SM-N910F resurrection following eMMC issues - Galaxy Note 4 General

tldr; the thing with the oven appears to have worked, although you'd have to be stupid, desperate, or both to try it.
Much loved Galaxy Note 4 SM-N910F started to fail with freezes, reboots and so on. Looks like a phone dying of eMMC failure, according to the bulk of articles on the specific symptoms.
Happily, I'd replaced it (with a Note 10 - lovely phone, but not as revolutionary-lovely as the Note 4 was when it was new), and had had six years of happy use out of the thing. I could bin it with my head held high.
Might have a go at recovering it, though.
Attempts to factory reset failed, resulting in boot to download mode "Firmware Update Encountered An Issue" scary screen... I see. This could be a fun challenge before I bin it then!
Odin flash of Stock ROM fell over repeatedly with various fails - often with 'mmc read' and 'could not do normal boot' scary screens
Various versions and vintages of Odin all produced similar results
Un-brick seemed to work, in as much as I could then flash TWRP (https://forum.xda-developers.com/note-4/help/samsung-galaxy-note4-sm-n910f-unbrick-t3552826)
TWRP flashing of any rom seemed to fail and fall over - generally 5-10% (guess) into the process.
Now getting bolder, tried re-partitioning, various PIT files, NAND erase, and all the forbidden things. The errors kept coming, and my 'unbrick' microSD was earning its keep.
The thing is, I really liked this phone - and I wanted it to try newer ROMs on and so forth, so I resisted the urge to chuck it in the bin. That, and finding things like using TWRP terminal mode to re-format /system and /data in different partition types, and then back to ext4, seemed to improve matters - if only temporarily - all suggested that there might be life in the old girl yet.
A couple of my searches came across articles like this and this, that suggested that the issue might have to do with failing solder joints rather than the eMMC itself and ... well then they talked about putting your phone in the oven, and I dismissed them as madness.
I mean, if putting your phone in the oven would 'reflow' dodgy solder, it would re-flow ALL the solder in the phone, right? Makes no sense. Bloody stupid.
Not going to fall for some obvious troll hoax.
So I put my phone in a 100 deg C oven for 5 mins. Took it out, and let it cool to room temperature slowly over a couple of hours.
Now
Odin can flash a whole stock ROM with success
TWRP can flash a whole non-stock ROM with success
Odin can re-flash a whole stoc... oh. Failed at around 80%. Poo.
TWRP managed a reflash, though!
Odin managed a whole stock reflash, again!
Setting up the flashed phone, though, results in freezes and boot loops. Damnit.
Another day of frustrated mucking about, hovering the thing over the bin.
OK, one more go. This time 120 deg C for 6 minutes.
This time
First and every subsequent re-flash, in Odin and TWRP, works fine.
Odin'd it back to stock, then wipe and factory reset. All fine.
Reconfig process passes without incident.
Google Play updating itself and ALL THE APPS works fine.
Setting up accounts, streaming Youtube for hours, playing games... all fine. Much more stable than it'd been in a while.
It's been a week, now, without incident.
So I thought I'd mention it.
But I still think you'd need to be an idiot to bake your phone in the hope that it'd do *anything* other than make things much worse, right?

charleshking said:
But I still think you'd need to be an idiot to bake your phone in the hope that it'd do *anything* other than make things much worse, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe.
There's an app called Wake Lock - PowerManager - I've installed on my son's 910F since a month or so and the phone still works.
It'll slightly take it's toll on battery, but hey you save some $ for the next phone.

@charleshking: Reflowing def does work, I know a guy that had to do it 3 times within 6 months to fix his gaming laptop. But it's only meant to be a temp fix, sooner or later the oven thing won't work (failed on him after the 4th try).
The Wake Lock manager app just holds open a wake lock so the phone never enters deep sleep/doze mode, which in the case of an EMMC failing phone can cause it to not wake up.
Last year I had a Note 4 T-Mobile N910T which had a failing EMMC, it had most of the issues you mentioned. But eventually it died, it caught on fire while I was charging it. I now have an N910T which is working with no issues, bought new on eBay almost a year ago.

