Database Users

Possibly bricked forever - Stuck at Sumsung logo endless reboot

Stupid thing is that I can do everything to it aside from getting it to boot all the way to work! I tried reflashing OEM roms and I tried custom roms. They all work just fine and it just won't boot all the way. I can turn it on and off, use format option, download mode and magldr. I keep my sim out and memory card. Before this all happened I always used OEM OS. Last thing I did was check my bank account, close the browser and click the power button to turn it into sleep mode. Few weeks ago I did have an issue with it for a day. It kept turning on and off constantly boot to random points. Mostly to the AT&T screen. It would boot all the way rarely and I got it to stay on a couple times for about 10 mins to copy all my stuff from it. Is it possibly something to do with the hardware being a POS and Just crapping out for no reason because cell phones are poorly made expensive bricks?

I've seen this issue across the forum several times. Unfortunately, just one case seemed to "return" to life, without understanding the reasons behind the "lapse".
What I can suggest you can do (and feel free to disagree) is get in touch with Cottula (creator of MAGLDR) and see if you can help you. You can send him the phone, maybe he can analyze it and get something out of it.
GL, mate, and if you find a solution, I'm sure other folks here would be glad to hear it.

Ahhh ok thats what I figured. I browsed a bit, but most of what I saw is people couldn't do anything. I didn't see anyone saying they could do as much as what I can do with it. I'll try your advice and see if maybe he could help. I took apart the phone to see if maybe someone came loose, though I saw nothing. Clean as a whistle. What I think maybe happen is it burnt up finally. I notice at times it would run extremely hot, mostly when I'm talking on it for more then an hour.

Well, for your sake I hope it's not burned out (hardware issue). I hope it has some software component that's screwed and that has a chance of being investigated and maybe fixed.
Also, the getting hot while talking/browsing for periods more than 30 min it's a known issue. It's however supposed to be quite warm, but not actually really hot, if you know what I mean. It it however possible that exposing the phone to higher temperatures to cause hardware issues.
In any case, I wish you good luck. Who knows?

I gave AT&T a call to see what they could do. The software warranty is 6 months past and she wasn't able to override anything that much passed over. Though I was able to get my 2 years wavered and get a early upgrade. So I got myself a Xperia Ion. I'm happy I don't have to put up with a flip phone for another 4 months. lol
I tried working on my focus a bit more playing with zune and other programs I found. Though I don't see it coming back to life trying all the different ROMs. I would think to make it work again is to re-flash the actual phone bios itself. Just like a computer starting it still uses DOS then loads the OS. I don't know how a phone works to much, but I'd assume same process. Something to do with the root-root of the phone telling it to be stupid and not boot properly.
Another note, where is the best place to sell this to get some money out of it? Screen and other pieces of its hardware are 100%. Should I try ebaying it?

I had a similar issue, last thing i did was removing the SD card before re-flashing the MGLDR and custom ROM

