Database Users

How To Recover Your Fascinate From Any Brick, And Rooting Methods

HOW TO UN-BRICK YOUR FASCINATE NOW THAT YOU HAVE BRICKED IT
SINCE IT HAS COME TO MY ATTENTION SOME POEPLE ARE CONFUSED ABOUT WHAT PHONE THIS IS FOR, I WILL MAKE IT AS CLEAR AS POSSIBLE
THIS IS FOR THE VERIZON FASCINATE
So you think you bricked your phone? The first thing you need to do is CALM DOWN, NO NEED TO PANIC , the odds are great that following this guide will fix your mistakes and recover your phone.
Sorry Fascinate owners, but I can no longer support this thread. As state below I test everything I post to make sure it works as advertised. I no longer have a fascinate so i can not test anything new. Sorry but the links to some of the files are gone I don't have them anymore so I suggest you look through the comments someone will have someplace to get what you need. Your recovery methods may have changed but this can still be used to recover your device. If you are looking for anything new look at nitsuj17's roll up post here, he maintains it very well so you should be able to find whatever else you need there.
I HAVE PURPOSELY BRICKED MY PHONE BY DOING THE THINGS YOU ARE TOLD NOT TO JUST TO TEST THE CAPABILITIES OF THESE RECOVERY PROGRAMS. UNLESS YOU CAN AFFORD TO HAVE YOUR PHONE REPLACED BY INSURANCE, TRUST THAT I KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT.
SECTION 1: ODIN
SECTION 2: HEIMDALL
SECTION 3: ROOTING METHODS
Since there seems to be an abundance of posts in the Q&A and General Forums asking for help fixing, unbricking, their Fascinates, I decided to try to make a one stop walk through for odin and heimdall with links. Most of us "flash addicts", Developers, and testers have found the Samsung Galaxy Phones are nearly impossible to truly brick without causing physical damage to your phone, in almost all cases it is possible to get it working again.This is nothing more than how to get back a working STOCK phone, nothing custom here that's in the Development section. The first section will cover odin, the second heimdall, the third recovery and rooting.
USUAL WARNING: Everything here is done at your own risk. None of us on the XDA Developers site are responsible in any way, after all we didn't brick it you did. Doing any of this is your decision, I am just providing a collection of information. All credit for everything here belongs to others, who worked hard to give you a way to fix your mistakes, and it usually is the owner of the device trying something without learning how first, or not following directions that got you here in the first place.
My Phone wont boot at all, is stuck at logo, or I cant do anything with it is it a paperweight?
Most likely, no, so lets get to fixing it. All download links necessary for each process will be posted in this walk through and have been tested to make sure they work.
SECTION 1: ODIN
Everything except for the pit file in odin MUST be done in the PDA slot, if not it will not work requiring you to odin again, or possibly have to use heimdall (covered later in this thread) to fix that. After you download odin, I use v1.83 but I will provide all versions I have.
First you need to decide if you want to go all the way back to DI01 (Android 2.1 "Eclair") or EB01, EC01, or a little more involved process for ED01, or ED03 (android 2.2 "Froyo") it makes all the difference with the files you need. The pit file is not necessary for most recoveries, but I have included due to a few issues that will require you to completely wipe everything but your SD card and start over. All of this is possible thanks to our talented developers. After you have odin and all the files you need on your Windows Vista or Win 7 PC, This DOES NOT work on XP, I have had a lot of responses to support this, so lets go with it won't work use Vista or Win 7. To load any file you click that button and use the windows explorer pop up to find your file select it and click open at the bottom of the window.
Start by powering off phone, the pull out battery.
Open odin and load your file in PDA and ONLY THE PDA (downloads) section, If you knew enough about this program to use the other areas you would not need this walk through, soPDA and ONLY THE PDA (downloads) section, for an, all in 1 Recovery. If you are doing a non packaged update I suggest installing the rom one first, modems and recoveries are a lot faster install.
If you are repartitioning put the pit file in the (Pit) section,verify repartition is checked.
Plug your phone into a USB slot, then hold the volume down hard key on the side of the phone. You should see a yellow triangle with a construction droid on your phones screen, and a box on the left right above options (ID:COM) is now yellow.
Now you are in download mode, verify check box next to PDA is checked and the block has the file location in it. Make sure Repartition (unless you are repartitioning and have the pit file in place), Dump, Phone EFS clear, and Bootloader, Phone Bootloader Update, and Flash Lock are NOT CHECKED in the Options section. Auto Reboot and F. Reset Time can be checked or not it doesn't really matter with the battery out. These are the default settings in the options section but double check it anyway.
You are ready to go, click start, and let odin run, it can take anywhere from just a minute to around a half hour. If anything happens like your computer shuts off, you accidentally unplug your phone from your PC, or download failed. Don't freak, just do it again from step one, sometimes it takes multiple attempts to get it. I think at six failed attempts in a row it may be time to look into heimdall, the walk through for that is below this one.
Once odin finishes and does its test you will get a green box lit up that says Pass in it just above where you saw the yellow box showing you were connected. Congratulations on a successful recovery. reinstall your battery and the back cover, reboot your phone and wait for it to boot up. The boot process can take several minutes so be patient. If the boot was successful you should be looking at a stock bloated Verizon Fascinate, that is asking you to back up your system and log into Gmail.
Fascinate USB driver from Samsung, just in case you need it.
Sch-i500 USB driver
odin v1.3
odin v1.7
odin v1.83
Atlas v2.2 Pit file
DI01All in 1
EB01All in 1
ODIN CWM ED01 Stock ROM/Kernel/Recovery Courtesy of Imnuts
ODIN ED03 ROM/Kernel/Recovery Courtesy of Imnuts
MODEM ODIN CWM DL09, EA28, ED01, ED03 modems without ridiculous 100MB OTAs Courtesy of Comradesven (I can now say this works and is easy to do just folloy the instrictions on thread.) Decided to try out this method after bricking my phone again, EASY AND FAST, love it.
EC09 Gingerbread Leak CAUTION:It has not happened to me yet even after several times of flashing something custom and using this to odin back to stock with, but there are many reports of this corrupting users SD cards. This is a leak and as always USE THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK!!
Here are the ONLY TWO, as far as we know guaranteed to get you fixed up, odin files, for anyone coming from CM7 or MUI MTD for the Fascinate.
YOU MUST USE THE ATLAS V2.2 PIT FILE, ONE OF THESE FILES, AND REPARTITION. IF YOU DON'T ODIN WILL FAIL TO COMPLETE THE RECOVERY.
CI500_VZW_DL09_ECLAIR
CI500_VZW_EB01_FROYO
SECTION 2: HEIMDALL
Now for the heimdall walk through, so follow along. I don't think it is possible to completely brick this phone short of actually smashing it, why take unnecessary chances.
First go to the link for heimdall. Download, unzip this and open the folder. In this folder you will find another folder labeled Drivers, open it and you will see a program called zadig.
