[Q] I've messed up terribly. Galaxy S4 Odin firmware flash went wrong.

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NEKTAR11

Member
Jan 23, 2014
8
0
Okay, so I rooted my phone back in December and had no problems at all with firmware 4.3. I had this app called "Clean Master" I think, so it analyzed my device to clean up "unnecessary" files and such. I go ahead a clean whatever it had "cleaned" and then I noticed that when I went into settings that it started freezing for about a minute or so and had to force close the settings. It also started to restart randomly at times and it got to the point where I just got fed up and looked to the internet. I decided to use Odin to Unroot my phone because at the time that's what I thought was causing the problem. This is where I think (I know) I screwed up. Instead of flashing the stock firmware for the T-Mobile Galaxy s4 I flashed this "GT-I9500-XSE-I9500XXUAME1-ROOTED_MAY4". I think I used this file for rooting but I downloaded so many files to get the rooting to work that I don't remember. This file is neither an .md5 file nor a .tar file. I don't know what I was thinking and I regret the decision. I started the transfer of whatever file that was to my phone using the Custom ROM download screen, and it only took about 4 seconds and said it passed. It reboots but ever since has been stuck on the Samsung Galaxy s4 screen. Recently it now says "Firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery mode in Kies & try again. I've tried connecting the device via Kies but IT DOES NOT CONNECT. I'm beginning to think that I've just completely destroyed the phone and will be needing to by another. Any help would be much appreciated. I've tried everything I know. I've wiped the cache, wiped the data and factory reset the phone, but it won't reboot correctly. I'm stuck people. What can I do?
 
re:

I can get into download mode yes.

#1: Find the Odin flash rom/firmware for your phone and load Odin with it.
#2: Put the phone into download mode.
#3: plug usb cable into phone and computer.
#4: after you see [COM:xx] light up click START in Odin.
#5: when it gets done flashing let it reboot, have patience.

Forget all about these cleaning utilities, you can do all the cleaning
you want once the phone works properly and once it's rooted.

Only use CF-Autoroot to root the phone for best and trouble free results.
Here is the direct download link for CF-AutoRoot:
http://download.chainfire.eu/328/CF-Root1/CF-Auto-Root-jfltetmo-jfltetmo-sghm919.zip?retrieve_file=1

Good luck!
 
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getsum

Senior Member
Apr 11, 2013
60
13
Champaign IL
Misterjunky gives good instruction, if you can get into download mode your phone can be resurrected. In my early days of flashing, I thought I had created an expensive paperweight but the guys on here saved me. One thing, you may have to do a factory reset in stock recovery to get your phone to boot. Happened to me a couple of times.

Good luck.

Flash until you brick!
 
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NEKTAR11

Member
Jan 23, 2014
8
0
Ok, so I'm pretty sure I have the right Odin flash firmware, but it all goes really fast and after "aboot.mdn" it stops and it says FAIL. Ok so I tried the md5 file that came with the download and it went through fine, but It's still stuck on the Samsung Galaxy S4 screen. Do I need to restart the system now and try the firmware file?
 
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serio22

Senior Member
Jul 1, 2012
3,215
1,134
Houston
Ok, so I'm pretty sure I have the right Odin flash firmware, but it all goes really fast and after "aboot.mdn" it stops and it says FAIL. Ok so I tried the md5 file that came with the download and it went through fine, but It's still stuck on the Samsung Galaxy S4 screen. Do I need to restart the system now and try the firmware file?

Have you done a factory reset?

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
 
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re: do this next.

I've done it more than I can count, yes.

Flash this TWRP custom recovery in ODIN then go into recovery mode and
do a full wipe, data, system, dalvik cache, cache and do a Factory Reset.
Here is the direct download link for the Odin flash TWRP recovery:
http://techerrata.com/file/twrp2/jfltetmo/openrecovery-twrp-2.6.3.1-jfltetmo.tar

Once that's done go into download mode and flash the
stock official M919 4.2.2 firmware (tar/md5) file.

Good luck!
 
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Lavell7298

Senior Member
Feb 24, 2011
293
232
Tomball, TX
Pull the battery out of the phone, then put it back in and try to boot into recovery again. Sometimes, the recovery will hang like you described. You might have to repeat this process again and again until you get into the main menu of the recovery.
 
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NEKTAR11

Member
Jan 23, 2014
8
0
Okay, so I'm sure I'm doing everything right. I flashed the twrp recovery it restarts my phone. I held the power key, home key, and up key on the phone and released the power button when it shows the text on the top left showing that it is going to start recovery. It goes to a "teamwin" screen but freezes there. Truthfully, do you think I will be able to recover my phone, or will I need to send it in to samsung and pay 70 dollars plus the damages?
 

NEKTAR11

Member
Jan 23, 2014
8
0
Flash this TWRP custom recovery in ODIN then go into recovery mode and
do a full wipe, data, system, dalvik cache, cache and do a Factory Reset.
Here is the direct download link for the Odin flash TWRP recovery:

Once that's done go into download mode and flash the
stock official M919 4.2.2 firmware (tar/md5) file.

