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much in advanced!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flashing through odin is one option.... some users have reported that there were some hiccups when installing omega 14 because of the aroma script.....try a different rom...there are many others to choose from....or you could flash stock via odin as said on the earlier comment good luck

Feedback
Today I attempted to use ODIN to flash now I am still currently attempting this. When I press the volume down key, power, and home button it takes me to the custom recovery TWRP instead of download mode. The phone did this when I first purchased it. When I still had what appeared to be the stock rom it would always take me to the recovery. When I would use the volume up instead of down it would take me to the factory test mode now mind you this happened when the OS was still installed. When i try that combination now i just receive a blank black screen. Are there any other ways to boot into download mode?

[Q] Seems like I've got corruption of some kind...

ATT Galaxy S4 currently running Goldeneye 6.0 and TWRP 2.6.0.0 (never installed MF3 base, but have tried both MF3 and MDL modems)
First odd thing...
[About->Status->Device Status] is listed as "Sd card" instead of the more common "Official" or "Custom".
Anybody know what that means or is telling me?
This is the latest thing I've noticed with my phone, which has been having all sorts of issues lately that I cannot seem to figure out. My main problem is, I can reinstall a new ROM, boot into the ROM, change settings around, reboot just fine, but, as soon as I install anything from the Play Store, the next reboot will hang on the initial Samsung splash screen. Wiping is the only fix I've found, and fixing permissions in TWRP errors out with an error that it cannot chown one of the new/updated .apk files.
Both Goldeneye 5 and 6 are doing this now (5.0 was installed and rock solid for several weeks before this all showed up...it started sometime after I decided to try out a couple of the aroma roms and then came back to GE).
Used ODIN to go back to factory rom, re-rooted/installed TWRP, then reinstalled GE6.0, but the same thing happened. Everything looked good until I ran updates from the store, then I was stuck again (note: used Root Explorer to check to permissions on the updated apks before rebooting and they were all correct (755)).
Other things I've noticed are:
1. Sometimes, on any reboot, the startup locks at the initial Samsung screen and I have to long press the power button to get it to reboot. It usually boots the second time around (this is before I install any additional apps and am completely unable to reboot).
2. Sometimes when wiping cache, davlik, and/or data, TWRP will seem to hang for up to a minute when trying to initialize the partition. A couple of times it even hard reboot my phone when I did a cache+davlik wipe.
3. I rolled back to a recovery image just fine; however, it was a couple months old. Everything started off looking great, but once I updated to a new ROM, my issues returned.
Trying Heimdall to go back to factory; however, I'm having issue with my laptop and getting the Zadig drivers installed. While I'm working that out, figured I'd see if anyone else has any suggestions on what else I should be trying or looking out.
thx

I would flash your phone back to MDL stock with odin using the mdl tar. This should format your paritions correctly. You could also reinstall MDL using kies since they still don't support MF3.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2

[Q] Can't wipe or factory reset encrypted phone

I made the mistake of encrypting my phone and am now paying the price. It is rooted and I had installed the Google Edition 4.4.2 ROM by Danvdh, Kryten2k35 & Ktoonsez. I'm using TWRP 2.7.0.1.
I first tried going into recovery and doing a factory reset and got the an "Unable to mount '/data'" error, followed by a big red FAIL. So I rebooted into the system and tried to do a factory reset from there. Went through all the steps, phone rebooted into recovery and I got the same error - unable to mount.
So I did a bit of searching on the forums here and someone had suggested using the format option in TWRP. So I did that and it seemed to work - did not get the dreaded unable to mount error. So I tried flashing the new rom (the updated version from a couple of weeks ago). Got a message indicating it was successful. Rebooted, and to my dismay, got the prompt for the encryption password. Saw the little line drawing Android, then... nothing - I found myself in brick land.
Managed to get back into TWRP and, based on another post I found, tried Advanced Wipe, selecting everything except Micro SDcard and USB-OTG. Tried installing the new ROM again, says successful, but nothing has changed - I still boot into blackness after inputting my encryption password.
Not sure what else to try. Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

