How To: Root, Clockwork, Unlock, Roms - AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777

Ok I decided to post this because out of all of the phones I have rooted and flashed this had to be the most confusing... to many different options, and scattered all over the place.
I know some people are against making things easy for people but thats just not me and doesn't make any sense at all.
So here was my working method.
USE AT YOUR OWN RISK
ROOT download I777UCKH7 OCD Root No BL.7z from here credit goes to Entropy512
How to Use:
Download the 7 zip package. Extract the contents of the zip file to a directory on your hard disk drive.
Start the Odin3 One-Click Downloader program by double clicking on "I777UCKH7 OCD No BL.exe" or "I777UCKH7 OCD Root No BL.exe".
Now Enter Download Mode:
With the phone powered off, plug in the usb cable while holding the vol up + vol down buttons (but not the power button).
When the warning screen appears, press Volume up to continue into download mode.
In Odin, the small edit box in the upper left corner will turn yellow, and say something like [0:COM8]. The number could be different.
Click Start. Watch the progress bar advance in green while the message box in the lower area describes the steps. When the flash is finished, the top left larger edit box will turn green and say PASS! and your phone will automatically reboot.
Unplug the usb cable from you phone after it boots up. Success.
OPTIONAL Unlock If you would like to unlock your phone for other gsm carriers. I have tested this on T-Mobile and it works. Once you are rooted and verified you have super user. Make sure you have busybox if not download it from the market. Also make sure you have a micro sd card installed.
Go to market and search for "Galaxy S Unlock", the author is "Helroz".
Run the app from step 2. Go to "Unlock SGSII" tab on the top of the screen.
Tap on the first item:"Step 1 Backup files...."
Tap on the second item:"Step 2 Change lock-bytes", and wait until your phone restarts.
Bingo, your phone is sim unlocked after the reboot.
Flash Clockwork
NOTE THIS METHOD WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY BY INCREASING THE PHONES FLASH COUNTER HOWEVER YOU CAN RESET IT USING THE NEXT STEP
You will need to download yet a different odin you can get that here
Download the attached Siyah rom since it is the only tar file I could find and odin only accepts tar files. This will flash a new kernal and clockworkmod. I attached this because it seems the link is dead.
How to use:
Start Odin
Now Enter Download Mode:
With the phone powered off, plug in the usb cable while holding the vol up + vol down buttons (but not the power button).
When the warning screen appears, press Volume up to continue into download mode.
In Odin, the small edit box in the upper left corner will turn yellow, and say something like [0:COM8]. The number could be different.
Click the PDA button and browse to the Siyah Rom
Click Start. Watch the progress bar advance in green while the message box in the lower area describes the steps. When the flash is finished, the top left larger edit box will turn green and say PASS! and your phone will automatically reboot.
Unplug the usb cable from you phone after it boots up. Success.
Reset Flash Counter and remove warning triangle
I read that you need to be on an ICS rom for this to work. After flashing CWM I flashed F1 rom.
Download this apk TriangleAway v1.70 you can get that here
I have tested this and it does work, when I tested this my flash counter was at 3 now it shows Custom Binary Download: NO... also no more gti9100 with yellow triangle.
You should now be able to boot into clockworkmod recovery and be able to flash zip roms from your phone like normal "or like any other phone you have had that has had cwm installed".
DO ANY OF THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK
I DON'T TAKE CREDIT FOR ANY OF THIS... JUST WANTED TO GET THAT OUT THERE This is just for anyone else who may be confused with the amount of links and scattered content just to root and get cwm installed.

bowenac,
Thank for creating the guide and for your willingness to help newbies. I wanted to mention, however, that there are some very important things newbie readers of this thread need to be aware of. The most important warning is that, from my understanding, following this rooting procedure will increase the flash counter in our phones. I am still very much a noob here but from what I have read our phones have a counter that is increased whenever you flash non-custom binaries into our phones. When increased, the counter will result in a yellow "warning" triangle showing up on your screen every time you boot the phone. An increased flash counter might also result in warranty service being denied.
There are ways of rooting and flashing that will NOT increase the counter, and a guide for that procedure is available in the forum. In fact, a number of step-by-step guides for rooting the SGS2 already exist. creepyncrawly, an extremely knowledgeable user here (in fact, I believe the one-click downloaders you used in your post were prepared by him), write a guide to flash custom binaries on your phone without increasing the counter. He also includes several of these guides in his signature... you can see it in his profile:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/member.php?u=2916435
More info is available in the stickies:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1511999
When i first arrived here these guides were extremely useful to help me learn everything I needed to learn to root my phone and understand what I was doing. I see the attractiveness of a "one click solution", but I, for one, would much rather understand exactly what I am doing to my phone before I do anything to it. I was an extreme noob when I got here when it comes to Android, but tehguides were a great reference, and also pointed me out those things where I needed to read more to understand what I was doing.

Really?
I had absolutely no trouble finding what I needed on here. The search button is there for a reason. The first day I had my s2 I used creepy guide and had no problems whatsoever. This phone is waaaayyy easy to flash, just like my old Samsung was. Don't expect to find everything in 5 minutes, it takes some time to get it right man.

Haha, you guys should lay off the OP, he's obviously done his research and accomplished the "simple" stuff. Some of this can be fine tuned to a particular case. I used this tutorial and it was easy, easier than sifting through the other stuff. Spoon fed or not, some people don't have the time to dig deep and learn every dam thing about it. MEAT AND POTATOES, GENTS.
If you all want to make hard tutorials, be my guest, if you have the time. As for most adults, this stuff is merely hobby/entertainment. If you make money doing this stuff then shut the F up and rake it in, otherwise can it and move on to the next tutorial.
ONWARD OP, ONWARD!

Deleted

Thread Closed
Cleaned and opened back up... Only warning, keep it clean...

VeNuM said:
Cleaned and opened back up... Only warning, keep it clean...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you will do.

I guess my keep clean was a little VAGUE. Stop posting your opinions on easy development. The op has taken the time to make a nice and easy tutorial. And 90% of the posters here harass and give their opinions on what xda should do and etc etc... it just goes on and on. If this helps ONE person accomplish anything and not brick their phone then it served its purpose to help. If all the opinionaters would put their thumbs to work HELPING the community (by answering questions or writing guides etc) it would make this site a much better place. Because I have news for you all... new people will be here EVERYDAY not knowing what to read or where to fund it... once you except it and help or ignore it, your xda experience will be much better... now knock off all the negative crap and help your fellow human beings...

i followed this exactly and now my computer wont recognize my sd card only my phone as a device. so i cant save the ROM so i can flash it. also before i had this i was running ICS. it rolled me back to gingerbread. none too happy. clearly i did something wrong

WrecklessLove said:
i followed this exactly and now my computer wont recognize my sd card only my phone as a device. so i cant save the ROM so i can flash it. also before i had this i was running ICS. it rolled me back to gingerbread. none too happy. clearly i did something wrong
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well you can still add your ROM to your internal storage and flash from there. Also it is supposed to go back to GB but you are going to flash a ROM so it doesn't matter
Sent from my SGH-I777

122ninjas said:
Well you can still add your ROM to your internal storage and flash from there. Also it is supposed to go back to GB but you are going to flash a ROM so it doesn't matter
Sent from my SGH-I777
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cant do that either. every time i plug my phone it, my comp recognizes it as a device that cant be opened or changed. its not seeing any storage. phone or sd :crying:
---------- Post added at 03:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:23 AM ----------
nevermind. i think i fixed it lol. now lets see if AOKP works
---------- Post added at 03:46 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:27 AM ----------
Sorry to be a novice, but i tried this and now my phone wont go past the aokp unicorn boot animation. its been like this for about 10 minutes. did i brick it?