Related

reboot loop

I used to have random reboots on Nexus One, but after updating to Froyo 2.2 (before the official release), I had noticed the random reboots to get more (like 2-3 a day), but now the phone is totally useless, it does reboot constantly, and when it's connected to Power, it reboots couple of times, then gets stack at the Nexus logo.
I have put the stock firmware back, EPE54B, and it even detected 2.2 and Google pushed me the official release and still no go (yes, I did clear cache, etc)
I loaded up the log program and checked the logs after a reboot to see if it was some sort of kernel panic or something, but it does not show anything per say.
I even tried w/o SIM or w/o memory card and the results were not conclusive, it worked for some time, then started rebooting on its own. Sometimes I notice the phone is very hot, which makes me think that it might be faulty hardware (ram, etc)
Has anyone seen such an occurence, would HTC repair the device now the bootloader is unlocked or is this just a thin paper weight ? I think I read someplace that they still honor hardware repair...
Thanks,
Houman
Mine reboot when it overheats during charging. There are several overheating threads u should check out.
Sent from my Nexus One
Just be honest
houmi1 said:
I used to have random reboots on Nexus One, but after updating to Froyo 2.2 (before the official release), I had noticed the random reboots to get more (like 2-3 a day), but now the phone is totally useless, it does reboot constantly, and when it's connected to Power, it reboots couple of times, then gets stack at the Nexus logo.
I have put the stock firmware back, EPE54B, and it even detected 2.2 and Google pushed me the official release and still no go (yes, I did clear cache, etc)
I loaded up the log program and checked the logs after a reboot to see if it was some sort of kernel panic or something, but it does not show anything per say.
I even tried w/o SIM or w/o memory card and the results were not conclusive, it worked for some time, then started rebooting on its own. Sometimes I notice the phone is very hot, which makes me think that it might be faulty hardware (ram, etc)
Has anyone seen such an occurence, would HTC repair the device now the bootloader is unlocked or is this just a thin paper weight ? I think I read someplace that they still honor hardware repair...
Thanks,
Houman
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I hear, if your honest and tell google that you unlocked your bootloader they will still repair your device, I don't know about replacing it if it can't be repaired. But before you go that route try troubleshooting. Make sure you have the correct radio, not all roms come with the correct radio. Non-compatible kernals can become a issue to, if you flashed a custom kernal. I get the bootloop problem if I flash a rom without wiping, which I never do, except when the instructions say no wipe required, and then I get the bootloop issue. So try a full wipe, data, dalvik & cache, ext, and then reflash your rom.
I had random reboots up the wazoo. My phone was unlocked/rooted/running FRF93. I downgraded to other versions of Froyo and even went back to 2.1/CM and it was still rebooting.
Turns out that HTC actually puts it through a reasonable testing procedure to determine if it was in fact the user that damaged the phone. So even if it is unlocked/rooted and the phone passes the test, you will get your repair free of charge just like me. I'm currently waiting for them to ship my phone back.
Although I have heard horror stories from HTC, so I really think it depends on the moon cycle...
Like a poster above said, BE HONEST. Let them know the truth that it's rooted/unlocked but currently running a standard ROM. If they give you the standard "if it's rooted, you're going to have to pay", tell them that you're heard of their testing procedure to determine if it's the user's fault. Go to a supervisor if you have to.
Hi,
Thank you all for the responses... so I decided to leave the battery out completely for one day, then put the battery in the phone, and I did quickly use the phone to wipe it as well as wiped the storage clean... so the phone should be back to regular day 1 status other than boot loader being unlocked. I guess by putting the PASSIMG.zip which has EPE54B files, I forgot, and it also flashed over the ramon recovery as well.
Then I turned off the phone but connected it to the charger and let it charge completely, this morning I turned on the phone and it has been on w/o reboots.
So this points to either heat, radio (wireless, 3g) -- it does not have a sim in it currently, but the good news is that it's not rebooting. I think I'll play with wireless first, then add 3g then we'll see where it takes me, but if it comes to returning it to HTC/Google, I'll be honest of course.
This has by the way:
Android Version: 2.2
Baseband: 32.36.00.28U_4.06.00.12_7
Kernel 2.6.32.9-27227-g3c98b0d
Build FRF91
houmi1 said:
Hi,
Thank you all for the responses... so I decided to leave the battery out completely for one day, then put the battery in the phone, and I did quickly use the phone to wipe it as well as wiped the storage clean... so the phone should be back to regular day 1 status other than boot loader being unlocked. I guess by putting the PASSIMG.zip which has EPE54B files, I forgot, and it also flashed over the ramon recovery as well.
Then I turned off the phone but connected it to the charger and let it charge completely, this morning I turned on the phone and it has been on w/o reboots.
So this points to either heat, radio (wireless, 3g) -- it does not have a sim in it currently, but the good news is that it's not rebooting. I think I'll play with wireless first, then add 3g then we'll see where it takes me, but if it comes to returning it to HTC/Google, I'll be honest of course.
This has by the way:
Android Version: 2.2
Baseband: 32.36.00.28U_4.06.00.12_7
Kernel 2.6.32.9-27227-g3c98b0d
Build FRF91
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any updates? I have a similar issue
Yeah I basically think it's heat related and unrelated to the firmware, RAM, etc.... I had the phone at a very cool place and it works perfectly, and when I started using it, as it got hot, it started rebooting, and I noticed the back of the phone was very hot.
So I think nxt was right #2 in this thread.
Houman
The above observation would seem to make sense. My phone would reboot while trying to watch youtube videos sometimes, but ALWAYS within a few minutes of using it on the mains...
I have since had it sent back to HTC to have the phone repaired. I had rooted my phone just to get 2.2 however as it was a genuine hardware issue they replaced the main board and now not only does the phone not reboot anymore, the issues I had with no 3G (only Edge) have disappeared too. Happy
BANE
Hi
So I got my phone back from htc, they basically fixed it and even locked the bootloader so all is well
Just FYI
Houman

[Q/Problem] Seems to happen with Every Rom.

