Database Develop

Unable to get into Recovery after 4.1.2 upgrade...

Ok, so I ran into a VERY weird issue and was wondering if anyone else has experienced this or has a better solution then what I found.
My Nexus7 was running stock JRO03D. I had it rooted, using the Motley kernel with CWM Recovery - but outside of that, everything else was pretty stock. Anyway, I decided to upgrade to the 4.1.2 image. I pulled the one it downloaded automatically out of /cache and looked at the updater-script to see what it did. I noticed it replaced a lot, including the boot image, so I figured it would be better just to let it do everything and revert my custom stuff later. So I replaced the kernel with the stock JRO03D kernel and, using CWM, flashed the upgrade. Everything seemed to go perfect and it completed the upgrade. Prior to rebooting it, I also flashed the "unofficial" motley 4.1.2 kernel posted on XDA. I rebooted the device, and CWM warned me that 'su' needed to be fixed (how nice!) and made it suid again. It rebooted and after android "updated", everything was up and running. I confirmed in settings that it was on 4.1.2 with the custom kernel. SU was suid root as well. Perfect!
Not quite.
I decided to try rebooting into recovery to make sure CWM was still there, or flash it back if it wasn't. I opened up a terminal emulator, removed the new recovery-recovery image in /system, and did "reboot recovery". The Nexus7 rebooted, but rebooted right back into normal operation. Very weird. So I hooked it up to my computer, figuring CWM was gone, and tried to fastboot flash it back. Fastboot said it did, but I still wasn't able to reboot into recovery. I tried three different versions of CWM and even TWRP, but no dice. Every time I tried rebooting into recovery (using terminal emulator, adb shell or bootloader method) it just went right back into the normal boot process.
I spoke to some people on IRC who recommended reflashing the stock image from Google (without wiping user data). I reflashed the bootloader and then did a fastboot update <stock image>, and it said it replaced boot, recovery, system, etc. It rebooted automatically, and I tried going into stock recovery. That still did NOT work. Instead, I got a very sick looking android guy who was lying down with a red triangle with an exclamation point over him. I was a bit worried and upset at this point. I tried reflashing CWM/TWRP again, but nothing. When I did this, I no longer got the unhappy android image, but it just booted up normally.
I decided to try and doing a more thorough wipe, using fastboot to wipe cache/boot/recovery/system manually. Then I reflashed the bootloader and stock image. Still no recovery (stock or custom).
As you can imagine, I was getting even more concerned now. Especially since I was no without root and no way to get it back (since I couldn't get into recovery to flash the zip for it).
I tried every other thing I could think of to flash recovery back, but nothing worked. It wouldn't load at all.
Finally, I was about to do a complete factory reset and wipe/reflash of everything, but one last thought crossed my mind. I found the older (JRO03D) bootloader and flashed that. Reloaded bootloader and selected "Recovery". Voila, I was in TWRP Recovery Mode! (which was the last one I tried installing). I was able to reinstall my SU.zip and get everything back up and running.
SO, long story short, I'm now on 4.1.2, running the newer unofficial motley kernel and have su back. But I'm also stuck on the older 3.34 bootloader. If I try upgrading it back to 3.41, I won't be able to get into recovery.
Has this happened to anyone else? It doesn't seem like it. Is there a HW issue with my device causing this problem? I can't believe it's software related since I tried two different copies of the 3.41 image. Does anyone have any other suggestions on how I can upgrade the bootloader while keeping the ability to get into recovery mode?
Also, while everything *seems* to be working OK using 3.34, do you think it will cause other problems since I'm using 4.1.2?
Thanks.

*MOD EDIT* please don't quote the entire OP
Thanks for the bootloader info. I was in the same boat, and once I found your post, I went back to JRO03D and my recovery has returned.
Again, thanks, you F'n rule!!!

That android with the red triangle sounds like the stock recovery... so I think you actually got it to work, but you just didn't have a custom recovery...
Then again I don't think I've ever seen the stock recovery. Haha
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

MetalWych said:
Thanks for the bootloader info. I was in the same boat, and once I found your post, I went back to JRO03D and my recovery has returned.
Again, thanks, you F'n rule!!!
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Click to collapse
No problem. I'm glad to hear that my solution above helped someone else, and also that I'm not the only one experiencing the problem. I assume you mean you only went back to the JRO03D bootloader and not the whole image, right?
What I'm most concerned about is that it seems like my N7 (and possibly yours as well) is defective. I'm not an uber-expert on Android, but I'm fairly knowledgeable. With a stock system, outside of userdata, that I reflashed multiple times from multiple sources, to have any type of recovery (stock or custom) not work is a bit upsetting. Since it works fine on the older bootloader, it definitely seems to be an issue with that. But since most people do not have the same issue, the only variable I can see being the difference is hardware.

Metallice said:
That android with the red triangle sounds like the stock recovery... so I think you actually got it to work, but you just didn't have a custom recovery...
Then again I don't think I've ever seen the stock recovery. Haha
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It looked more like a warning symbol that something went very wrong then a stock recovery screen.
I've gone into stock recovery on other Android devices before, and it looked similar to CWM. There was a menu that allowed you to install "authorized" update.zip files, factory reset the device, etc. There was no menu here, just a very pissed off and sick looking android guy .