Samsung S5 reboots casually, and then does not boot for a certain period of time

Hi,
Not sure if it's a right place to ask, but let it be my first post here. I own an S5 device, and it's sort of crazy. Let me explain.
Three months ago my device suddenly rebooted and got almost-soft-bricked in sense of being unable to boot to the operating mode normally: its display just got black after the splash screen, however I could tap the display and watch 1 FPS "live stream" using `adb screencap` at my PC. So the device was not dead and I could take out all private not synced data I needed (it was really hard once for an application that has the backup facility disabled in its application manifest) -- blind tapping everywhere. My first attempt to fix the device was re-flashing another compatible ROM having all important data backed up. Well, I got it bricked and could not boot anymore. The recovery mode was not available (the device just frozen if trying to enter the recovery), however I could enter the download mode.
Unfortunately, no reflashing helped, so I decided to let it be fixed by a repaire service (since an official Samsung service center in my country has rejected the repair request _with payment_ because the device was not intended for sale here -- well, "thanks Samsung"). Ok, the alternative service took the device and asked almost a half of the device price for the display replace. Honestly, I forgot to ask why there was an idea to replace the display if it worked perfect while it was waiting in the Download mode. Again, it just got black after the splash screen, but the display worked fine in the Download mode until the device was powered off or reset. So after a few days they gave it back to me, and the device was really good now -- it worked fine. They also re-fllashed the device to Android 6 (previously Android 5) and the device was unrooted. Well, that's fine to me.
But after a few hours of rooting, testing and re-installing the software and migrating the data back to the device, the device rebooted again being unable to boot to the "operating mode". Now it just got stuck at the Samsung S5 splash screen or rebooted in a loop. But after a long time (it might took more than a day; the battery seems to be inserted in the device and not pulled off) the device was able to boot normally and (this might be odd) upgrade the installed apps. If I remember, this was a cyan screen with two or three animated white gears. So about 150 apps were upgraded and the normal "operating" mode activated -- so I could use the device. Now after working a few hours, the device falls into a reboot loop / splash freeze coma again for undetermined time, and then, for unknown to me reason, the device woke up.
In short:
1) The device reboots or shuts down suddenly.
2) Instant rebooting does not work for whatever reason.
3) Just wait for some undetermined time without the device battery pulled off.
4) ... It boots again.
5) The upgrading process starts after the boot.
6) Working with the device until paragraph 1: "The device reboots or shuts down suddenly".
Now I don't know if it's a hardware or a software issue: the repair service guys didn't explain much, and now I'm feeling cheated for the replacement of the display that worked perfect in the Download mode that I gave half device price just because it was an idea of theirs. Yes, I have the repair warranty paper for their service, but I just would like to know the real context.
What I could be deservedly blamed for:
* I rooted the device after their repair in a wrong way.
* When I rooted the device, I removed most Samsung bloatware I used to remove earlier. I don't tend to think that I could kill some important software, though. But, to me, it's hard to believe that a software issue might cause such an odd device behavior (I mean the booting just after a certain period of time).
So... I would really and really appreciate getting the real issue behind the symptoms or just a hint spark of light to reveal possible root causes. And was I really cheated by the repair service?
* My device: Samsung SM-G900P S5, Sprint
* Firmware before the repair: stock, Android 5.0.x (?), root, most Samsung bloatware removed
* Firmware after the repair: stock, Android 6.0.1, root, most Samsung bloatware removed (yes, the bloatware list difference is significant now)
* The battery: seems to work fine and does not get drained when the device is in coma
Thank you!