I would like to keep this short and sweet so...
Basically heres the low down: I got a G1 almost a year ago, got into Rooting/flashing 7 months ago. I noticed in the beginning almost every rom was giving me a problem, Freezing up, hanging for long periods of time, etc. I eventually found a very nice, stable rom thats been lasting me for about 6 months but as of late was being horrible. Force Closing everytime I got a text message, REALLY Hanging for long periods of time, freezing up. Etc.
So I finally got FED UP, and decide it was time for a change, so I grabbed MLIGN 3.3v having seen so many good reviews and what not, thinking it would be the remedy to my poison. I cried. So in short, here is whats going on:
1. It seems to only wanna cooperate when Plugged into the USB, which, isn't too practical.
2. When not plugged in, it is NOT sluggish, but when loading into apps I've noticed it will hang for quiet awhile or completely lock up to the point only popping out the battery will work.
3. I haven't noticed it yet, but on the old ROM it would randomly shut off during phone calls; which leads me too....
4. When ever I shut the screen off (by pushing endcall) it seems to freeze and lock up and eventually either SHUTOFF or REBOOT into a SHUTOFF of the phone and refuse to turn back on until it has been plugged into the USB, or enough time has passed for it to 'forgive me' and by that, I mean randomly work again.
5: Various other things I cant think of right now.
So, basically thats almost everything. Whenever its plugged into USB though, it works like a charm (for the most part).
Would a problem with my Battery be the case? Which, would be awkward but a possibility.
Or did I just do something wrong?
I made sure to factory wipe the phone twice, even 3 times on the last go, I updated the ENG.SPL and Radio every time I tried to reflash just to make sure.
I partitioned my SD Card for 32MB Swap; 512EXT2 (and 7xxEXT2 I forget what it was) and I also upgraded it to EXT3, which showed some improvement... I believe.
So, I just would like to have my phone working, in a peaceful, obedient manner xD.
Forgive me for the block of text, and all help will be appreciated. Thank you guys... I await sound advice
Try different ROM? See which one works best.
Like me, I found that SuperAosp is best suit for me (see my sig for DEV Site and Download, if you want to try it). It had been running fast and I had no issue, what so ever. Occasionally when I loaded apps that hogged the power usage it gets lags, but still good. FCs are at minimal to none (that's just because of the way I handle the apps). Once in a while I noticed that it reboot, when I tried to use the apps that hogged the memory (maybe that was the apps issue).
Only other thing I recommed is to download a different launcher, because the build-in ADW Launcher does not work too well in my opinion.
Another thing, if you wish to keep the ROM you had. I would suggest to change the partition size. (IE: Catch [128MB]/Ext 2 or EXT 3 [1024MB]/ FAT32[the rest]) Now I know other people might say that it's overkill, but to me my G1 performance it great.
I've tried multiple roms as of late, and the one I like the most does happen to be MLIGNs... everything seems to be working correctly for the most part with the exception of what I listed above... Now on the like, 23rd reboot most of the sluggishness that was there before is gone, and everything is pretty much being cooperative, with the exception of like the weather, which isn't updating properly but I can live with that. What I cant live with is the fact that this ROM when not plugged in, will freeze up when in the lock screen, a few minutes after it has darkened and gone black and wont respond at all. Or I'll unplug it and just do a test, swipe left, right for a good minute or two, go into apps and It'll just SHUT OFF. Maybe it really is the battery? I'm unsure. When I look at the battery it does look quiet bloated... I am unsure...
I'm gonna try to set it to what you recommended, and see if that works...
I don't think it's the battery.
Have you tried reformat/partion your SD card (be sure to backup your data first). See my last comment on sizes recommendation for each partition.
Also check on the swappiness setting.
Mhm... so I went back and followed everything you told me to do, including repartitioning to the exact file sizes you told me. (Also I'm guessing Cache meant Swap) So I set everything up and its really blazing fast and stable.... until I remove the USB cord. Then it shuts off, freezes at lock screen when the screen is dimmed to black, and will just randomly shut off while doing things (especially when trying to get into messages)
Also if it helps, I have a Class 2 8Gig SD card, and my Recovery is Ra 1.5.x(I forget.) I'm completely confused... I dunno what to do... I would really like this to just work and stop being a hassle D:
Hmmm, Try reading this thread, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1010932
See if it helps.
Nothing :/ Its okay... I'm gonna go play around with other roms, completely re do my phone, make sure everything is updated etc. Then go from there.
Thank you anyways, you were a big help, reguardless of my phones triumphing retardism

Note 4 issues (my Take) post 11-06-2016 (Take the Poll)