I believe I am having the same issue. Would you mind linking me to the bootloader which worked for you? Tried searching but couldn't find it. Thanks, and great post!
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium

There's a big thread around here somewhere with people having the same problem as the op. Unfortunately, staying with the 3.34 bootloader is the only 'fix' I've read about. I still can't figure out why some people run into this problem and some don't. I used twrp to flash the update when it became available, and twrp continued to work afterwards.

spongers said:
I believe I am having the same issue. Would you mind linking me to the bootloader which worked for you? Tried searching but couldn't find it. Thanks, and great post!
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It took me a long time to find the old full JRO03D update, since Google only has the latest one on their page. I uploaded the bootloader out of it and you can download it here:
http://core.routed.com/bootloader-grouper-3.34.img
Reboot the Nexus7 into bootloader mode and run:
fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-grouper-3.34.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
and then you should be able to flash recovery and get into it.

Metallice said:
That android with the red triangle sounds like the stock recovery... so I think you actually got it to work, but you just didn't have a custom recovery...
Then again I don't think I've ever seen the stock recovery. Haha
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The android with the red triangle does not sound like the stock recovery, it is THE stock recovery.
Under JB 4.1.2 you do not need anymore to connect the N7 to a computer - like it had to be under JB 4.1.1 - to access the bootloader and then the recovery.
Now, pressing volume + power brings the bootloader , the up volume, one press, and then power press put the N7 to recovery. The recovery is the android with the red triangle. To enter in the recovery menu pressing power + volume up brings the menu with the following options:
i) reboot system now,
ii) apply update from ADB,
iii) wipe data/factory reset,
iiii)wipe cache partition.
Concerning specifically the OTA update for an unlock and root N7 there should be no problem during the process using stock recovery or CWM 6.0.1.0 as long as OTA Rootkeeper is set, before the installation, in order to keep root.

the fact that you were able to do volume down + power button into bootloader, then select recovery, makes me know its working. and the android guy on his back is the stock recovery... so everything is working fine. you said you flashed motley kernel, it may have something to do with that, and a few other things. you really need to understand how the N7 works, and what it will do if you do not do certain things.
what u should try is, fastboot flash recovery, then fastboot boot recovery
flash a different rom, i prefer Paul's Jr8 as its close to stock with nice little tweaks and see if your issue continues.
at the end of everything, i honestly find this more user error then device related. not everyone understands what the N7 is doing, and why.

smirkis said:
the fact that you were able to do volume down + power button into bootloader, then select recovery, makes me know its working. and the android guy on his back is the stock recovery... so everything is working fine. you said you flashed motley kernel, it may have something to do with that, and a few other things. you really need to understand how the N7 works, and what it will do if you do not do certain things.
what u should try is, fastboot flash recovery, then fastboot boot recovery
flash a different rom, i prefer Paul's Jr8 as its close to stock with nice little tweaks and see if your issue continues.
at the end of everything, i honestly find this more user error then device related. not everyone understands what the N7 is doing, and why.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Smirkis, my initial thought was that something went wrong in the upgrade process, possibly with the kernel like you suggested, so, as I mentioned in the OP, I flashed everything back to stock 4.1.2. I used flashboot to manually erase boot, cache, recovery and system. I then reinstalled the bootloader from Google's update tarball. I then used fastboot to update to image-nakasi-jzo54k.zip. At this point, outside of wiping sdcard, everything was stock 4.1.2.
While I will admit that I didn't realize that the dead-looking android meant stock recovery (and that's good to hear), subsequently flashing a custom recovery (CWM or TWRP) would continually fail to load it. In fact, I couldn't even boot into the recovery manually without flashing it. While using 100% stock, I attempted to flash three different versions of CWM and one version of TWRP. It claimed it updated, but I was not able to get back into recovery - either through bootloader, adb or "reboot recovery".
I know it's easy for people to always jump to the "user error" answer, but I fail to see how that is the case here. Based on your response, I don't think you actually read what I did and just jumped to the wrong conclusion, especially since I already tried your recommendation and much more. I am not running any custom ROM - everything was always stock outside of recovery, root and kernel. If you can explain your reasoning for thinking I did something wrong in all of my numerous attempts to get it working, I would appreciate it since maybe that would provide a solution. While I did attempt to use a custom kernel originally, that obviously isn't the issue if going back to stock didn't fix it.
Additionally, reverting back to the older bootloader magically fixed everything, while all other attempts failed. Subsequently reinstalling the custom kernel didn't break anything either. So if it wasn't the bootloader and something else was broken, I would assume it would be broken in both versions of the bootloader. The fact that this problem is affecting others, granted a small number, and the same solution works for them, leads me to believe that there is either a bug in the bootloader affecting some N7s or some rare HW defect causing a few of us problems.

There is a conversation about the new android update the boot-loader update and A Power management chip on the nexus 7.. It seems this chip is being changed out. The new chip functions the same as they have been using but Its not compatible with the old boot-loader . The above is the reason for the boot-loader change.. Google is aware of the troubles everyone in this thread is having . I would be looking for a new very tiny update in the near days. Just a guess im wondering if the truth is they are gearing up for the 3g version of nexus .maybe the pm chip being changed has a issue with the added radios. They did say ITS NOT A Chip upgrade but will not say why they are making the switch .
sorry i do not have a link . but everyone knows how to get to google groups ..
Happy Reading..