Good luck!

Do you think the reason why I can't flash the firmware is because I upgraded to 4.3 and it brought KNOX onto the phone?
 

LancerEvoDrifter

Senior Member
Oct 24, 2012
135
17
26
Houston
Okay, so I rooted my phone back in December and had no problems at all with firmware 4.3. I had this app called "Clean Master" I think, so it analyzed my device to clean up "unnecessary" files and such. I go ahead a clean whatever it had "cleaned" and then I noticed that when I went into settings that it started freezing for about a minute or so and had to force close the settings. It also started to restart randomly at times and it got to the point where I just got fed up and looked to the internet. I decided to use Odin to Unroot my phone because at the time that's what I thought was causing the problem. This is where I think (I know) I screwed up. Instead of flashing the stock firmware for the T-Mobile Galaxy s4 I flashed this "GT-I9500-XSE-I9500XXUAME1-ROOTED_MAY4". I think I used this file for rooting but I downloaded so many files to get the rooting to work that I don't remember. This file is neither an .md5 file nor a .tar file. I don't know what I was thinking and I regret the decision. I started the transfer of whatever file that was to my phone using the Custom ROM download screen, and it only took about 4 seconds and said it passed. It reboots but ever since has been stuck on the Samsung Galaxy s4 screen. Recently it now says "Firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery mode in Kies & try again. I've tried connecting the device via Kies but IT DOES NOT CONNECT. I'm beginning to think that I've just completely destroyed the phone and will be needing to by another. Any help would be much appreciated. I've tried everything I know. I've wiped the cache, wiped the data and factory reset the phone, but it won't reboot correctly. I'm stuck people. What can I do?
Are you sure some other people have tried this file on a t-mobile variant? because GT-I9500 is indeed for a galaxy s4, but it's for the octa chipset, which is completely different from the t-mobile variant of the s4 since the t-mobile version is similar to GT-I9505, which is a quad core instead of a octa core
 

NEKTAR11

Member
Jan 23, 2014
8
0
Just to give you guys a heads-up, I fixed my phone, but not by the ways you guys suggested. Not that I'm ungrateful, I am very happy you all took the time to help me out and I appreciate the suggestions. Thank you so much.

Oh and I fixed it by going into kies, clicking on "tools", "firmware upgrade and initialisation", and proceeded to follow the steps and type in my Model name and Serial Number.Fortunately they had the ability for my phone to return it COMPLETELY stock.
 

Aluludar

New member
May 1, 2014
1
0
Thank you!

Just to give you guys a heads-up, I fixed my phone, but not by the ways you guys suggested. Not that I'm ungrateful, I am very happy you all took the time to help me out and I appreciate the suggestions. Thank you so much.

Oh and I fixed it by going into kies, clicking on "tools", "firmware upgrade and initialisation", and proceeded to follow the steps and type in my Model name and Serial Number.Fortunately they had the ability for my phone to return it COMPLETELY stock.

OMG thank you for this. I actually registered just to thank you for this, I thought I was totally boned.
 

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  • 1
    Can you get into download mode?

    Sent from my SGH-M919 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
    1
    re:

    I can get into download mode yes.

    #1: Find the Odin flash rom/firmware for your phone and load Odin with it.
    #2: Put the phone into download mode.
    #3: plug usb cable into phone and computer.
    #4: after you see [COM:xx] light up click START in Odin.
    #5: when it gets done flashing let it reboot, have patience.

    Forget all about these cleaning utilities, you can do all the cleaning
    you want once the phone works properly and once it's rooted.

    Only use CF-Autoroot to root the phone for best and trouble free results.
    Here is the direct download link for CF-AutoRoot:
    http://download.chainfire.eu/328/CF-Root1/CF-Auto-Root-jfltetmo-jfltetmo-sghm919.zip?retrieve_file=1

    Good luck!
    1
    Misterjunky gives good instruction, if you can get into download mode your phone can be resurrected. In my early days of flashing, I thought I had created an expensive paperweight but the guys on here saved me. One thing, you may have to do a factory reset in stock recovery to get your phone to boot. Happened to me a couple of times.

    Good luck.

    Flash until you brick!
    1
    Ok, so I'm pretty sure I have the right Odin flash firmware, but it all goes really fast and after "aboot.mdn" it stops and it says FAIL. Ok so I tried the md5 file that came with the download and it went through fine, but It's still stuck on the Samsung Galaxy S4 screen. Do I need to restart the system now and try the firmware file?

    Have you done a factory reset?

    Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
    1
    re: do this next.

    I've done it more than I can count, yes.

    Flash this TWRP custom recovery in ODIN then go into recovery mode and
    do a full wipe, data, system, dalvik cache, cache and do a Factory Reset.
    Here is the direct download link for the Odin flash TWRP recovery:
    http://techerrata.com/file/twrp2/jfltetmo/openrecovery-twrp-2.6.3.1-jfltetmo.tar

    Once that's done go into download mode and flash the
    stock official M919 4.2.2 firmware (tar/md5) file.

    Good luck!