WrecklessLove said:
cant do that either. every time i plug my phone it, my comp recognizes it as a device that cant be opened or changed. its not seeing any storage. phone or sd :crying:
---------- Post added at 03:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:23 AM ----------
nevermind. i think i fixed it lol. now lets see if AOKP works
---------- Post added at 03:46 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:27 AM ----------
Sorry to be a novice, but i tried this and now my phone wont go past the aokp unicorn boot animation. its been like this for about 10 minutes. did i brick it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let me guess. You didn't factory reset after installing the rom
Sent from my SGH-I777

122ninjas said:
Let me guess. You didn't factory reset after installing the rom
Sent from my SGH-I777
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i did a factory reset before. didnt know i had to do another one lol is there any way to fix it?

WrecklessLove said:
i did a factory reset before. didnt know i had to do another one lol is there any way to fix it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well can you get into recovery? If so factory reset from there and also fix permissions and wipe cache
Sent from my SGH-I777

122ninjas said:
Well can you get into recovery? If so factory reset from there and also fix permissions and wipe cache
Sent from my SGH-I777
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i dont know how to get to recovery without going thru the the cwm app. the only instructions i can find are for people with a dedicated home button

Don't worry about incrementing the flash counter if you are planning on upgrading to at least android 4.0.x. chain fire has created an appavailable from the play store that can reset your flash counter back to 0 if you are rooted and running at least ics. It works awesome and is well worth paying for.
[ROOT] Triangle Away

WrecklessLove said:
i dont know how to get to recovery without going thru the the cwm app. the only instructions i can find are for people with a dedicated home button
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wish there was a sticky that had info like that in it. ........
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

A few questions....
Hey, thanks for the help as I am a little confused also. I have a few questions.
I am on stock gb 2.3.6 uckk6
1- will I lose all my data after flashing "I777UCKH7 OCD No BL.exe" or "I777UCKH7 OCD Root No BL.exe".?
I can't use tbackup yet as I am not rooted. Do I just do the backup after I flash and before the unlock?

WrecklessLove said:
i dont know how to get to recovery without going thru the the cwm app. the only instructions i can find are for people with a dedicated home button
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Vol down vol up powet
Sent from my SGH-I777

WrecklessLove said:
i dont know how to get to recovery without going thru the the cwm app. the only instructions i can find are for people with a dedicated home button
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uh, there is no CWM app? If you're using one, get rid of it and stop using it!
Hold all three buttons (vol up, down, and power) until you see CWM recovery (it'll show the Samsung Galaxy S2 boot screen twice then go into recovery, you can let go when you see it the second time).

