[Q] All 4.4/4.3 roms constant reboot

Hello friends,
I recently picked up an i717 and am in the process of sorting it out. It was originally a Bell phone, though of course it's unlocked these days. I've been hacking at various Android phones for years now and have managed to work through just about everything, but this has me stumped...

I've tried almost all the 4.4 roms, and most of the 4.3 as well. I've tried various kernels/modems/combinations/etc. I've used CWM and TWRP. They all invariably lead to the phone either rebooting constantly from the "optimizing apps" dialogue, or a few times I've made it to the welcome screen, but it's always just up for a minute or two, crashes, then reboots. I haven't found a live download for 4.2 yet, so I don't know if it would work or not. 4.1 stock and Padawan run just great. I've been doing multiple full wipes before installation, flashing the rom a few times, then hitting the caches a few more times for good measure. I can't imagine my flashing technique being at issue here.

I do know that there is at least some physical damage to the phone. The capacitive buttons don't work. But it doesn't see immediately obvious to me that these would be related. Of course, I've seen stranger things. Running Padawan the phone will hum right along at max speed all day with no apparent issues, so that side of the hardware seems okay.

Sometimes CM roms will end up at the CM welcome screen and pop up a "com.android.acore has stopped" dialogue. But the constant reboots are there on every rom I've tried.

Does anybody have any ideas?

I thought about the power button issue. However, it proceeds to boot into the OS until after a time when the screen locks then reboot, which would seem too long to be the power button in any case. Regardless, a few sharp flicks didn't help much. And, of course, it runs quite happily all day long running on 4.1.

I have restored to stock JB, though admittedly not earlier than that. I guess I could try going all the way back to GB to see if that makes any difference.

In my experimentation tonight I've found that 4.2 also does not work, while I can add 4.1 non-tw roms to the working list. My best guess seems like something about one of the many under-the-hood things that changed with 4.2 doesn't get along with something about my particular phone. But, who knows.

For now I'll try rolling back to GB in Odin and see where that gets me.

Ahh, if only I were on 4.4 on my Note, life would be good Though, to be honest, I'm quite digging this thing, even at 4.1.

Last night I rolled back to GB, and had no luck. Although the Odin tar that I found apparently didn't include recovery, so that had to be flashed separately. I don't know if that might make a difference. That might be my experiment for tonight if I can find a tar that includes everything. Might be easier to find on ICS.

Just running my mind through other stuff I've thought of, I remember reading about kitkat having some issues with SD cards, so I've mostly been experimenting with the card pulled and a fresh format on the internal storage, with no real difference. Tried safe mode, no dice (not that I would expect this to make a difference on a fresh flash, but who knows lol...).

It's just such a weird thing. It boots into the OS with seemingly no issues. On occasions when I can actually get to the lock screen, everything runs fluid as can be until it freezes and reboots. Sometimes when it gets stuck at the 'optimizing' screen it'll just restart the count every boot, sometimes the number of apps to be done go down each time until there are 3-4 left which persist through each reboot.

I wonder if I could check logcat via adb before it reboots. Might be able to find some clues there.

Thanks a lot, Bro. I'm downloading the image right now and will flash it then give it some time to settle in. Fingers will be crossed!

Just to give you guys an update, I flashed that stock image, ran it that way for a day, then attempted a few different 4.4 roms. Still no lock.
But thanks for the ideas so far!

I guess it's not the worst thing in the world. At least it runs 4.1 like a top.