I just got another N7 in the mail today, gonna unlock n root it when i get off work. hopefully i end up in your situation so i can attempt to assist in resolving this. why the old bootloader works for you, and never worked for the rest of the world is beyond me. they updated it for a reason lol, i even called google the first week i got mine in july to tell them about the bootloader and they "said" they would forward that info to the development team. it took almost 3 months for them to fix it.
if the old one works for you, then use the old one. the only difference really is the fact that reboot to recovery thru bootloader actually works. if it works for you, don't upgrade.
mine on the other hand, couldn't get into recovery via bootloader. i was dieing for that upgrade, and when it came i was beyond relieved. i did a RMA this week because my first one had screen lift since the 2nd day i owned it lol, so i'll report back when i get home in an hour or so on my results.

smirkis said:
I just got another N7 in the mail today, gonna unlock n root it when i get off work. hopefully i end up in your situation so i can attempt to assist in resolving this. why the old bootloader works for you, and never worked for the rest of the world is beyond me. they updated it for a reason lol, i even called google the first week i got mine in july to tell them about the bootloader and they "said" they would forward that info to the development team. it took almost 3 months for them to fix it.
if the old one works for you, then use the old one. the only difference really is the fact that reboot to recovery thru bootloader actually works. if it works for you, don't upgrade.
mine on the other hand, couldn't get into recovery via bootloader. i was dieing for that upgrade, and when it came i was beyond relieved. i did a RMA this week because my first one had screen lift since the 2nd day i owned it lol, so i'll report back when i get home in an hour or so on my results.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to clarify, going from bootloader->recovery never worked for me either. Whenever I needed to get into recovery mode, I just opened up a terminal, su'd to root and then ran "reboot recovery", or occasionally doing it via adb. However, those methods always worked for me until I upgraded to the latest bootloader. Then, no custom recoveries would load via any method.
My Nexus7 was first generation. I actually picked it up in Sams Club the day before they were officially released. So if Google made any HW changes in the different revisions, that might explain the difference in results on 4.1.2. Though I imagine most people on XDA also picked theirs up out of the first batch, so I don't think that could be the case. What seems more likely is that there are minor hardware differences that are causing some people's to fail with the 3.41 bootloader, while most don't have that issue. It will be interesting to see if you experience the same issue on your new one though.

gunner1937 said:
Concerning specifically the OTA update for an unlock and root N7 there should be no problem during the process using stock recovery or CWM 6.0.1.0 as long as OTA Rootkeeper is set, before the installation, in order to keep root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It didn't worked for me. I've tried Rootkeeper apk, but it was useless.
This was driving me crazy until I've found this topic! I've tried resetting it to original settings, using rootkeeper and traditional methods, nothing, zero!
At last, phonic saved my life, and finally I a could root my Nexus 7!

I never responded but my RMA worked as it should. but the issue has been resolved with recovery updates from the developers. the rest of the world who had issues should be good to go. I ended up selling my 16gb unit and got a 32 and it works as it should as well. are we all happy campers now?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium

I've had similar experiences where the way certain kernels install zips are packaged, the wipe custom recoveries at install. In that situation, I've never wiped anything from system, but rebooted into bootloader and fastboot boot recovery "recovery.img". Then from there install the recovery.zip. The worst is when this happens when you get flash happy away from home and the kernel doesn't work. No way to fix without a comp w/SDK. Glad you're back up and running.
(I cannot be held responsible if the aforementioned damages your device; do the research and own the process.)

I am so glad to have found this thread. This problem was beginning to drive me nuts.

Need Stock Firmware G900AUCU2AND3!!!

I need the Stock Firmware version G900AUCU2AND3 So that I can flash back to stock. In the thread return to stock it has the previous version G900AUCU1ANCE. I get a error when trying to odin back (SW REV CHECK FAIL : [about]Fused 2 > Binary 1). So I am not sure how its done but need someone who has it do a dump or how ever its done to get it in a way that it can be flashed either by odin or in recovery... Any help will be appreciated... Thanks

i will need this too, i have my phone on at&t next and after a year i can trade it in, but if its custom os and stuff i cant return it, so i will need this too if i want to return to stock so i can upgrade to a new phone next year.

Bump: This is needed very badly. As I imagine many people had to take that bloat ware update. If anyone that has this firm ware has a problem and needs to restore back to stock. They won't be able to use the one that's listed in on this forum as its the older one, and now that there is Root. Its very likely this will happen daily that people will need it. I don't know exactly what soft bricked my phone so it can happen to anyone. My phone was fine until a reboot. Please, please, please. I'm begging everyone that has it. I asked Samsung and they wouldn't help. Next maybe going to AT&T store and having warranty claim done. I don't really want to find the out come of that.

I need this very badly as well. I rooted my phone and then tried to alter my screen density via an app I found on Google Play. It requested root, I granted the permission and then when the phone rebooted it hung on "Samsung Galaxy S5" splash screen and will no go any further. ODIN will not allow me to flash G900AUCU1ANCE firmware since I did the OTA update. If anyone could post up their G900AUCU2AND3, I would appreciate it very much.

kwikrat said:
I need this very badly as well. I rooted my phone and then tried to alter my screen density via an app I found on Google Play. It requested root, I granted the permission and then when the phone rebooted it hung on "Samsung Galaxy S5" splash screen and will no go any further. ODIN will not allow me to flash G900AUCU1ANCE firmware since I did the OTA update. If anyone could post up their G900AUCU2AND3, I would appreciate it very much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I estimate we will get @ least One to two of these per-day until we get the files. Since we now have Root. It may take a bit as At&t version don't seem to have much for devs. Or ones that care to really help.(I'll probably get reamed for this. Sorry for you that help and for your time) I contacted At&t they told me they could not help but I could send my phone in for warranty exchange. Its that or go to BestBuy and they can flash it back. I don't have a Bestbuy Nearby.