hurricane flow said:
Hi,
Not sure if it's a right place to ask, but let it be my first post here. I own an S5 device, and it's sort of crazy. Let me explain.
Three months ago my device suddenly rebooted and got almost-soft-bricked in sense of being unable to boot to the operating mode normally: its display just got black after the splash screen, however I could tap the display and watch 1 FPS "live stream" using `adb screencap` at my PC. So the device was not dead and I could take out all private not synced data I needed (it was really hard once for an application that has the backup facility disabled in its application manifest) -- blind tapping everywhere. My first attempt to fix the device was re-flashing another compatible ROM having all important data backed up. Well, I got it bricked and could not boot anymore. The recovery mode was not available (the device just frozen if trying to enter the recovery), however I could enter the download mode.
Unfortunately, no reflashing helped, so I decided to let it be fixed by a repaire service (since an official Samsung service center in my country has rejected the repair request _with payment_ because the device was not intended for sale here -- well, "thanks Samsung"). Ok, the alternative service took the device and asked almost a half of the device price for the display replace. Honestly, I forgot to ask why there was an idea to replace the display if it worked perfect while it was waiting in the Download mode. Again, it just got black after the splash screen, but the display worked fine in the Download mode until the device was powered off or reset. So after a few days they gave it back to me, and the device was really good now -- it worked fine. They also re-fllashed the device to Android 6 (previously Android 5) and the device was unrooted. Well, that's fine to me.
But after a few hours of rooting, testing and re-installing the software and migrating the data back to the device, the device rebooted again being unable to boot to the "operating mode". Now it just got stuck at the Samsung S5 splash screen or rebooted in a loop. But after a long time (it might took more than a day; the battery seems to be inserted in the device and not pulled off) the device was able to boot normally and (this might be odd) upgrade the installed apps. If I remember, this was a cyan screen with two or three animated white gears. So about 150 apps were upgraded and the normal "operating" mode activated -- so I could use the device. Now after working a few hours, the device falls into a reboot loop / splash freeze coma again for undetermined time, and then, for unknown to me reason, the device woke up.
In short:
1) The device reboots or shuts down suddenly.
2) Instant rebooting does not work for whatever reason.
3) Just wait for some undetermined time without the device battery pulled off.
4) ... It boots again.
5) The upgrading process starts after the boot.
6) Working with the device until paragraph 1: "The device reboots or shuts down suddenly".
Now I don't know if it's a hardware or a software issue: the repair service guys didn't explain much, and now I'm feeling cheated for the replacement of the display that worked perfect in the Download mode that I gave half device price just because it was an idea of theirs. Yes, I have the repair warranty paper for their service, but I just would like to know the real context.
What I could be deservedly blamed for:
* I rooted the device after their repair in a wrong way.
* When I rooted the device, I removed most Samsung bloatware I used to remove earlier. I don't tend to think that I could kill some important software, though. But, to me, it's hard to believe that a software issue might cause such an odd device behavior (I mean the booting just after a certain period of time).
So... I would really and really appreciate getting the real issue behind the symptoms or just a hint spark of light to reveal possible root causes. And was I really cheated by the repair service?
* My device: Samsung SM-G900P S5, Sprint
* Firmware before the repair: stock, Android 5.0.x (?), root, most Samsung bloatware removed
* Firmware after the repair: stock, Android 6.0.1, root, most Samsung bloatware removed (yes, the bloatware list difference is significant now)
* The battery: seems to work fine and does not get drained when the device is in coma
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
someone said after an OTA to 6.0.1 it borked the phone into a reboot loop too. I had mine rooted for maybe a week or 2 and now I have reboot Loops, not even twrp can fix this issue. I am trying a battery like this person said here http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s5/help/marshmallow-6-0-1-ota-update-boot-loop-t3425838,
spending 9 bux and change beats spending 250 for another Unlocked G900T
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s5/help/marshmallow-6-0-1-ota-update-boot-loop-t3425838

eidairaman1 said:
someone said after an OTA to 6.0.1 it borked the phone into a reboot loop too. I had mine rooted for maybe a week or 2 and now I have reboot Loops, not even twrp can fix this issue. I am trying a battery like this person said here http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s5/help/marshmallow-6-0-1-ota-update-boot-loop-t3425838,
spending 9 bux and change beats spending 250 for another Unlocked G900T
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s5/help/marshmallow-6-0-1-ota-update-boot-loop-t3425838
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hm, that's interesting, thank you. I also noticed that the loop happens after some time only, it's like the more you have your phone running in the normal mode, the more your phone can get into the loop again. However, I don't think it's a battery overheat issue or so (sorry, I may use silly terms not being an expert at all). So in short:
1) After some pretty long power-off time you power on the device. It's working really stable unless...
2) ... unless something happens (battery? some intricate software or hardware issue?) and the device gets rebooted.
3) Here comes the boot loop, and usually no reboot helps to get out of the reboot loop.
4) Just power off the device and let it just be alone for some time, and now you're back to the step 1 until the "unless..."
My coma device is powered off for long time (thus I think that the step 4 still works for me after that long time) and I'm going to give it to the repair service again, just comparing what the service guys say and what the forum folks say.