Now put your Phone into download mode, that is remove the back cover, take out the battery and plug it into your PC with the OEM cable (the one that came with the phone when you got it), then press and hold the down volume button till a yellow triangle and construction droid , now you are in download mode.
Double click zadig and when it opens, click on options and click list all devices. Now drop the usb drop down box and you will find an option for SAMSUNG android composite ADB device, or Samsung composite usb driver, select it then click install drivers. the usual install stuff from windows about do you want to install this, yes you do. Now If the warning about publisher could not be verified, whatever, install it anyway, no it's not a virus. Your phone MUST be in download mode or zadig will not have the USB you need as an available option.
Now you need the files for this program to install and recover your phone. I was motivated to set up a zip file for download with files ready due to confusion on how to accomplish this step, you will find links below.
Now back into the heimdall file you opened earlier you will need to double click the heimdall.exe file, and click run on the windows pop up, it will show a cmd prompt type screen then disappear shortly after, it's supposed to do that.
Again in the click the application called heimdall-frontend. here is where you can go wrong so I will do this side by side with heimdall names and DI01/EB01 file names. I don't believe there are currently any other full recoveries.
To eliminate confusion on where to put your files follow the guige below.
Heimdall on this side of =Recovery file names on this side.
In Repartition:
PIT = atlas_v2.2.pit see below.
In PDA/Code:
FactoryFS=factoryfs.frs
Kernel(zImage)=zImage
Param.lfs=param.lfs
Primary Bootloader=boot.bin
Secondary Bootloader=slb.bin
In CSC:
Cache=cache.rfs
Database Data=dbdata.rfs
In Other:
Modem=modem.bin
Recovery=recovery.bin
Now that all the are files loaded into the correct spots, the necessary drivers installed, and phone in download mode, the start button will be able to be clicked, not shaded outlines like before, did you even notice that? If you followed everything in this tutorial step by step, click the START button and let heimdall run. After it finishes reboot your Verizon stock, Bing bloated, WORKING Fascinate. After this is completed successfully you will be able to use odin again if you need or want to.
Heimdall
DI01 heimdall package
EB01 heimdall package
Why did this happen?
Why was this necessary, as far as I can find out, through research, I wont even try to figure out how many times I had to odin ,and the eight, yes that's right I said 8, times I have HAD to use heimdall, because my phone would not recover through odin. Usually because like me you flashed a rom on for a different phone or, it seems to be, dbdata or another partition can not mount. This has happened to me because I didn't remove voodoo, or flashed a pre edify rom after accidently putting cwr3, which is for edify, on a non edify rom. So moral of the story is twofold, yes it is very likely it can be fixed, and remove voodoo before going to nonvoodoo, and make sure you have a version of cwr that supports both ammend and edify script if you are not sure. Don't flash a rom for a different phone on your Verizon Fascinate or you most likely WILL need heimdall.
NEVER USE A FILE, ROM, KERNEL, ANYTHING, THAT IS NOT CLEARLY FOR THE VERIZON FASCINATE.
Remember, thank the developers by clicking the thanks button on threads you find helpful, they did the work. All I did was take some time and put together all the links and processes I have read and had to learn. Some of the walk through threads are well written by the Dev's and some were hard for me to follow. Sometime I wonder if our Dev's forget that us mere mortals have no idea what they are talking about, and I pride myself on being much better than average with computers and software. That said if you have trouble working e mail and office, I think it's fair to say you would be lost. I hope this is easy to follow and always successful for you. Better yet I hope you never need this.
READ:If heimdall, or odin fail, but you can still get into download mode, do it again, and keep trying while you look for further assistance on this site. If you can't get into download mode with your phone plugged into your PC, unplug usb from PC and plug it into the wall outlet, and try to put it into download mode there. When It goes into download mode, unplug usb from adapter, plug it into PC and put it into download mode, This does work.
If this has Helped you not have a $600 dollar paperweight, consider donating to some of our Dev's working so hard to not only give you better than what big red and sammy gave you, but also a way to fix your mistakes without the need for an insurance claim. Isn't it worth a few bucks to support the developers who save you from the insurance deductable? Think about that before you complain about the devs.
SECTION 3: ROOTING METHODS
Here are two easy ways to accomplish rooting your phone.
ROOTING YOUR PHONE VOIDS YOUR WARRANTY. I NOR ANYONE ELSE WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING YOU CHOOSE TO DO. NO ONE HERE IS MAKING YOU DO ANYTHING, JUST PROVIDING INFORMATION ON WAYS TO ACCOMPLISH WHAT YOU WANT TO DO.
Super One Click method: unzip file, open file, double click ADB, it will show a quick cmd like window. Now make sure you phone has USB debugging enabled, connect to PC, don't mount USB. Click the SuperOneClick.exe icon and let it run. If it fails run it again, sometimes it does that. If anything pops up on the screen, read and answer. Unless you are using a Captivate leave the Captivate tab alone it is for getting an unlock code and you don't need that for your Fascinate. (works on all fascinate stock OS to include ED03, and EC09 GB, tested by me.)
CWR & SU Method: (DOES NOT WORK ON 2.2.1) Put superuser.zip zip file on root of SD card, odin in cwr, boot phone into recovery by holding power and volume at same time. To do this simply install battery after unpluging from PC press and hold power and volume buttons at the same time. DO NOT let the phone boot as far as the Samsung logo or you will have to odin in cwr again. Go to Install zip, choose zip, install from SD card. Find your superuser.zip file and install it. Reboot, you are rooted, install busybox, free from market if necessary. If you need odin or instruction on using it, see section 1.
GINGERBREAK Method: Gingerbreak v1.20.apk is an easy to do method, put the apk on your sd card, install from file manager, run it.​
KEEPING CWR3 IN 2.2.1: To keep CWR on any ED OTA release you need to make some adjustments to a few files. Don't worry I am going to tell you which ones, and I suggest a simple method of adding .no to the end of the file. That way if you ever need to undo it, simply go back in and remove the .no and your not trying to remember what the file name and extension was. Now here are the file names for each file, you will need something like root explorer and a rooted Fascinate to do this, and you can't rename a file unless you tap the mount system as r/w not r/o, its easy here are the examples of how I did it.
/system/recovery-from-boot.p becomes /system/recovery-from-boot.p.no
/system/bin/recovery becomes /system/bin/recovery.no
/system/etc/install-recovery.sh becomes /system/etc/install-recovery.sh.no
Superuser+busybox
CWR 3/30 Fix all
CWR3 Voodoo.tar Blue
times_infinity's recoveries
Gingerbreak v1.20
Special thanks to Adrynalyne, Imnuts, Jt1134, Nitsuj17, Landshark, Sbrissen, ChainsDD, Times Infinity, and Comradesven and anyone I forgot to thank, for creating and sharing, the heimdall, odin, and other files.