Guys, check that post. Shortydoggg found a temporary fix for any soft bricks. It's for extreme cases. My phone is fine (apart from some deleted stock apps) so I'll hold off until i get some more info but if you cant boot at all, his method should come in handy.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2785185&goto=newpost

+1 :highfive:

NotDavid said:
Guys, check that post. Shortydoggg found a temporary fix for any soft bricks. It's for extreme cases. My phone is fine (apart from some deleted stock apps) so I'll hold off until i get some more info but if you cant boot at all, his method should come in handy.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2785185&goto=newpost
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you. The above link solved my problem. I am back up and running! At first data wasn't working other than wi-fi but I merely had to re-enter my APN that I got from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2746380 :good:

can you update to G900AUCU2AND3 after flashing this?

dave1977nj said:
can you update to G900AUCU2AND3 after flashing this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YUP, I did the AT&T update check and got it immediately afterwards. I instead of flashing every one separately and rebooting loaded the three files so minus the Bl file. I did not have the problems of having to reload APN this way.

pcidiot said:
YUP, I did the AT&T update check and got it immediately afterwards. I instead of flashing every one separately and rebooting loaded the three files so minus the Bl file. I did not have the problems of having to reload APN this way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks!!! :good:

pcidiot said:
YUP, I did the AT&T update check and got it immediately afterwards. I instead of flashing every one separately and rebooting loaded the three files so minus the Bl file. I did not have the problems of having to reload APN this way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A flash of the CSC file restores the APN after flashing the AP file, or flashing it together with the AP file, but it factory resets the phone. Flashing the AP file only is mostly for those who do not want a factory reset. But, a factory reset along with flashing only the AP file will indeed wipe the APN. I found all of that out through trial and error.

shortydoggg said:
A flash of the CSC file restores the APN after flashing the AP file, or flashing it together with the AP file, but it factory resets the phone. Flashing the AP file only is mostly for those who do not want a factory reset. But, a factory reset along with flashing only the AP file will indeed wipe the APN. I found all of that out through trial and error.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your trials this will be useful to many.

pcidiot said:
Thanks for your trials this will be useful to many.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem.

dave1977nj said:
can you update to G900AUCU2AND3 after flashing this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes do not root first, flash it then wait a few minutes then do a check for updates it will download the crap update with the yp yellow pages app,
then reboot and root
and take it away !!

pcidiot said:
Bump: This is needed very badly. As I imagine many people had to take that bloat ware update. If anyone that has this firm ware has a problem and needs to restore back to stock. They won't be able to use the one that's listed in on this forum as its the older one, and now that there is Root. Its very likely this will happen daily that people will need it. I don't know exactly what soft bricked my phone so it can happen to anyone. My phone was fine until a reboot. Please, please, please. I'm begging everyone that has it. I asked Samsung and they wouldn't help. Next maybe going to AT&T store and having warranty claim done. I don't really want to find the out come of that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same troubles here pcidiot!!!! soft bricked and nothing will load onto the phone. ODIN gives me the same kind of error as listed on the starting thread! I can get to recovery mode and Download (ODIN) mode on the phone but nothing wants to flash. Do we dump? Do we Erase Nand? CONFUSING!!! why is it so easy to bunk up a phone!

Achilles5410 said:
Same troubles here pcidiot!!!! soft bricked and nothing will load onto the phone. ODIN gives me the same kind of error as listed on the starting thread! I can get to recovery mode and Download (ODIN) mode on the phone but nothing wants to flash. Do we dump? Do we Erase Nand? CONFUSING!!! why is it so easy to bunk up a phone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There should only be two boxes checked in odin thats f. reset time and auto reboot. Also Make sure you only check and load your firmware in the ap slot in odin. Now flash.

Achilles5410 said:
Same troubles here pcidiot!!!! soft bricked and nothing will load onto the phone. ODIN gives me the same kind of error as listed on the starting thread! I can get to recovery mode and Download (ODIN) mode on the phone but nothing wants to flash. Do we dump? Do we Erase Nand? CONFUSING!!! why is it so easy to bunk up a phone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you following this guide?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=53454972&postcount=1

shortydoggg said:
Are you following this guide?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=53454972&postcount=1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea I did thank you. Did it today and thanked the poster too.

