So, I was having trouble re-rooting my S5 after the XXU1ANG2 update for the SM-G900F international model as Odin kept throwing out a FAIL to write error every time I tried. After multiple attempts I finally figured out what was wrong with it. In my settings I'd selected the reactiviation lock, so that If I lost my device nobody would be able to get into it. So unticking this and do the usual root process and voila it works as per!
Just thought I'd share this information for anyone also having trouble
TL;DR: I have a Note 4 which is exhibiting early eMMC failure symptoms. I'm working through common repair techniques described throughout the various threads in this forum and coming upon a somewhat novel issue flashing with a PIT file. I'm hoping someone here has some troubleshooting ideas.
Backstory: I'm a "funemployed" software engineer taking a few months off between gigs. Because I'm a masochist and/or like learning new things, I bought a Note 4 that was exhibiting signs of eMMC doom to see if I could fix it. My daily driver is another Note 4 so I figure, worst case, it was a good deal on a backup LCD .
General Symptoms: The phone runs slowly, and behaves in a generally flaky way. Occasionally reboots. On a rare few occasions (maybe 2 or 3 times in a week of playing with it) it will reboot to download mode with the dreaded "eMMC Failed". Real meltdowns happen in write-heavy events; doing a complete restore of all my apps from Google Play is a surefire way to nuke the thing from space (for example). Oh, and, the phone gets DAMN hot.
What I've Done So Far: I've tried the following things but the issue persists. I've observed that the issue is *least* painful on Resurrection Remix, but I suspect that's because it's less write-heavy.
- Updated to latest firmware via Odin (PG2)
- Flashed TWRP, custom ROM
- fsck via ADB on /system and /data
- Opened phone to check for water damage (it's clean)
- Flashed "initialize" via SmartSwitch
My problem with PIT files: Here's where it gets strange -- if I try to flash PG2 with a PIT file it fails with "secure check fail: PIT". I've seen tons of references to "secure check fail: aboot" when attempting to flash backwards on Samsung devices here on XDA, but very few references to PIT files. I've used several N910T PIT files including ones shared on XDA, one dd'ed from my daily driver Note 4 (it's on PE3) and one actually dd'ed from the phone itself! No matter what, I get the "secure check fail: PIT" error in download mode.
Questions and musings:
- Why do folks think that flashing PIT files will fix eMMC errors, anyway? What's a repartition gonna do that a clean bill of health from fsck won't?
- Are the PIT files themselves versioned? Folks who post on here act like they aren't, but is it possible that I need to find a PG2 PIT to try?
- I've never tried downgrading firmware because, from what I've read, KNOX is going to be a real jerk about it. Some folks on here claim to have done so successfully. I can try to repeat their magic incantations but I'd really like to know the "why" of it before I do.
- Something something something JTAG?
- If nothing else works, I'll get a new eMMC chip and brush up my rework skills while I wait for it to come on the slow boat from China.
If anyone here has any thoughts or ideas, I'm interested. I'm not afraid to try things that are crazy or stupid (I should really put that on my resume). I don't have too much to complain about, I've had a good time learning about how Android works under the hood in the process.
All the best,
Jason
I'm completely at a loss at this point.
I attempted to root my Samsung S7 (AT&T) with Odin, and received an error. This is my first time ever rooting a phone, and I am generally oblivious to this kind of stuff. I disconnected the phone, and it began bootloop. I loaded it into download mode, and attempted to reset to stock. However, I have had endless issues trying to flash the stock firmware to my phone. At one point I unplugged the device once again, and I received the "use Emergency Restore" error screen. I tried to restore with Smart Switch, but I was not able to access my S/N (box is nowhere to be found, managed to find a S/N on Samsung's website since I registered it but Smart Switch wouldn't take it). So, I figured trying to restore with Odin was my last option. I have tried at least 3 different Odin versions, both modified and not, and not a single one of them has worked. I've received Complete(write) errors, Model Dispatch Fail errors, and Re-Partition errors. I've tried about 3 different firmware files as well, and while I think the one I have right now is most recent, none of them seem to be working. I thought maybe an issue I was encountering was that USB debugging or whatever it's called was disabled, but I have no way of telling because I cannot boot my phone.
I was fiddling around with all of this from 11pm to 6am last night, and picked it back up as soon as I woke up. I've been freaking out about this for hours.