I will follow up on the battery swap when mine arrives.

hurricane flow said:
Hm, that's interesting, thank you. I also noticed that the loop happens after some time only, it's like the more you have your phone running in the normal mode, the more your phone can get into the loop again. However, I don't think it's a battery overheat issue or so (sorry, I may use silly terms not being an expert at all). So in short:
1) After some pretty long power-off time you power on the device. It's working really stable unless...
2) ... unless something happens (battery? some intricate software or hardware issue?) and the device gets rebooted.
3) Here comes the boot loop, and usually no reboot helps to get out of the reboot loop.
4) Just power off the device and let it just be alone for some time, and now you're back to the step 1 until the "unless..."
My coma device is powered off for long time (thus I think that the step 4 still works for me after that long time) and I'm going to give it to the repair service again, just comparing what the service guys say and what the forum folks say.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I received a battery yesterday, charged it up and started using it today, no reboots or bootloops so far.
The battery that came in my phone was made in china, the one I just got yesterday was made in Vietnam.
I'm wondering if Samsung really needs to stop using china to make batteries lol, Surefire flashlights state not to use batteries made in china lol.

eidairaman1 said:
I received a battery yesterday, charged it up and started using it today, no reboots or bootloops so far.
The battery that came in my phone was made in china, the one I just got yesterday was made in Vietnam.
I'm wondering if Samsung really needs to stop using china to make batteries lol, Surefire flashlights state not to use batteries made in china lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hm, that's really interesting. It's hard to believe that replacing the old battery might affect it that much and get rid of bootloops -- I mean, I just thought that it might be a software/firmware failure (let's say I removed some system apps [actually Samsung bloatware] improperly), or something very core hardware might fail, but I have never thought of a batter as the root cause. Hard to say, sorry. But I'll take your solution into account. Thank you!

hurricane flow said:
Hm, that's really interesting. It's hard to believe that replacing the old battery might affect it that much and get rid of bootloops -- I mean, I just thought that it might be a software/firmware failure (let's say I removed some system apps [actually Samsung bloatware] improperly), or something very core hardware might fail, but I have never thought of a batter as the root cause. Hard to say, sorry. But I'll take your solution into account. Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought it was a bad rom flash as well or SuperSU causing it, well I found another article stating they replaced the battery and the issue went away. I think the phone was stating a bad POST so it would restart

Can my Note 4 be saved?

I've got a Note 4 (AT&T SM-N910A) that is having a problem with reboot looping. I've read some of the posts on this issue, but the solutions I've tried so far haven't worked. I'm kind of overwhelmed by the number of posts on this issue and trying to find solutions. I just want to list some of the symptoms I've had and things I've tried, and if anybody can suggest anything else to try I'd really appreciate it.
The phone started rebooting constantly, sometimes it makes to the home screen before rebooting, sometimes it doesn't even make it past the initial Samsung logo.
It rapidly got worse, the phone was completely locking up during various phases of booting up.
Plugging it into the charger doesn't help.
Completely drained and then charged the battery, didn't help.
Removed the microSD and SIM cards.
I just got a new battery, which didn't solve the problem, but improved so at least it is no longer locking up during the boot process.
Booted in safe mode, didn't improve.
I put the phone in the freezer for a couple of hours. This gave me enough time to install Wake Lock and enable the PARTIAL_WAKE_LOCK mode.
After the freezer and wake lock, I had maybe 5 minutes to transfer some files from internal storage before the reboot started up again.
I can get into recovery mode, where it seems stable, but I don't know if that can help me at all.
At this point I'm only hoping to recover some files from internal storage, then it's time to be done with this phone. Kind of sad that a smartphone that was an $800+ "flagship" barely lasts two years. Thanks