Related

[GUIDE] How to - Root Galaxy S2 and Basics for a Custom ROM

Hello all,
I have decided to make a guide that will hopefully help beginners to root your phone and be on your way to flashing a custom ROM.
There are many ways in which to root your phone, but I think the easiest way is through Chainfire’s CF-Root, which is a kernel that basically roots your phone, adds Busybox and ClockworkMod Recovery (this is necessary for installing/flashing custom ROM’s).
First off, you need Odin, which is a flashing tool specifically designed for the SGS2: Just type in "Odin 1.85" without quotations into Google and the first result should display "Odin - xdadevelopers - XDA Developers." Click on the link and Odin will download.
Now before going ahead with Odin, download Kies: http://www.samsung.com/us/kies/ ,which is like iTunes for Samsung Devices, the drivers are needed for Odin, but when the drivers have been installed, close Kies, right click on your toolbar at the bottom of your desktop, I'll assume your running Windows 7, and go into Task Manager. Now find anything with Kies running in the Task Manager, right click on them and kill them.
Kies gets jealous of Odin for being better, so it messes up Odin during the flashing process. So make sure you have the drivers installed from Kies and then killed off the Kies Processes.
Finally, lets get the flashing package required to root your phone. Here is the link to Chainfire's thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=20075898
Find the kernel that matches your Kernel Version e.g. Under Settings > About phone > Kernel Version: 2.6.35.7-I9100XXKG1-CL349526
What matters most (KG1) in this case, is in bold. Try to find the matching file under downloads CF-Root-SGS2_XX_OXA_KG1-v4.1-CWM4.zip See the resemblance?
Also make sure you unzip the file to get your .tar file, Odin won't work with .zip files.
Now go ahead and put your phone into download mode. To do this, turn off your phone normally, wait till it is fully off, then hold down the power, home and down volume button until a warning screen is displayed. Then press the up volume button. If the screen says "In download mode. Do not turn off target" then you have got it!
Now fire up Odin with Administrator Access (right click on the Odin icon and select Run as Administrator). When you have opened it, installed the Kies Air drivers and killed Kies processes off in Task Manager, you’re ready to proceed. Now connect your phone to your computer via your micro USB cable. The ID:COM box should go yellow and say ADDED!! in the box at the left hand side. Now make sure that the only options ticked in Option are Auto Reboot and F. Reset Time AND NOT RE-PARTITION. Now click on the PDA button on the right, and this will open your Explorer window up. Find your CF-Root file, and click OK. Then just click Start. In the top left hand corner, one of the boxes will flash blue, and then Green. The bottom left hand box will say PASSED!! Your phone will automatically reboot.
When it has, go to your app drawer, and check you have something called either "SuperUser" or "SuperSU." If you do, congratulations, you’re rooted. Another way to check it has been successful is to shut down your phone, and hold the home, power and volume up button. If you get into ClockworkMod Recovery, you’re great!
Now that you have root and ClockworkMod Recovery, the first thing you should do is boot into ClockworkMod Recovery by shutting down your phone, and using the home + power + volume up button sequence. When it loads, use the volume up and down buttons to navigate, and the power or home button to select depending on your CF-Root version.
Go to Backup and Restore, and then go to Backup to external sdcard. This will make a clone of your entire ROM, which is crucial if something with your custom ROM goes wrong, at least you can return to a point when you know the phone works.
After this, go to the Android Development Thread, and download a custom ROM you like the look of. Most will be in the .zip format, so Odin won’t be necessary. Just put the file on your sdcard, boot into ClockworkMod Recovery, make the necessary wipes outlined on the ROM’s thread, then Install zip from sdcard, then choose zip from external sdcard, find the ROM file, and then yes. MAKE SURE YOU FOLLOW THE INSTALL GUIDELINES ON THE ROM’s THREAD.
That’s you! When the phone is rebooting for the first time, the boot will take considerably longer as your phone is rebuilding the dalvik cache that you most likely wiped during your ROM install. Nothing to get worried about. If you wish to return to your stock ROM, boot into ClockworkMod Recovery, go to Backup and Restore, and restore from an external sdcard. Voila!
If I have left anything out, or you have a question, please post below!
Chris.
A big thanks to Chainfire who made the root process oh so easy for the SGS2!
DISCLAIMER: I am not responsible for bricked phones or your phone causing a zombie apocalypse, however this process is very safe if followed correctly.
Theres already threads very neatly written by devs on everything.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
Nice effort, but you have to know one guide is more than enough for the same.
Intratechs guide
Well I'm sorry that you don't want the Q&A section cleared out of rooting requests. People never use the search function and who would know that they have to go to Intratech's thread to find out when they join XDA? Just looking through the Q&A section, there are still questions popping up about rooting, so is one thread enough?
Chris.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA
Aprreciate your effort...
But even they read hundreds of Guides / FAQs they will not be satisfied until they get atleast one teaspoon feeding directly from a senior member of XDA, a live answer, this is a nature of a Noob which can not be rewritten....
Thanks anyway...
themadba said:
Well I'm sorry that you don't want the Q&A section cleared out of rooting requests. People never use the search function and who would know that they have to go to Intratech's thread to find out when they join XDA? Just looking through the Q&A section, there are still questions popping up about rooting, so is one thread enough?
Chris.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
when people join xda , they have to read out the stickies out there, and it has all the info. thats why stickies are there
Wow... I am amazed. You all complain when people don't use the search function for rooting. I spend my time to create a thread to help these people stop clogging up the Q&A section, and you start complaining about me. How can you win?
Chris.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA
themadba said:
Well I'm sorry that you don't want the Q&A section cleared out of rooting requests. People never use the search function and who would know that they have to go to Intratech's thread to find out when they join XDA? Just looking through the Q&A section, there are still questions popping up about rooting, so is one thread enough?
Chris.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So we delete the FAQS and Guides .
We bring in a new rule that Questions no longer go in Q&A
Another rule allows multiple posts on the same subject .
Its not one thread is enough fact is so many but not all new users are lazy and want it all on a plate .
The reason that it can be hard to find stuff is that the forum is full of repetitive questions and other i cannot be bothered to read the instructions posts . That makes it difficult to find anything at all .
jje
JJEgan said:
So we delete the FAQS and Guides .
We bring in a new rule that Questions no longer go in Q&A
Another rule allows multiple posts on the same subject .
Its not one thread is enough fact is so many but not all new users are lazy and want it all on a plate .
The reason that it can be hard to find stuff is that the forum is full of repetitive questions and other i cannot be bothered to read the instructions posts . That makes it difficult to find anything at all .
jje
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So do you want me to delete the thread as it is multiple posting? I bet you have had to link someone to Chainfire's thread since this morning. It is usual, no?
Chris.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA
themadba said:
Wow... I am amazed. You all complain when people don't use the search function for rooting. I spend my time to create a thread to help these people stop clogging up the Q&A section, and you start complaining about me. How can you win?
Chris.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't take it so personally.
As you know, there are guides and stickies everywhere.
Does your guide - or any other proposed guide, for that matter - improve upon or add more substance to previously posted guides? If the answer is no, it shouldn't be posted.
While well-meant, I don't see anything new or improved in your guide compared to others.
You ask "how can you win?". Answer - it doesn't matter, it's not a competition.
B3311 said:
Don't take it so personally.
As you know, there are guides and stickies everywhere.
Does your guide - or any other propsed guide, for that matter - improve upon or add more substance to previously posted guides? If the answer is no, it shouldn't be posted.
While well-meant, I don't see anything new or improved in your guide compared to others.
You ask "how can you win?". Answer - it doesn't matter, it's not a competition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First off, I didn't take it personally or else that would be pathetic. Secondly, if other guides are just great, then why is there still questions about root popping up? Thirdly, I never implied that it was a competition. I mean that you can't win if you ask a question, or post a help guide to cut out the questions.
Chris.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA
thanks alot for the guide dont listen to these idiots your post has been very helpfull for me i have now rooted my sg2! you can never get too much guidance and there isnt a sticky on rooting or at least i didnt find it anyways.
centrezuk said:
thanks alot for the guide dont listen to these idiots your post has been very helpfull for me i have now rooted my sg2! you can never get too much guidance and there isnt a sticky on rooting or at least i didnt find it anyways.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I have been trying to say, but there you go. Thank you for your feedback. Glad it helped you.
Chris.
themadba said:
First off, I didn't take it personally or else that would be pathetic. Secondly, if other guides are just great, then why is there still questions about root popping up? Thirdly, I never implied that it was a competition. I mean that you can't win if you ask a question, or post a help guide to cut out the questions.
Chris.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Firstly - "I'm amazed...." "you all complain...." "I spend my time...." - all your quotes. You hardly sound neutral.
Secondly - Because this site is littered with lazy sods who don't read or search. Don't flatter yourself - your offering isn't going to change that one iota.
Thirdly - Your interpretation. Whatever.
As said, I don't think your guide adds anything to previously posted ones. Sue me.
B3311 said:
Firstly - "I'm amazed...." "you all complain...." "I spend my time...." - all your quotes. You hardly sound neutral.
Secondly - Because this site is littered with lazy sods who don't read or search. Don't flatter yourself - your offering isn't going to change that one iota.
Thirdly - Your interpretation. Whatever.
As said, I don't think your guide adds anything to previously posted ones. Sue me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is also your interpretation. Mr Big Man by coming out with nonsense like “sue me." If I annoy you, you can leave my thread. I'm not stopping you. Your side of the story was noted, and thrown in the bin. Thank you.
Chris.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA
centrezuk said:
thanks alot for the guide dont listen to these idiots your post has been very helpfull for me i have now rooted my sg2! you can never get too much guidance and there isnt a sticky on rooting or at least i didnt find it anyways.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Am I "one of these idiots"?
I found a stickied rooting guide in 5 seconds, would you like the link? Find it yourself and stop bleating.
"Guidance"??
I think you meant "you can never get too much spoonfeeding".
---------- Post added at 06:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:40 PM ----------
themadba said:
That is also your interpretation. Mr Big Man by coming out with nonsense like “sue me." If I annoy you, you can leave my thread. I'm not stopping you. Your side of the story was noted, and thrown in the bin. Thank you.
Chris.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Still not taking it personally then
I think I'll stay, thanks. Fun here.
B3311 said:
Am I "one of these idiots"?
I found a stickied rooting guide in 5 seconds, would you like the link? Find it yourself and stop bleating.
"Guidance"??
I think you meant "you can never get too much spoonfeeding".
---------- Post added at 06:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:40 PM ----------
Still not taking it personally then
I think I'll stay, thanks. Fun here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's fine, I never intended to solve all the rooting request problems, just to have a nice guide. But clearly that isn't accepted on this site.
Thanks for staying, you would be missed if you left
Chris.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA
A Big thanks to Cris & chainfire...
themadba said:
Hello all,
I have decided to make a guide that will hopefully help beginners to root your phone and be on your way to flashing a custom ROM.
There are many ways in which to root your phone, but I think the easiest way is through Chainfire’s CF-Root, which is a kernel that basically roots your phone, adds Busybox and ClockworkMod Recovery (this is necessary for installing/flashing custom ROM’s).
First off, you need Odin, which is a flashing tool specifically designed for the SGS2: Just type in "Odin 1.85" without quotations into Google and the first result should display "Odin - xdadevelopers - XDA Developers." Click on the link and Odin will download.
Now before going ahead with Odin, download Kies: http://www.samsung.com/us/kies/ ,which is like iTunes for Samsung Devices, the drivers are needed for Odin, but when the drivers have been installed, close Kies, right click on your toolbar at the bottom of your desktop, I'll assume your running Windows 7, and go into Task Manager. Now find anything with Kies running in the Task Manager, right click on them and kill them.
Kies gets jealous of Odin for being better, so it messes up Odin during the flashing process. So make sure you have the drivers installed from Kies and then killed off the Kies Processes.
Finally, lets get the flashing package required to root your phone. Here is the link to Chainfire's thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=20075898
Find the kernel that matches your Kernel Version e.g. Under Settings > About phone > Kernel Version: 2.6.35.7-I9100XXKG1-CL349526
What matters most (KG1) in this case, is in bold. Try to find the matching file under downloads CF-Root-SGS2_XX_OXA_KG1-v4.1-CWM4.zip See the resemblance?
Also make sure you unzip the file to get your .tar file, Odin won't work with .zip files.
Now go ahead and put your phone into download mode. To do this, turn off your phone normally, wait till it is fully off, then hold down the power, home and down volume button until a warning screen is displayed. Then press the up volume button. If the screen says "In download mode. Do not turn off target" then you have got it!
Now fire up Odin with Administrator Access (right click on the Odin icon and select Run as Administrator). When you have opened it, installed the Kies Air drivers and killed Kies processes off in Task Manager, you’re ready to proceed. Now connect your phone to your computer via your micro USB cable. The ID:COM box should go yellow and say ADDED!! in the box at the left hand side. Now make sure that the only options ticked in Option are Auto Reboot and F. Reset Time AND NOT RE-PARTITION. Now click on the PDA button on the right, and this will open your Explorer window up. Find your CF-Root file, and click OK. Then just click Start. In the top left hand corner, one of the boxes will flash blue, and then Green. The bottom left hand box will say PASSED!! Your phone will automatically reboot.
When it has, go to your app drawer, and check you have something called either "SuperUser" or "SuperSU." If you do, congratulations, you’re rooted. Another way to check it has been successful is to shut down your phone, and hold the home, power and volume up button. If you get into ClockworkMod Recovery, you’re great!
Now that you have root and ClockworkMod Recovery, the first thing you should do is boot into ClockworkMod Recovery by shutting down your phone, and using the home + power + volume up button sequence. When it loads, use the volume up and down buttons to navigate, and the power or home button to select depending on your CF-Root version.
Go to Backup and Restore, and then go to Backup to external sdcard. This will make a clone of your entire ROM, which is crucial if something with your custom ROM goes wrong, at least you can return to a point when you know the phone works.
After this, go to the Android Development Thread, and download a custom ROM you look the like of. Most will be in the .zip format, so Odin won’t be necessary. Just put the file on your sdcard, boot into ClockworkMod Recovery, make the necessary wipes outlined on the ROM’s thread, then Install zip from sdcard, then choose zip from external sdcard, find the ROM file, and then yes. MAKE SURE YOU FOLLOW THE INSTALL GUIDELINES ON THE ROM’s THREAD.
That’s you! When the phone is rebooting for the first time, the boot will take considerably longer as your phone is rebuilding the dalvik cache that you most likely wiped during your ROM install. Nothing to get worried about. If you wish to return to your stock ROM, boot into ClockworkMod Recovery, go to Backup and Restore, and restore from an external sdcard. Voila!
If I have left anything out, or you have a question, please post below!
Chris.
A big thanks to Chainfire who made the root process oh so easy for the SGS2!
DISCLAIMER: I am not responsible for bricked phones or your phone causing a zombie apocalypse, however this process is very safe if followed correctly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A big thanks to cris & chainfire... I have rooted my SGS2... The Golden words " search & read"
chamila
Are the i9100 and the t989 the same?
There might be a better place for me to find this answer, but I couldn't find it on XDA forums, so I decided to post here. Can someone tell me if the roms for the i9100 and the t989 are the same?
From what I understand, one is an international version and one is the American version of the phone? I just rooted my phone not too long ago and i wanted to install this ROM from slimroms (slim bean).
When I got to the site, I noticed only the I9100 was supported and I hope my phone will work as well. Can someone tell me if both phone's rom are the same? Thank you for your time.
datwunguy said:
There might be a better place for me to find this answer, but I couldn't find it on XDA forums, so I decided to post here. Can someone tell me if the roms for the i9100 and the t989 are the same?
From what I understand, one is an international version and one is the American version of the phone? I just rooted my phone not too long ago and i wanted to install this ROM from slimroms (slim bean).
When I got to the site, I noticed only the I9100 was supported and I hope my phone will work as well. Can someone tell me if both phone's rom are the same? Thank you for your time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totally different phones.
http://www.google.com/search?q=difference+between+i9100+and+t989
Edit: also, the T989 has its own forum at http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1329