I feel like I'm running in circles here. I don't understand what I'm doing wrong. I'm recovery bootlooped as well. The only thing I can boot is download mode.
I wasn't very cautious with this process, and I am completely unfamiliar with most lingo on these forums and the whole process in general. I really regret trying to do this. So -- is there anything else I can try to do to fix it? Or is my phone bricked for good??? I'm endlessly frustrated and have honestly felt like crying a few times over this. I shouldn't have messed with something I know nothing about. :crying:
I thank you for your patience in dealing with me as a beginner + appreciate any help you're able to give.
Cheers.
aerialslam said:
I'm completely at a loss at this point.
I attempted to root my Samsung S7 (AT&T) with Odin, and received an error. This is my first time ever rooting a phone, and I am generally oblivious to this kind of stuff. I disconnected the phone, and it began bootloop. I loaded it into download mode, and attempted to reset to stock. However, I have had endless issues trying to flash the stock firmware to my phone. At one point I unplugged the device once again, and I received the "use Emergency Restore" error screen. I tried to restore with Smart Switch, but I was not able to access my S/N (box is nowhere to be found, managed to find a S/N on Samsung's website since I registered it but Smart Switch wouldn't take it). So, I figured trying to restore with Odin was my last option. I have tried at least 3 different Odin versions, both modified and not, and not a single one of them has worked. I've received Complete(write) errors, Model Dispatch Fail errors, and Re-Partition errors. I've tried about 3 different firmware files as well, and while I think the one I have right now is most recent, none of them seem to be working. I thought maybe an issue I was encountering was that USB debugging or whatever it's called was disabled, but I have no way of telling because I cannot boot my phone.
I was fiddling around with all of this from 11pm to 6am last night, and picked it back up as soon as I woke up. I've been freaking out about this for hours.
I feel like I'm running in circles here. I don't understand what I'm doing wrong. I'm recovery bootlooped as well. The only thing I can boot is download mode.
I wasn't very cautious with this process, and I am completely unfamiliar with most lingo on these forums and the whole process in general. I really regret trying to do this. So -- is there anything else I can try to do to fix it? Or is my phone bricked for good??? I'm endlessly frustrated and have honestly felt like crying a few times over this. I shouldn't have messed with something I know nothing about. :crying:
I thank you for your patience in dealing with me as a beginner + appreciate any help you're able to give.
Cheers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you can at least get into download mode, then simply flash it with the latest STOCK firmware for your particular model.
That will bring it back to life, and you can attempt rooting it again, if you dare
aerialslam said:
I'm completely at a loss at this point.
I attempted to root my Samsung S7 (AT&T) with Odin, and received an error. This is my first time ever rooting a phone, and I am generally oblivious to this kind of stuff. I disconnected the phone, and it began bootloop. I loaded it into download mode, and attempted to reset to stock. However, I have had endless issues trying to flash the stock firmware to my phone. At one point I unplugged the device once again, and I received the "use Emergency Restore" error screen. I tried to restore with Smart Switch, but I was not able to access my S/N (box is nowhere to be found, managed to find a S/N on Samsung's website since I registered it but Smart Switch wouldn't take it). So, I figured trying to restore with Odin was my last option. I have tried at least 3 different Odin versions, both modified and not, and not a single one of them has worked. I've received Complete(write) errors, Model Dispatch Fail errors, and Re-Partition errors. I've tried about 3 different firmware files as well, and while I think the one I have right now is most recent, none of them seem to be working. I thought maybe an issue I was encountering was that USB debugging or whatever it's called was disabled, but I have no way of telling because I cannot boot my phone.
I was fiddling around with all of this from 11pm to 6am last night, and picked it back up as soon as I woke up. I've been freaking out about this for hours.
I feel like I'm running in circles here. I don't understand what I'm doing wrong. I'm recovery bootlooped as well. The only thing I can boot is download mode.
I wasn't very cautious with this process, and I am completely unfamiliar with most lingo on these forums and the whole process in general. I really regret trying to do this. So -- is there anything else I can try to do to fix it? Or is my phone bricked for good??? I'm endlessly frustrated and have honestly felt like crying a few times over this. I shouldn't have messed with something I know nothing about. :crying:
I thank you for your patience in dealing with me as a beginner + appreciate any help you're able to give.
Cheers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you finally recover your phone? I'm in the same problem here since yesterday and feel your frustration right now. My phone is a Samsung S7 model SM-G930A from AT&T.