thepieguy said:
I've got a Note 4 (AT&T SM-N910A) that is having a problem with reboot looping. I've read some of the posts on this issue, but the solutions I've tried so far haven't worked. I'm kind of overwhelmed by the number of posts on this issue and trying to find solutions. I just want to list some of the symptoms I've had and things I've tried, and if anybody can suggest anything else to try I'd really appreciate it.
The phone started rebooting constantly, sometimes it makes to the home screen before rebooting, sometimes it doesn't even make it past the initial Samsung logo.
It rapidly got worse, the phone was completely locking up during various phases of booting up.
Plugging it into the charger doesn't help.
Completely drained and then charged the battery, didn't help.
Removed the microSD and SIM cards.
I just got a new battery, which didn't solve the problem, but improved so at least it is no longer locking up during the boot process.
Booted in safe mode, didn't improve.
I put the phone in the freezer for a couple of hours. This gave me enough time to install Wake Lock and enable the PARTIAL_WAKE_LOCK mode.
After the freezer and wake lock, I had maybe 5 minutes to transfer some files from internal storage before the reboot started up again.
I can get into recovery mode, where it seems stable, but I don't know if that can help me at all.
At this point I'm only hoping to recover some files from internal storage, then it's time to be done with this phone. Kind of sad that a smartphone that was an $800+ "flagship" barely lasts two years. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You probably have hardware that is failing (most likely the memory chips on the motherboard). On any of the reboots have you seen a screen like this: http://thedroidguy.com/2015/12/could-not-do-normal-boot-mmc_read-failed-error-on-galaxy-note-4-1052795 ? I've been told that the "ddi : mmc_read failed" message is an indication that the memory chips on the memory board are failing.
It's probably time to contact Samsung Customer Support (1-800-SAMSUNG). That's what I finally did and they repaired my Verizon Note 4 for $70.31 to "like new" condition. See my post here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=71863607&postcount=310.
Your mileage may vary, however. Someone else took the same approach and it is going to cost them more. See post here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=72258958&postcount=313. You don't have to agree to Samsung's repair estimate if you think it is too high. My understanding is that if you refuse they will send the phone back for no charge. Before I sent mine in I had mentally set an upper repair limit of $150 since you can still buy new Verizon Note 4's on Amazon for about $300.
Good luck.

Dwillian said:
You probably have hardware that is failing (most likely the memory chips on the motherboard). On any of the reboots have you seen a screen like this: http://thedroidguy.com/2015/12/could-not-do-normal-boot-mmc_read-failed-error-on-galaxy-note-4-1052795 ? I've been told that the "ddi : mmc_read failed" message is an indication that the memory chips on the memory board are failing.
It's probably time to contact Samsung Customer Support (1-800-SAMSUNG). That's what I finally did and they repaired my Verizon Note 4 for $70.31 to "like new" condition. See my post here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=71863607&postcount=310.
Your mileage may vary, however. Someone else took the same approach and it is going to cost them more. See post here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=72258958&postcount=313. You don't have to agree to Samsung's repair estimate if you think it is too high. My understanding is that if you refuse they will send the phone back for no charge. Before I sent mine in I had mentally set an upper repair limit of $150 since you can still buy new Verizon Note 4's on Amazon for about $300.
Good luck.
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Click to collapse
Hey thanks for your input. I haven't seen any kind of error screens pop up. $70 to have your phone reconditioned is a really good score for you. I was able to pull my phone from the freezer several times and at least got all of my photos and videos off, which was my primary goal.

Don't try this at home: my unrepeatable and highly dubious N4 "MMC_read_failed" fix