Want to start over! Need help!
So I want to do whats written out in step 4 of shorttydogs thread but I don't want to mess up or brick my phone. My goal is to start over and go back to stock with bloatware and everything that is available on stock if I were to go AT&T and buy it today. Here is a little background on my phone. My phone is rooted and I do have safestrap (and busybox). I backed up everything on my microSD card. I also have the g900AUCU2AND3 firmware on my phone. In addition, I deleted some but not all AT&T bloatware, which I want back. Lastly, for some reason the "add call button" during my calls is missing and was replaced with a "record" button I think this was because of me playing around with xposed. I deleted xposed framework as well as wanam and tried everything to get the "add call button" back but I couldn't. Thus, I just want to go back to stock to fix all these issues. I just have a few questions before I proceed just to make sure I'm not doing anything wrong.
1) If I flash the AP, CP and CSC files will I achieve 100% stock with bloatware?
2) Will this return my "add call button"?
3) Is it as simple as just using odin 3.09 and flashing the AP, CP, and CSC files?
4) I also understand that this will take me back to G900AUCU1ANCE but will I be able to do an OTA do go to G900AUCU2AND3?
5) Is there anything else I need to know to prevent my phone from bricking!
Sorry for the long post but I am fairly new to this stuff and don't want mess anything up!

Help with recovering from a soft brick? N900A Last running 4.4.2

I can only boot into safe strap. I think I accidentally deleted everything on there. I tried a different ROM, and that didn't boot up.
Not sure all the info anyone would need.
Right now I'm looking at Odin not working. Heimdal I haven't been able to find a download for. The things that a lot of the guides talk about go to 404s since the phone's a couple years old at this point.
My main phone is a OnePlus 2 that I need to send in for a warranty repair, but there's the potential of me being able to flash a new rom on there, that has the updated drivers for the fingerprint sensor (and thus fix the issue and I don't have to go without a phone).
I figured I'd try out the whole process before I accidentally brick my main phone, haha.
I tried doing Kies, too, and it said that my model number isn't right but only after I put in the S/N so I don't know what to make of that.
I've been reading everything I could get my hands on for the past two days and so well I guess I can't figure it out.
Thanks in advance.

update:
Odin worked!
Used Odin v3.09
I'm so stinkin excited now! I still don't know what build I started with but now I've got something I can go with.
The guide I used: droidviews com install-stock-firmware-on-samsung-galaxy-devices-using-odin
It took many many many reboot cycles to get the phone to show up in Odin, and it kept going back to safestrap. Now I have a way back though if I do this again.
I didn't get any responses by the time I solved it (and also went to the storage unit to get my PC to actually do this) but I want to thank you all for having such a good set of resources.
I'll update this with the actual links n stuff after I get 10 posts.
I checked repartition (since it couldn't find /system or /systemorig ) even though the guide says
In the Options section, make sure that only the Auto Reboot and F. Reset Time boxes are checked and everything else are unchecked. (Do not, in any case, check Re-Partition box unless you have a .PIT file to flash, or it will lead to major problems including a corrupt partition table, if you don’t know what you’re doing.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

[Q] How Do I Restore a Galaxy Note 8?

Coming from an iPhone I'm used to connecting the phone to iTunes via USB, downloading a fresh version of the OS and restoring the phone. Then I have the option of setting up as new or restoring a backup.
I would like to know if there's a way to do something like that with my Note 8. I realize I can reset everything from within the settings app but I would like to wipe it clean and install a fresh copy of Nougat 7.1.1.
Is this possible? Also just in case it comes up I'm not interested in rooting at this point in time.
Thanks!!

rocknblogger said:
Coming from an iPhone I'm used to connecting the phone to iTunes via USB, downloading a fresh version of the OS and restoring the phone. Then I have the option of setting up as new or restoring a backup.
I would like to know if there's a way to do something like that with my Note 8. I realize I can reset everything from within the settings app but I would like to wipe it clean and install a fresh copy of Nougat 7.1.1.
Is this possible? Also just in case it comes up I'm not interested in rooting at this point in time.
Thanks!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty sure there is a ton of posts on here discussing Odin and what it is used for, as well if you look under guides I have posted the stock firmware and links to odin.
Go here for that stuff: https://forum.xda-developers.com/sp...stock-restore-odin-recovery-software-t3668888
Basics : Odin is like ITunes , you select the firmware to install to the device and push it to phone, it wipes phone and installs the software selected.
There are only a few limitations of ODIN, that being that if the firmware is set to Anti-Rollback you can not go back to any version older then the 1st revision of that rollback version.
Example : N950USQU1AQI5 This is the latest version for sprint currently there are 3 parts of this explained below.
The QI5 is the version identifier.
N950U is the variant the software is designed to be used with.
The number 5 spots from the end determines the bootloader revison and will be the Anti-rollback version. All versions matching that number can be flashed without bias, so any version labeled ( 1 ) can be flashed to the note.
Now hypothetically if this was the software that comes next: N950USQU2AQL9
Once you were to install this version you could NEVER flash anything lower then ( 2 ) to the device, the bootloader on the phone will refuse it and tell you the version is older and will not install.