I found this thread https://forum.xda-developers.com/ve...-to-notes-root-install-xposed-unroot-t3411039 and I following the "Return to stock part", now downloading the firmware. Hope it helps.
I'm stucked in the blue screen "An error ocurred while updating the device software. Use the Emergency recovery function in the Smart Switch PC software". Of course I try the Smart Switch but says that my model is not supported!
How can you recovered the download mode? I press the on/off button for some seconds and the screen turn of, but it turn on again with the freaking blue screen "An error ocurred while updating the device software. ...". I tried all the possible button combinations.
Thanks and good luck.
Stock firmware
Make sure when you go into download mode and flash that plugging the phone in is the LAST thing you do. I.e. plug phone in only after it is in download mode and only after you open Odin. Secondly, make sure you flash the STOCK firmware, as in Android Marshmallow v6.0.1 . Additonally, make sure that the re-partition option is NOT ticked, and also you might want to try turning off auto-reboot, and just hold the power button after unplugging once the status bar is all the way full and Odin says complete. Also, you need to make absolutely sure that you're getting the firmware for your exact device. I.e. SM-G930A stock firmware is NOT compatible with SM-G930F models. You could also try reinstalling the Samsung drivers. I just flashed to stock firmware then updated back to Nougat yesterday, mostly without a hitch by following these guidelines. There is a download page on rootmygalaxy with all the stock firmwares, that's what I used (I'd link but I just registered here). There is a very helpful guide on droidviews about how to update to Nougat 7.0 once you have finished flashing the stock firmware.
If I were you, I would just avoid rooting altogether. Rooting for me caused very bad performance and battery life, and it wasn't really worth the trouble. Sure, getting in-app-purchases for free was nice but I never tried flashing a custom ROM or anything because most of the stories I read involved soft bricks, bootloops, etc.
Hopefully not having USB Debugging and OEM unlock ticked doesn't brick your phone, I'm doubtful that it will. For the poster above me, make sure your phone is all the way off, the download mode button combo is vol. down+power+home all at the same time, and hold them. A screen should pop up saying press vol. up to continue. If you're still having problems, I regret to say that I am also relatively new to this and I am not all that knowledgeable.
I just made a post about my unrooting process, hopefully it helps!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6ryOQepX2Q Video shows booting into Download Mode. Or take it to a Best Buy that has a Samsung Sales section.
What is the problem?
the display of the device is flickering
odin gets stuck at random positions in the flashing process
bootloader as well as firmware are reported as "custom"
How did this happen?
It started with a flash that failed for a reason I don't remember. After that I started to test flashing different stock roms but they would all get stuck or fail due to missing pit partitions or while writing to the nand. So I switched to heimdall and tried to patch the bin files one after the other, which seems to work but is very slow process as it could even get stuck while uploading the files and I had to restart the device and start again.
My questions.
What is going on with the device?
Can I fix this myself in an short/moderate amount of time?
If not, is there someone who can, is willing to help and lives near Bremen in Germany?
Bought a Galaxy S7 Edge today from a coworker, SM-G935F, Verizon variant (as far as I know. She bought it brand new and used it on Verizon.) First thing I tried to do was root it using this method -- https://theunlockr.com/root-samsung-galaxy-s7-s7-edge/
(basically used Odin to flash Samsung_G935x_QC_Rooted_BOOT.TAR)
Got a "Pass!" message in Odin, rebooted the phone.
Was greeted with a pretty red-colored message on the top left, "kernel is not Seandroid" followed by a continuous bootloop. Would automatically shut off on its own, etc. Had to boot into recovery to actually power it off. (Still stock recovery, by the way)
Anyway. Googled the error, didn't seem like a big deal with so many results and "Solved" also being prominant. Tried to revert back to the stock firmware and got this in Odin's log:
<ID:0/003> Re-Partition operation failed.
Came across another post suggesting to un-tick the "re-partition" option in Odin, which it already was/is. Now I'm kind of lost on what to do. Came across one thread suggesting that the firmware on my device doesn't match the one that I downloaded which.. I have no idea how to check that given I'm unable to even boot the device. I do recall seeing 2017 briefly when scrolling through the build/kernel section, possibly December 2017 if my memory serves me correctly.
Another thread suggested something about flashing a .pit file.
Does anyone know I how I can get this back up and running? Preferably rooted?
Thanks much in advance!
- D
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