This is a great source of information. The formatting could be a little better though. Perhaps break up those great giant paragraphs a bit. It would be easier to follow along. Especially for noobs in a panic state after "bricking" their phone.
Great work though. This should be stickied.

I will Update thread to an easier format over the next few days. Thanks for the tip, i looked good to me but now i see what you are talking about. It took hours today to gather all the info, pull up each program ans walk through it. I guess I was in mental overload.

Attempted Heimdall today after odin has failed using the EB01, error was "Failed to retrieve config descriptor" any ideas?
If I flash with all CSC options unchecked the flash is successful.
When trying to boot after flash without CSC i receive a phone and a computer with a dotted line connecting the to on power up. Phone will return to DL mode.
Also attempted to flash DL01, it seems there are several files that correspond with Heim that are not in the package are the EB01 files interchangeable with the missing files?

Not trying to be that guy, but the DL01 is actually DI01. The build number DL01 doesnt exist.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

times_infinity said:
Not trying to be that guy, but the DL01 is actually DI01. The build number DL01 doesnt exist.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You were that guy.

times_infinity said:
Not trying to be that guy, but the DL01 is actually DI01. The build number DL01 doesnt exist.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oops, but at least i was consistant on the typo...LOL. I will fix it this weekend.

I just got a fascinate.....commingle from a vibrant.....I can't find a root method that doesn't include a computer,my previous phone I downloaded update.zip went into recovery and bammo rooted then have spent the last unknown amount of time playing with the Roms and now want the same. With this phone anyone help? Thanks.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA Premium App

Figured out this morning I wasnt using my factory usb cable switched cables odin'd stock eb01 worked perfectly now I feel retarded.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

Excellent write up. Thanks a bunch.
What are some other differences in Odin 1.7 vs 1.3? I have used 1.3 many times and never had any issues. Any improvements?

Thanks so much Dale! headed to work now, but will try this tonight

Rayn1328 said:
I just got a fascinate.....commingle from a vibrant.....I can't find a root method that doesn't include a computer,my previous phone I downloaded update.zip went into recovery and bammo rooted then have spent the last unknown amount of time playing with the Roms and now want the same. With this phone anyone help? Thanks.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=897889 you pretty much need a computer. z4root worked at one time iirc I used it on my fascinate at some point.

More reasons as to why you should never fear bricking your phone and testing new kernels and ROMs. Thank you for the thorough tutorial.

cbalt said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=897889 you pretty much need a computer. z4root worked at one time iirc I used it on my fascinate at some point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I prefer what i think is a much simpler method. Just go to this link and follow Post 2. I don't believe I have ever had it so easy to root a phone:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=948722

nice write up, thanks for posting. I hope I never have to use it

netwalker0099 said:
Attempted Heimdall today after odin has failed using the EB01, error was "Failed to retrieve config descriptor" any ideas?
If I flash with all CSC options unchecked the flash is successful.
When trying to boot after flash without CSC i receive a phone and a computer with a dotted line connecting the to on power up. Phone will return to DL mode.
Also attempted to flash DL01, it seems there are several files that correspond with Heim that are not in the package are the EB01 files interchangeable with the missing files?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got that once cause i didn't install the drivers in zadig. I installed it, didn't reboot PC, worked fine. If you had the CSC unchecked then you didnt install a cache or database, so no your phone wont work like that. Unless you ran into something new, follow this guide step by step, and it should work. I would also make sure you get the files from here, they are tested and known to be good. There are some incomplete, and bad files out there, these work.

Heimdall is officially the greatest piece of software ever created and DaleV is my hero!!! FINALLY have my phone up and running again! Was serious contemplating dropping around $300 for a new phone on Craigslist.

Trying to root a Fascinate, and it showed up in ODIN once, then the flash failed. Now it's in download mode and not showing up in ODIN, any ideas?

Oxirane said:
Trying to root a Fascinate, and it showed up in ODIN once, then the flash failed. Now it's in download mode and not showing up in ODIN, any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
after it failed did you unplug then replug and go back into download mode? also I updated the OP with a superuser.zip file it works better than the one in the market for showing you have root access, I have no idea why.
Also you might try a different usb port, sometimes that does the trick.

I've unplugged and replugged and rebooted it a dozen times... it first goes to 2e recovery, then I reinstall packages and it reboots to the simplified download mode with just basic little icons. Doesn't get recognized by the computer though. :/
Wont boot into anything but 2e, and from there into oldschool download mode.

Need Urgent Fascinate Help

I had my girlfriend's fascinate running MIUI and then I flashed CM7. When I booted into recovery it took me into the red one and now I can't do anything. I'm always getting errors. How can I get back to the blue recovery or what can I do?
I can't get past the Glitch screen it just stays on there
Please help

want a droid said:
I had my girlfriend's fascinate running MIUI and then I flashed CM7. When I booted into recovery it took me into the red one and now I can't do anything. I'm always getting errors. How can I get back to the blue recovery or what can I do?
I can't get past the Glitch screen it just stays on there
Please help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Odin the proper clockwork,reboot straight to it, wipe data and then flash CM7 from the SD card.

Please give me step by step instructions with links. I'm an HTC Thunderbolt guy myself so I am having a hard time finding all the right links and stuff. I really appreciate your help!