Thank you for the detailed reply. Your right in that I've seen a lot about Odin. What I'm somewhat concerned about is that whatever I've managed to find and read about doing this is that it will void the warranty? Is this accurate or am I misunderstood something?
Also, the reason I wanted to do this is because something screwed things up after I moved apps to the SD card. And yes I moved them using the built-in settings app. So obviously I was only able to move apps that the OS allowed me to. Basically even though it showed that the apps were on the external storage they just disappeared. If I tried to reinstall Google Play would immediately crash.
So my thought was that if I did a clean install it would wipe out any crud that might be left behind by doing a hard reset built into the phone. Am I completely wrong about this or is it possible some stuff might be left behind?
Thanks again for taking the time to post your reply.

rocknblogger said:
Thank you for the detailed reply. Your right in that I've seen a lot about Odin. What I'm somewhat concerned about is that whatever I've managed to find and read about doing this is that it will void the warranty? Is this accurate or am I misunderstood something?
Also, the reason I wanted to do this is because something screwed things up after I moved apps to the SD card. And yes I moved them using the built-in settings app. So obviously I was only able to move apps that the OS allowed me to. Basically even though it showed that the apps were on the external storage they just disappeared. If I tried to reinstall Google Play would immediately crash.
So my thought was that if I did a clean install it would wipe out any crud that might be left behind by doing a hard reset built into the phone. Am I completely wrong about this or is it possible some stuff might be left behind?
Thanks again for taking the time to post your reply.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Odin does NOT effect the warranty bit, even with the new root method the Knox warranty status does not get effected.
I actually had mine rooted, some pixels in my screen were messed up ( not related to root ) used ODIN to go back to stock and sent it in to Samsung for a warranty repair and it was approved, fixed and sent back for free so no fret.
The warranty status shows up when you put your phone into Download mode ( Holding Bixby + Volume Down and power button together during a boot up ) It shows warranty bit 00x00
If it were to effect it the status would go to 00X01 and so on as you continue to modify things. The status only changes if the phone is compromised with custom boot files witch we do not have access to due to having the bootloader locked.
This is a routine process to recover the phone if it wouldn't boot,
furthermore you can essentially do the same procedure using Samsung smart switch on desktop, but i'm not fluent with using it as ODIN is a better method and more robust and less dumb ware.
as for moving apps to sd, you could also try deleting them off the sd, or possible that the sd card is messing up and not fast enough for the device to read and run those apps so if you redo and it happens again id avoid putting them on sd if you can.
hope this helps. No fret on using odin, just take your time and pay attention to the options you use. Do not confuse NAND ERASE ALL ( that is the same has a hard reset) with ERASE EFS ( this deletes the serial number and should never be done! )

Again, thank you so much for the detailed reply. Just one more thing. Can you please supply me a link to the correct stock ROM. I apologise for all the noob questions but it's been more than 7 years since I've messed with Android. Some of the links I found took me to download did where I had to pay or else the fire was too big for free.
I believe this is the exact one I need for my Sprint Note 8
N950USQU1AQI5. This is what I have on my phone now.
As for the SD card issue there were just a few apps I found. The others just seemed to disappear. In any case I bought a new 256GB U3 card by Samsung so there should be no questions now on whether it's too slow or bad. I moved a couple apps and so far so good.
Thanks again and best regards!!

rocknblogger said:
Again, thank you so much for the detailed reply. Just one more thing. Can you please supply me a link to the correct stock ROM. I apologise for all the noob questions but it's been more than 7 years since I've messed with Android. Some of the links I found took me to download did where I had to pay or else the fire was too big for free.
I believe this is the exact one I need for my Sprint Note 8
N950USQU1AQI5. This is what I have on my phone now.
As for the SD card issue there were just a few apps I found. The others just seemed to disappear. In any case I bought a new 256GB U3 card by Samsung so there should be no questions now on whether it's too slow or bad. I moved a couple apps and so far so good.
Thanks again and best regards!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The 1st link I sent you at top is the link to find most current firmware for the Sprint note 8. QI5 is the latest as of today. The one you posted is the correct one. The post also has Odin available to dl as well.
But here is the direct link to QI5: https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=745849072291677290
Pretty much with Odin
Take the firmware zip and unzip it.
Then put phone into dl mode as explained above holding power, volm down and bixby. Once on green screen click up to start dl mode and it's ready.
Side note:
That key combo is also soft reset. Holding vol up instead would bring you to recovery where you can do a full hard reset as well. If you accidentaly get into dl mode trying to soft reset because phone got frozen just soft reset out of it and you'll be back to booting up as normal.
Plug phone in and open Odin.
Odin should show the phone and it's com port once driver on pc have installed.
Click each box ( bl, ap, cp, csc) and select the matching files.
The csc you'll use is the one with OYN in it's name.
Under options have f.reset time.. auto reboot and nand erase all checked. Nothing else. Again I say nand erase all.. remember what I said about the efs one and never checking it....
Once each loads up.. ( ap will take forever it will act like it has gotten stuck and may show it's not responding ) this is normal just wait it out as it's a huge package being loaded...
Click start and drink a coffee..
Once done, it will auto reboot, wipe and then boot up
Re setup and test. Just be aware all data on device will be gone.
Otherwise you will be good to go!
I added to generic photos of what it looks like when phone is connected and com port is showing up. As well what options are to be selected. I put a big pointing finger to the correct erase all option as well lol

Thank you for all the detailed replies!!! You rock dude. Things are slowly coming back to me. The EVO 4G was the last Android phone I had before jumping to iPhone. I used to install different ROMs almost weekly and tried all sorts of stuff back then. Had no fear
I guess after being away for so long it just takes time and reading through all the different threads.
Thanks again!!!