Help Please! Phone won't turn on

First off, my apologies if this is in the wrong forum. Mods, you may move this thread if need be. I was just shown this website about two weeks ago by a friend and have only been a lurker since. So I apologize if my first post is one needing assistance.
First off, I am not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to doing all this reboot,recovery, root,etc. But I can usually figure stuff out. I have researched how to do all this stuff over the last to weeks learning how to do all this. Let it be known that I was already rooted with siyah 3.4.2? kernel with superuser, CWM, and had ROM Manager downloaded. Last night I had finally decided to try and download a custom rom (AOKP), and I went through ROM Manager to try and reboot into recovery mode..the phone went dead. I have not been able to turn the phone on since last night. I have tried taking the battery out, trying to hold down volume buttons/power button to get into download mode, etc..But nothing is happening. When I power on, I can see the screen where it says "Samsung Galaxy SII" w/ the triangle, but then the screen goes black and nothing. In a dark room, you can see that the screen looks like it's trying to fire by flickering, but again...nothing. Sorry if this has been alot of reading, but I just want to be as thorough as I can. If anybody can tell me what went wrong, and how it might be fixed, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks
BigCohiba said:
First off, my apologies if this is in the wrong forum. Mods, you may move this thread if need be. I was just shown this website about two weeks ago by a friend and have only been a lurker since. So I apologize if my first post is one needing assistance.
First off, I am not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to doing all this reboot,recovery, root,etc. But I can usually figure stuff out. I have researched how to do all this stuff over the last to weeks learning how to do all this. Let it be known that I was already rooted with siyah 3.4.2? kernel with superuser, CWM, and had ROM Manager downloaded. Last night I had finally decided to try and download a custom rom (AOKP), and I went through ROM Manager to try and reboot into recovery mode..the phone went dead. I have not been able to turn the phone on since last night. I have tried taking the battery out, trying to hold down volume buttons/power button to get into download mode, etc..But nothing is happening. When I power on, I can see the screen where it says "Samsung Galaxy SII" w/ the triangle, but then the screen goes black and nothing. In a dark room, you can see that the screen looks like it's trying to fire by flickering, but again...nothing. Sorry if this has been alot of reading, but I just want to be as thorough as I can. If anybody can tell me what went wrong, and how it might be fixed, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DONT USE ROM MANAGER
Jeez how many times does that have to be said in this place
Sent from my Sony Xperia Ion
Yup don't use cwm or rom manager use Odin to flash roms also rm sucks they only have a few roms
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium
BigCohiba said:
First off, my apologies if this is in the wrong forum. Mods, you may move this thread if need be. I was just shown this website about two weeks ago by a friend and have only been a lurker since. So I apologize if my first post is one needing assistance.
First off, I am not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to doing all this reboot,recovery, root,etc. But I can usually figure stuff out. I have researched how to do all this stuff over the last to weeks learning how to do all this. Let it be known that I was already rooted with siyah 3.4.2? kernel with superuser, CWM, and had ROM Manager downloaded. Last night I had finally decided to try and download a custom rom (AOKP), and I went through ROM Manager to try and reboot into recovery mode..the phone went dead. I have not been able to turn the phone on since last night. I have tried taking the battery out, trying to hold down volume buttons/power button to get into download mode, etc..But nothing is happening. When I power on, I can see the screen where it says "Samsung Galaxy SII" w/ the triangle, but then the screen goes black and nothing. In a dark room, you can see that the screen looks like it's trying to fire by flickering, but again...nothing. Sorry if this has been alot of reading, but I just want to be as thorough as I can. If anybody can tell me what went wrong, and how it might be fixed, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Remove the battery and replace it. hold the up/down volume and power button. The screen should light up. Continue to hold them until the phone goes into recovery mode. The phone should turn on and off a couple times before it enters recovery. Then wipe the data and caches. Hopefully at the point the phone will work. If it wont work you could always try to buy a download jig. They are only a couple dollars and can easily be found with a search.
The man that can Creepycrawler in 5 4 3 2 1..... Please
slim1991 said:
Yup don't use cwm or rom manager use Odin to flash roms also rm sucks they only have a few roms
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nothing's wrong with using CWM to flash a ROM.
dsfletch said:
Remove the battery and replace it. hold the up/down volume and power button. The screen should light up. Continue to hold them until the phone goes into recovery mode. The phone should turn on and off a couple times before it enters recovery. Then wipe the data and caches. Hopefully at the point the phone will work. If it wont work you could always try to buy a download jig. They are only a couple dollars and can easily be found with a search.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This did not work. I will see what I can find on the JIG
BigCohiba said:
This did not work. I will see what I can find on the JIG
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Take out battery hold volume button down and plug usb you will enter to download. Flash siyah kernel using odin.
xhepera said:
Nothing's wrong with using CWM to flash a ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That usually cause more trouble than it's worth. Espeically for a noob. I had been in that situation back when I first start doing it. First thing I used was CWM and I had the same/similar problem.
That is why everyone here always mentioned to not use CWM.
BeenAndroidized said:
That usually cause more trouble than it's worth. Espeically for a noob. I had been in that situation back when I first start doing it. First thing I used was CWM and I had the same/similar problem.
That is why everyone here always mentioned to not use CWM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No one says not to use cwm, please do not talk out of your ass like that
Sent from my Sony Xperia Ion
Nick281051 said:
No one says not to use cwm, please do not talk out of your ass like that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not trying to be that way, just from my past experience with CWM. If you think I was being rude "talk out of my ass like that". Then I am sorry to bother for responding... Thank you for letting me know (no pun intended).
@BigCohiba,
You need to get into download mode. You should be able to do that without using a jig. With the phone off, but with the battery still in the phone, hold down vol- and vol+ (but not power) while you plug in the usb cable.
The following instructions given by fakhri should also work:
fakhri said:
Take out battery hold volume button down and plug usb you will enter to download.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After that, flashing siyah kernel alone may be enough to allow the phone to boot, but you may have trouble finding a Siyah in Odin flashable tar format.
...or, flash straight stock UCKH7, or flash stock plus root UCKH7. You can find download links for those in one or the other of the guides linked in my signature.
Please let us know your success or problems as you proceed.
BeenAndroidized said:
Not trying to be that way, just from my past experience with CWM. If you think I was being rude "talk out of my ass like that". Then I am sorry to bother for responding... Thank you for letting me know (no pun intended).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't tell me you don't use cwm, that's what I mean. Any custom kernel has it baked in and is necessary to flash custom roms
Sent from my Sony Xperia Ion
Nick281051 said:
You can't tell me you don't use cwm, that's what I mean. Any custom kernel has it baked in and is necessary to flash custom roms
Sent from my Sony Xperia Ion
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why would someone not use it? I'm confused.
Rom manager is an issue, not recovery...
Nick281051 said:
You can't tell me you don't use cwm, that's what I mean. Any custom kernel has it baked in and is necessary to flash custom roms
Sent from my Sony Xperia Ion
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Understood. I must have missed understood the comment. That is correct, CWM Recovery is builded into the custom ROMs.
qwertyaas said:
Why would someone not use it? I'm confused.
Rom manager is an issue, not recovery...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is what I meant ROM Manager... Sorry for the confusion...
BeenAndroidized said:
Understood. I must have missed understood the comment. That is correct, CWM Recovery is builded into the custom ROMs.
That is what I meant ROM Manager... Sorry for the confusion...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ROM Manager =! Cwm
Sent from my Sony Xperia Ion
creepyncrawly said:
@BigCohiba,
You need to get into download mode. You should be able to do that without using a jig. With the phone off, but with the battery still in the phone, hold down vol- and vol+ (but not power) while you plug in the usb cable.
The following instructions given by fakhri should also work:
After that, flashing siyah kernel alone may be enough to allow the phone to boot, but you may have trouble finding a Siyah in Odin flashable tar format.
...or, flash straight stock UCKH7, or flash stock plus root UCKH7. You can find download links for those in one or the other of the guides linked in my signature.
Please let us know your success or problems as you proceed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I will try these methods when I get home tonight and hope they work
fakhri said:
Take out battery hold volume button down and plug usb you will enter to download
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
creepyncrawly said:
...or, flash straight stock UCKH7. You can find download links for those in one or the other of the guides linked in my signature.
Please let us know your success or problems as you proceed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These two things worked. Phone is back to stock and working. Thanks to everybody for helping very much!