Don't try this at home: my unrepeatable and highly dubious N4 "MMC_read_failed" fix
DON'T Try this at HOME! What follows is *NOT* a suggestion, a solution, or a method of rescuing Note 4 phones with that hideous "ddi : mmc_read failed" error. What it is? One man's absurd approach to fixing a phone that (maybe) worked but was so hit and miss only a real technician would be able to figure out where things actually when right.... *if* they even did. So.....
A friend running a company's phone systems knew I loved my Galaxy Note 4. Yesterday, he handed me another one and said "I can't fix this. I don't think you can. But maybe you can have some fun, and at least use it for parts if you lose your stylus or something."
That's an s-pen not a stylus, but he doesn't use one so.... Onward.
Sure enough, after a few hours monkeying around in vain, I knew this phone was twisted. Odin couldn't touch it; kept saying there was 'no PIT.' Really? I felt myself falling into one...
Did I mention that each time I had to leave recovery (the factory version, not TWRP, alas!) the phone decided it was done working altogether for a while? I at first took to discharging extra electricity by pulling the battery and then holding down all the buttons for a while. Later (some hours, because I am a teeny obsessive) I started putting it in a baggie and then in the freezer.
WHAT?! Oh, yes.... This freezer trick sounds just about as idiotic as anything you (or I!) have ever read on xda or any other geek board. BUT... it does cool the innards so much that it helps marginal equipment run a touch slower. Or so the rationale goes. It did... *ALMOST*... work. Flashed 3/4 of a rom and then the phone blew chunks and Odin sighed and let the session expire.
So. Now, looking at a phone that after all was a spare and probably irredeemable, I decided it was time to go roughshod. If that dang ddi : mmc_read failed message would not leave one way, maybe we'd make it leave another.
I downloaded various "solutions" -- even the ones I knew ahead of time were utter nonsense. Flash this and your Note 4 will not only be well, it will bring about world peace! Yeah, no good result found.
Then I remembered a program called "FRP Tool Pro" -- which for all I know came from Putin's desk drawer -- one I'd used to save another apparently trashed phone... and the way I did that one was also the way I did this one. By flashing a *different* Samsung phone's "soft brick fix" to it. (Hey, this phone was trash already!) The logic here was that if the phone wasn't responding to code meant for it, code meant for a different phone might ignore whatever was blocking the flash and in the process erase it. Or brick the phone, of course... but it was bricked already. So. Randomly, I chose the first one on the list. FRP Tool Pro said it had worked. Weird. Uh, okay... so I did it again, this time choosing the N910T (my Note 4 model). Said it worked again.
Gingerly, I tried Odin again. Again, with the rom, a fail. Tried some other stuff. Fail. Tried flashing TWRP 3.0.2, just for kicks... and it worked. But then nothing else would flash.
Rebooted the phone to try something else, and it went to recovery, and TWRP loaded. What?! Took so long I thought it had hung. But it did finally get there. "Now that I have TWRP on here I'll wipe this sucker clean," said I to I. But no, it said the command couldn't be applied to /system. Which is weird, because /system is always part of a factory wipe. UNLESS....
Unless, thought I with all 3 brain cells, /system has somehow been corrupted or even deleted. And so I went to TWRP's special settings and told it to reformat /system with a different format (there are about five). It happily did so. I made sure to format it back to the original ext4 format.
And now, with TWRP working and the phone finally formatted and reporting no errors, I gingerly stuck in my extmicrosd card with various roms on it. I flashed TWIZtd S8 version, which is what I have on my good / main Note 4, and.... it worked.
I do not think this phone is fully healed. I wouldn't trust it in serious work situations. Tonight I've been playing with it, minus (again) my T-Mobile and Ext-sd cards... just as a little computer via wifi. Works better that way than it does with the cards in it, actually... which is one of the clues that it probably is unwell.
But that said... maybe someone with real sense can figure out if any of this is useful in cases where a note 4 has gone down to the dreaded "ddi : mmc_read failed" message. I'd always thought that meant the phone was toast, sooner or later. I still think so. But maybe.... not?
Remember, though....
DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!!!

Just a note to let you know I fixed my note 4 with the same issue as you after I sent twice to Samsung and returned unfixed.
I removed the motherboard and cooked in the oven for 10 minutes @180c.
The phone has been working flawless for a week.
I' will post a detailed account of it soon.

faria said:
Just a note to let you know I fixed my note 4 with the same issue as you after I sent twice to Samsung and returned unfixed.
I removed the motherboard and cooked in the oven for 10 minutes @180c.
The phone has been working flawless for a week.
I' will post a detailed account of it soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm very interested in how exactly you did this.