First sticky in this forum has all the links and steps.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

I tried flashing the fix all recovery and it's still not working. Again, I appreciate your guy's help.

want a droid said:
I tried flashing the fix all recovery and it's still not working. Again, I appreciate your guy's help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? did you look at the sticky?
Code:
HOW TO UN-BRICK YOUR FASCINATE NOW THAT YOU HAVE BRICKED IT
SINCE IT HAS COME TO MY ATTENTION SOME POEPLE ARE CONFUSED ABOUT WHAT PHONE THIS IS FOR, I WILL MAKE IT AS CLEAR AS POSSIBLE
THIS IS FOR THE VERIZON FASCINATE
So you think you bricked your phone? The first thing you need to do is CALM DOWN, NO NEED TO PANIC , the odds are great that following this guide will fix your mistakes and recover your phone.
Sorry Fascinate owners, but I can no longer support this thread. As state below I test everything I post to make sure it works as advertised. I no longer have a fascinate so i can not test anything new. All of the files, I cant guarantee links to other OP's, will still be available, I wont take them down. Your recovery methods have not changed, nor have the PIT files, so this can still be used to recover your device. If you are looking for anything new look at nitsuj17's roll up post here, he maintains it very well so you should be able to find whatever else you need there.
I HAVE PURPOSELY BRICKED MY PHONE BY DOING THE THINGS YOU ARE TOLD NOT TO JUST TO TEST THE CAPABILITIES OF THESE RECOVERY PROGRAMS. UNLESS YOU CAN AFFORD TO HAVE YOUR PHONE REPLACED BY INSURANCE, TRUST THAT I KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT.
SECTION 1: ODIN
SECTION 2: HEIMDALL
SECTION 3: ROOTING METHODS
Since there seems to be an abundance of posts in the Q&A and General Forums asking for help fixing, unbricking, their Fascinates, I decided to try to make a one stop walk through for odin and heimdall with links. Most of us "flash addicts", Developers, and testers have found the Samsung Galaxy Phones are nearly impossible to truly brick without causing physical damage to your phone, in almost all cases it is possible to get it working again.This is nothing more than how to get back a working STOCK phone, nothing custom here that's in the Development section. The first section will cover odin, the second heimdall, the third recovery and rooting.
USUAL WARNING: Everything here is done at your own risk. None of us on the XDA Developers site are responsible in any way, after all we didn't brick it you did. Doing any of this is your decision, I am just providing a collection of information. All credit for everything here belongs to others, who worked hard to give you a way to fix your mistakes, and it usually is the owner of the device trying something without learning how first, or not following directions that got you here in the first place.
My Phone wont boot at all, is stuck at logo, or I cant do anything with it is it a paperweight?
Most likely, no, so lets get to fixing it. All download links necessary for each process will be posted in this walk through and have been tested to make sure they work.
SECTION 1: ODIN
Everything except for the pit file in odin MUST be done in the PDA slot, if not it will not work requiring you to odin again, or possibly have to use heimdall (covered later in this thread) to fix that. After you download odin, I use v1.83 but I will provide all versions I have.
First you need to decide if you want to go all the way back to DI01 (Android 2.1 "Eclair") or EB01, EC01, or a little more involved process for ED01, or ED03 (android 2.2 "Froyo") it makes all the difference with the files you need. The pit file is not necessary for most recoveries, but I have included due to a few issues that will require you to completely wipe everything but your SD card and start over. All of this is possible thanks to our talented developers. After you have odin and all the files you need on your Windows Vista or Win 7 PC, This DOES NOT work on XP, I have had a lot of responses to support this, so lets go with it won't work use Vista or Win 7. To load any file you click that button and use the windows explorer pop up to find your file select it and click open at the bottom of the window.
Start by powering off phone, the pull out battery.
Open odin and load your file in PDA and ONLY THE PDA (downloads) section, If you knew enough about this program to use the other areas you would not need this walk through, soPDA and ONLY THE PDA (downloads) section, for an, all in 1 Recovery. If you are doing a non packaged update I suggest installing the rom one first, modems and recoveries are a lot faster install.
If you are repartitioning put the pit file in the (Pit) section,verify repartition is checked.
Plug your phone into a USB slot, then hold the volume down hard key on the side of the phone. You should see a yellow triangle with a construction droid on your phones screen, and a box on the left right above options (ID:COM) is now yellow.
Now you are in download mode, verify check box next to PDA is checked and the block has the file location in it. Make sure Repartition (unless you are repartitioning and have the pit file in place), Dump, Phone EFS clear, and Bootloader, Phone Bootloader Update, and Flash Lock are NOT CHECKED in the Options section. Auto Reboot and F. Reset Time can be checked or not it doesn't really matter with the battery out. These are the default settings in the options section but double check it anyway.
You are ready to go, click start, and let odin run, it can take anywhere from just a minute to around a half hour. If anything happens like your computer shuts off, you accidentally unplug your phone from your PC, or download failed. Don't freak, just do it again from step one, sometimes it takes multiple attempts to get it. I think at six failed attempts in a row it may be time to look into heimdall, the walk through for that is below this one.
Once odin finishes and does its test you will get a green box lit up that says Pass in it just above where you saw the yellow box showing you were connected. Congratulations on a successful recovery. reinstall your battery and the back cover, reboot your phone and wait for it to boot up. The boot process can take several minutes so be patient. If the boot was successful you should be looking at a stock bloated Verizon Fascinate, that is asking you to back up your system and log into Gmail.
Fascinate USB driver from Samsung, just in case you need it.
Sch-i500 USB driver
odin v1.3
odin v1.7
odin v1.83
Atlas v2.2 Pit file
DI01All in 1
EB01All in 1
ODIN CWM ED01 Stock ROM/Kernel/Recovery Courtesy of Imnuts
ODIN ED03 ROM/Kernel/Recovery Courtesy of Imnuts
MODEM ODIN CWM DL09, EA28, ED01, ED03 modems without ridiculous 100MB OTAs Courtesy of Comradesven (I can now say this works and is easy to do just folloy the instrictions on thread.) Decided to try out this method after bricking my phone again, EASY AND FAST, love it.
EC09 Gingerbread Leak CAUTION:It has not happened to me yet even after several times of flashing something custom and using this to odin back to stock with, but there are many reports of this corrupting users SD cards. This is a leak and as always USE THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK!!
Here are the ONLY TWO, as far as we know guaranteed to get you fixed up, odin files, for anyone coming from CM7 or MUI MTD for the Fascinate.
YOU MUST USE THE ATLAS V2.2 PIT FILE, ONE OF THESE FILES, AND REPARTITION. IF YOU DON'T ODIN WILL FAIL TO COMPLETE THE RECOVERY.
CI500_VZW_DL09_ECLAIR
CI500_VZW_EB01_FROYO
SECTION 2: HEIMDALL
Now for the heimdall walk through, so follow along. I don't think it is possible to completely brick this phone short of actually smashing it, why take unnecessary chances.
First go to the link for heimdall. Download, unzip this and open the folder. In this folder you will find another folder labeled Drivers, open it and you will see a program called zadig.