Team DevDigitel said:
Plug phone in and open Odin.
Odin should show the phone and it's com port once driver on pc have installed.
Click each box ( bl, ap, cp, csc) and select the matching files.
The csc you'll use is the one with OYN in it's name.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay so I was all set to do this but when I unzipped the firmware.zip and there are more files in there that I'm not sure what to do with.
First there are 2 CSC files and both have OYN in the name.
First one is : CSC_OYN_N950UOYN1AQI5_CL12173876_QB14907525_REV00_user_low_ship_MULTI_CERT.tar
Second is: HOME_CSC_OYN_N950UOYN1AQI5_CL12173876_QB14907525_REV00_user_low_ship_MULTI_CERT.tar
There's also a file called USERDATA_SPR_N950USQU1AQI5_CL12173876_QB14907525_REV00_user_low_ship_MULTI_CERT.tar
Is there anything I need to do with this particular file?
Also all the files are xxx.tar.MD5. Am I right in guessing that Odin with verify the MD5 checksum?
Thanks again!!!

rocknblogger said:
Okay so I was all set to do this but when I unzipped the firmware.zip and there are more files in there that I'm not sure what to do with.
First there are 2 CSC files and both have OYN in the name.
First one is : CSC_OYN_N950UOYN1AQI5_CL12173876_QB14907525_REV00_user_low_ship_MULTI_CERT.tar
Second is: HOME_CSC_OYN_N950UOYN1AQI5_CL12173876_QB14907525_REV00_user_low_ship_MULTI_CERT.tar
There's also a file called USERDATA_SPR_N950USQU1AQI5_CL12173876_QB14907525_REV00_user_low_ship_MULTI_CERT.tar
Is there anything I need to do with this particular file?
Also all the files are xxx.tar.MD5. Am I right in guessing that Odin with verify the MD5 checksum?
Thanks again!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
use the CSY OYN, i touched this in a earlier response, and dont worry about the user data one and yes they are verified by md5 before a push occurs, this can be turned off in odin if you wanted and skip md5 verification.

Team DevDigitel said:
use the CSY OYN, i touched this in a earlier response, and dont worry about the user data one and yes they are verified by md5 before a push occurs, this can be turned off in odin if you wanted and skip md5 verification.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once again...thank you!!!
If you don't mind I have a question about restoring from backup. If I backup to Samsung cloud then it will restore the apps that I currently have installed, is that correct?
If I backup to Google and then restore from Google backup it will only restore data and if I install an app that I had prior to the wipe/restore it will then restore the data for that particular app. Is that correct?
Also is it possible to choose which apps to restore if I restore from Samsung backup?
Thanks again!!

Delete all files and re-partition all?

If you ever had loaded into recovery in temporary TWRP you'll note that even after formating /data/ and doing an advance wipe (selecting everything), then enter the file manager there is still a bunch of folders and some files throughout your device.
Is there a way to wipe out everything and start completely 100% fresh?

DO NOT DO THIS --- OR --- DO but do not cry about it
I have an answer to my question and it is as I suspected. The short and more official answer is, no. The longer answer is, yes, technically. -- But you should not try it unless you are 100% sure you can live without your phone (forever).
As it turns out no one had a full 100% flash for the whole device and its complete file system structure (except for Motorola). But as it turns out without a manufacturing cable it would be useless anyway. This is because part of your phone is protected and cannot be wiped clean and flashed so blindly... ie... Unlike your desktop computer. But if you're like me you have noticed some orphan files (a few logs).
Is it worth taking the risk just to clear some orphan files? Probably not. But since you do not have a manufacturing cable and technically, your phone can recover, what you can do is the following.
Do NOT use the TWRP installed on your phone. Rather use it in memory
Code:
sudo fastboot boot twrp-3.3.1-0-payton.img
Load TWRP and format DATA
Reboot, go to advance wipe, wipe everything.
Reboot to TWRP (again)
In TWRP via the terminal type in
HTML:
rm -r -f *
You will see a lot of things that cannot be deleted. This is because you do not have permission to do so. What little is removed will likely be restored after reboot from the master rom hidden somewhere on your phone which cannot be played with unless you have a manufacturing cable (so I am told). ---- If you have such a cable --- DO NOT DO THIS. --- If you suspect you have such a cable --- Do NOT do this. -- I did this with just my normal charging cable.
After you have run the command which will take forever. Tell TWRP to reboot to bootloader. You will now have a BLACK screen. This is where I panicked. I waited a while and long pressed down the power button (presumably turning off my device). Then I pressed down the power button and the lower volume button. -- Keep holding the buttons. -- It will take longer than you like but your phone will boot up. And low and behold everything that was in the master rom (chip?) has been restored and you will now see the bootloader screen (finally). Load TWRP and install your ROM of choice.
How many times have I done this successfully? 2x
Does this mean this is dependable? Unlikely
Do I recommend this? No.
Should you depend on this? No.
Are you taking a large gable? YES
Can this brick your device? YES, more than likely.
Should you do this if you have any doubts? NO.
Will you get any help if this goes wrong? NO.
So why did I do it? As I look to possibly upgrade my phone in the future I feel a little more daring and can afford to do so. lol

you say "yes, technically", but I have yet to see someone get back to a fully operational stock. The best they can do is get to a mostly operational custom ROM. I (and a bunch of other folks here) would love to be proven wrong.

KrisM22 said:
you say "yes, technically", but I have yet to see someone get back to a fully operational stock. The best they can do is get to a mostly operational custom ROM. I (and a bunch of other folks here) would love to be proven wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After performing this I installed only the official firmware. No additional ROM or GSI. The firmware itself includes the stock software.
A word of caution. --- I did this on 3 phones now. 2 work just fine. But 1 does not. The one that does not reports my IMEI as 0. This means it boots, it loads, it will play games and apps and update via Google Play Store, but it will never make a single phone call ever again. --- Food for thought.