not_su said:
I made the mistake of encrypting my phone and am now paying the price. It is rooted and I had installed the Google Edition 4.4.2 ROM by Danvdh, Kryten2k35 & Ktoonsez. I'm using TWRP 2.7.0.1.
I first tried going into recovery and doing a factory reset and got the an "Unable to mount '/data'" error, followed by a big red FAIL. So I rebooted into the system and tried to do a factory reset from there. Went through all the steps, phone rebooted into recovery and I got the same error - unable to mount.
So I did a bit of searching on the forums here and someone had suggested using the format option in TWRP. So I did that and it seemed to work - did not get the dreaded unable to mount error. So I tried flashing the new rom (the updated version from a couple of weeks ago). Got a message indicating it was successful. Rebooted, and to my dismay, got the prompt for the encryption password. Saw the little line drawing Android, then... nothing - I found myself in brick land.
Managed to get back into TWRP and, based on another post I found, tried Advanced Wipe, selecting everything except Micro SDcard and USB-OTG. Tried installing the new ROM again, says successful, but nothing has changed - I still boot into blackness after inputting my encryption password.
Not sure what else to try. Any suggestions would be most appreciated.
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Click to collapse
Can you go into download mode, revert back to a stock rom (or flash a stock one or something) and turn encryption off? edit: on further research it looks like the only way to completely unencrypt is to reset your device. dunno if that's something you'd want to try, but considering you already wiped multiple times.. i'd say try it?
Also what carrier do you have? That's pretty important. AT&Ts i337 and Verizon's variant cannot flash AOSP roms (more specifically, kernels) due to the bootloader being locked. That might be the issue you're experiencing? I looked up the ROM and it's using ktoonsez kernel, so I imagine that'd be why. Someone just made a version that does not include the kernel and has multiple issues the ROM you're trying to use fixed here.

Rhymey said:
Can you go into download mode, revert back to a stock rom (or flash a stock one or something) and turn encryption off? edit: on further research it looks like the only way to completely unencrypt is to reset your device. dunno if that's something you'd want to try, but considering you already wiped multiple times.. i'd say try it?
Thanks - that's exactly what I've been trying to do. I haven't tried reflashing back to stock with Odin though. Hmmm...
Also what carrier do you have? That's pretty important. AT&Ts i337 and Verizon's variant cannot flash AOSP roms (more specifically, kernels) due to the bootloader being locked. That might be the issue you're experiencing? I looked up the ROM and it's using ktoonsez kernel, so I imagine that'd be why. Someone just made a version that does not include the kernel and has multiple issues the ROM you're trying to use fixed here.
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Click to collapse
Bell, up here in the Great White North. I don't think locked bootloader is an issue - I was on the previous version of Danvdh's ROM, and everything was hunkydory. I just made the unfortunate decision to encrypt. Big mistake.
May try flashing back to stock. Nothing to lose, at this stage...
Thanks!

Hey just wanted to mention for the benefit of anyone else who got into this bind, flashing back to stock using Odin did the trick. Still wouldn't boot, but then I rebooted into stock recovery and did a factory reset, and finally was able to reboot back into stock. What a nightmare. Ugh. Thanks for the tip though - never occurred to me to try to go back to stock. Lesson learned though - no more encryption for me!

not_su said:
Hey just wanted to mention for the benefit of anyone else who got into this bind, flashing back to stock using Odin did the trick. Still wouldn't boot, but then I rebooted into stock recovery and did a factory reset, and finally was able to reboot back into stock. What a nightmare. Ugh. Thanks for the tip though - never occurred to me to try to go back to stock. Lesson learned though - no more encryption for me!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to hear. Should be able to flash to the rom once again no problem now that it's unencrypted!

