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[Q] Flash I9505 without going in download mode?

Hi,
I've got my good old 9505 I bought right at release on which the Volume UP button (or more likely whatever hardware it's connected to, as the button itself works perfectly normally) has become stuck pressed.
That causes a little problem - I can't enter Download mode anymore (Normal power up enters recovery due to the stuck key, Vol Down cancels Recovery and boots normally).
I had a custom ROM and recovery on it, and in order to send it for repair I obviously want to put it back to stock status, so I have reflashed a stock MI8 image I found using ODIN, using the custom recovery's "Reboot in Download mode" command.
Now the problem is I have bad luck and likely had an incompatible modem, and after booting even with cache/data wiped I have the Samsung keyboard crashing constantly and WiFi won't work.
Of course restoring the stock image wiped my custom recovery, so I can't use the same trick to get back into Download mode and reflash another modem.
I can't use Mobile ODIN or reboot menus with a "Reboot Download" option, as those requires root, but... rooting needs Download mode.
I can connect to Kies, but for my region it unfortunately says the current ROM is already the latest.
Does someone have an idea I didn't think about?

is there a way to reboot to download mode via usb debugging?/adb shell or something like that?

I found something that suggested it, however while I've painfully been able to go enable USB debugging (with the UI that locks and the "Samsung Keyboard has stopped" messages that appear between nearly every tap) adb devices returns nothing. Maybe the same issues cause debugging to fail too...

make sure that all instances of kies are stopped and also try reinstalling the drivers?

OK, found an app called "Kingo Android Root" that works from the PC through adb, and managed to root it again. It took some time to connect, but once it did it went through the procedure OK.
Then I could transfer the apk for "Quick Boot" to the phone through MTP, and its reboot menu worked to reboot in Download mode
Got a new modem flashed, and WiFi is back. The Samsung keyboard is still crashing every 5 secs, but I'll just try reflashing the OS, never know...

now that you can get to download mode, you can just restore everything back to stock? no? should fix any fc's you're getting, unless they are related to the physical fault with the volume up button being stuck?

Yes, it's just a matter of finding the right stock ROM... :\

OK, the MKF ROM for my country I found here works perfectly fine.
Issue closed then, hope this will serve other people who might end up in a similar situation
Now to see how the service center reacts to a stock config but with Knox flag set...

good luck, and don't forget to let us know how you get on with the service centre/knox situation.

Good news, received my S4 after a one week turnaround (shipping included), and it was repaired under warranty even with the Knox bit set and me having dismantled it (thanks Sammy for not putting "warranty void" stickers, pretty much the first manufacturer I see who doesn't!)

Galaxy S5 Neo Major Issues and Need Help Please

Hey all,
So I purchased a 903F from someone yesterday, its sim unlocked it can make and receive calls etc, but the issue is (and I was aware when I purchased it) that google apps are missing for some reason. So I purchased it cheap and planned to just reflash it with Odin. Upon a little more inspection, it wont connect to Wifi because it says "unable to add wifi connection due to security policy" which ive never seen before. Backup and Reset options are grayed out so you cant reset the phone, a lot of functions seems to cause the "unable to blah blah due to security policy" which ive never seen before and cant see how to disable/change that. Doing a factory reset from recovery does nothing either.. it remains the same as before like its done no kind of wipe at all. Initially I was able to go into the bootloader using the volume down power and home combo as usual but when i attempted to flash using ODIN it failed and it had something like NON FLASH in red writing on the ODIN screen I just noticed in my peripheral. Now I cant get it into download mode at all.. is that possibly due to battery charge level? is there a specific charge level required to go into download mode? SmartSwitch downloaded the firmware and when it attempted to reboot into download mode it just turned the phone back on to its normal boot.. its all a little concerning and hopefully one of you geniuses can figure out whats going on.
Thanks in Advance!

S7 Edge Hardbricked by it's own?

Hi people, something quite terrible happened to my phone when I woke up today. Before I went to sleep the phone worked and was charged by about 40% but some apps were force closing like crazy so I turned off the device before I went to sleep, cuz why not, eh? Then I woke up and turned on the phone and it showed the screen to choose if I want to go into downloading mode, I pressed cancel and the phone shutdown and now it wont turn on.
I tried soft resets, tried to charge it for 10 minutes, but the thing is the phone is like its hard bricked for no apparent reason... even the charge indicator when phone is off doesn't show anymore, no lights, no nothing. Please help me. If anyone has an idea what to do it would be greatly appreciated. It worked this morning, no one else touched the phone. :crying:

if it doesnt boot then its a battery problem, even in hard brick, it has some kind of flights flashing.
if Its hard brick then its paper weight, sorry.