Wet Phone, Won't Boot, Need to Recover Pics/Vids of Newborn Son

Long story short my phone was in a pool long enough to shut itself off. I assumed it would never come back to life but I got all the water out of it that I could by shacking it and such and then started the drying process.
The only reason I'm trying to recover the phone is because it appears I turned off Google Photos backup 4 months ago (it was trying to backup when I didn't want it to) and forgot to turn it back on and now I've got 4 months of pics/vids of my 8 month old son on there that are currently "lost". That's half of his life so clearly I'd like to recover these.
So I dried it for 3 days, charged it to 100%, and powered it up. Motorola logo displayed for a few seconds and then it went to a screen that said:
Your phone didn't start up successfully, use Software Repair Assistant on computer to repair your device.
Connector your device to your computer to get software repair assistant.
AP Fastboot Flash Mode (Secure)
Failed to verify hab image boot
Failed to validate boot image
ERROR: failed to pass validation. backup to fastboot
Fastboot reason: Fall-through from normal boot mode
I downloaded the software repair assistant and when I connect my phone to the computer it is recognized by the computer and the software also recognizes it and starts the "finding phone information" process where it identifies the phone type and such (presumably). Problem is it just sticks at this and never does anything else. I left it connected for over an hour while it did this. I tried a few more times with the same result.
So my questions are does anyone know what the errors mean, how do I fix them, and if they can't be fixed without a factory reset (or at all), what's the best path to trying to recover the pics/vids? I considered attempting a factory reset and then using a recovery program/app but if there are any methods that don't involve first deleting the files via a factory reset and then requiring a recovery attempt, I'd love to try that first.
Thanks for your time.

Stinger2300 said:
Long story short my phone was in a pool long enough to shut itself off. I assumed it would never come back to life but I got all the water out of it that I could by shacking it and such and then started the drying process.
The only reason I'm trying to recover the phone is because it appears I turned off Google Photos backup 4 months ago (it was trying to backup when I didn't want it to) and forgot to turn it back on and now I've got 4 months of pics/vids of my 8 month old son on there that are currently "lost". That's half of his life so clearly I'd like to recover these.
So I dried it for 3 days, charged it to 100%, and powered it up. Motorola logo displayed for a few seconds and then it went to a screen that said:
Your phone didn't start up successfully, use Software Repair Assistant on computer to repair your device.
Connector your device to your computer to get software repair assistant.
AP Fastboot Flash Mode (Secure)
Failed to verify hab image boot
Failed to validate boot image
ERROR: failed to pass validation. backup to fastboot
Fastboot reason: Fall-through from normal boot mode
I downloaded the software repair assistant and when I connect my phone to the computer it is recognized by the computer and the software also recognizes it and starts the "finding phone information" process where it identifies the phone type and such (presumably). Problem is it just sticks at this and never does anything else. I left it connected for over an hour while it did this. I tried a few more times with the same result.
So my questions are does anyone know what the errors mean, how do I fix them, and if they can't be fixed without a factory reset (or at all), what's the best path to trying to recover the pics/vids? I considered attempting a factory reset and then using a recovery program/app but if there are any methods that don't involve first deleting the files via a factory reset and then requiring a recovery attempt, I'd love to try that first.
Thanks for your time.
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I can't help you with the problem of getting your pictures, but I can tell you the "Software Repair Assistant" isn't going to help... It hasn't been supported for years on any model, probably 5+ I guess. It is just left over code that Moto hasn't removed from current devices that's saying that.
Most likely you eMMC chip is corrupt, that's your internal storage... If it took a dip in a pool, that's the worst possible place it could happen to get wet, chlorine and other chemicals in the water literally eat away the silicon internals of the phone. You would have better if to drop it in a muddy River or lake than a "clean" pool.
Honestly, at this point if the device won't boot and the bootloader is locked, your chances of recovery if any data is near zero.

you could try booting into fastboot, go to stock recovery and then adb pull

munchy_cool said:
you could try booting into fastboot, go to stock recovery and then adb pull
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Looks like you need to know the exact file name for each file for that. Is that correct or can you somehow view a list of available files to pull?