HI,
I'm writing this in a new post not to be confused with out dated information!
My wish is, someone smarter than me write it! but it just has not happened..
The main issue is:
Note 4 tmo
1. Freezing.
2. Restarting randomly.
3. MMC failures.
4. Kernel Panic.
5. Sluggish.
6. Goes to sleep and does not awake.
7. Bla, Bla.
Remember, this is in my opinion!
If you can use it say thanks if not don't flame, but feel free to set the record straight!
Thoughts...
To many phones have gone wacky on or about the same time as the MM update.
In my humble opinion its software not hardware or is it!
I think its faulty/borderline firmware that may run on some but due to maybe another underlying issue pushes the phone over the edge!
Since the clean-up I have had no other issues, see below!
Troubleshooting, Best practices
Troubleshooting best practices
*Start out with good tools*
1. Good USB Cable
2. Fully Charged Battery
3. Good software tools such as Odin, Kies, etc.
4. Known workable drivers (windows, Mac)
5. Always do a back-up of your stuff.
6. Have good working copies from reliable sources such as firmware, roms, TWRP, etc.
7. Make sure your hardware is Genuine, there is Note 4 knockoffs & Micro-sd card knockoffs, Battery Knockoffs swirling around the internet!
8. Remember, Garbage In Garbage out! if your system is conflicting you can't rely on your back-ups, dirty flashing, etc tear it down and rebuild including internal SD
9. Factory reset, wipe, format, (this must happen to start fresh.
10. If your googling for research please don't choose all but say search in the last month etc. conflicting information exists.
11. Please match your kernel with the rom & firmware ask the developer of the rom for advice.
BAD Information
in our search for answers, we may come across info that was good at one time but no longer! so be careful.
examples:
1. You can revert back to KK from MM.
(not sure that's true, although Odin will let you downgrade to the AOG1 firmware of the N4T2, I'm not sure its stable.
But it won't then let you reflash the ANK4.
2. Just because its on the internet don't mean its true.
3. Just because the Samsung guy says its the Motherboard, its still suspect.. (I'll tell you my car transmission story later)same theory
3a. He pulls his pants down and craps just like we do!
4. You can't make chicken salad out of chicken $h!t, just because it has chicken in the title..
Dude my note 4 is totally F'd phones just stop working when they are old. I've had this note 4 since a week after it came in 14. Been a great phone but I switched to the s7 edge because of this. S7 edge screen cracked so I'm using this one as a backup and MAN it sucks ! My issues are mainly with battery. I've tried a new battery and don't help, it dies at 30% it charges slow, drains fast. Also a lot of glitches my back button don't work on YT? camera can't focused on an object more than 3Ft away. Thus phone is a mess. Can't wait to fix my s7 edge. Just needs to come up with an extra $320 stupid Assurant won't fix my s7 edge. Taking off JUMP. Till the switch insurance companies soon they will
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
nano303 said:
Dude my note 4 is totally F'd phones just stop working when they are old. I've had this note 4 since a week after it came in 14. Been a great phone but I switched to the s7 edge because of this. S7 edge screen cracked so I'm using this one as a backup and MAN it sucks ! My issues are mainly with battery. I've tried a new battery and don't help, it dies at 30% it charges slow, drains fast. Also a lot of glitches my back button don't work on YT? camera can't focused on an object more than 3Ft away. Thus phone is a mess. Can't wait to fix my s7 edge. Just needs to come up with an extra $320 stupid Assurant won't fix my s7 edge. Taking off JUMP. Till the switch insurance companies soon they will
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep I'm with you brother! (still writing the thread though!)
SO far So Good Here's What I DID
1. Download all necessary firmwares.
2. changed to a smaller tried and true micro-sd card (just in case)
3. Charged my battery.
4. formatted my sd card with SD-formatter on the PC
5 loaded all files on the sd card with a usb-micro-sd reader/writer
6.Moved PC files all in one location on the HD such as C:/note4/kernels
or C:/note4/roms or C:/note4/firmware.. (I think you get the picture)
7. in TWRP I wiped,factory reset, formatted data on internal SD, everything except the external sd. (a couple of times)
8. with ODIN I did flash the T2"s firmware listed as :N910T2UVU2A0G1 just to downgrade from MM.
9. Then let it boot with minimal input, after shutting it down back to DL mode.
10 with odin install DOK2 firmware, it is more stable.
11 then flashed TWRP but unclick the auto-boot. (Thanks to Bigbiff & TWRP team)
12 Unplug after TWRP flashes and pull the battery. (2 or 3 Seconds)
13 boot in recovery using home, Power and volume UP.
14 now flash rom of choice I used N5 Express ver. 3.4D (Thanks rmarinella )
15 with Freeza's kernel 3.10.40 BeastMode Thanks Freeza)
16 customize with your personal settings then backup ( backup before you do to much tweaking though)
Special thanks to all folks that put so much time into this phone! if I left someone out, let me know!
Here's some photos!
I know you say Quadrant bench marks are bull?
well they will detect stuttering, lag etc.
So you guys had a huge performance hit today? I thought my ram was going or something. Long pauses in responsiveness, 10-15 second lock screen turn on from time to time, random jitters. Forced me to wipe everything and upgrade to MM from 5.0.1. Right around my last tmo payment for the phone too. Suspicious. The upgrade seems to have made things a little better (still some small issues) but now I'm paranoid. Probably my last samsung phone...shame (this is primarily due to the lack of battery and expandable memory though).
If anyone had a lot of success with a custom ROM please repot back.
EDIT: phone rebooted after posting this. Will have to tinker more.
gdewald said:
So you guys had a huge performance hit today? I thought my ram was going or something. Long pauses in responsiveness, 10-15 second lock screen turn on from time to time, random jitters. Forced me to wipe everything and upgrade to MM from 5.0.1. Right around my last tmo payment for the phone too. Suspicious. The upgrade seems to have made things a little better (still some small issues) but now I'm paranoid. Probably my last samsung phone...shame (this is primarily due to the lack of battery and expandable memory though).
If anyone had a lot of success with a custom ROM please repot back.
EDIT: phone rebooted after posting this. Will have to tinker more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good luck, thanks for posting!
I got my Note 4 back in late 2014. I picked the Note 4 over the Nexus 6 and I regretted it after the first Lollipop update.
I truly believe (imo) Samusng gave us a borked Lollipop update because at the time the S6 had came out the gate with Lollipop and the newer version of TouchWiz.
There was a rom that was made from a Sprint S6 edge which the creator tried to port over as best he could to the Note 4 and it was very fast and snappy, The only issue was the radio would stop working and would randomly reset every so often. Everything did work including the Theme store and the edge apps. What makes the Note 4 so weird acting (imo) is the older version of TouchWiz still lingering on the Note 4 and Note Edge.
It got worse when the MM update came out. I was using a stock rom, unrooted and it was terrible. I finally got a Nexus6 last year and the phone is still snappy and fats, if not faster on Nougat. Samsung knew that people would still keep their Note 4's over the Note 5 due to the lack of missing features like a removable battery, sd card slot, and IR blaster.
I dont think their is much you can do unless you run a custom rom.
Welp since I still have issues with my Note4 and am completely new and not very knowledgeable about it... I had the same issues with my stock phone;(it even bricked on me once) I snooped around and now I've settled with installing that app "WakeLock" and let it always run (Partial wake lock setting 4);
* I know its not fixing the problem but I'm a noob *
its been almost a week now and it phone doesn't freeze, reboot, lag(majorly);
