So I am fairly technically savvy, but I'm very new to this aspect, and have been browsing this forum, reddit, and every other site looking for any possible solution. I'll try to be as detailed as possible:
My girlfriend's old Samsung Galaxy S4 (SGH-1337M) soft bricked last year. It got stuck in a boot loop and when she removed the battery, she got the "Firmware error: select recover in Kies" message. She has since gotten a new phone, but I want to use this old phone as a game/music player, since it has better storage and battery life than my phone. It was originally a Koodo phone.
I have Odin v3.12, and the info of the firmware I am trying to flash (from their site):
Odin does recognize the phone, I have it plugged in to a usb port on the back of my tower, and the flash gives me the green PASS! prompt when I flash the 4 files (I tried the .pit file as well, same end result). I have tried with the reboot and f. reset time options checked, I have tried with the re-partition option checked, I have tried taking the battery out after booting up the phone and running Odin without the battery in, I have let the battery charge to 100%, I have let the battery fully drain. I have tried Sasktel and Koodo firmware, I have tried the 4-5 CP/AP/BL/CSC files, and I have tried the single AP file.
No matter what I have tried, the phone will not boot past the Samsung Galaxy S4 screen. It either hangs on that screen, or goes back into the boot loop. The first time I tried this, I tried it with the single AP file for Sasktel, and it actually worked for about an hour before powering down by itself and going back to the boot loop. Since then, I have purchased a new battery (same model number, identical to the one it replaced), but I am making less progress. On occasion, the phone will actually get past the Samsung logo and open up the recovery options, but that will either pause and reset at the android icon (the progress bar with the android mascot with his belly open) or will skip directly to the mascot on its back, open the recovery menu, then immediately reboot.
Sometimes, now, when the phone is charging, it just shows the grey battery icon, but will not show the green progress bar or the little sparkles to indicate it is charging. Sometimes when it does this, the sparkles and bar will appear, but will immediately freeze and the phone will reboot.
Is there something painfully obvious that I am missing? Am I using a bad version, am I skipping an important step, or is my phone beyond my repair? If anyone has any suggestions for the exact steps and the exact firmware I should be using, I'd greatly appreciate the help. I'm about ready to just throw the damned thing in the garbage and cut my losses. As I said before, I don't want the phone to really be used as a phone, I just want it to play a few games and listen to music without cutting into my phone's terrible battery life.
My girlfriend's old Samsung Galaxy S4 (SGH-1337M) soft bricked last year. It got stuck in a boot loop and when she removed the battery, she got the "Firmware error: select recover in Kies" message. She has since gotten a new phone, but I want to use this old phone as a game/music player, since it has better storage and battery life than my phone. It was originally a Koodo phone.
I have Odin v3.12, and the info of the firmware I am trying to flash (from their site):
Odin does recognize the phone, I have it plugged in to a usb port on the back of my tower, and the flash gives me the green PASS! prompt when I flash the 4 files (I tried the .pit file as well, same end result). I have tried with the reboot and f. reset time options checked, I have tried with the re-partition option checked, I have tried taking the battery out after booting up the phone and running Odin without the battery in, I have let the battery charge to 100%, I have let the battery fully drain. I have tried Sasktel and Koodo firmware, I have tried the 4-5 CP/AP/BL/CSC files, and I have tried the single AP file.
No matter what I have tried, the phone will not boot past the Samsung Galaxy S4 screen. It either hangs on that screen, or goes back into the boot loop. The first time I tried this, I tried it with the single AP file for Sasktel, and it actually worked for about an hour before powering down by itself and going back to the boot loop. Since then, I have purchased a new battery (same model number, identical to the one it replaced), but I am making less progress. On occasion, the phone will actually get past the Samsung logo and open up the recovery options, but that will either pause and reset at the android icon (the progress bar with the android mascot with his belly open) or will skip directly to the mascot on its back, open the recovery menu, then immediately reboot.
Sometimes, now, when the phone is charging, it just shows the grey battery icon, but will not show the green progress bar or the little sparkles to indicate it is charging. Sometimes when it does this, the sparkles and bar will appear, but will immediately freeze and the phone will reboot.
Is there something painfully obvious that I am missing? Am I using a bad version, am I skipping an important step, or is my phone beyond my repair? If anyone has any suggestions for the exact steps and the exact firmware I should be using, I'd greatly appreciate the help. I'm about ready to just throw the damned thing in the garbage and cut my losses. As I said before, I don't want the phone to really be used as a phone, I just want it to play a few games and listen to music without cutting into my phone's terrible battery life.
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