Now put your Phone into download mode, that is remove the back cover, take out the battery and plug it into your PC with the OEM cable (the one that came with the phone when you got it), then press and hold the down volume button till a yellow triangle and construction droid , now you are in download mode.
Double click zadig and when it opens, click on options and click list all devices. Now drop the usb drop down box and you will find an option for SAMSUNG android composite ADB device, or Samsung composite usb driver, select it then click install drivers. the usual install stuff from windows about do you want to install this, yes you do. Now If the warning about publisher could not be verified, whatever, install it anyway, no it's not a virus. Your phone MUST be in download mode or zadig will not have the USB you need as an available option.
Now you need the files for this program to install and recover your phone. I was motivated to set up a zip file for download with files ready due to confusion on how to accomplish this step, you will find links below.
Now back into the heimdall file you opened earlier you will need to double click the heimdall.exe file, and click run on the windows pop up, it will show a cmd prompt type screen then disappear shortly after, it's supposed to do that.
Again in the click the application called heimdall-frontend. here is where you can go wrong so I will do this side by side with heimdall names and DI01/EB01 file names. I don't believe there are currently any other full recoveries.
To eliminate confusion on where to put your files follow the guige below.
Heimdall on this side of =Recovery file names on this side.
In Repartition:
PIT = atlas_v2.2.pit see below.
In PDA/Code:
FactoryFS=factoryfs.frs
Kernel(zImage)=zImage
Param.lfs=param.lfs
Primary Bootloader=boot.bin
Secondary Bootloader=slb.bin
In CSC:
Cache=cache.rfs
Database Data=dbdata.rfs
In Other:
Modem=modem.bin
Recovery=recovery.bin
Now that all the are files loaded into the correct spots, the necessary drivers installed, and phone in download mode, the start button will be able to be clicked, not shaded outlines like before, did you even notice that? If you followed everything in this tutorial step by step, click the START button and let heimdall run. After it finishes reboot your Verizon stock, Bing bloated, WORKING Fascinate. After this is completed successfully you will be able to use odin again if you need or want to.
Heimdall
DI01 heimdall package
EB01 heimdall package
Why did this happen?
Why was this necessary, as far as I can find out, through research, I wont even try to figure out how many times I had to odin ,and the eight, yes that's right I said 8, times I have HAD to use heimdall, because my phone would not recover through odin. Usually because like me you flashed a rom on for a different phone or, it seems to be, dbdata or another partition can not mount. This has happened to me because I didn't remove voodoo, or flashed a pre edify rom after accidently putting cwr3, which is for edify, on a non edify rom. So moral of the story is twofold, yes it is very likely it can be fixed, and remove voodoo before going to nonvoodoo, and make sure you have a version of cwr that supports both ammend and edify script if you are not sure. Don't flash a rom for a different phone on your Verizon Fascinate or you most likely WILL need heimdall.
NEVER USE A FILE, ROM, KERNEL, ANYTHING, THAT IS NOT CLEARLY FOR THE VERIZON FASCINATE.
Remember, thank the developers by clicking the thanks button on threads you find helpful, they did the work. All I did was take some time and put together all the links and processes I have read and had to learn. Some of the walk through threads are well written by the Dev's and some were hard for me to follow. Sometime I wonder if our Dev's forget that us mere mortals have no idea what they are talking about, and I pride myself on being much better than average with computers and software. That said if you have trouble working e mail and office, I think it's fair to say you would be lost. I hope this is easy to follow and always successful for you. Better yet I hope you never need this.
READ:If heimdall, or odin fail, but you can still get into download mode, do it again, and keep trying while you look for further assistance on this site. If you can't get into download mode with your phone plugged into your PC, unplug usb from PC and plug it into the wall outlet, and try to put it into download mode there. When It goes into download mode, unplug usb from adapter, plug it into PC and put it into download mode, This does work.
If this has Helped you not have a $600 dollar paperweight, consider donating to some of our Dev's working so hard to not only give you better than what big red and sammy gave you, but also a way to fix your mistakes without the need for an insurance claim. Isn't it worth a few bucks to support the developers who save you from the insurance deductable? Think about that before you complain about the devs.
SECTION 3: ROOTING METHODS
Here are two easy ways to accomplish rooting your phone.
ROOTING YOUR PHONE VOIDS YOUR WARRANTY. I NOR ANYONE ELSE WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING YOU CHOOSE TO DO. NO ONE HERE IS MAKING YOU DO ANYTHING, JUST PROVIDING INFORMATION ON WAYS TO ACCOMPLISH WHAT YOU WANT TO DO.
Super One Click method: unzip file, open file, double click ADB, it will show a quick cmd like window. Now make sure you phone has USB debugging enabled, connect to PC, don't mount USB. Click the SuperOneClick.exe icon and let it run. If it fails run it again, sometimes it does that. If anything pops up on the screen, read and answer. Unless you are using a Captivate leave the Captivate tab alone it is for getting an unlock code and you don't need that for your Fascinate. (works on all fascinate stock OS to include ED03, and EC09 GB, tested by me.)
CWR & SU Method: (DOES NOT WORK ON 2.2.1) Put superuser.zip zip file on root of SD card, odin in cwr, boot phone into recovery by holding power and volume at same time. To do this simply install battery after unpluging from PC press and hold power and volume buttons at the same time. DO NOT let the phone boot as far as the Samsung logo or you will have to odin in cwr again. Go to Install zip, choose zip, install from SD card. Find your superuser.zip file and install it. Reboot, you are rooted, install busybox, free from market if necessary. If you need odin or instruction on using it, see section 1.
GINGERBREAK Method: Gingerbreak v1.20.apk is an easy to do method, put the apk on your sd card, install from file manager, run it.
KEEPING CWR3 IN 2.2.1: To keep CWR on any ED OTA release you need to make some adjustments to a few files. Don't worry I am going to tell you which ones, and I suggest a simple method of adding .no to the end of the file. That way if you ever need to undo it, simply go back in and remove the .no and your not trying to remember what the file name and extension was. Now here are the file names for each file, you will need something like root explorer and a rooted Fascinate to do this, and you can't rename a file unless you tap the mount system as r/w not r/o, its easy here are the examples of how I did it.
/system/recovery-from-boot.p becomes /system/recovery-from-boot.p.no
/system/bin/recovery becomes /system/bin/recovery.no
/system/etc/install-recovery.sh becomes /system/etc/install-recovery.sh.no
Superuser+busybox
CWR 3/30 Fix all
CWR3 Voodoo.tar Blue
times_infinity's recoveries
Gingerbreak v1.20
Special thanks to Adrynalyne, Imnuts, Jt1134, Nitsuj17, Landshark, Sbrissen, ChainsDD, Times Infinity, and Comradesven and anyone I forgot to thank, for creating and sharing, the heimdall, odin, and other files.
Everything you need can be found here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1026746

