[Q] Phone bricked, no ODIN access! E: Unable to mount '/data'

[Taxmaster]

Hello all,

Quick background - my wife's T-Mobile S4 went kaput on our honeymoon last night, but I was at least able to save some of her data. The problem now goes to installing a new ROM on her device.

I have wiped EVERYTHING and formatted the data, but when I install ANY ROM (I've tried multiple), I always get the E: Unable to mount '/data" error. Normally, I would just ODIN the stock tar, then install a custom recovery again and then the ROM, but I only have my work computer for the rest of my honeymoon and I don't have administrative access to run ODIN (you might not think it requires it, but if you're only a standard user then you cannot bypass UAC to run it).

Does anyone have any ideas on how to get this to mount? The phone will not boot past the "Samsung Galaxy S4" screen. I've tried going into TWRP and mounting Data but it will not work.

Any help is greatly appreciated! Please keep in mind that I don't have access to ODIN!

- Taxmaster

 

[elesbb]

Hello all,

Quick background - my wife's T-Mobile S4 went kaput on our honeymoon last night, but I was at least able to save some of her data. The problem now goes to installing a new ROM on her device.

I have wiped EVERYTHING and formatted the data, but when I install ANY ROM (I've tried multiple), I always get the E: Unable to mount '/data" error. Normally, I would just ODIN the stock tar, then install a custom recovery again and then the ROM, but I only have my work computer for the rest of my honeymoon and I don't have administrative access to run ODIN (you might not think it requires it, but if you're only a standard user then you cannot bypass UAC to run it).

Does anyone have any ideas on how to get this to mount? The phone will not boot past the "Samsung Galaxy S4" screen. I've tried going into TWRP and mounting Data but it will not work.

Any help is greatly appreciated! Please keep in mind that I don't have access to ODIN!

- Taxmaster

Sounds like a twrp issue. Try grabbing the cwm flash able zip and adb push to the sd card and then use twrp to install it. I've read so many issues about twrp. I recommend staying away from it. Philz touch recovery is really awesome too.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Taxmaster]

Sounds like a twrp issue. Try grabbing the cwm flash able zip and adb push to the sd card and then use twrp to install it. I've read so many issues about twrp. I recommend staying away from it. Philz touch recovery is really awesome too.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk 2

Hello! I actually downloaded Philz touch recovery in both .zip and in .md5, so that is what I intend to go with. The issue is how I push it using adb, as I believe I need to install something in order to do so, but I don't have any administrative privileges! This is what's preventing me from running ODIN in the first place!

Can you confirm that I can push using adb without installing anything?

Thank you! - Taxmaster

 

[Monkz]

I had this issue. Odin flashing and then booting into "STOCK RECOVERY" after flashing and then a factory reset in the stock recovery followed by a fresh re-flash from Odin worked to get my phone back up and running again.

I don't know how you are going to be able to fix it by just flashing a recovery. I tried for hours and could not get it to boot from just recovery alone.

 

[Taxmaster]

I had this issue. Odin flashing and then booting into "STOCK RECOVERY" after flashing and then a factory reset in the stock recovery followed by a fresh re-flash from Odin worked to get my phone back up and running again.

I don't know how you are going to be able to fix it by just flashing a recovery. I tried for hours and could not get it to boot from just recovery alone.

What you noted would be my plan if I had admin rights to my computer, but since I cannot get ODIN, I'm screwed at the moment. I'm hoping someone can assist with the "adb" proposal, however I'm not sure one can download/run adb without installation or prompt from UAC

 

[lordcheeto03]

What you noted would be my plan if I had admin rights to my computer, but since I cannot get ODIN, I'm screwed at the moment. I'm hoping someone can assist with the "adb" proposal, however I'm not sure one can download/run adb without installation or prompt from UAC

I don't believe admin is required for adb... You could always try it... worst thing that could happen would be nothing.

 

[elesbb]

I don't believe admin is required for adb... You could always try it... worst thing that could happen would be nothing.

Using ADB does not require admin privelages, however, if your computer does not have the necessary drivers to detect the device in recovery, then you will have to install the drivers, which then yes UAC is required. HOWEVER, if you have another phone or device that supports MicroSD cards, you can just pop in the MicroSD into a working device and transfer the zip that way, then transfer back the sd card and flash

 

[Taxmaster]

Using ADB does not require admin privelages, however, if your computer does not have the necessary drivers to detect the device in recovery, then you will have to install the drivers, which then yes UAC is required. HOWEVER, if you have another phone or device that supports MicroSD cards, you can just pop in the MicroSD into a working device and transfer the zip that way, then transfer back the sd card and flash

I did exactly what's noted above --> took out the SDcard, put it in another phone, transferred over the .zip, put it back in her phone, went to TWRP, wiped everything on the device, installed the .zip, and rebooted into recovery from TWRP, and then the new recovery booted! I did another wipe/factory reset and then installed a ROM, but when I hit reboot, it didn't reboot past the Samsung Galaxy S4 splash screen , and to make matters worse, when I go to enter recovery pressing home+up+power, it says "Recovery Booting ...." in the top left corner but it won't boot into recovery!!!

Thoughts?

If someone could strip administrative privileges off of a version of ODIN v3 for me, that would be great! I don't see how else to get around this now!

-Taxmaster

 

[lordcheeto03]

I did exactly what's noted above --> took out the SDcard, put it in another phone, transferred over the .zip, put it back in her phone, went to TWRP, wiped everything on the device, installed the .zip, and rebooted into recovery from TWRP, and then the new recovery booted! I did another wipe/factory reset and then installed a ROM, but when I hit reboot, it didn't reboot past the Samsung Galaxy S4 splash screen , and to make matters worse, when I go to enter recovery pressing home+up+power, it says "Recovery Booting ...." in the top left corner but it won't boot into recovery!!!