Before I had to remove battery at least 5 times a day and pray it would turn back on;
bvzxa3 said:
I got my Note 4 back in late 2014. I picked the Note 4 over the Nexus 6 and I regretted it after the first Lollipop update.
I truly believe (imo) Samusng gave us a borked Lollipop update because at the time the S6 had came out the gate with Lollipop and the newer version of TouchWiz.
There was a rom that was made from a Sprint S6 edge which the creator tried to port over as best he could to the Note 4 and it was very fast and snappy, The only issue was the radio would stop working and would randomly reset every so often. Everything did work including the Theme store and the edge apps. What makes the Note 4 so weird acting (imo) is the older version of TouchWiz still lingering on the Note 4 and Note Edge.
It got worse when the MM update came out. I was using a stock rom, unrooted and it was terrible. I finally got a Nexus6 last year and the phone is still snappy and fats, if not faster on Nougat. Samsung knew that people would still keep their Note 4's over the Note 5 due to the lack of missing features like a removable battery, sd card slot, and IR blaster.
I dont think their is much you can do unless you run a custom rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think your on to something!
Thanks for your post.
Xirazer said:
Welp since I still have issues with my Note4 and am completely new and not very knowledgeable about it... I had the same issues with my stock phone;(it even bricked on me once) I snooped around and now I've settled with installing that app "WakeLock" and let it always run (Partial wake lock setting 4);
* I know its not fixing the problem but I'm a noob *
its been almost a week now and it phone doesn't freeze, reboot, lag(majorly);
Before I had to remove battery at least 5 times a day and pray it would turn back on;
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope an expert chimes in... but I think wake lock is doing what a good working kernel is suppose to do! correct me if I'm on the wrong track.
Most of my issues seem to be kernel related. There are times when the phone will act up just because I plugged it in or will loop when trying to shutdown. I think part of it was having a bad TWRP flash that screwed with subsequent actions. Secondly, my phone seems to run fine until I install any GAPPS. The camera is always having issues and I would get random wake lock and boot loops.
Right now, I flashed DU 10.6 and then ran a backup before flashing GAPPS. Then, using that as a base, I'm going to try and find a happy GAPPS and DU 10.6 combination. I may have to try a minimal GAPPS approach and install things as needed on /data
cal3thousand said:
Most of my issues seem to be kernel related. There are times when the phone will act up just because I plugged it in or will loop when trying to shutdown. I think part of it was having a bad TWRP flash that screwed with subsequent actions. Secondly, my phone seems to run fine until I install any GAPPS. The camera is always having issues and I would get random wake lock and boot loops.
Right now, I flashed DU 10.6 and then ran a backup before flashing GAPPS. Then, using that as a base, I'm going to try and find a happy GAPPS and DU 10.6 combination. I may have to try a minimal GAPPS approach and install things as needed on /data
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks,
Keep us updated on you progress!
Good luck.
sloanster said:
Thanks,
Keep us updated on you progress!
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the luck wishes. I think they might have helped
So, thinking more about my issues, I realized that it was not only kernel problems, but random issues depending on how I flashed and what I flashed. Today, I have what I think is a CLEAN and working install. Previously, I would have issues with Wifi starting up and Camera focusing and SuperSU installation.
Here's what I did to get my clean install:
Always backed up a copy each step of the way so I could have checkpoints to go back to and build upon.
First, I downloaded the newest version of ODIN: 3.12.3
Then, I flashed a new copy of TWRP recovery via ODIN: twrp-3.0.2-0-trltetmo.img.tar
SHUT DOWN PHONE (Do not reboot)
SIT 2 MINUTES
boot into recovery using VOL UP + HOME + PWR
ADVANCED WIPE: check everything BUT Internal Storage and MicroSD and swipe to wipe.
Install ROM (no other files!) and wait.
Back out of menus until TWRP home menu and choose reboot, then in the submenu, Shutdown
SIT 2 MINUTES
boot regularly
SIT 15 MINUTES This part is hard to do, but just go do some reading and come back.
Then, SHUTDOWN and TURN BACK ON.
You should still be on the Welcome screen upon boot.
Make sure you can connect to Wifi and your SIM is being read. If not, start over from the advanced wipe and make sure to wait when needed.
If that all works, skip the gmail and name prompts and get to the home screen.
Shutdown wait a minute and boot to recovery
run a backup and name it PRE-GAPPS or something (DO NOT USE ENCRYPTION, it has not restore properly from encryption in my experience)
Then, flash your GAPPS file and SHUTDOWN and wait a minute. I used PICO GAPPS (Open Gapps; ARM | pico | 6.0) so I could install what I wanted later from Play Store.
Boot up normally, skip any logins etc and make sure camera, wifi and phone work. If yes, shutdown and boot into RECOVERY, backup and name WORKINGGAPPS or something.
Boot into system and start the Google Account logins etc.
At this point, I ran another backup Called WITHGOOGLE
And finally, I booted back into the system and started loading my other applications and adding some of my tweaks, then running another backup. LOL
It was a time consuming and patience testing practice, but I'm happy now that my phone is working as expected. I'll report back if it stays stable or not. At least I have back ups to revert to.
cal3thousand said:
Thanks for the luck wishes. I think they might have helped
So, thinking more about my issues, I realized that it was not only kernel problems, but random issues depending on how I flashed and what I flashed. Today, I have what I think is a CLEAN and working install. Previously, I would have issues with Wifi starting up and Camera focusing and SuperSU installation.
Here's what I did to get my clean install:
Always backed up a copy each step of the way so I could have checkpoints to go back to and build upon.
First, I downloaded the newest version of ODIN: 3.12.3
Then, I flashed a new copy of TWRP recovery via ODIN: twrp-3.0.2-0-trltetmo.img.tar
SHUT DOWN PHONE (Do not reboot)
SIT 2 MINUTES
boot into recovery using VOL UP + HOME + PWR
ADVANCED WIPE: check everything BUT Internal Storage and MicroSD and swipe to wipe.
Install ROM (no other files!) and wait.
Back out of menus until TWRP home menu and choose reboot, then in the submenu, Shutdown
SIT 2 MINUTES
boot regularly
SIT 15 MINUTES This part is hard to do, but just go do some reading and come back.
Then, SHUTDOWN and TURN BACK ON.
You should still be on the Welcome screen upon boot.
Make sure you can connect to Wifi and your SIM is being read. If not, start over from the advanced wipe and make sure to wait when needed.
If that all works, skip the gmail and name prompts and get to the home screen.
Shutdown wait a minute and boot to recovery
run a backup and name it PRE-GAPPS or something (DO NOT USE ENCRYPTION, it has not restore properly from encryption in my experience)
Then, flash your GAPPS file and SHUTDOWN and wait a minute. I used PICO GAPPS (Open Gapps; ARM | pico | 6.0) so I could install what I wanted later from Play Store.
Boot up normally, skip any logins etc and make sure camera, wifi and phone work. If yes, shutdown and boot into RECOVERY, backup and name WORKINGGAPPS or something.
Boot into system and start the Google Account logins etc.
At this point, I ran another backup Called WITHGOOGLE
And finally, I booted back into the system and started loading my other applications and adding some of my tweaks, then running another backup. LOL
It was a time consuming and patience testing practice, but I'm happy now that my phone is working as expected. I'll report back if it stays stable or not. At least I have back ups to revert to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I believe I would have move my important stuff off the internal and wiped it!
You can't be sure conflicting stuff does not linger..
Take the poll
page 1