Need help fast, vibrant won't boot up after attempting to flash cyanogenmod 7

Please help, having bootloop with my vibrant while trying to install cyanogenmod 7. It doesn't make it to the arrow spinning around the android, and it resarts with the words "Vibrant" then "Galaxy S Cyanogen mod". I formatted all of the internal memory I could. Now, it just says "Vibrant" and won't reboot at all (When I was in the bootloop I was able to reboot into recovery but nothing else) I'm on my spare phone right now, and I'm in need of some help. I miss my phone. I want to use it. I am almost positive I did nothing wrong. I followed all of the instructions on the mods page. Was I supposed to install cm6 first? Was there a kernel I needed to flash first? (I was running voodoo lagfix) Help. Please. Fast. Anymore details you need to know I will answer.
NOTE: Admin please remove.
yeah just odin back to stock you should not flash anything while on voodoo unless its a rom with Voodoo enabled already...but your phone is fine are you familiar with odin and the 3 buttom combo and flashin back to stock?
I am what you call a "Super noob" I have no idea how to flash roms, use odin, etc. All I know how to do is root. Thanks for the reply btw I'm really freaking out... And yes, I am familiar with the 3 button combo to boot into recovery? Also, is the stock 2.1 or 2.2 because I had to update from 2.1 to 2.2 manually. Or.... Do you choose the stock... Will I still be rooted after flashing to stock?
no worries at all bro we all gotta start somewhere as far as your phone goes you need to download odin and some files as far as the combo goes for your phone the easy one to remember when using odin is just both volume buttons make sure your usb wire is plugged to the computer then when you open odin... while holding both volume buttons on your phone connect it and you should she a yellow triangle with android and should see COM4 or COM? make sure its reading your phone and then you want to check repartition because you need to format your system check this website out and send me a PM or post here to let me know but go to this website nice little guide and your choice to go back 2.1/2.2 easier to just goto 2.2 if you want cm7 http://team-passion.com/index.php/wiki/general/15-how-to-use-odin-for-vibrant
Thanks man. Ill try this later today. I have to sleep because I've been up all night trying to fix it. Didn't know it was this easy... I will report back to you any problems or if it worked. Its just hard because my internets not working and I'm having to use my spare phone to do all of this. Comcast is coming tomarrow to fix it.I guess I could use the mobile hotpot on my MyTouch slide. The only thing is that tmobiles 3g is crappy and slow -_-
either way you do it the files are not to big the biggest file would be the tar file which is the file that hold the rom and system ui and all patchs its like 170mb so that might take the longest but use dolphin browser on desktop mode that way you dont get any corrupted files but yes you will be fine if you get lost go into the Vibrant development and in the BIBLE there are more odin guides and links good luck mate you got this
---------- Post added at 06:59 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:55 AM ----------
also this right here is as simple as you can do it right here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1441976LOOK FOR THE ODIN PART OF THIS ROM GUIDE AND you can flash this on odin and when you do you will be rooted and ready to do what you please from here remember the ROM BIBLE has some great guides for your user experience just search and read you will become more knowledgeable to all this
Hey man, I tried Odin, and its not going into download mode. Is stuck at this screen, like its gonna show the battery animation when its plugged in. its frozen. Please help. I think I found my problem. I don't think I wiped my davlik cache when I could, but I wiped my normal cache. Thoughts?
take out your battery your sd card and sim card for 5 min then put the battery back in try a different USB port from the back of your computer while plugging the phone into the computer make sure your holding both volume buttons and you should be good to go try that and report back .....or while the phone plugged in reinsert your battery while holding those 2 volume buttons it doesnt matter what you did or didnt wipe bro this option will bring you back to normal status and rooted if your using the ROM from Fishman bionix ...let me know
---------- Post added at 09:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:28 AM ----------
the Dalvik Cache is not nearly as important as you think...it mainly only wipes apps and certrain settings... things you may have set up etc... but wouldnt cause you to bootloop CM7 is tricky tho if its done wrong ....
---------- Post added at 09:49 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:31 AM ----------
i found this little guide for you if none of those steps worked try this one out http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=734475 and here are the drivers just incase http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=728929 maybe it wasnt reading it
Thanks man! Its downloading right now. I tried a usb 3.0 slot and it worked just fine. Ill report back if it didn't work or any roms I get to check for compatibility issues. I really apprectiate your help man. Update: It works! I'm rooting it now and I'm gonna check out some roms.
Before you Odin and presuming that you are still stuck in a bootloop, try this. Boot back into recovery and then scroll down to Install from SD and find your CM7.zip and reinstall it. Then once it is done, it should reboot on it's own.
I think that you are only experiencing the CWR mismatch and if that is the case, there is no need for Odin. Don't forget that the first boot takes the longest bc the device has to rebuild the /dalvik-cache which takes some time.
Mod note: Make sure that you are not spamming the boards with this issue. All your other posts have been deleted by a Senior Mod.
Now that you are in the Vibrant section, you can post all your questions here but above all make sure you search. This phone is almost 3 years old and most of the problems have already been solved.
Edit:::
Well I did see this part. Glad it worked but I suugest you read a bunch as you are a self-proclaimed "Super Noob" and that can be bad sometimes. Glad you got it worked out though and welcome.
LiquidPlatinum said:
Update: It works! I'm rooting it now and I'm gonna check out some roms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
awesome! glad to help check out Fishmans threads he has some really stable and smooth stuff out there if your digging the froyo still that is take it easy
Odin isn't recognizing my phone after I rooted it... Any thoughts on what could've gone wrong? I'm doing everything right...
if odin does not find your phone always try a different USB port sometimes the usb ports can over work themselves and misread from all the usb syncing going on... try restarting your computer while using a different port what steps did you take when you odin back to stock what did you do from there if i may ask :?
how did you make out on those roms? everything all set ??
Sorry, I've been busy... I installed Cyanogen 7 and I might keep this for a while before flashing Cm10. If you can recommend any roms that go nicely with Cm7 please, do. My one problem is that Cm removes the swype keyboard D: I really appreciate the help man. Thanks.

			
				
Toast6977 said:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Best post ever!"!
Because I am hard, you will not like me. But the more you hate me, the more you will learn.
Hahaha makes perfect sense to me... I'm not getting what your confused about...
"If you can recommend any roms that go nicely with Cm7 please, do."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Maybe this part of your post is a little confusing.
Because I am hard, you will not like me. But the more you hate me, the more you will learn.
oh my, that is .."special'

[Q] Help!

I had a rooted stock Verizon samsung galaxy note 2 with a couple tweaks, I wanted to set up a custom recovery so I installed clockwork from the google market, Im now getting System software not authorized by verizon wireless found on phone error messae with the yellow triangle. How can I restore my phone Anyone with an irc or skype able to help a guy out. I would really appreciate it.
damage145 said:
I had a rooted stock Verizon samsung galaxy note 2 with a couple tweaks, I wanted to set up a custom recovery so I installed clockwork from the google market, Im now getting System software not authorized by verizon wireless found on phone error messae with the yellow triangle. How can I restore my phone Anyone with an irc or skype able to help a guy out. I would really appreciate it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Speaking from personal experience on two separate accounts of having to deal with the unauthorized software. If you wait for about a minute or so, the phone will shut off or you can pull the battery. Hold the volume down and home buttons together. While pressing and holding those two buttons together, press and hold the power button until the phone turns on and when you see the Samsung Galaxy Note II logo, release the power key. At this point, your phone should enter into downloading mode.
Use ODIN3 v3.07 to flash both of these files together. Also make sure that the Auto Reboot option is checked.
You'll need to download and open this file http://d-h.st/mKu in the PIT section of ODIN.
You'll also need to download and open this file http://d-h.st/Qd4 in the PDA section of ODIN.
Within seconds of flashing the two files at the same time, your phone will reboot and start up like normal.
damage145 said:
I had a rooted stock Verizon samsung galaxy note 2 with a couple tweaks, I wanted to set up a custom recovery so I installed clockwork from the google market, Im now getting System software not authorized by verizon wireless found on phone error messae with the yellow triangle. How can I restore my phone Anyone with an irc or skype able to help a guy out. I would really appreciate it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also, in order to flash a custom recovery, make sure you are both rooted AND unlocked. There is a very easy to follow guide in the development section by Adam Outler, who developed a pretty much automated system to do so.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2118348
Good luck, hope the advice above gets you up and running again
Sent from my Note II
larry_thagr81 said:
Speaking from personal experience on two separate accounts of having to deal with the unauthorized software. If you wait for about a minute or so, the phone will shut off or you can pull the battery. Hold the volume down and home buttons together. While pressing and holding those two buttons together, press and hold the power button until the phone turns on and when you see the Samsung Galaxy Note II logo, release the power key. At this point, your phone should enter into downloading mode.
Use ODIN3 v3.07 to flash both of these files together. Also make sure that the Auto Reboot option is checked.
You'll need to download and open this file http://d-h.st/mKu in the PIT section of ODIN.
You'll also need to download and open this file http://d-h.st/Qd4 in the PDA section of ODIN.
Within seconds of flashing the two files at the same time, your phone will reboot and start up like normal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
will try this right now Thank you so much for timely response
Worked like a charm Thank you so much, Im going to try and get the bootloader unlocked so I can use the custom recovery for nandroid backups. Just not entirely sure what part of the guide I would be at. I am using stock with a couple tweaks, Mainly adaway, multiwindow, google wallet. Im rooted havent touched the boot loader yet Rooted the hard way before the one click apk exploit. Any Ideas?
larry_thagr81 said:
Speaking from personal experience on two separate accounts of having to deal with the unauthorized software. If you wait for about a minute or so, the phone will shut off or you can pull the battery. Hold the volume down and home buttons together. While pressing and holding those two buttons together, press and hold the power button until the phone turns on and when you see the Samsung Galaxy Note II logo, release the power key. At this point, your phone should enter into downloading mode.
Use ODIN3 v3.07 to flash both of these files together. Also make sure that the Auto Reboot option is checked.
You'll need to download and open this file http://d-h.st/mKu in the PIT section of ODIN.
You'll also need to download and open this file http://d-h.st/Qd4 in the PDA section of ODIN.
Within seconds of flashing the two files at the same time, your phone will reboot and start up like normal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey buddy, glad you were able to help him out. Wanted to give you a little advice. It's usually considered bad form to just link the download. Most devs prefer you to link their thread, you know so the person can click Thanks or donate if they feel inclined to. I'm not sure if that's how Adam is, but wanted to point it out to you.
Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2
---------- Post added at 01:37 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:34 AM ----------
damage145 said:
Worked like a charm Thank you so much, Im going to try and get the bootloader unlocked so I can use the custom recovery for nandroid backups. Just not entirely sure what part of the guide I would be at. I am using stock with a couple tweaks, Mainly adaway, multiwindow, google wallet. Im rooted havent touched the boot loader yet Rooted the hard way before the one click apk exploit. Any Ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Best bet is to just start at step one of the unlock process
Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2
kintwofan said:
Hey buddy, glad you were able to help him out. Wanted to give you a little advice. It's usually considered bad form to just link the download. Most devs prefer you to link their thread, you know so the person can click Thanks or donate if they feel inclined to. I'm not sure if that's how Adam is, but wanted to point it out to you.
Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2
---------- Post added at 01:37 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:34 AM ----------
Best bet is to just start at step one of the unlock process
Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good point, I honestly didn't think much of it. However, out of respect for these awesome developers I will only provide links from this point on to their threads.
Great thread title by the way....
nunyazz said:
Great thread title by the way....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was actually to get what he needed by the title. First was clearly a noob by thegreat details. Second the "!!!" Told me he bricked his phone.
Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2
larry_thagr81 said:
Good point, I honestly didn't think much of it. However, out of respect for these awesome developers I will only provide links from this point on to their threads.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, followed Adam's instructions. I'm sure phone is rooted and unlocked.
Now, holding down 'Volum - and Home, then holding down Start' does not work.
I've tried it over and over again.
Any help appreciated.
SOLVED