odin...
atlas_v2.2.pit
CI500_VZW_ED05_FROYO_REL.tar.md5
check repartition
then follow the CM wiki

I don't understand why I'm getting this: http://imgur.com/WkDsK
Sorry for rotated picture.
I'm in the process of flashing the verizon firmware but it's taking forever to download. I thought I could just odin the CWM?

You better do some research before u brick ur ****...there are guides all over the place on how to get back to stock/flash roms. And last but not least all questions should be posted in the q&a section...that's what its there for...seriously use it!

Ok I flashed Verizon firmware, then did the CM Wiki steps, but for some reason my recovery is acting funky.
When I try to connect it to my mac it says it can't read what I'm trying to connect. When I connected it to windows laptop it says its a CD drive that is write protected.
I can't move any files in or out. Also when I try to flash a rom zip in recovery it doesn't work.
I'm in the process of trying to restore her MIUI backup. Here's to hoping that works.
EDIT: Supposedly the restore worked, but here is part of the error that showed when trying to flash a zip (top text): http://imgur.com/X1RQL
Oh and I'm stuck on the Samsung screen now...what do I do?

want a droid said:
Ok I flashed Verizon firmware, then did the CM Wiki steps, but for some reason my recovery is acting funky.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
fail.
if you did CM Wiki, you have CWM 4.X, not 2 or 3
you need to flash back to stock like i said

I did flash back to stock. Anyways in the broken clockwork recovery I decided to try and install MIUI again and when I clicked it it took me to an orange recovery.
Then I flashed her backup and it loaded up fine. Hopefully everything is back to the way it was. I'm not sure what ever went wrong in the first place.Thanks for your help.

Dude...sounds like you just made it hard. Its actually quite simple.
Pull battery, put in download mode.
Odin the Verizon firmware with atlas.pit and repartition checked.
let it boot, then shut it back down and go back into download mode and Odin the fixed recovery for CM7. Then flash MIUI and profit.
It shouldn't take but about 15 minutes out so for the whole process
Swyped via Tapatalk

Well I wish you had been here last night. I was told to do the heimdall thing and then after all that the phone wouldn't be recognized in odin.
It was a frustrating 3 hour long process (granted ~1h was waiting for the 441MB file to download).

so I found this thread searching through the fascinate forums and i gotta say, it saved my ass. I used heimdall 1.3.1 and it wasn't working right for the flash. IDK why but when I tried 1.1.1 it worked first try to flash back to stock after brick. I used the eh03_full_odin.zip file in heimdall and it quick and easy to get back to stock =] this forum rox!!

Convert Canadian 6045i to US 6045i with all updates (performance, stagefright, etc).

Be very careful doing this, you could brick your phone if you aren't - you have been warned.​
Okay, so, us Idol 3 users in Canada are stuck waiting for Alcatel to have any updates blessed by our cell carrier (Bell/Virgin, Telus/Koodo) before we're "allowed" to get them. And as we all know, Canadian cell carriers aren't exactly prompt about this sort of thing. So what's an enterprising XDA user to do, then? Why, convert your device to a US model, of course!
Step 1: Install TWRP
That can be done with this thread here, courtesy of @DallasCZ
Step 2: Download the latest US firmware
That can be done by downloading this file here, courtesy of @famewolf
Step 3: Flashing
Okay, so first, BACK UP YOUR EXISTING FIRMWARE. Take a system image, or nandroid, as your choice may be. Be sure to back up the boot partition as well, in case you ever want to go back to stock Canadian firmware! Then, do the following:
Decompress the US firmware
Copy the decompressed 1970-01-22--16-43-23_LRX22G_release-keys folder into your TWRP/Backups/XXXXX/ folder on your External SD card or USB-OTG storage, where XXXXX is your device ID assigned by TWRP when you backed up your existing firmware - it is also the same as your device ID if you type 'adb devices' with your phone hooked up with USB debugging enabled for adb commands.
Wipe everything *but* External SD and USB-OTG in TWRP. (This entire wipe may not be needed, but as @KashRaman pointed out, if you don't at least wipe cache, you could have issues after flashing the new firmware)
DO NOT REBOOT - go back, and select Restore in TWRP. Pick the US firmware backup.
Flash *both* the boot and system image.
Reboot System. If your phone does the same as mine, it will seem to get stuck on the 'Alcatel/Smart Move' animation. Hold power until the phone turns off, then turn it back on. It should quickly go to 'Upgrading Android'.
You're done! Set up your device, and feel free to install SuperSU, remove bloatware (AVG? Ugh), etc.
I didn't even need to add APN info for Virgin Mobile, it already set up the Bell Canada APN - worked right away out of the box.
One comment to note - I do not know that a Canadian device converted to a US one can get OTA updates, as I believe Alcatel uses some sort of IMEI identification to see what OTA ought to be passed to a device, but I'm unable to confirm this. Of course, I'm personally fine with just manually updating when need be, but that's up to you to decide if you are as well.
AS ALWAYS, BE CAREFUL, DO THIS PROCESS AT YOUR OWN RISK
Don't forget to thank @DallasCZ and @famewolf for their posts/uploads making this possible!​