Chord_Hugo87 said:
if it doesnt boot then its a battery problem, even in hard brick, it has some kind of flights flashing.
if Its hard brick then its paper weight, sorry.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it's the battery what can I do here at home? At least try? I don't think it's a hardbrick cause I didn't do anything iregular to the phone, it was working before I shut it down and went to sleep. Idk how I hardbricked it by turning it off. :/

theSperks said:
If it's the battery what can I do here at home? At least try? I don't think it's a hardbrick cause I didn't do anything iregular to the phone, it was working before I shut it down and went to sleep. Idk how I hardbricked it by turning it off. :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well the storage drive could fail, that could be another possibility which if I think about it now that seems to be the case. best bet send it to samsung.
if you plug your phone into your computer and it does not read or register, you really dont have any other choices. This goes for all phones, the forum can help you with soft brick, not something like this, this looks like a hardware failure.

Chord_Hugo87 said:
well the storage drive could fail, that could be another possibility which if I think about it now that seems to be the case. best bet send it to samsung.
if you plug your phone into your computer and it does not read or register, you really dont have any other choices. This goes for all phones, the forum can help you with soft brick, not something like this, this looks like a hardware failure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The phone rebooted constantly and force close apps from the day I bought it. I thought it was software issue... I went to my carrier to complain but they said nothing is wrong with the phone (way back few months ago). So my last question is this, can a phone force close apps and restart constantly with a software issue? or does it happen only to devices with hardware issues?

theSperks said:
The phone rebooted constantly and force close apps from the day I bought it. I thought it was software issue... I went to my carrier to complain but they said nothing is wrong with the phone (way back few months ago). So my last question is this, can a phone force close apps and restart constantly with a software issue? or does it happen only to devices with hardware issues?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that sounds like a storage drive failure...no apps doesnt do that and phone doesnt restart for no reason.

Chord_Hugo87 said:
that sounds like a storage drive failure...no apps doesnt do that and phone doesnt restart for no reason.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok so good news! Today I plugged it in the charger again and it booted! As I see it when I turn it off it doesnt really shut down properly and it stays in some kind of a phase and doesnt let me reset or do anything really... but It drained the battery that it had left and it bugged out. I know this cause I shutted it down again via the android option and its "bricked" again. Now I will wait for it to lose charge again so I can boot it.
Can you please tell me how to properly flash via odin to the latest nougat firmware? The phone was from Vodafone in Germany, few months ago I flashed a Netherlands firmware, then some other one few weeks down the road. Can you please tell me how to flash it back to full stock and what firmware should I download? The model is SM-G935F and the S/N is RF8H61YE4CP. I prevously tried THIS firmware from sammobile. Is this the correct one for my phone? I tried using samsung smart switch but it says "Secure Check Fail : Bootloader" when it tries to emergency restore it in the download mode, and the smart switch software says just error. Also whenever I flashed with Odin, BL never wanted to flash cause of just one file in every BL md5 file and that is the param.bin one, everything else flashes like it should. Please write me a guide on how to flash it properly and "upgrade" everything to the latest version correctly for my phone. (many settings in Odin that I never touched)

theSperks said:
Ok so good news! Today I plugged it in the charger again and it booted! As I see it when I turn it off it doesnt really shut down properly and it stays in some kind of a phase and doesnt let me reset or do anything really... but It drained the battery that it had left and it bugged out. I know this cause I shutted it down again via the android option and its "bricked" again. Now I will wait for it to lose charge again so I can boot it.
Can you please tell me how to properly flash via odin to the latest nougat firmware? The phone was from Vodafone in Germany, few months ago I flashed a Netherlands firmware, then some other one few weeks down the road. Can you please tell me how to flash it back to full stock and what firmware should I download? The model is SM-G935F and the S/N is RF8H61YE4CP. I prevously tried THIS firmware from sammobile. Is this the correct one for my phone? I tried using samsung smart switch but it says "Secure Check Fail : Bootloader" when it tries to emergency restore it in the download mode, and the smart switch software says just error. Also whenever I flashed with Odin, BL never wanted to flash cause of just one file in every BL md5 file and that is the param.bin one, everything else flashes like it should. Please write me a guide on how to flash it properly and "upgrade" everything to the latest version correctly for my phone. (many settings in Odin that I never touched)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i had a simmilar problem i couple months ago when i flashed a custom kernel.
i was overclocking the cpu but caused the phone to freeze actually without being able to to anything
i thougt my battery was dead also
when i charged it nothing came up into the screen also.
you just have to hard reset it but just keep on pressing your volume down button together wih your home button and the power button
it may take lonnger then you can normally do it cuz your phone freezed
but eventually your phone will just reboot into download mode then eand you can hit the volume down button to reboot your phone then