Samsung S3 memory full

My work colleague is an idiot - Despite warnings from his S3 that phone memory was low he continued taking videos and pictures and he has no sd card in the phone. Now the phone boots up but the pattern unlock screen is unresponsive. I offered to try to help him as he said "The last 2 years photos of my life are on there" so clearly a factory reset will lose them all so that's not an option.
So I installed Kies, thinking I'll just grab them to my PC for him - but alas no. MTP USB driver installation fails every time and yes I've googled my socks off, tried all the regedit fixes, even tried installing Win 7 32 bit on a spare hard drive.
I've checked that the ribbon connector for the screen is attached, tried linux boot disks that don't see the phone and now I'm all out of ideas. Any help would be vastly appreciated :fingers-crossed:
Hello,
Welcome to XDA.
Most of the time the screen being locked wont let PC interact with the device. There are many different models of S3, give me your model number and I'll guide you to where you can find answers.
You may can flash a custom recovery or a temporary recovery(not sure because I don't know what is available for the model you're working with and what isn't), if you can get one of those recoveries then you may can use the factory reset in recovery(it wont wipe his photos) or adb to get the phone working.
Remember to create an XDA account so you can post and reply in the forums.
Droidriven said:
Hello,
Welcome to XDA.
Most of the time the screen being locked wont let PC interact with the device. There are many different models of S3, give me your model number and I'll guide you to where you can find answers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi there and many thanks for the welcome. The model number is GT-19300 :fingers-crossed:
Azarameus said:
Hi there and many thanks for the welcome. The model number is GT-19300 :fingers-crossed:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your issue is unusual because of how it got that way, I'm not certain exactly which subforum or thread you need but I will link you to the GT I9300 Main Forum linked below:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3
You can check through the subforums there for anything you think applies, the Q&A and the 2 development subforums are most likely where you will find help, this thread will be moved to the GT I9300 Q&A forum linked below:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3/help
If you get replies you can check them and respond there, you might want to find some off topic threads to post in until you have at least 10 posts so that you can post in the development forums there if you need to, there is a 10 post minimum before you can post there. Good luck.
Droidriven said:
Your issue is unusual because of how it got that way, I'm not certain exactly which subforum or thread you need but I will link you to the GT I9300 Main Forum linked below:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3
You can check through the subforums there for anything you think applies, the Q&A and the 2 development subforums are most likely where you will find help, this thread will be moved to the GT I9300 Q&A forum linked below:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3/help
If you get replies you can check them and respond there, you might want to find some off topic threads to post in until you have at least 10 posts so that you can post in the development forums there if you need to, there is a 10 post minimum before you can post there. Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok thanks again. I can get it into Recovery mode but all I've tried so far is clearing the cache, as I don't want to do anything that might lose his pictures.
Azarameus said:
Ok thanks again. I can get it into Recovery mode but all I've tried so far is clearing the cache, as I don't want to do anything that might lose his pictures.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it is stock recovery then I believe if you can get to download mode then you can flash a custom recovery and flash the superSU zip to root the device then factory reset/wipe data, wipe cache and wipe dalvik cache, this will clear the lockscreen but won't erase his pictures, music, etc., it may let him back into his phone, he will just have to be careful because the device will be rooted and he could make things worse if he doesn't know what he's doing. If that works and he gets back in his phone but isn't comfortable with the risk of having a rooted device without understanding its usage then the device can be un rooted by going into the superSU settings and choosing the unroot and uninstall option. He'd still have custom recovery though. You might even be able to just flash the recovery to do the wipes and not have to root, I'm not sure about that though because I've never used recovery without root so I can't speak from personal experience.
I've never owned the i9300 so I'm not sure if you can do that or not safely from the state you are in so you may want to verify in this forum before you try it, but I don't see an issue with you doing it, its commonly used to root the S3 variants and doesn't wipe any important data or factory reset the device
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
Droidriven said:
If it is stock recovery then I believe if you can get to download mode then you can flash a custom recovery and flash the superSU zip to root the device then factory reset/wipe data, wipe cache and wipe dalvik cache, this will clear the lockscreen but won't erase his pictures, music, etc., it may let him back into his phone, he will just have to be careful because the device will be rooted and he could make things worse if he doesn't know what he's doing. If that works and he gets back in his phone but isn't comfortable with the risk of having a rooted device without understanding its usage then the device can be un rooted by going into the superSU settings and choosing the unroot and uninstall option. He'd still have custom recovery though. You might even be able to just flash the recovery to do the wipes and not have to root, I'm not sure about that though because I've never used recovery without root so I can't speak from personal experience.
I've never owned the i9300 so I'm not sure if you can do that or not safely from the state you are in so you may want to verify in this forum before you try it, but I don't see an issue with you doing it, its commonly used to root the S3 variants and doesn't wipe any important data or factory reset the device
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
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Whew, most of that went right over my head lol. An idiot's guide please? Bearing in mind that my PC can't currently connect to the phone I'm guessing that I need to put the custom recovery file (where to find one?) on an SD card via a PC card reader and try it from there in download mode? I think he'll be delighted just to get his pictures and videos back even if the phone never works again, so it being rooted won't be an issue.
Azarameus said:
Whew, most of that went right over my head lol. An idiot's guide please? Bearing in mind that my PC can't currently connect to the phone I'm guessing that I need to put the custom recovery file (where to find one?) on an SD card via a PC card reader and try it from there in download mode? I think he'll be delighted just to get his pictures and videos back even if the phone never works again, so it being rooted won't be an issue.
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No, to get to download mode you need to have the phone off, then press and hold the volume down+home+power button, when you see the caution screen you press up, if you can get to this mode you may can flash a TWRP recovery through Odin from PC to phone.
But first, before we get to Odin, do you or he know what android version he had before this happened, Kit Kat? Lollipop? I need to see if there are locked bootloaders on your device builds and which ones they are and which are safe to flash TWRP, if the i9300 is like some of the other Samsung devices with certain locked bootloaders that can't be unlocked or downgraded then flashing TWRP could and probably would brick the device. I need some info so I can check for you.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
Droidriven said:
No, to get to download mode you need to have the phone off, then press and hold the volume down+home+power button, when you see the caution screen you press up, if you can get to this mode you may can flash a TWRP recovery through Odin from PC to phone.
But first, before we get to Odin, do you or he know what android version he had before this happened, Kit Kat? Lollipop? I need to see if there are locked bootloaders on your device builds and which ones they are and which are safe to flash TWRP, if the i9300 is like some of the other Samsung devices with certain locked bootloaders that can't be unlocked or downgraded then flashing TWRP could and probably would brick the device. I need some info so I can check for you.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
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I honestly have no idea which android build it is running on, as I can't get into the settings page or anything else and I very much doubt if my friend knows as he is pretty much clueless on such things, hence the problem. All I know is that its a few years old and when it starts up there is a three.co.uk white screen icon before it gets to the unresponsive lockscreen. I am also almost as clueless with android devices (I'm only a PC guy) - so far my only experience has been to set up kodi with addons for TV viewing which is why I came here to ask you expert guys
Methinks I won't try to get into download mode just yet in case it makes things worse
All your help is much appreciated, thank you!
Azarameus said:
I honestly have no idea which android build it is running on, as I can't get into the settings page or anything else and I very much doubt if my friend knows as he is pretty much clueless on such things, hence the problem. All I know is that its a few years old and when it starts up there is a three.co.uk white screen icon before it gets to the unresponsive lockscreen. I am also almost as clueless with android devices (I'm only a PC guy) - so far my only experience has been to set up kodi with addons for TV viewing which is why I came here to ask you expert guys
Methinks I won't try to get into download mode just yet in case it makes things worse
All your help is much appreciated, thank you!
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The device was never updated, it never had stock upgrades? If not then I can narrow down what was on it, when was the device bought?
If you can boot to download mode and if it is recognized in Odin then you've got a chance, at the moment your PC isn't recognizing the phone but if it successfully connects to Odin then you've got a chance, otherwise I'm not sure what success you'll have.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
Droidriven said:
The device was never updated, it never had stock upgrades? If not then I can narrow down what was on it, when was the device bought?
If you can boot to download mode and if it is recognized in Odin then you've got a chance, at the moment your PC isn't recognizing the phone but if it successfully connects to Odin then you've got a chance, otherwise I'm not sure what success you'll have.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
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I would put a spare miniSD card in, flash TWRP recovery in odin, access the storage from there and copy the files to the SD card. Easy as pie.
The international version of the S3 (GT-i9300) already has an unlocked bootloader. So no problem there.
Important to note is that if the device is not rooted the TWRP recovery won't "stick" when the device is allowed to reboot automatically after the odin flash. So in odin you have to UNTICK(!) the reboot option and after flash reboot directly to recovery via holding Vol UP + Home + Power for about 7 sec.
Droidriven said:
The device was never updated, it never had stock upgrades? If not then I can narrow down what was on it, when was the device bought?
If you can boot to download mode and if it is recognized in Odin then you've got a chance, at the moment your PC isn't recognizing the phone but if it successfully connects to Odin then you've got a chance, otherwise I'm not sure what success you'll have.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
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I showed him this thread at work earlier and although he growled somewhat at being called an idiot in my OP, he had to agree he was lol. It turns out he bought his partner the same phone around the same time so I checked and it has Automatic upgrades ticked and is on build 4.3 so we can hopefully assume the problematic one is on the same version. When I mentioned the possibility of bricking to him he became unsure as to whether I should proceed with flashing. If he was to send the phone to Samsung themselves would they be able to retrieve his data safely, albeit with some cost and waiting?
Thanks again for your input
Hawaiihemd said:
I would put a spare miniSD card in, flash TWRP recovery in odin, access the storage from there and copy the files to the SD card. Easy as pie.
The international version of the S3 (GT-i9300) already has an unlocked bootloader. So no problem there.
Important to note is that if the device is not rooted the TWRP recovery won't "stick" when the device is allowed to reboot automatically after the odin flash. So in odin you have to UNTICK(!) the reboot option and after flash reboot directly to recovery via holding Vol UP + Home + Power for about 7 sec.
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That sounds good - all he wants is his files back safely. It certainly isn't rooted. So once that is done and I'm back in recovery mode how do I get out of there, just reboot it from there?
Thanks for the help, it is much appreciated
Azarameus said:
That sounds good - all he wants is his files back safely. It certainly isn't rooted. So once that is done and I'm back in recovery mode how do I get out of there, just reboot it from there?
Thanks for the help, it is much appreciated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, after you copied the files via the "File Manager" in TWRP you simply choose "reboot system". Rebooting to system will automatically restore the original recovery you are used to. Or you can choose to shutdown in TWRP, remove the SDcard "safely" first and then reboot.
Even more: After you copied all the photos/videos from internal storage (which should be under /storage/sdcard0/DCIM/camera) to SDcard you could simply delete a few of those.
If them taking up too much space is the problem for the lockscreen not working, deleting a few would of course free up some space again, which would then most likely make the lockscreen work again.
But let me make one thing clear: Flashing anything always brings with it the slight(!) possibility something could go wrong, because you are writing to the EMMC of the phone. BUT I can't imagine a samsung staff member doing anything different. He/she would also need to gain access somehow...
After all it's your choice but hundreds of people (including me) have used odin and twrp on different devices for years now without any problem whatsoever. :good:
--- Edit ---
Ah one more thing. I would definitely make a full backup (System/Data, EFS and bootloader) while I'm at it! You just choose "backup" in twrp, then the "MicroSD card" under "storage" and go from there. Pretty self explanatory. Never hurts to have a backup!
Hawaiihemd said:
Yes, after you copied the files via the "File Manager" in TWRP you simply choose "reboot system". Rebooting to system will automatically restore the original recovery you are used to. Or you can choose to shutdown in TWRP, remove the SDcard "safely" first and then reboot.
Even more: After you copied all the photos/videos from internal storage (which should be under /storage/sdcard0/DCIM/camera) to SDcard you could simply delete a few of those.
If them taking up too much space is the problem for the lockscreen not working, deleting a few would of course free up some space again, which would then most likely make the lockscreen work again.
But let me make one thing clear: Flashing anything always brings with it the slight(!) possibility something could go wrong, because you are writing to the EMMC of the phone. BUT I can't imagine a samsung staff member doing anything different. He/she would also need to gain access somehow...
After all it's your choice but hundreds of people (including me) have used odin and twrp on different devices for years now without any problem whatsoever. :good:
--- Edit ---
Ah one more thing. I would definitely make a full backup (System/Data, EFS and bootloader) while I'm at it! You just choose "backup" in twrp, then the "MicroSD card" under "storage" and go from there. Pretty self explanatory. Never hurts to have a backup!
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Click to collapse
Ok thanks again. I am going to attempt this tonight, will update on any progress
Azarameus said:
Ok thanks again. I am going to attempt this tonight, will update on any progress
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Click to collapse
Well, that worked! My idiot friend is happy now. Thanks a million for the help - you guys ROCK!
Azarameus said:
Well, that worked! My idiot friend is happy now. Thanks a million for the help - you guys ROCK!
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Nice! And were you able to get the lockscreen working again?
Hawaiihemd said:
Nice! And were you able to get the lockscreen working again?
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Click to collapse
Yes indeed, all is working now as it should. The village idiot actually danced off to his car when I returned his phone - he has strict orders from me to move all his stuff to the SD card and make regular backups to his PC!
Thanks again - would never have done it without you guys

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