Thanks. That got me thinking - I wonder if you took the one with no IMEI and plugged it to Moto's Smart Assistant, would it recognize it? Would it allow you to force flash it?

KrisM22 said:
Thanks. That got me thinking - I wonder if you took the one with no IMEI and plugged it to Moto's Smart Assistant, would it recognize it? Would it allow you to force flash it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The world will never know. lol --- I'm a Linux user and their app doesn't seem to like Wine. I suppose I could set up a virtual machine with Windows and hope to connect through that. But I was once informed you really cannot do that via a virtual machine. Unless I was misinformed?! In any case, flashing the phone is not a problem. I can wipe it and reinstall any ROM or GSI at the moment. Or I can repeat my process too back to stock under a full wipe. The results appear to be the same.
I already have ordered a cheap Moto G7 from Google as a replacement. My current plan will be to find a very light (small), bare-bones ROM / GSI and install it onto this Moto X4. From there I'll load it up with games and such and let the kids play with it. Figure since it cannot make or receive calls anymore (or text messages either) it will make for a fun little toy.

MotoX4 said:
The world will never know. lol --- I'm a Linux user and their app doesn't seem to like Wine. I suppose I could set up a virtual machine with Windows and hope to connect through that. But I was once informed you really cannot do that via a virtual machine. Unless I was misinformed?! In any case, flashing the phone is not a problem. I can wipe it and reinstall any ROM or GSI at the moment. Or I can repeat my process too back to stock under a full wipe. The results appear to be the same.
I already have ordered a cheap Moto G7 from Google as a replacement. My current plan will be to find a very light (small), bare-bones ROM / GSI and install it onto this Moto X4. From there I'll load it up with games and such and let the kids play with it. Figure since it cannot make or receive calls anymore (or text messages either) it will make for a fun little toy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! Yeah, in the past I have been a lot on Ubuntu and stuff like this is not forgiving for wine.
It's a darn shame that we can't just send these phones to Moto with $25 and get it fixed. Oh well!

KrisM22 said:
Thanks. That got me thinking - I wonder if you took the one with no IMEI and plugged it to Moto's Smart Assistant, would it recognize it? Would it allow you to force flash it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Moto smart assistant can`t recognize the phone in rescue mode..

St.Noigel said:
Moto smart assistant can`t recognize the phone in rescue mode..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know it can't on yours, and most folks with this prob. I was wondering about MotoX4's case. But thanks for trying it!
I had high hopes for that smart assistant when I discovered it, but no joy. When we lost RSDlite, we lost a lot - unless they upgrade it...

KrisM22 said:
I know it can't on yours, and most folks with this prob. I was wondering about MotoX4's case. But thanks for trying it!
I had high hopes for that smart assistant when I discovered it, but no joy. When we lost RSDlite, we lost a lot - unless they upgrade it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
RSDlite? Lost? Is this what you seek? https://rsdlitetool.com/

MotoX4 said:
RSDlite? Lost? Is this what you seek? https://rsdlitetool.com/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
6.2.4 won't recognize a Moto X4 after it is upgraded to Pie.

I used RSDLite since the times of the P2K and MAGX (Linux)... but since it's easier to use fastboot commands...
I have a stock X4 Android One around, if I want to flash Pixel Experience, can I go back to stock in the future?

joel_sinbad said:
...snip...
I have a stock X4 Android One around, if I want to flash Pixel Experience, can I go back to stock in the future?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In all probability, NO.

Then I'm gonna stay on Stock Rom, so... If I want to flash custom Roms, there's not way back...

joel_sinbad said:
Then I'm gonna stay on Stock Rom, so... If I want to flash custom Roms, there's not way back...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you read a lot on this forum, that's the message I see.

I agree, NO going back. You can, I have... flash any factory Pie rom . All will flash fine and no IMEI, wifi. Radios are gone. I use Google Fi and cell data services go wierd on custom roms, if you want carrier switching.

This makes me think that the Moto X4 is more dangerous than the back then Atrix 4G with their Tegra 2 chipset...

joel_sinbad said:
This makes me think that the Moto X4 is more dangerous than the back then Atrix 4G with their Tegra 2 chipset...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't recall thinking that the Moto Atrix 4g was at all dangerous when I had one - a rather nice phone imho, though that was a very long time ago. I don't think of the Moto X4 as "dangerous" - it is simply that there is not a correct understanding of the Pie file structure by the custom ROM devs such that their ROMs would not so change the file structure of the phone as to prevent it from being flashed back to stock.
Users need to recognize that, with this phone, you can't get back to stock if you flash any custom ROM.
afaik.
This change happened with the file structure and boot structure changes of the Pie update. Prior to that, folks could get away with all manner of mods. Devs for this phone need to approach modifications with the idea of assuring that any mod can be flashed back to stock, BEFORE it is released. That has not happened. And likely won't. User beware!

KrisM22..... Thank you for stating what I could not do as well.

kkjb said:
KrisM22..... Thank you for stating what I could not do as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
we ALL do it, and CAN do it - all in hopes of saving some newbie from disaster!