Not quite soft brick - Still need assistance - Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4

Alright, so I did a bit of a stupid thing and I acknowledge it. Anyway, here's my steps for what I did:
1). KingRooted the phone, SuperSUme'd to remove KingRoot's stuff
2). Flashed a deodexed ROM through FlashFire for OF1 using a how to list to upgrade and keep root(This is where I think I went wrong, I should have stuck with OC1 to begin with but I was curious ), the flash was successful
3). Because one of my apps(Greenify) requires the Xposed framework for many of the useful settings, I tried flashing a version of the framework designed for non-MDK bootloaders(Arter97's unofficial TouchWiz) through FlashFire, since it seems to be the only way to flash custom stuff on 5.0+ stuff at the moment
4). After this(Just like when I tried Arter's framework with regular OC1), my phone's Google apps started their mass crashing and force closing, which I tried to combat with factory resets but no dice
Unlike before, however, something along the line in my steps disabled the ability to go to stock recovery mode(I think it was KingRoot itself but it might have been the deodexed ROM) and after a bit I couldn't factory reset. Before, I was able to simply Odin flash the stock OC1 ROM. Now, however, Odin won't work either to restore the firmware. I always get the "fail" messages(This I'm not sure why, though it happens with both OC1 and OF1 ROMs so I don't think it's a matter of downgrading). This leaves me with very few options to recover from, especially because I've even tried Verizon's repair program(Stops at 83% and disconnects) and Kies' emergency recovery(Phone isn't recognized and upon manual recovery the result is the same).
The biggest thing that grinds my gears is that my phone isn't even bricked...technically. It started, it went to the Setup Wizard, but then the Setup Wizard crashed once the Gmail portion of the setup was supposed to start in an infinite loop....a "setup loop" rather than a boot loop. I have been working for hours to try and find a solution but so far nothing is working. My phone only starts to the "Software update failed, please use the Verizon Repair etc." message now but no program can recognize it.
Is this a form of hard-bricking? Just not having any method of recovery work even if it turns on? I will admit I'm not the most advanced user but I've been flashing ROMs and custom stuff(Using guides and the like, I'm not fluent enough to go freestyle) for years through a couple of different phones so I'm not a completely new user either. This is the most FUBAR'd I've gotten a phone so far though and I honestly can't afford a new one...that's why I'm going through all the paces I possibly can. Is there any possible way to salvage this? I've been wanting to go to the LG G3 anyway(Despite the G4 being out, the G3's cheaper and still miles better than any Samsung phone, my old one got stolen) but right now it's just not possible. Any suggestions?
Edit: After switching USB ports(Mine are notoriously bad for connections being gained and lost, my memory is bad but I can't see why I didn't think this was the issue), the Verizon repair method has made the phone able to start up. Everything seems to be in order now, more or less. I will say the custom Samsung screen(The unlocked one) came up which makes me think I still have the deodexed ROM installed. If so, then cool beans.

Related

HTC touch pro laggy/slow after many flashes

I have a Sprint HTC touch pro. I unlocked it the day I got it, and have flashed mightyrom6, juicy, and a couple others to it without problem. What I'm seeing now is the ROMs are going very slow, freezing when I just try to read a text message, etc. I have a feeling that some things from the ROMs aren't completely getting wiped when I flash the new ROM. Someone suggested flashing the stock OS to the phone to clear this garbage. Is this a good idea? Does anyone else have this problem, or a solution to it? Thanks
It's definitely worth a try, it worked for me.
I had been trying out all the new 6.5 ROMS out there. At some point it wasn't slow per se, but it would completely freeze, and then I'd have to soft reset. *IF* it got past the loading screen, it would take me to the initial configuration, as though it had been hard reset. I couldn't make it 48 hours without it doing that. Didn't matter which 6.5 ROM I tried, it always did the same thing.
(shameless plug for Sashimi and Makisu! Lifesavers!)
Tried leaving out the microSD card in case it was bad data - no luck.
Tried not configuring anything - just using it as a phone - in case it was a corrupted CAB or something. Not that either.
At the end, I gave up and I was prepared to take it into the Sprint store. (I bought my phone on Ebay, so no idea what kind of success I would have had, if any.) I flashed back to stock rom, installed my cabs and user settings, etc. and waited for it to happen.
It's been over a week now, absolutely no problems.
Long shory stort: flash back to stock ROM and see how it turns out.
Good luck!
weso has a good point...But
Flash back to stock, hard reset.
Flash your ROM of choosing, hard reset
enjoy new Rom
I find after a couple flashes that I need to flash back to stock hard reset then flash new Rom. After that I tend to have a much more enjoyable experience.
Interesting. I wonder if there's any way to explain that, or if we have to put that in the X-files folder - just one of those things.
I also ALWAYS go into the bootloader manually by rebooting with the reset button and holding power and vol-down. Not sure if it makes a difference or just makes me feel better, but I've had zero issues doing it that way, so that's what I keep doing.
Mightyrom6
Hey out there! Can anyone help with this problem I am having. With the MightyRom 6 on the Touch Pro for Sprint? When Touch Flo is enable and you slide the tab to settings and tap All Settings on the bottom left it will go to Connections Only! It will not go to the All Settings screen. Can anyone help me? I know how to edit the registry but, can't find anything out there. Please Help!
Many believe this happens due to not "flash dancing" (flash then hardreset).
Be wary of doing this with generic stock roms, ive had an experiance in which my prl and qcn files were reset to the generic stock ones of a diffrent provider, which in turn got me to take the phone in and get it carrer flashed again ( NO CARRIER SPECFIC ROMS OR STOCK FOR TBAYTEL!!! . god bless tbay tell lol, but anyways after the initial flash of a rom you like, before you load it with cabs install one at a time to ensure proper installation and compatability with your current rom. Also before you run any freshly installed apps/cabs be sure to soft reset after install.
My method of flashing
Ensure battery is above 80%
Fully synced and connected
Freshly rebooted computer and phone
Update/Flash phone
Hardreset after customize and initial setup
Re-configure customise/etc
soft reset
Good to GO!
Also with every flash there is the posability of it just being a bad flash.
in some cases the freezing and such may be pagepool/Driver issue's with your hardware

[Q] rooted ME7 stuck at verizon boot screen, what next?

So I've seen this question covered a few times but not sure if my situation is the same as the ones that have been answered prior.
I have a 1-1/2 year old S4 that I rooted when I received it, using whatever flavor of the day rooting method was out there. I have never used any kind of custom firmware with this device, just rooted and disabled some of the built in features like jedi hand wave mode, follow my eyes, etc. (yeah I know those aren't the real names)
Over the past few days I've been noticing apps not being able to open, the screen would go black for a second like the app was launching and then it would return to the home screen. Also a few times the notification bar would flicker while trying to open an app. So I decided to reboot today and now it is stuck at the verizon boot screen.
I've tried all of these options:
Pull battery for 30 sec, remove and replace sim card, replace battery boot.
go into recovery mode and wipe cache
go into recovery and do factory reset
Of course none of these options worked, which is why this thread exists.
now the next option I'm seeing when I'm looking for an answer is either
replace/update the firmware
return to verizon
I guess I'm wondering if the first option is even available to me since I never flashed anything custom before? If it is, I'm sure there's a wonderful thread here that would walk me through the process, if anyone would be so kind as to point me there. I'm just a little confused over what's available in my particular flavor of firmware.
Or, is there a verizon flavor that I could update to and be able to root as well? I remember when I originally rooted it was suggested to keep the older version so you wouldn't get locked in to not being able to do any custom stuff, but not sure if that's been overcome since. I don't need anything fancy, just a rooted phone works for me.
If updating is not an available option for me, is a verizon return my next step? And if so, can/should I remove signs of rooting before sending it in?

Verizon Note 2 MDM lockout...

So i'm helping a buddy out that was having an issue with several Note 2's that were purchased from a company that restricted their employees access to a lot of things on the phone. My friend handed a couple off to me. The first one was not passcode locked and it was a breeze (Basically just enabled USB Debugging). It is up and running. The other ones are passcode locked and when you try to go into wipe the data/factory reset from recovery it says "MDM does not allow factory reset". The Note 2 I'm having issues with in particular has a locked bootloader on KitKat 4.4.2 through Verizon.
I've spent almost literally every waking moment trying to find a way around this issue. I may have compounded it though. I discovered ODIN, flashed the stock firmware in the hopes that it would clear the phone. It did not (password was still in place). I then decided to flash the stock firmware with the .Pit file for an SCH-I605 and made sure re-partition was checked as well as erase nand. After the process completed successfully and the phone rebooted it will no longer boot beyond the Verizon screen. I still have access to recovery and download mode but in recovery its throwing out a bunch of command lines such as E:failed to mount /data etc. I've tried to reflash the stock firmware with and without the .pit file to no avail.
In the mean time I've tried to unlock the bootloader, attempted auto root, and install custom recoveries to see if I could some how get around the MDM issue. I've also attempted to install or flash from ADB and its still the same deal.
Anyway I'm tired, kind of exhausted, and not really sure what avenues I have left. That's where I'm hoping some of you guys come in. If you have any questions for me let me know and I'll try to shed some more light on it for you. Data DOES NOT matter to me so if you can think of anyway I can get this thing completely wiped out it so I can start from scratch it would be greatly appreciated, Thanks.
Is it just one phone with this problem or several? The mounting issues are becoming more common around here, and seem to be internal memory failure.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/note-2-verizon/help/stuck-boot-file-exists-t3286946
Droid_Nut said:
Is it just one phone with this problem or several? The mounting issues are becoming more common around here, and seem to be internal memory failure.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/note-2-verizon/help/stuck-boot-file-exists-t3286946
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well tonight I'll be getting my hands on a couple other test SCH-i605 phones that are in the same situation (Password locked and no ability to wipe from recovery) and I'll put them through the paces to see if I wind up with the same issue and get back with you on it.
The basic issue with this phone is just after trying that repartition with the pit file it doesn't want to boot beyond the verizon logo anymore and thats when it started throwing those errors in recovery. It could be a coincidence I guess.
I've been messing with Heimdall today to see if I could get a custom recovery flashed that way but the phone fails protocol initialization. The only thing I can get to flash to this phone is 4.4.2 and the i605 pit file through ODIN. Nothing else will budge.
I guess the question I really need answered, is there another way to wipe data/factory reset without the option in the stock Samsung recovery and no access beyond the lock screen?
What I have to work with is ODIN mode and whatever is in recovery that is not wipe data/factory reset.
So I did get my hands on a couple other phones with passcode locks that have the MDM lockout within the stock recovery that still fails to flash anything in Odin except the stock 4.4.2 firmware. So I can eliminate the idea its hardware. I have 4 phones here 3 of which have the same issue and the 4th I was lucky enough to not have a passcode. Quick fix to get MDM removed that way.
Again any ideas that are slightly more outside the box would be appreciated. Thanks.
Edit: If this helps the phone that is working that I manage to clean all of that stuff off of also throws the same error in ODIN with or without USB debugging so it leads me to believe there is something I'm actually missing... Time to go read more.
Well, sound like it is more than coincidence. Maybe you should contact Samsung and see if they can help?
Yeah I might do that. I'd just hope they have a one size fits all solution because I have about 600 to 1000 phones to tackle... Hahaha.
The conundrum here is that for the MDM company to release the lock on the phone I have to be able to get beyond the lock screen for the phone to process the request. To get beyond the lock screen I need the psswords that the previous company allowed their employees to put on the phones that for some odd reason they didn't have remove.
Anyway if I get this figured out i'll let you guys know how I got it. Thanks for the suggestion.
((deleted))

Stuck in Download Mode, crashing during recovery

So I was having so many issues with my rooted phone crashing on jasmineRom 7.0 I thought maybe an OTA update had made it through and started downloading. No matter what I was doing the screen would turn blue and then restart. Sometimes it would crash blue again during reboot, and sometimes it would crash and then show the green demigod crash screen. So I researched flashing the .tot files to go back to stock. KDZ I didn't care for because it still showed the phone as modified software, and I wanted full stock so I could use the extended warranty with Verizon if need be. I eventually got the .tot method to work and everything was hunky dory, and showing stock. I upgraded all the way to marshmallow and decided I love every bit of it, but I couldn't figure out how to get my contacts and stuff off titanium backup without root. So I figured, "well roots not the problem if an OTA tried to download it just means I missed a setting or something". So I rooted again. No issues, I reinstalled JasmineRom 9.1 this time. Eventually it started crashing again, although this time I followed absolutely every guide I could find on disabling OTA. So I thought, "Great it's Jasmine" and I really wanted Marshmallow anyway so I followed xdabbeb's guide for getting the 35b bootstack on my phone, worked great no issues, and then I installed xdabbeb's firmware, combined with Edor's debloating zips. Everything was working great! I had no issues, I backed up just my apps, and some data, and reinstalled others and everything was great and working fine, and the phone was still official, no OTA's getting through. That was almost a full week ago. Yesterday I woke up and the phone wouldn't turn on. I took the battery out and put it back in and the phone came on, but then crashed with the blue screen again. So I thought great I guess I'll put it back to stock and use the warranty. By this time though I was having trouble getting it to load past the LG screen. I finally got it into TWRP and was able to wipe everything (except SD card) and then I stuck it in download mode and went to install the .tot files. Weeeeelllll, long story short, it crashed during download mode install with the LG Flash Tool. So now the phone gets stuck in download mode everytime I pull the battery and power it on. And crashes again every time I go to install anything. KDZ doesn't work, the flash tool says it can't communicate with the phone, because it crashes. And LG Flash Tool for the .tot files seems to crash everything it loads the modem, or consistently crashes on LAF:bin_user_mode. So I have no idea. At the moment it just looks like my phone is all funky defective, and Verizon may take it back and give me a new one so I'm going to try that. HOWEVER! If anyone has any ideas on what the issue is or what else can be done, I still want to hear it. Feel free to post
Also I've tried updated drivers for the computer, I've tried rolling back drivers, I've tried different KDZ files, I've tried the LGUP8974.dll fix where you flash that in flash tools and then flash the vs985 dll, which is what I had to do to get it back to stock the first time. I've tried everything I could find online except anything to do with fast boot and shorting the pins. Which I haven't tried because I can still access download mode it just seems to be stuck in download mode. Those methods from what I understand are for hard bricking, and for people who's phones don't turn on at all. Although if Verizon won't help I may try one of the laf recovery methods.
Thanks!

Stuck in bootload/"Encryption unsuccessful", how to flash/root/unlock?

Hey,
I'm pretty new here, so don't hate on my lack of knowledge^^
Maybe I'm even in the wrong sub-forum
(I think there was a sub-forum dedicated to moto x, but this isn't a device-specific issue, so here should be fine - no?)
Got the following problem:
My moto x (2nd gen) is stuck in a loop. I get to the logo-screen, then it goes to "Encryption unsuccessful" and when I click "Reset", it restarts and fails upon trying to reset.
How I got here:
1) A while ago I wanted to encrypt the phone for the lulz (using its' own encryption-tool)
Followed the simple steps, as in having it charged up, but the encryption did not go through.
Don't remember having it to reset at first, it just booted, even though it had bugs after that:
-whenever I charged it, I had problems turning it back on after charging, had to turn off and back on for it to actually work.
-those notifications on top which one can normally open via sliding down, that sliding down did not work after that.
Eventually I did a hard-reset and it fixed the sliding-problem.
Charging also worked fine at first until it did not.
2) I ended up stuck in a boot-loop that went to the logo-screen back and forth (got to logo-screen, restarted, got to logo-screen, restarted, ...)
Tried to soft-/hard-reset using the VOL- and POWER combo.
The hard-reset itself threw some errors at me, something like "can't delete [whatever]".
Still, after a few tries it eventually went past the logo-screen to the encryption-step.
After another few failed resets and emptied cache via recovery-screen, it somehow ignored the encryption-step and turned on the phone (was a fresh version).
3) Worked fine for 1 whole evening, no crashes/glitches/anything until I had to charge it up.
Then it was back to the broken state.
Note: during 2) I tried to boot with a custom recovery-mode(TWRP), but couldn't get it running.
Then I tried to flash it, but anything I tried to install failed.
I had my suspicions, but eventually I got it straightened out: my phone isn't rooted, and the bootloader is locked.
I did get the code to root it via some steps and the motorola service, but the code did not work as it wanted me to unlock the phone first.
From what I've read, to do that I need to get into the settings and unlock/root it...
Funny thing: I can not turn on the phone to get into the settings.
So - anyone got ideas?
Warranty is gone since apparently my tinkering with the locked bootloader and unrooted phone still was visible and they voided the warranty.
Not sure I broke much/anything with that, though, since it DID work at some point after that (even if it was for a few hours before needing recharging)
Therefore I'm open to any suggestions since the alternative stop would be throwing it into the bin^^
Can I unlock the bootloader without having a working system?
Can I root it somehow without having to get into settings (since I can not turn it on in the first place)?
I did a fair share of reading, but most times the guides just assumed that I already rooted it, or forwarded me to a guide where it said "go into settings and spam the build to get advanced options, then simply root/unlock that damn thing". Tried to find a way to unlock/root it without being able to turn it on, but did not get lucky with the search.
If I could unlock and root it, I probably could go from there. Guides are pretty specific and seem to work for most.
Also, I would try the original android version first before searching for any custom systems.
(that is the smartest way to do, right? since I'm just a user and dont plan on doing more hacking/breaking)
Hope all that above wasn't too much to read
Thx for any advice in advance.
Edit:
Well, after what feels like 50 restarts it miraculously did not send me to the "Encryption unsuccessful" but instead booted like it should (as a fresh version, though - so had to backup).
Now I've turned on the thing in the settings so next time it breaks, which I expect to happen by tomorrow, I can flash that sucker.
Still - anyone knows how to enable all that stuff one normally does via settings some way that does not involve successfully booting it?
I mean, there should be a way to root/unlock it without having to turn it on first, right?
Edit2:
As expected, the flashing part was pretty easy, so I'm now sitting with a fresh android 6.0.
Two days in and it's still working fine, haven't had any complications (except battery draining faster then at the very beginning, but I think that's due to it hanging too much on the usb-cable during all those sessions of me trying to fix it - and generally I've had it charge over night a few times to often)
Still would appreciate any advice on how to unlock developer mode and usb-debugging within the bootloader or recovery-mode.

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