Thoughts?

If someone could strip administrative privileges off of a version of ODIN v3 for me, that would be great! I don't see how else to get around this now!

-Taxmaster

Out of curiosity, are you flashing a ROM for the T-Mobile S4? If no, are you using a T-Mobile kernel? I only ask because a kernel for a different device will normally cause you to not be able to pass the initial Galaxy S4 screen... Also, as far as TWRP goes, sometimes it doesn't go right into recovery. If it fails to enter recovery after a reasonable amount of time, just hold power to turn it off and try again. I've had to do it 2-3 times at least just to successfully enter TWRP.

 

[Taxmaster]

Out of curiosity, are you flashing a ROM for the T-Mobile S4? If no, are you using a T-Mobile kernel? I only ask because a kernel for a different device will normally cause you to not be able to pass the initial Galaxy S4 screen... Also, as far as TWRP goes, sometimes it doesn't go right into recovery. If it fails to enter recovery after a reasonable amount of time, just hold power to turn it off and try again. I've had to do it 2-3 times at least just to successfully enter TWRP.

I am installing a T-Mobile S4 ROM that uses a custom kernel. The ROM before was the same ROM just a lower revision, same kernel.

With respect to TWRP, I thought it was all gone now that I installed the CWM touch version. I've tried doing it a million times and cannot get back into either TWRP or CWM. At this point, the only thing I can do is turn on the device to see the "Samsung Galaxy S4" screen, attempt booting into recovery but never make it past the screen saying "Recovery Booting", or enter Download Mode but I cannot use it since I can't run ODIN on my work laptop .... stupid admin privileges!

 

[elesbb]

I am installing a T-Mobile S4 ROM that uses a custom kernel. The ROM before was the same ROM just a lower revision, same kernel.

With respect to TWRP, I thought it was all gone now that I installed the CWM touch version. I've tried doing it a million times and cannot get back into either TWRP or CWM. At this point, the only thing I can do is turn on the device to see the "Samsung Galaxy S4" screen, attempt booting into recovery but never make it past the screen saying "Recovery Booting", or enter Download Mode but I cannot use it since I can't run ODIN on my work laptop .... stupid admin privileges!

Not sure what happened there.. very strange. But seems as if you have no recovery xD lol Maybe heimdall will work. Never used it not sure if it needs UAC to work. But dont use TWRP anymore


As far as your situation goes, maybe if you have the time and fast enough internet, see if you can download a linux distro (i recommend fedora as it is small and light) then make a bootable USB from that distro (if you have a flash drive) then use Heimdall in linux to flash the tar image.

Or just wait to get home. not sure how long your honeymoon is xD

 

[Taxmaster]

Not sure what happened there.. very strange. But seems as if you have no recovery xD lol Maybe heimdall will work. Never used it not sure if it needs UAC to work. But dont use TWRP anymore


As far as your situation goes, maybe if you have the time and fast enough internet, see if you can download a linux distro (i recommend fedora as it is small and light) then make a bootable USB from that distro (if you have a flash drive) then use Heimdall in linux to flash the tar image.

Or just wait to get home. not sure how long your honeymoon is xD

I think I just need to accept that fact that I have been had and that the only thing I can do is wait until I'm home to use ODIN. Absolutely asinine in my opinion, however it seems the only logical conclusion at this point.

If anyone else cares to chime in with suggestions, please let me know!

-Taxmaster

 

[coolastar]

I have had the same problem several times. The only way I have been able to boot up is to completely format data and either restore from backup or reflash a new ROM. If I wipe the dalvik cache after doing so however, it will not boot (hangs at the galaxy s4 screen like you said) and I will have to reflash or restore a 2nd time. (I'm using twrp too, but will switch to cwm if this happens again)

I m curious. Have you run into this problem again? Seems like every time my phone shuts off and tries to boot I have to restore from a backup that is days or weeks old. Super annoying. The first time this happened I restored to stock from Odin and did not use any backups in the hope that it would solve my problem and prevent it from happening again. No such luck.

 

[Taxmaster]

I have had the same problem several times. The only way I have been able to boot up is to completely format data and either restore from backup or reflash a new ROM. If I wipe the dalvik cache after doing so however, it will not boot (hangs at the galaxy s4 screen like you said) and I will have to reflash or restore a 2nd time. (I'm using twrp too, but will switch to cwm if this happens again)

I m curious. Have you run into this problem again? Seems like every time my phone shuts off and tries to boot I have to restore from a backup that is days or weeks old. Super annoying. The first time this happened I restored to stock from Odin and did not use any backups in the hope that it would solve my problem and prevent it from happening again. No such luck.

I ended up having to wait until I got home to use ODIN. I ODIN'd up the stock .tar and then installed Philz touch recovery (CWM-based), then I did a full wipe of everything and installed a ROM. Problem solved.

With that noted, I abandoned TWRP and am now only using CWM on my wife's phone.

 

[devynbf]

I ended up having to wait until I got home to use ODIN. I ODIN'd up the stock .tar and then installed Philz touch recovery (CWM-based), then I did a full wipe of everything and installed a ROM. Problem solved.

With that noted, I abandoned TWRP and am now only using CWM on my wife's phone.

Same, TWRP just has too many problems.
CWM is much more reliable.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda premium

 

[gaww]

I ended up having to wait until I got home to use ODIN. I ODIN'd up the stock .tar and then installed Philz touch recovery (CWM-based), then I did a full wipe of everything and installed a ROM. Problem solved.

With that noted, I abandoned TWRP and am now only using CWM on my wife's phone.

If you were using TWRP 2.6.0, that could have been the problem. I reverted back to 2.5.0.2 and like many others, have had no issues. If you had a TWRP backup, that might have fixed it early on.