To save you some pain you can more thank likely flash the system image and boot without wiping your /data.....if for some reason you ran into issues you'd still be able to go into factory recovery and do a reset which deletes data.
Also to anyone who actually uses AVG the pro version is free on amazon appstore today only.
Also you don't have to INSTALL twrp...you can opt to only boot into it using the instructions in the system image thread if you prefer to keep stock recovery.
If I had to bet I'd say you'll get the USA notifications but we will find out on next update.

famewolf said:
To save you some pain you can more thank likely flash the system image and boot without wiping your /data.....if for some reason you ran into issues you'd still be able to go into factory recovery and do a reset which deletes data.
...
Also you don't have to INSTALL twrp...you can opt to only boot into it using the instructions in the system image thread if you prefer to keep stock recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totally correct on the TWRP thing, though I prefer it to stock recovery, and updates work just fine with TWRP as well.
As for the not wiping - again, correct, I just come from the 'do a total wipe' school of flashing things, to avoid any possible weirdness

purple.epod said:
Be very careful doing this, you could brick your phone if you aren't - you have been warned.​
Okay, so, us Idol 3 users in Canada are stuck waiting for Alcatel to have any updates blessed by our cell carrier (Bell/Virgin, Telus/Koodo) before we're "allowed" to get them. And as we all know, Canadian cell carriers aren't exactly prompt about this sort of thing. So what's an enterprising XDA user to do, then? Why, convert your device to a US model, of course!
Step 1: Install TWRP
That can be done with this thread here, courtesy of @DallasCZ
Step 2: Download the latest US firmware
That can be done by downloading this file here, courtesy of @famewolf
Step 3: Flashing
Okay, so first, BACK UP YOUR EXISTING FIRMWARE. Take a system image, or nandroid, as your choice may be. Be sure to back up the boot partition as well, in case you ever want to go back to stock Canadian firmware! Then, do the following:
Decompress the US firmware
Copy the decompressed 1970-01-22--16-43-23_LRX22G_release-keys folder into your TWRP/Backups/XXXXX/ folder on your External SD card or USB-OTG storage, where XXXXX is your device ID assigned by TWRP when you backed up your existing firmware.
Wipe everything *but* External SD and USB-OTG in TWRP. (This entire wipe may not be needed, but as @KashRaman pointed out, if you don't at least wipe cache, you could have issues after flashing the new firmware)
DO NOT REBOOT - go back, and select Restore in TWRP. Pick the US firmware backup.
Flash *both* the boot and system image.
Reboot System. If your phone does the same as mine, it will seem to get stuck on the 'Alcatel/Smart Move' animation. Hold power until the phone turns off, then turn it back on. It should quickly go to 'Upgrading Android'.
You're done! Set up your device, and feel free to install SuperSU, remove bloatware (AVG? Ugh), etc.
I didn't even need to add APN info for Virgin Mobile, it already set up the Bell Canada APN - worked right away out of the box.
One comment to note - I do not know that a Canadian device converted to a US one can get OTA updates, as I believe Alcatel uses some sort of IMEI identification to see what OTA ought to be passed to a device, but I'm unable to confirm this. Of course, I'm personally fine with just manually updating when need be, but that's up to you to decide if you are as well.
AS ALWAYS, BE CAREFUL, DO THIS PROCESS AT YOUR OWN RISK
Don't forget to thank @DallasCZ and @famewolf for their posts/uploads making this possible!​
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When restoring the UE40 firmware the first time you go into system update checker you need to delete the existing UE40 update as it kept it around...you should then be able to check updates as normal.

Manually update
At the end of your post, you say that you update manually.. where do you get your update ?

Manually update
At the end of your post, you say that you update manually.. where do you get your update ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mean that when the next update comes out, if I can't use the OTA update, I'll wait for someone to upload it here, and then I'll manually apply it. If you follow the directions in my post, you'll be totally up-to-date as of August 15th, 2015 - I'm referring to the next update, whenever that may be.

Thanks for the guide!
Was able to update my Canadian idol 3 without installing twrp
Just fastbooted into it and did a backup of my old CDN setup and restored with the file above the whole update process took about 15min
If **** hits the fan I can still restore back to the original CDN ROM with twrp and my backup.
Dt2w works every time now and chrome scrolling is vastly improved definately worth updating. I may flash back to Canadian system image when they finally release it

To anyone on stock Canadian firmware please post once an OTA is available (and what carrier you are on)

anyone else have lost LTE and get bad network speeds after converting? I had 60mbps with canadian firmware and now i get around 5mbps and lots of network drops.

jpfk said:
anyone else have lost LTE and get bad network speeds after converting? I had 60mbps with canadian firmware and now i get around 5mbps and lots of network drops.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not in canada but I would think if more folks were experiencing issues like that they would have mentioned them here already. Did you do a factory reset and start clean or did you keep your previous data around after changing firmware? In this case I'd really recommend starting clean with the exception of using tools like Titanium Backup to backup all your user apps+ their data (or you can use Helium if you don't have root).

famewolf said:
I'm not in canada but I would think if more folks were experiencing issues like that they would have mentioned them here already. Did you do a factory reset and start clean or did you keep your previous data around after changing firmware? In this case I'd really recommend starting clean with the exception of using tools like Titanium Backup to backup all your user apps+ their data (or you can use Helium if you don't have root).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had cleared the cache and did a factory reset only after i confirmed the flash of the US firmware was ok. (i have a really bad SD card which keeps unmounting and didnt want to risk being stuck with a non-functional device). In addition to the network problems i also still had the performance issues everyone mentionned was fixed in latest update. I just did a complete wipe and flashed the US again, now the performance is much much better but i still get only H+ with about 7mbps instead of LTE. But the good thing is the drops seems to have stopped.

jpfk said:
I had cleared the cache and did a factory reset only after i confirmed the flash of the US firmware was ok. (i have a really bad SD card which keeps unmounting and didnt want to risk being stuck with a non-functional device). In addition to the network problems i also still had the performance issues everyone mentionned was fixed in latest update. I just did a complete wipe and flashed the US again, now the performance is much much better but i still get only H+ with about 7mbps instead of LTE. But the good thing is the drops seems to have stopped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you probably tried this but... check that the APN didn't get changed/reset from when lte was working.