[Q] Black screen after installing Xposed

Hey guys,
So I've got a problem. When I had originally rooted my phone in the beginning, I hadn't installed safestrap; I installed everything else: busybox, superuser, etc. So I kept on regularly using my phone and what not, updating and making sure I kept root. I was able to follow muniz_ri's tutorials to stay up to date and keep root. So eventually I was on OE1 stock rooted rom and had stopped there (accidentally accepted an OTA update after OE1 so I quickly froze the update thing [forget what it's called] through TiBU, hence not being on the most current firmware).
I wanted Snapprefs but needed Xposed. And to get Xposed, you need safestrap (from my understanding). I followed this to get safestrap (I think that's what the overall goal of the tutorial was for) and got safestrap working. Then, tried to install xposed using this and this. Successfully got the app, but then it said something along the lines of "you have not installed the framework" or something like that (that would be the zip file that I had to download right? The file that came from following the flow chart?). Used safestrap to install the framework (aforementioned zip file), then rebooted. However, after the Samsung Galaxy S5 menu and the safestrap menu, the screen just stays black. There is nothing. When I have my phone connected to the computer, the computer makes its jingle like it recognizes it (however, nothing comes up on the computer), the phone stays black for 2-3 minutes maybe, then boots into recovery mode (not safestrap recovery but stock recovery, where you use the volume buttons). I did a wipe data/factory reset (or whatever the option is called) in the stock recovery menu hoping it would fix something but it didn't. Just trying to include as much info as possible. Would flashing with this in Odin help? Read somewhere that it would put me back at square one so I could do everything over again, which I am not opposed to. However, I thought you couldn't downgrade from OE1 or anything higher?
I'm at a loss as to what to do next. Searched everywhere but couldn't find anyone with the same problem as me. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks guys!
P.S. Sorry for going parentheses crazy

Found out what to do right after posting. Had to flash the BOE1 factory tar image in ODIN so back to stock, unrooted with all this bloat
Will be checking back periodically in hopes of a root method for latest firmware.

[SM-T530] Screen "frozen" after flashing stock 5.0 Lolipop

So I've been having this strange issue for a year now, where I want to upgrade my SM-T530 (Tab4 10.1 wifi) to the stock Lolipop (5.0.whatever) ROM in order to get the damn kernel updated so I can access all these wonderful custom ROMs (Stuck on CM 12 atm...).
But whenever I flash a stock ROM for my model, it seems to freeze the screen after the boatloader. As in, everything seems to be working, sound and touchscreen, it just doesn't update/refresh the screen. Basically, the same behaviour as described in this post.
So here's the steps I took, in the hope that anyone can point me in the right direction:
Boot tablet in recovery (TWRP 3.0.1, in this case) and wipe Dalvik, /data, /cache, /system, basically everything)
Reboot tablet into bootloader/download mode
Using Odin 3.11.1, flash T530XXU1BOL2_T530PHN1BOE1_HOME.tar.md5 (Found here, which should be the correct ROM for my model (Bought in the Netherlands, but I have no idea where you folks are pulling this T530XX stuff from, it's nowhere to be found on the back))
Reboot tablet
After the 4th step, the tablet will be unresponsive for ~10 minutes (I think it's doing the whole "upgrading apps" thing that follows a new installation). After that, when I hit a certain area of the screen, I can hear the regular Android touchresponse, raising the volume also give the normal beeps and pushing the power button plays the "turning off screen" sound, but the screen stays active, showing the Samsung Galaxy Tab4 boot logo.
Soooo... Anyone care to take a guess what I'm doing wrong?
Personally, I think it might have to do with flashing the incorrect stock ROM, but for the life of me, I can't find out which T530-code I have. I've been flashing different ROMs, but no luck so far...
As for troubleshooting I've already tried:
The above procedure, afterwards flashed TWRP via Odin and flashed a custom ROM via TWRP. Same effect.
Variations of the above procedure, where I keep wiping the tablet after each step
Different custom ROMs

Ugh, nevermind.
Turns out I have an UK tablet (BTU-T530XXU1BOG2). After flashing a dozen or so ROMs, this one did the trick.
Oh well, problem solved :good: