C6603 Stuck in bootloop! [Last update: 24/1/14]
UPDATE 24/01/14
This issue has been SOLVED.
I replaced the battery with one from eBay and the phone is working flawlessly, all the ROM flashing I went through was not the problem at all. Remember that if you are going to try to replace the battery you may as well buy a new rear glass piece as it is almost guaranteed that the glass will break in the removal process. You will also require new a adhesive piece. The entire procedure cost me $51AUD (battery, glass, adhesive).
All the content below is irrelevant, if your phone randomly shuts off (instantaneously) on boot or soon after, try to replace your battery!
Thanks for your help.
I've got quite a story to tell and if you have the patience to read it, I will greatly appreciate your assistance. TL;DR BELOW
In the beginning I was running 4.2.2, on a stock Australian 10.3.A.0.423 Unbranded ftf. It had been working flawlessly for a month or so until quite recently. It had developed a problem where it would only remain switched on whilst being plugged into the wall socket. As soon as (or thereafter) I removed the plug out of the phone, with one touch, one action, BAM! The display was off and I had to restart the phone again. I spent a few hours browsing for solutions to this problem, most of them said to hold the power and vol+ buttons until the handset vibrated 3 times. That turned it off alright, but I'm looking to go in the other direction.
After a stressful while scrounging old forum posts, I came to the conclusion that the fault is in my ROM, after all, I had flashed from 4.1.2 (I think) to 4.2.2 just a month prior (I flashed a ROM instead of waiting until the snail-like carriers here in Australia decided to dribble out the release). So now being convinced that I ROM is at fault I browse XDA for a newer stock one. Hey! Look! 4.3 it being rolled out in Aust, I check whether it's available to me yet, and obviously, no, it is not. I stumble upon this thread in my travels. I spend a while working to meet it's requirements. Get flashtool, get unlocked bootloader, get root, install cwm, and attempt to install XzDualRecovery 2.6. I've placed the XDR.zip on the sdcard in the XZ, I run the zip using CWM, it seems successful, I then go to reboot and check whether my 4.3 works, after I select reboot I'm asked whether I wish to root the phone. Why yes! that seems easy enough, and just as I select 'ok' the screen goes blank. The bloody phone has switched off in the middle of my work! I try to boot and it hangs on the Sony logo then reboots, creating a cycle. I decide to plug it back in to the wall socket (as this is the only way to get it to boot and remain on), huzzah, it runs. But the root had failed. The rest of my rant is insignificant until now (around 7 hours of failed attempts later)
So in an attempt to keep this wall of text down, I try my best to summarize, If I am not clear enough, just say.
I tried reflashing my old 4.2.2 ROM back, this makes the whole thing worse, now the phone won't even get past the Sony logo (even when plugged to a socket), I flash a different 4.3 ftf, nothing, I restore with PCC, I restore with SUS, I create a ftf from the SUS files and attempt to flash that. Nothing, nothing works. So where am I at now?
The phone still has battery, although, I'm not sure how much, I can no longer get it to charge as it hangs on the Sony logo. The phone should be flashed with 10.3.A.0.423, but when I check the baseband version in Fastboot cmd prompt, it still says 10.4.B.0.569, I feel as though flashtool isn't flashing properly, but I've read that this is usually a non-issue. I can boot into flashmode and fastboot mode. I can unlock and lock the bootloader. I can use ADB and Fastboot CMD (Minimal version) to read values and run commands. Actually, I managed to use the phone in fastboot mode, in conjunction with ADB and Fastboot CMD, I ran the command "fastboot continue" and the phone went on to charge off the usb power, It didn't seem to charge very fast, or at all, and I haven't been able to get it to do it again. So a TL;DR:
-C6603 stuck in bootloop.
-Possibly has a 4.2.2 ROM installed (10.3.A.0.423 Unbranded AU)
-Cannot Charge
-Can run flashmode and fastboot mode
-Can use ADB and Fastboot
-Can use SUS, PCC, and Flashtool to flash stock roms
-Can't figure this out for the life of me!
UPDATE 01/01/14
Currently I have a kernel installed that allows me to use cwm twrp (doomkernel v19, maybe), I have flashed a 'flashable' stock 4.3 rom using cwm and the phone didn't manage to get past the kernel logo. HOWEVER, using fastboot mode, I run the command "fastboot continue", and if I allow the phone to go past the kernel logo it vibrates, the LED turns green as opposed to showing a purple one, and it will begin charging (The LED isn't green as a result of the battery level). EDIT [1/1/14 3:01AM]: I tried to launch the phone whilst it was charging, the charging symbol went away and the phone remained on a black screen (lcd is on, but nothing is displayed) for a few seconds before shutting off automatically.
I must mention, I cannot get into recovery unless I boot the phone into fastboot mode, run the command in fastboot: "fastboot continue". If I don't do this, it simply crashes (shuts off) when showing the kernel logo.
If you need to know more I will provide as much information as I can, as succinct as I can, as fast as I can. I am in this for the long run. Thank you for your time,
UPDATE 08/01/14
I've come to the conclusion that my issue is battery related. After repeated from flashes and fastboot attempts, I managed to get the phone charging a few times, I witnessed the level was sporadic upon infrequent viewings. I have come across a few other very similar threads and feel that it is necessary to try replacing the battery, I try and post a youtube clip that details what happens currently.
Keringkien
keringkien said:
C6603 Stuck in bootloop!
I've got quite a story to tell and if you have the patience to read it, I will greatly appreciate your assistance. TL;DR BELOW
In the beginning I was running 4.2.2, on a stock Australian 10.3.A.0.423 Unbranded ftf. It had been working flawlessly for a month or so until quite recently. It had developed a problem where it would only remain switched on whilst being plugged into the wall socket. As soon as (or thereafter) I removed the plug out of the phone, with one touch, one action, BAM! The display was off and I had to restart the phone again. I spent a few hours browsing for solutions to this problem, most of them said to hold the power and vol+ buttons until the handset vibrated 3 times. That turned it off alright, but I'm looking to go in the other direction.
After a stressful while scrounging old forum posts, I came to the conclusion that the fault is in my ROM, after all, I had flashed from 4.1.2 (I think) to 4.2.2 just a month prior (I flashed a ROM instead of waiting until the snail-like carriers here in Australia decided to dribble out the release). So now being convinced that I ROM is at fault I browse XDA for a newer stock one. Hey! Look! 4.3 it being rolled out in Aust, I check whether it's available to me yet, and obviously, no, it is not. I stumble upon this thread in my travels. I spend a while working to meet it's requirements. Get flashtool, get unlocked bootloader, get root, install cwm, and attempt to install XzDualRecovery 2.6. I've placed the XDR.zip on the sdcard in the XZ, I run the zip using CWM, it seems successful, I then go to reboot and check whether my 4.3 works, after I select reboot I'm asked whether I wish to root the phone. Why yes! that seems easy enough, and just as I select 'ok' the screen goes blank. The bloody phone has switched off in the middle of my work! I try to boot and it hangs on the Sony logo then reboots, creating a cycle. I decide to plug it back in to the wall socket (as this is the only way to get it to boot and remain on), huzzah, it runs. But the root had failed. The rest of my rant is insignificant until now (around 7 hours of failed attempts later)
So in an attempt to keep this wall of text down, I try my best to summarize, If I am not clear enough, just say.
I tried reflashing my old 4.2.2 ROM back, this makes the whole thing worse, now the phone won't even get past the Sony logo (even when plugged to a socket), I flash a different 4.3 ftf, nothing, I restore with PCC, I restore with SUS, I create a ftf from the SUS files and attempt to flash that. Nothing, nothing works. So where am I at now?
The phone still has battery, although, I'm not sure how much, I can no longer get it to charge as it hangs on the Sony logo. The phone should be flashed with 10.3.A.0.423, but when I check the baseband version in Fastboot cmd prompt, it still says 10.4.B.0.569, I feel as though flashtool isn't flashing properly, but I've read that this is usually a non-issue. I can boot into flashmode and fastboot mode. I can unlock and lock the bootloader. I can use ADB and Fastboot CMD (Minimal version) to read values and run commands. Actually, I managed to use the phone in fastboot mode, in conjunction with ADB and Fastboot CMD, I ran the command "fastboot continue" and the phone went on to charge off the usb power, It didn't seem to charge very fast, or at all, and I haven't been able to get it to do it again. So a TL;DR:
-C6603 stuck in bootloop.
-Possibly has a 4.2.2 ROM installed (10.3.A.0.423 Unbranded AU)
-Cannot Charge
-Can run flashmode and fastboot mode
-Can use ADB and Fastboot
-Can use SUS, PCC, and Flashtool to flash stock roms
-Can't figure this out for the life of me!
If you need to know more I will provide as much information as I can, as succinct as I can, as fast as I can. I am in this for the long run. Thank you for your time,
Keringkien
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
download any FTF , 4.2.2 or 4.3 , connect your device to flash tool as flashmode , and select to flash the ftf , when you are selecting the ftf in the flash tool , at the right side check all at the wipe section , and uncheck all at the exclude section
but your internal storage might get also wiped , but i assume it already happened when you unlocked your boot loader
elias234 said:
download any FTF , 4.2.2 or 4.3 , connect your device to flash tool as flashmode , and select to flash the ftf , when you are selecting the ftf in the flash tool , at the right side check all at the wipe section , and uncheck all at the exclude section
but your internal storage might get also wiped , but i assume it already happened when you unlocked your boot loader
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alrighty then, I'll give that a go later. I have just found a 4.3 for Australia, perhaps it will be different. Thanks for the quick reply.
keringkien said:
Alrighty then, I'll give that a go later. I have just found a 4.3 for Australia, perhaps it will be different. Thanks for the quick reply.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this thread could be helpful : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2229250
i'm not sure if that problem could be solve, but it was, like you said, different. never saw anything like that either.
Anyway:
Can it boot into custom recovery in its state now?( for mounting storage for something else in case you have cwm or twrp installed)
Jambu95 said:
this thread could be helpful : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2229250
i'm not sure if that problem could be solve, but it was, like you said, different. never saw anything like that either.
Anyway:
Can it boot into custom recovery in its state now?( for mounting storage for something else in case you have cwm or twrp installed)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks so much for the reply. The thread has something I can try, if this new rom fails (I expect it will). What is custom recovery? I cannot access the storage, only fastboot and flashmode. no cwm and xdr was never completed.
ROM just failed, trying SUS now.
keringkien said:
Thanks so much for the reply. The thread has something I can try, if this new rom fails (I expect it will). What is custom recovery? I cannot access the storage, only fastboot and flashmode. no cwm and xdr was never completed.
ROM just failed, trying SUS now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh dear, custom recovery is cwm (clockworkmod recovery) or twrp (team win recovery project), it means, it allows you to do something important just before it boot into system, which is bootstall or bootloop as you call it. you cannot boot into system, then try to boot into recovery ( which is before it boot the system), that might help.
both recoveries will allow you to mount storage to copy things to sd cards from pc.
you can try unlock bootloader and flash custom kernel with recoveries, maybe you "could" boot into one of those recoveries.
I also got the same problem, but mine is a C6602. I was trying to setup a mail exchange, then it asked for some permission. I push enter, then after an hour, it start the bootloop.
The phone boot till the main screen, i could swipe and play around for 10 second, then it reboot.
I have tried everything from hard reset, to FlashTool to SUS, relock, unlock, flash stock, from old stock to new stock, it just won't work :|
Jambu95 said:
oh dear, custom recovery is cwm (clockworkmod recovery) or twrp (team win recovery project), it means, it allows you to do something important just before it boot into system, which is bootstall or bootloop as you call it. you cannot boot into system, then try to boot into recovery ( which is before it boot the system), that might help.
both recoveries will allow you to mount storage to copy things to sd cards from pc.
you can try unlock bootloader and flash custom kernel with recoveries, maybe you "could" boot into one of those recoveries.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm well aware what cwm is, I just assumed that because you said 'custom' that it might possibly be different, as recovery is always custom anyway, sorry for the misunderstanding.
I am able to flash a 'boot.img' that enables me to use cwm and twrp, HOWEVER, the only way I can access it (as in cause the phone to remain on long enough for it to parse the boot.img) is to connect the phone to my computer in fastboot mode, then using the Fastboot command: "fastboot continue", it will run the 'img' and allow me to enter twrp or cwm. It still won't begin charging or even show the Xperia logo if I allow it to continue without accessing the recovery options.
Thanks for your help.
keringkien said:
I'm well aware what cwm is, I just assumed that because you said 'custom' that it might possibly be different, as recovery is always custom anyway, sorry for the misunderstanding.
I am able to flash a 'boot.img' that enables me to use cwm and twrp, HOWEVER, the only way I can access it (as in cause the phone to remain on long enough for it to parse the boot.img) is to connect the phone to my computer in fastboot mode, then using the Fastboot command: "fastboot continue", it will run the 'img' and allow me to enter twrp or cwm. It still won't begin charging or even show the Xperia logo if I allow it to continue without accessing the recovery options.
Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you can mount the storage, you could copy the flashable stock rom (4.3) and copy it into your sd card, and maybe you can flash through there by following instructions from that thread.
---------- Post added at 11:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:20 PM ----------
billhainh said:
I also got the same problem, but mine is a C6602. I was trying to setup a mail exchange, then it asked for some permission. I push enter, then after an hour, it start the bootloop.
The phone boot till the main screen, i could swipe and play around for 10 second, then it reboot.
I have tried everything from hard reset, to FlashTool to SUS, relock, unlock, flash stock, from old stock to new stock, it just won't work :|
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
look for the disaster recovery thread i posted above
Jambu95 said:
if you can mount the storage, you could copy the flashable stock rom (4.3) and copy it into your sd card, and maybe you can flash through there by following instructions from that thread.
---------- Post added at 11:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:20 PM ----------
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried to mount the storage, my pc wouldn't detect the phones storage, I managed to push the stock rom zip to the sd card using ADB. I still had cwm recovery and could flash the zip using it. Still, however, the phone shuts down before it gets past the kernel logo. Again, I used the phone in Fastboot mode and forced it to continue using "fastboot continue", I left it go past the kernel logo and it is charging at the moment. I may try to start the phone now, yet expect it to crash again.
EDIT: I tried to launch the phone whilst it was charging, the charging symbol went away and the phone remained on a black screen (lcd is on, but nothing is displayed) for a few seconds before shutting off automatically.
EDIT: Happy New Year!
Thank you.
keringkien said:
I tried to mount the storage, my pc wouldn't detect the phones storage, I managed to push the stock rom zip to the sd card using ADB. I still had cwm recovery and could flash the zip using it. Still, however, the phone shuts down before it gets past the kernel logo. Again, I used the phone in Fastboot mode and forced it to continue using "fastboot continue", I left it go past the kernel logo and it is charging at the moment. I may try to start the phone now, yet expect it to crash again.
EDIT: I tried to launch the phone whilst it was charging, the charging symbol went away and the phone remained on a black screen (lcd is on, but nothing is displayed) for a few seconds before shutting off automatically.
EDIT: Happy New Year!
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this problem occurs with every kernel you've used (including stock and custom kernels)?
Jambu95 said:
this problem occurs with every kernel you've used (including stock and custom kernels)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes that is correct, it's current issue (turning off sponanteously) occurred when I was running stock 4.2.2 (no root, no bootloader unlock).
keringkien said:
Yes that is correct, it's current issue (turning off sponanteously) occurred when I was running stock 4.2.2 (no root, no bootloader unlock).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol, you should unlock the bootloader before you flash a custom boot.img. the primary solution now is to flash any rom to see if it boots up normally , then you can still find a way to revert back to stock.
Jambu95 said:
lol, you should unlock the bootloader before you flash a custom boot.img. the primary solution now is to flash any rom to see if it boots up normally , then you can still find a way to revert back to stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never said that I flashed a custom boot.img whilst on a locked bootloader. The reason I tried all the things that I have is because the phone was spontaneously shutting down (on stock, unedited). Perhaps once I made the mistake of flashing a boot.img before unlocking, but I have since unlocked and flashed many roms and kernels. Thanks for your reply.
keringkien said:
I never said that I flashed a custom boot.img whilst on a locked bootloader. The reason I tried all the things that I have is because the phone was spontaneously shutting down (on stock, unedited). Perhaps once I made the mistake of flashing a boot.img before unlocking, but I have since unlocked and flashed many roms and kernels. Thanks for your reply.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the device can't get pass the sony logo?
edNHour consum
Jambu95 said:
the device can't get pass the sony logo?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is correct, it doesn't hang but suddenly turns off, the only way I can use recovery tools in the kernel is if I plug the phone into my pc in Fastboot mode, then issue the command "fastboot continue" from cmd.
keringkien said:
That is correct, it doesn't hang but suddenly turns off, the only way I can use recovery tools in the kernel is if I plug the phone into my pc in Fastboot mode, then issue the command "fastboot continue" from cmd.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think there is something wrong with your motherboard or the battery connection, i'm not sure, because my pc got that problem before, it just boot up to starting windows... and then reboot, in the end i found out the capacitor got swelled in the power supply.
Jambu95 said:
i think there is something wrong with your motherboard or the battery connection, i'm not sure, because my pc got that problem before, it just boot up to starting windows... and then reboot, in the end i found out the capacitor got swelled in the power supply.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is certainly possible, I have had to replace the back glass and during that operation it is possible that the battery got too hot and is now lower in voltage or something. Thanks for the suggestion, I would appreciate a second opinion with this...
Thank you.
keringkien said:
That is certainly possible, I have had to replace the back glass and during that operation it is possible that the battery got too hot and is now lower in voltage or something. Thanks for the suggestion, I would appreciate a second opinion with this...
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you still have your warranty, you can go to the center and request for a replacement, the best solution now is to revert to as stock as possible, if can get the bootloader locked again then it's good,
Jambu95 said:
if you still have your warranty, you can go to the center and request for a replacement, the best solution now is to revert to as stock as possible, if can get the bootloader locked again then it's good,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I imagine it is still under warranty, however I have read that unlocking the bootloader permanently voids warranty. And I have replaced the back of my white phone with a black glass, perhaps if I get a new white rear glass it will be ok, but then I might as well just replace the battery $40AUD isn't too expensive IMO.
Having gotten a spare Xperia SP, I decided to venture into the realm of flashing custom ROMs. This was the first time I did anything of this sort with an Android device. So, here is what I did to it today:
At first, I successfully rooted, installed recovery and flashed CM12. After fiddling with it for about an hour and not finding anything super exciting, I decided to try out other ROMs. I did a facotry reset, wiped the data and cache, and was about to flash CM11 (I forgot that it required an unlocked bootloader, which I don't have, and the recovery console told me so). Maybe at this point I should have just reflashed CM12, but I chose (not even sure why at this point) to exit recovery instead. After this, the phone keeps getting stuck on the Sony logo (although on the second attempt to turn it on, it did display a screen showing that wrench icon, indicating some sort of configuration activity going on, but never moved past that either). I tried flashing two different stock ftf roms with flashtool, both fail with this error: Processing of system.sin finished with errors. One of them will cause the phone to shut off after about a minute on the logo instead of remaining stuck on it indefinitely.
Maybe I should mention that this phone did not exactly work flawlessly for some time, even before I started experimenting with it. Here are the main things that I can remember it doing:
-Lags on even the basic functions, apps often crashing, despite doing a very recent hard reset.
-Battery drains very fast sometimes (like going from 55% to 0 in about 2 hours with almost no usage).
-A few months ago, it would periodically freeze and reboot itself, but that problem seemed to disappear with time.
Did I do something stupid to that phone, or are there internal/hardware problems that have manifested themselves in this way? I won't be horribly upset if I killed it (after all, knowing that something of this sort may happen was exactly the reason why I was not doing all this on my main phone), but I certainly would like to get it back up and running.