Galaxy S4 I9506 hardware bootloop?

For the past few months I've been running the Galaxy S4 I9506 on Lineage Os 14.1, I occasionally encountered random bootloops during use where the phone would suddenly die then run into a bootloop as it tried to restart. When it did this, I was able to fix it by removing the battery, waiting a while, then re-inserting it, but I've recently encountered a problem where as soon as I put the battery back it starts bootlooping without pressing the power button. I am also unable to access TWRP or Odin mode as the bootloop overrides it. Is this due to a hardware fault within the phone or is there some way I can still save my S4?
*EDIT*
In the end I was able to find a replacement motherboard and swap it out with the faulty one. The phone once again booted normally and after a re-flash Lineage OS has been working flawlessly ever since. I believe this means the previous motherboard may have just died of old age, will still try the oven trick though.

I recommend flashing the latest stock ROM using Odin, use the phone in a stock configuration to confirm that everything works.
https://updato.com/firmware-archive-select-model?exact=1&q=GT-I9506
Without installing and using the stock ROM, it wouldn't be possible to determine if it is a hardware or software problem.

audit13 said:
I recommend flashing the latest stock ROM using Odin, use the phone in a stock configuration to confirm that everything works.
Without installing and using the stock ROM, it wouldn't be possible to determine if it is a hardware or software problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whenever I boot the phone into Odin it will sit in the download mode for about 5 seconds before cutting power and bootlooping again, does this mean that it is a hardware fault in the phone?

ShaunCB said:
Whenever I boot the phone into Odin it will sit in the download mode for about 5 seconds before cutting power and bootlooping again, does this mean that it is a hardware fault in the phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could be a power button problem too.

ShaunCB said:
For the past few months I've been running the Galaxy S4 I9506 on Lineage Os 14.1, I occasionally encountered random bootloops during use where the phone would suddenly die then run into a bootloop as it tried to restart. When it did this, I was able to fix it by removing the battery, waiting a while, then re-inserting it, but I've recently encountered a problem where as soon as I put the battery back it starts bootlooping without pressing the power button. I am also unable to access TWRP or Odin mode as the bootloop overrides it. Is this due to a hardware fault within the phone or is there some way I can still save my S4?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems an hardware issue. The only way I know to give you a chance to boot to os and save your data is to use the trick of hoven. Put the motherboard (whiteout the camera) in the hoven at 200°C for almost 10 minutes. It seems strange but working for me. If you decide to try remember that I am not responsible of any damage!
Regards.
Edit: a thing that you can do to check if the problem is hardware related it is to remove the middle frame and try to boot. If you successfully boot the problem is the motherboard.

troubleshooting, bricked overnight

Hi!
I used my S7 Edge for a couple of years and now I am afraid it may have died on me. As always, backups of f.e. pictures are not up to date.
During the night, it lay on my Qi charger. When I took it in hand, the screen was extremely dark and stuck in the "loading Lineage" screen. I tried to reboot. It was stuck on the "Samsung Galaxy" screen.
I wanted to boot into recovery and wipe the cache and see if it works again. But I can't boot into recovery mode. No matter if I connect it to a USB cable, the button command does not work.
Switching the device off also isn't possible. The only way to switch it off is disconnecting the battery (I have opened it to do so).
The only thing I can do is booting into download mode (so I know my volume up button works...).
Several times the screen was stuck on the "empty battery" symbol - which did not change no matter how long I had it in the charger. I can't really replicate how I got to the battery screen. I installed another battery just to see if if by some magic this would change something, but nothing changed about my issue. No boot possible and no booting into recovery.
I thought to myself: Well, maybe if I reinstall TWRP I can get into Recovery again. But when I try Odin I get the error message: "there is no PIT partition"
I know you will want additional info:
sadly, I cant' say which version of lineage I had running. I would have to look into my phone - which I can't.
I installed Lineage a couple of years ago, the phone was rooted and had TWRP recovery. I changed my USB port and Audio port several months ago.
But everything was running fine - I did not change or do anything recently. It happened overnight.
Do you have any ideas what I can do? I am brooding for two days now over this issue and I am at the end of the line here.
Did my memory just die on me? Is it an unfixable hardware issue?
Or software-related and potentially salvageable?
thanks in advance for anybody that bothers with my problem.

PinkElf said:
Hi!
I used my S7 Edge for a couple of years and now I am afraid it may have died on me. As always, backups of f.e. pictures are not up to date.
During the night, it lay on my Qi charger. When I took it in hand, the screen was extremely dark and stuck in the "loading Lineage" screen. I tried to reboot. It was stuck on the "Samsung Galaxy" screen.
I wanted to boot into recovery and wipe the cache and see if it works again. But I can't boot into recovery mode. No matter if I connect it to a USB cable, the button command does not work.
Switching the device off also isn't possible. The only way to switch it off is disconnecting the battery (I have opened it to do so).
The only thing I can do is booting into download mode (so I know my volume up button works...).
Several times the screen was stuck on the "empty battery" symbol - which did not change no matter how long I had it in the charger. I can't really replicate how I got to the battery screen. I installed another battery just to see if if by some magic this would change something, but nothing changed about my issue. No boot possible and no booting into recovery.
I thought to myself: Well, maybe if I reinstall TWRP I can get into Recovery again. But when I try Odin I get the error message: "there is no PIT partition"
I know you will want additional info:
sadly, I cant' say which version of lineage I had running. I would have to look into my phone - which I can't.
I installed Lineage a couple of years ago, the phone was rooted and had TWRP recovery. I changed my USB port and Audio port several months ago.
But everything was running fine - I did not change or do anything recently. It happened overnight.
Do you have any ideas what I can do? I am brooding for two days now over this issue and I am at the end of the line here.
Did my memory just die on me? Is it an unfixable hardware issue?
Or software-related and potentially salvageable?
thanks in advance for anybody that bothers with my problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, try to flash the stock firmware otherwise I really don't know :/

I guess I will lose my data when I install stock firmware, don't I?
What I ask myself is: Is the reason for not being able to boot into recovery that my device always thinks my battery is empty?
Is the fact that I can boot into download mode a sign that my memory and/or motherboard is still intact?

PinkElf said:
I guess I will lose my data when I install stock firmware, don't I?
What I ask myself is: Is the reason for not being able to boot into recovery that my device always thinks my battery is empty?
Is the fact that I can boot into download mode a sign that my memory and/or motherboard is still intact?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you using Lineage OS? If yes, then definitely yes. On my Xiaomi, I couldn't get into fastboot mode or into recovery, I don't know why and somehow I got there, I don't even know how I think I held the power mode for a long time and when the phone turned on I held the volume up button to get into recovery finally succeeded on the umpteenth attempt and from recovery I restarted the phone in fastboot mode and flashed the stock firmware. And yes, being able to boot your phone into fastboot is a good sign. It would be worse if it wasn't possible.

I am still stuck with the problem. I can boot into download mode. I can't find a way to boot into recovery.
Is there anything I can do in download mode?
If I find the lineage version I originally installed on my device, could I install it via ODIN and get my phone back without data loss? I have only ever installed ROMs via TWRP.
Just an idea, but as of now I get the error "could not find PIT partition" anyway while trying to reinstall TWRP.

PinkElf said:
I am still stuck with the problem. I can boot into download mode. I can't find a way to boot into recovery.
Is there anything I can do in download mode?
If I find the lineage version I originally installed on my device, could I install it via ODIN and get my phone back without data loss? I have only ever installed ROMs via TWRP.
Just an idea, but as of now I get the error "could not find PIT partition" anyway while trying to reinstall TWRP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you can use download mode to install the firmware via Odin. Look

That means giving up hope for my personal data...
But even if I want to do this, I run into the problem, that I can't install anything due to "could not find PIT partition"...