Stinger2300 said:
Looks like you need to know the exact file name for each file for that. Is that correct or can you somehow view a list of available files to pull?
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if you have enough space on your computer and you do
adb pull /sdcard .
that should pull all contents of internal storage to computer

munchy_cool said:
if you have enough space on your computer and you do
adb pull /sdcard .
that should pull all contents of internal storage to computer
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OK, I'll give that a try after I get the SDK Manager updated. Thanks.

Well, I can't believe it but I hadn't messed with the phone since Wednesday (when it wouldn't boot) and when I plugged it into the computer and turned it on today it booted!
I was able to pull 24gb of pics/vids/texts without any "tricks" and the only thing that doesn't seem to work on the phone (for now) is the camera (constantly get camera app has stopped errors and no camera apps will open) and the screen has some interesting artifacts like it's got a little water in between the screen layers. I'm using my old Moto X for now and I'm ordering a Moto X4 (waterproof) to replace it.
Either way, I can't believe it actually came back to life and I'm so damn happy right now! Thanks for your help even if I didn't end up needing to use it.

Stinger2300 said:
I was able to pull 24gb of pics/vids/texts without any "tricks" and the only thing that doesn't seem to work on the phone (for now) is the camera (constantly get camera app has stopped errors and no camera apps will open) and the screen has some interesting artifacts like it's got a little water in between the screen layers. I'm using my old Moto X for now and I'm ordering a Moto X4 (waterproof) to replace it.
Either way, I can't believe it actually came back to life and I'm so damn happy right now! Thanks for your help even if I didn't end up needing to use it.
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awesome news. see you in the x4 forums

Stinger2300 said:
Well, I can't believe it but I hadn't messed with the phone since Wednesday (when it wouldn't boot) and when I plugged it into the computer and turned it on today it booted!
I was able to pull 24gb of pics/vids/texts without any "tricks" and the only thing that doesn't seem to work on the phone (for now) is the camera (constantly get camera app has stopped errors and no camera apps will open) and the screen has some interesting artifacts like it's got a little water in between the screen layers. I'm using my old Moto X for now and I'm ordering a Moto X4 (waterproof) to replace it.
Either way, I can't believe it actually came back to life and I'm so damn happy right now! Thanks for your help even if I didn't end up needing to use it.
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Click to collapse
That means it was still wet underneath/around the nand chip (where data is stored) causing the images from the stock firmware not to write (and subsequently fail) good thing you didn't fry it, anything less than a week of drying is pointless really and probably only survived due to the excessive shaking and such. Really the best thing to have done would have been to leave it on a car dash for a week. Camera would have dried out and still been working (betcha got what looks like stains on the sides/top/bottom of the screen)
In the future, non removable battery phones when dropped in water long enough to soak through, DO NOT CHARGE IT FOR AT LEAST A WEEK, DONT TURN IT ON FOR A WEEK. If you wanna be as safe as possible, that is.

Ae3NerdGod said:
That means it was still wet underneath/around the nand chip (where data is stored) causing the images from the stock firmware not to write (and subsequently fail) good thing you didn't fry it, anything less than a week of drying is pointless really and probably only survived due to the excessive shaking and such. Really the best thing to have done would have been to leave it on a car dash for a week. Camera would have dried out and still been working (betcha got what looks like stains on the sides/top/bottom of the screen)
In the future, non removable battery phones when dropped in water long enough to soak through, DO NOT CHARGE IT FOR AT LEAST A WEEK, DONT TURN IT ON FOR A WEEK. If you wanna be as safe as possible, that is.
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Thanks for the info, hopefully I'll never have to use it!
Yes, it looks like stains on the bottom portion of the screen.