Download Flashtool v0.9.18.6 from official site.
Option 1: Flash stock.
or,
Option 2: Flash tangerine-7.1.elf via 'fastboot mode' to directly get TWRP, then flash any ROM you want.
https://dl.cubeserver.eu/TechnoSparks/tangerine-stuffs/tangerine-7.1.elf
nandan21 said:
Download Flashtool v0.9.18.6 from official site.
Option 1: Flash stock.
or,
Option 2: Flash tangerine-7.1.elf via 'fastboot mode' to directly get TWRP, then flash any ROM you want.
]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your reply. I have a few questions:
I downloaded the flashtool version that you mentioned (from the official site), but avast detected malware in it. Should version 9.19.8, the one I tried yesterday, work fine?
What is exactly considered "stock rom"? Is it exclusively the version your phone came with, or is it firmware of any version/carrier branding, as longs as it is made for your phone model by the manufacuter?
It looks like my phone actually won't stay in flash mode. I select fastboot mode in flashtool, a window pops up asking me to plug in the phone. I press the volume down button and plug it in, the LED glows bright green, but nothing happens in flashtool. After a few seconds, the LED goes red and the Sony logo appears on the phones screen (as if it was going to turn on), and my computer makes a sound as if the phone was ejected. The phone shuts off a minute later, goes into flash mode again, and the cycle repeats.
UPDATE
Nevermind everything I wrote before, I was able to successfully re-flash stock. Turns out I did in fact have some crappy version of flashtool that didn't work, and I found anolder version without malware.
Strangely, the infected flashtool version was the one I dowloaded from the official site... Something is fishy here.
Anyways, thanks a bunch for your help!
MrDroid15 said:
Thank you for your reply. I have a few questions:
I downloaded the flashtool version that you mentioned (from the official site), but avast detected malware in it. Should version 9.19.8, the one I tried yesterday, work fine?
What is exactly considered "stock rom"? Is it exclusively the version your phone came with, or is it firmware of any version/carrier branding, as longs as it is made for your phone model by the manufacuter?
It looks like my phone actually won't stay in flash mode. I select fastboot mode in flashtool, a window pops up asking me to plug in the phone. I press the volume down button and plug it in, the LED glows bright green, but nothing happens in flashtool. After a few seconds, the LED goes red and the Sony logo appears on the phones screen (as if it was going to turn on), and my computer makes a sound as if the phone was ejected. The phone shuts off a minute later, goes into flash mode again, and the cycle repeats.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use flashtool 0.9.19.8 because that is what everyone is recommending now, Stock rom defines as what it originally comes from your phone which is manufactured by sony. To get into fastboot mode turn off your phone by taking off the cover off your xperia sp and use a pin or pen to press into a small dot and you will get 3 vibrations.
This guide is not written by me, so give credit to chris10286
Step 1. Download a kernel with twrp embedded im sure I used dooms kernel as far as I remember. There are many others just do a simple google of xperia sp kernel with recovery.
Step 2 . take phone case off the back hold button in on lower bottom for 10 seconds you will get 3 vibrations . good leave it at that.
Step 4 . open flashtool let it load completely. Now plug USB into your phone also have it into your PC ! Whilst plugging in hold down volume button to enter flashmode your phone should be green . hold up for fast boot mode which is blue either too let's you flash a kernel but fast boot mode requires "elf" kernel.
Step 5. Locate kernel install and then boot phone up whilst press the volume up button as its booting recovery mode will be accessed now flash rom of your choice or use Sony PC suite to go back to stock. Make sure you have stock kernel and bootloader locked or else it won't let you..
Use this thread to help you since i had the similar problem which involved my phone: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=63660062#post63660062
If none of my methods work please ask zenith to help you or ask anyone in the xperia sp forum to help you since im not a developer but ran into a similar problem to yours.
I hope this helps you out in someway as it did me good luck.
Thanks Nandan
Thank you, I very much appreciate that you took the time to write this long post to help me out. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I found a solution to my problem - by using flashtool 9.18.6 (the one that wasn't working was actually newer).