Stuck in brickloop, Tried odin stock firmware, no go

Hello all!

So I bought a SGH M919 s4 off craigslist for 150 knowing that it wouldn't boot past the Samsung galaxy s4 boot screen, Thinking it would be an easy fix by flashing the stock firmware through odin. Well that's not the case, I've tried just about everything I am capable of...

1.Both odin 3.0 7 and odin 3.0 9 both flash and the device passes but on the boot screen it says booting recovery and just sticks there, It stuck on that over night so I am being patient.

2. I've tried flashing 4.3 which fails right away leading me to believe the phone was updated to 4.4.2 at some point in time.

3. It wont let me boot into stock recovery or I've even tried flashing TWRP, CWM and it pass's but still will not let me boot into those recovery's either.

4. Tried rooting the phone a couple times and that passes in odin but does nothing after that.

5. I ve tried different phone cables, I haven't tried a different computer yet.

6. The only thing I can get into on the phone is download mode and it says this on the screen

ODIN MODE
PRODUCT NAME: SGH-M919
CURRENT BINARY: Samsung Official
SYSTEM STATUS: Official
KNOX KERNEL LOCK: 0X0
KNOX WARRANTYVOID: 0X1
CSB-CONFIG-LSB: 0X30
WRITE PROTECTION: enable
eMMC BURST MODE enable

I don't remember seeing those last two things on the list normally if I can recall. Any help will be greatly appreciated and possibly a donation if we can get this thing fixed. Thanks.

ShinySide said:

Repartition it with the pit file while youre installing the firmware.

Last 2 strings are normal.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

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Thanks for the reply, Do you know where the pit file can be found or what do I write in the pit file box?

Ok so I pulled the pit file from another T-Mobile s4 I have and flashed that with the stock firmware and that didn't work. The phone I pulled the pit file from is on 4.3 still so I'm assuming that's why it didn't work???

ShinySide said:

Na that wouldnt matter. Your pit file is for your partition layouts. Which dont ever change.

I really cant think of anything else of why you can't get into recovery or boot the phone with everything you've tried. You might just need to Jtag the device

Sent from my SGH-M919 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

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Thanks for the help, I might jtag it or just try to find a used motherboard :laugh:

lordcheeto03 said:

The OP mentions that you tried flashing 4.3 and you speculated if it had been updated to 4.4.2. Just out of curiosity, have you tried flashing the stock 4.4.2 firmware?

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Yes I've been to flashing 4.4.2 and it passes Odin. I think maybe you meant have I tried flashing 4.2.2? I have not tried flashing 4.2.2 firmware yet, I might try that but 4.2.2 didn't have the Knox counter did it?

Sent from my SM-G900A using XDA Free mobile app

lordcheeto03 said:

No, I meant 4.4.2. It was a dumb question, but sometimes it's the simple things you overlook. Like I said, the OP only said you tried flashing MK2. You won't be able to flash anything pre-KNOX so there's no need in wasting the time downloading the MDL firmware.

An idea would be to power the phone off, boot straight to download mode, flash NB4, pull the battery when it's complete, boot straight back to download mode and re-flash NB4. I know that you have to do that sometimes for the modem to stick, perhaps you could try that with the firmware itself. Hey, worth a shot. Good luck.

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I think I might have tried flashing twice in a row but I'll try it again since I haven't tried that since I've flashed the pit file. Thanks for the tip and I'll report back after the double flash.

Sent from my SM-G900A using XDA Free mobile app

So I flashed it, pulled the battery and flashed it again and still the same thing......:sigh: lol Time to look for another wrecked phone for spare parts

Bought a phone off cl with a cracked screen and swapped the motherboard into the phone and it works like a champ now! :thumbup:

Sent from my SM-G900A using XDA Free mobile app