Jumping Screen After Nougat

Hi all,
I am completely running out of things to try and do now.
After installing Android 7 on my Note 5 I had the strangest issue that i in general have never seen on a phone. The screen is simply black (which isnt that strange) and the phone is fully functional. Bare with me, after reseting it multiple times so it would finally come on the screen goes crazy and turns goes into so many colours (if it turns on that is). Its either that or jumps all around the phone, quite literally it glitches out completely. Its like one of those virus cut scenes you see in movies, it goes different colours, glitches out, jumps around and completely misformats.
From the beginning i knew this was not a broken screen.
So far i have tried.
1. Factory reseting the phone. That gave me about 5 minutes of normal use until i locked the phone and it wouldnt unlock again.
2. Factrory reseting multiple times... again to no avail, it would work for short periods of time and glitch out again.
3. Reflashing stock Android 7 in Odin. - No avail.
4. Flashing Dr.Kretans Rom... worked for 1 day which made me so happy and think that the problem was solved but then the same problem persisted.
5. Installing Arters Kernel.. (arter97-kernel-n920cig-22.0) Nothing... literally did that today and still NOTHING
6. Re partitioning. Quickest process and no avail.
In more detail, if the phone does sucessfully boot, and bare in mind sometimes it takes more than 2 hours to get ANYTHING on the screen (including recovery which doesnt boot up either until the initial apperance of something on the screen)
I tried taking the phone to a phone shop before doing anything myself and since in England this phone was never released theyre refusing to touch it. I tried calling samsung and they dont want to do anything either cause its not a UK variant.
Could someone please tell me anything else i can try. I feel like im totally running out of options here.
My phone details are as follow
Galaxy Note 5
SM-920I Singapore Singtel Variant
Running on 6.01 (i downgraded from Kretan)
And the kernel is the one previously mentioned v.22.0
I would appreciate anyone's help or suggestions so much at this point. All these problems started since the 7.0 update a few weeks back :/
Oh its also running TWRP recovery (arter97-recovery-n920cig-22.0-twrp_3.0.2-0.tar)

G4 just completely quit working today, won't turn on or charge.

So I rooted my G4 a week ago. Everything was fine, was running a stock rom, no issues whatsoever. So today, I was watching a YouTube video when my phone froze. Couldn't do anything, had to pull the battery. Then it wouldn't come on after putting in the battery. I pulled it again and left it out for about 10 mins, put it in, put it on a charger and it started charging. Turned it on, the date/time was wrong, kept saying it was July 21st and 2:38 pm. Went into settings and updated the date/time; was working after that.
I left it on the charger and went on with my day. Came back and the phone was completely off, no charging LED. So it's been like this all day, it won't charge (at least the LED indicator doesn't come on), won't turn on, nothing. I figured the battery was shot. I went over to my buddy's (he has the same phone) and tried his battery in mine, nothing. I tried my battery in his and it worked, so I've established it isn't a bad battery. I've tried everything so far, keeping the battery out and holding down power so it resets it's charge, EVERYTHING, etc.
When it did come on and it was displaying the wrong date/time, that was the day I rooted it and about the time it was rooted too (2:38 pm). So, has this happened to anyone else? Am I bricked/screwed? I just don't understand why it would just die all of a sudden. It's well taken care of, no damage or anything. I really don't know what to do, I'm in a rough spot right now and not having a phone is really going to make things even worse.
Was just curious if somebody could help me with this or has any other info.
Thanks in advance!
I'm going to try the Unbrick Guide on here, hopefully that works.
So I was able to get it into download mode but then it died on me. The battery only had a 40 percent charge and now it won't do anything (again). Does the battery need to be charged at least to 50% or more in order to get in into download mode?
Though the classic bootlooping issue is just that--the phone locks up and freezes, and then on restart continuously reboots to the LG logo--the underlying problem causes a whole spectrum of conditions. For example, some affected phones will just shutdown during boot, and not continuously reboot. The stage at which the shutdown occurs is also variable--it can happen before the LG logo appears, after it appears, after the carrier logo appears, etc. The point is that the bootloop issue is not always expressed as the classic continuous rebooting to the LG logo issue. What you describe with your phone definitely falls within the spectrum of what is possible so I am going to guess that you have been hit with the bootloop issue like many others.
This just happened with my wife's VS986 after 1.75 years of flawless service. She was using it last week, then bam, it froze up, and after that it was dead. On trying to restart it immediately, it was completely dead. But by letting it sit around for a while to cool down, it could boot to the LG logo and sometimes would do this 2-3 times before shutting down again. By placing it in the freezer to really cool it down, I could boot up past the Verizon logo, but then during the Android optimizing apps screen, it would fail again. So out of the blue--after 1.75 years of perfect service--bam, it was struck with the bootloop issue.
Though I had seen mention of the bootloop issue previously, I never really investigated it till my wife's VS986 was strickened. If you do a search on it, you will see it is extraordinarily common...
Fortunately, LG is now taking responsibility for this though they were basically denying there was a problem initially. The good part is that they are repairing phones with this particular issue for free of charge even if they are out of warranty. In my case, my wife's VS986 was clearly out of warranty, but when I called up LG and explained the problem, they said they would repair it free of charge. So they steered me to the lgmobilerepair.com website to set up repair service.
They supposedly fixed my VS986, and it is now being shipped back. Curiously, they identified the problem as "Unit is not charging with cable" with the repair being "Swap Board (Main/RF) : Others". By the way, this was definitely NOT just an issue of not charging--I have an H811, and on putting my H811 battery into the VS986, the VS986 had the same problem. And on putting the VS986 battery in my H811, it worked perfectly. Whatever the case swapping the mainboard is the solution, and they did that, so they can call it whatever they want.
Anyway, do a little bit of searching on the G4 bootloop issue, try the freezer test, etc., and I am guessing you will also become convinced your G4 has been hit by the bootloop issue. If so, call up LG, explain the problem, and I bet they will offer to repair it for free. Hope this helps, and do let us know the results!
Awesome response! I'm aware of the class action against LG, but with my phone being rooted I don't think it's the best option to contact them and it's out of warranty. I do not have a bootloop issue, my issue is I cannot get the phone to go into download mode. I really hope it isn't a main board issue like you had, that means I have no way of fixing it.
I was able to get the phone into download mode, this was right after I connected it to the PC via USB and held the volume down button while connecting it, it just came on. I was able to get to the T-Mobile splash screen then it started making a weird noise (almost like PC when it locks up, a high buzzing sound). I was able to then get it into DL mode (holding volume up while connecting) but it died on me during that phase or froze. After pulling the battery then, it will now not do anything. I'm optimistic that if I can get it back into DL mode I can flash the stock KDZ and get it working again. I will let you know what happens. After spending almost all day messing around and hassling my buddy for his battery (same phone, he charged his battery to 100% and let me use his, he's using mine) I'm going to have some beers and play Titanfall 2. I'll pick it back up tomorrow. Worst case is I have to get a new phone and I just don't have the means of doing that ATM.
Regarding your phone being rooted, my wife's VS986 was rooted as well. This did not even come up in conversation with the LG. Even though her VS986 was clearly out of warranty, as soon as I started to explain the symptoms I was seeing, the LG rep (without mentioning the word "bootloop") said he recognized the problem, and that they would repair it for free. In sum, at least in my experience, having the phone rooted did not make one iota of difference. I guess the takehome message is that this issue has obviously reached levels far greater than the average 5% electronics failure rate--LG recognizes it is a hardware problem, and is prepared to deal with it (even on rooted and out of warranty devices).
You said your phone does not have the bootloop issue, but I invite you to investigate it further because the bootloop issue is not strictly confined to continuously bootlooping as I tried to explain originally. What you have described completely fits within the spectrum of observed issues related to the bootloop issue. Question for you--when you turn on your phone, is it normal that it shuts off at some (whatever!) stage of booting? You said that at point you actually got into download mode, but then it failed there--is that the normal/expected reality? No, it's not, and this behavior is definitely one type of expression of the bootloop issue... And as you reported yourself, you boot seem to fail at a range of different spots, not always consistently at the same moment. If it were a software problem, wouldn't it always happen at the same stage? That it happens at different stages of the boot process suggests an external control, i.e. a hardware issue.
You asked about the freezer trick--let me roll things back a bit, and I'll get to this in a minute. The bootloop issue is supposedly related to a failed electrical connection for a component on the phone mobo, and so how far along the boot process actually gets before failing gets is related to thermal expansion of components, at least this is my guess. As I mentioned, when my wife's phone originally locked up, on trying to restart it immediately, it was completely dead, no LG logo no anything. But after letting it sit untouched for a couple hours to cool passively, the boot process would at least advance up to the LG logo, but then fail. After this, if I tried to reboot again while the phone was still warm, again, complete failure (not even reaching the LG logo) until I let it sit and cool for a while. This is all related to the freezer trick...
I read that on freezing their phones, some people were able to boot as far as the homescreen, and have a few minutes to rescue their contacts and photos before subsequent failure. So I tried that with the VS986, and was even able to get past the Verizon logo as mentioned above. But failure occurred during the optimizing apps stage, and I could never reach the homescreen. Whatever the case, this freezer trick simply works because of thermal contraction--by cooling the phone down enough, the components contract rebridging the failed electrical connection, and if it can can stay cool enough for long enough, you might actually have a few minutes to rescue things before failure.
There are some other data rescue techniques, too, and though you do not seem to be concerned about rescuing data, I mention them because they also point to this thermal issue. In particular, besides freezing, some folks have tried exactly the opposite--intense heating--and they have been able to get a few minutes of data rescue time out of their phones. This involves heating the back of the phone with a hair dryer until it is close to burning hot, and then trying to boot. This certainly works because of thermal expansion--heating the phone up so much causes everything to expand which literally forces the components back together bridging the failed electrical connection temporarily until the component heats up internally, and overcomes this extra pressure.
Another data rescue technique involves adding a spacer above the CPU to cause more force pressing down on the component to bridge the connection failure. And some people have literally ironed their CPUs in attempts to resolder things, and have had various levels of success. But in the long run, all of these attempted repairs to phones with the bootloop issue have the common characteristic of rebridging the failed component connection temporarily, and that is key here--they are only TEMPORARY. They work for anywhere from 1.) not at all to 2.) a few minutes to 3.) a few hours to 4.) a few days, but in the long run, they are temporary, and mobo replacement is needed.
Anyway, I encourage you to investigate the G4 bootloop issue a bit more before you conclude that your phone is not affected. And furthermore, in the long run, if you do conclude that it is afflicted by the bootloop issue, contact LG about it, and they will probably repair it for free. Don't fear about being out of warranty or having rooted the device--at least in my case these things did not matter!!!
---------- Post added at 11:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:47 AM ----------
I have reread your description above, and now even more think you may have the bootloop issue! You wrote that you were able to get into download mode, but then it failed, and then it would not do anything. This is exactly my experience with the VS986--immediately after a failure when it was still hot, if I tried to restart it, bam, nothing, not even the LG logo. But if I let it sit around a while to cool, it then was willing to show some semblance of life. Let your phone sit around after the next failure to cool down a bit, and I bet that after that, again, you will start to see a few indications of life instead of it being completely dead. If so, this should convince you even more that this is a hardware-level issue, and not simply a matter of being able to get into download mode to reload the OS.
Well I let it sit without the battery for about 14 hours, tried it again today and nothing. It won't turn on, won't charge, no LED indicator, no download mode, no safe mode, nothing lol. I'm convinced it's completely dead at this point.
MTN927 said:
Well I let it sit without the battery for about 14 hours, tried it again today and nothing. It won't turn on, won't charge, no LED indicator, no download mode, no safe mode, nothing lol. I'm convinced it's completely dead at this point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A suggestion--remove the back cover and battery, put the bare phone in the freezer for an hour in Ziploc bag, then pull it out, immediately put in the battery, and see if you can get some sign of life out of it. Obviously, this is not a long-term workable solution, just an experiment to see if you can get any signs of life out of it at this point. When you finally decide to let it warm up, do so while it is in the sealed Ziploc bag so it avoids direct condensation.
Whatever you conclude about your phone, the G4 is still a nice piece of equipment with a great camera even though it was released over two years ago. So repairing it is worth the effort if LG will do it for free. If you live in the US, their contact number is 800-243-0000. I'd suggest calling them up, explaining that out of the blue, the phone locked up, and since then, even though you have been able to do partial reboots a few times, it would always shut off during one of these boot attempts. Now it doesn't boot at all. There is no reason to mention that you rooted your phone a week ago (unless you want to...) because again, this is a well-known hardware problem that they know about, and that they are repairing even for phones that are out of warranty.
Admittedly, sending the phone in for repair is a bit of a hassle. In my case, I had to foot the shipping bill out to the repair facility in Ft. Worth, TX, but the turn around time was super fast. Indeed, it arrived to the facility this past Monday according to tracking, but was not actually checked in to their RMA system until Wednesday night. Notwithstanding, by Thursday evening, they had diagnosed it, replaced the mobo, and put it into Fedex shipping back to me all at no cost! I expect you would have a similar experience if you contact them to explain the problem like I have suggested.
Good luck, and let us know how the saga ends!
Your freezer trick worked! For now at least, I have the phone in DL mode but the KDZ I tried to flash gets stuck at 9% when using LGUP, I think I need to find the right KDZ to flash, looking for that currently...
UPDATE: Dead again, lasted in DL mode for maybe 10 or so mins. If that KDZ I had was right it might've worked, gonna refreeze and try again with a different KDZ...
So MTN927, I think the evidence is pointing to a hardware problem... It seems that you are thinking that this is a software-level problem, and that by reloading the correct KDZ, the phone will return to normal. Why would freezing the phone have any effect on a software-level problem? Of course, freezing the phone could clearly have an effect on a hardware-level issue.
I am not really a betting man, but at this point, I suspect that even if you find and load the correct KDZ, it will not solve your phone's problem because it appears to be a hardware-level issue. Whatever the case, give it a shot, and here's to hoping my logic above is incorrect!
Here is a possible technique that might give you a few more minutes to load a KDZ--after you freeze the phone, don't take it out, just let it sit there. And then, run a USB cable into the freezer to plug into the phone. I'm not sure it will buy you much more time, but maybe it will be just enough to get a KDZ loaded?
That's what I'm thinking, hardware and not software now, obviously.
I suggest you investigate the possibility of LG fixing it for free. Though it's a hassle to be without your phone for 1-2 weeks, at this point it's not working anyway so what do you have to lose? The G4 is still a great piece of equipment so repairing it is worth the effort.
verbage said:
I suggest you investigate the possibility of LG fixing it for free. Though it's a hassle to be without your phone for 1-2 weeks, at this point it's not working anyway so what do you have to lose? The G4 is still a great piece of equipment so repairing it is worth the effort.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, that's gonna be the last resort. I'm checking to see if I can get a new phone right now with my carrier. Thanks for all your help though, you've been great. Honestly, if I can get it fixed for free then sure, but I'm not too confident in the phones future considering what's already happened.
MTN927 said:
...but I'm not too confident in the phones future considering what's already happened.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will not be any less confident with my wife's repaired VS986, in fact, given that they replaced a known defective component, I think I will be more confident! Good luck with your replacement--here's to hoping your carrier is willing to help out given the G4's known history.

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