That was actually the problem, i did not realize it was a different APN for LTE so it looked normal when I first checked. Thank you very much

Has anyone gotten the Canadian stagefright update pushed to their phone yet?

doesn't work for me!
purple.epod said:
Be very careful doing this, you could brick your phone if you aren't - you have been warned.​
Okay, so, us Idol 3 users in Canada are stuck waiting for Alcatel to have any updates blessed by our cell carrier (Bell/Virgin, Telus/Koodo) before we're "allowed" to get them. And as we all know, Canadian cell carriers aren't exactly prompt about this sort of thing. So what's an enterprising XDA user to do, then? Why, convert your device to a US model, of course!
Step 1: Install TWRP
That can be done with this thread here, courtesy of @DallasCZ
Step 2: Download the latest US firmware
That can be done by downloading this file here, courtesy of @famewolf
Step 3: Flashing
Okay, so first, BACK UP YOUR EXISTING FIRMWARE. Take a system image, or nandroid, as your choice may be. Be sure to back up the boot partition as well, in case you ever want to go back to stock Canadian firmware! Then, do the following:
Decompress the US firmware
Copy the decompressed 1970-01-22--16-43-23_LRX22G_release-keys folder into your TWRP/Backups/XXXXX/ folder on your External SD card or USB-OTG storage, where XXXXX is your device ID assigned by TWRP when you backed up your existing firmware - it is also the same as your device ID if you type 'adb devices' with your phone hooked up with USB debugging enabled for adb commands.
Wipe everything *but* External SD and USB-OTG in TWRP. (This entire wipe may not be needed, but as @KashRaman pointed out, if you don't at least wipe cache, you could have issues after flashing the new firmware)
DO NOT REBOOT - go back, and select Restore in TWRP. Pick the US firmware backup.
Flash *both* the boot and system image.
Reboot System. If your phone does the same as mine, it will seem to get stuck on the 'Alcatel/Smart Move' animation. Hold power until the phone turns off, then turn it back on. It should quickly go to 'Upgrading Android'.
You're done! Set up your device, and feel free to install SuperSU, remove bloatware (AVG? Ugh), etc.
I didn't even need to add APN info for Virgin Mobile, it already set up the Bell Canada APN - worked right away out of the box.
One comment to note - I do not know that a Canadian device converted to a US one can get OTA updates, as I believe Alcatel uses some sort of IMEI identification to see what OTA ought to be passed to a device, but I'm unable to confirm this. Of course, I'm personally fine with just manually updating when need be, but that's up to you to decide if you are as well.
AS ALWAYS, BE CAREFUL, DO THIS PROCESS AT YOUR OWN RISK
Don't forget to thank @DallasCZ and @famewolf for their posts/uploads making this possible!​
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i downloaded the zip restore file for my phone (Model: 6045Y(Europe) Firmware: 5.0.2-010 06) from this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/idol...dates-t3163745
I also have the twrp-2.8.7.0-idol3 installed on my phone.
I also followed this thread
to find the way to install that ROM, without success. i also installed the root from the zip file in the twrp, but again without success!! but when i open from the twrp the directory TWRP/Backups/XXXXX/ and i copy the .win and the .win.md5 files the phone doesn't see the when i click restore

i downloaded the zip restore file for my phone (Model: 6045Y(Europe) Firmware: 5.0.2-010 06) from this thread
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This guide is for converting a Canadian 6045i to a US 6045i - both are identical models with simply slightly different software. It won't work with a European 'Y' model like you said you have.

punkal said:
i downloaded the zip restore file for my phone (Model: 6045Y(Europe) Firmware: 5.0.2-010 06) from this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/idol...dates-t3163745
I also have the twrp-2.8.7.0-idol3 installed on my phone.
I also followed this thread
to find the way to install that ROM, without success. i also installed the root from the zip file in the twrp, but again without success!! but when i open from the twrp the directory TWRP/Backups/XXXXX/ and i copy the .win and the .win.md5 files the phone doesn't see the when i click restore
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Step 1) Make a backup on the device so it creates the directory path you need.
Step 2) Take the time datestamp folder from the backup you have and put it in the folder that has the other time datestamp folders. It's not a complicated process. Installing the "root" from the zip file does you no good because the time datestamp folders need to be under a folder with your device id (ie what shows up when you do adb devices).
While the restore process IS the same your questions should be asked in the system image thread if you don't have a 6045i.
According to @petrov.0 it's better for you to install the official 10 06 update (or his modified one in the system image thread) as it updates files in SEVERAL partitions other than system and boot. Again discussion needs to be there.
Apologies to @purple.epod. This will hopefully redirect folks back to the system image thread. I have a line that states to follow your restore tutorial but use their own backup but did not intend for them to be asking questions HERE.

purple.epod said:
This guide is for converting a Canadian 6045i to a US 6045i - both are identical models with simply slightly different software. It won't work with a European 'Y' model like you said you have.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now i understand why it doesn't work. And where can i find the rom for my as i have everything wiped? do you know i only found ROM Arde-Dev-Team-v1_5.0.2 but it doesn't work!
---------- Post added at 11:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:40 AM ----------
famewolf said:
Step 1) Make a backup on the device so it creates the directory path you need.
Apologies to @purple.epod. This will hopefully redirect folks back to the system image thread. I have a line that states to follow your restore tutorial but use their own backup but did not intend for them to be asking questions HERE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately i can bakup anything as i have wiped everything on the phone!:crying:
I know i'm really stupid, but i do that as it was a step as a process of installing a new ROM as mine was corrupted!:crying:

punkal said:
Now i understand why it doesn't work. And where can i find the rom for my as i have everything wiped? do you know i only found ROM Arde-Dev-Team-v1_5.0.2 but it doesn't work!
---------- Post added at 11:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:40 AM ----------
Unfortunately i can bakup anything as i have wiped everything on the phone!:crying:
I know i'm really stupid, but i do that as it was a step as a process of installing a new ROM as mine was corrupted!:crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why are you posting this HERE when even the message you quoted states questions should be asked in the system image thread?

famewolf said:
Why are you posting this HERE when even the message you quoted states questions should be asked in the system image thread?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really sorry!
i've been taken by terror and panic.!

[SUPERGUIDE][P51xxP31xx] Installation Troubleshoot Guide

The SUPER Custom Rom Guide and Troubleshoot​
There came a new version, your droid got old school and there is no support from Samsung cause they have forgotten about you.
Service centers you looked upon, and to mention exorbitant fees plus service tax came along. Thank You ma'am. will see you around.
Your droid is lagging and hanging and Lo, stops working suddenly. Now you just want to try something new, cause you can't sell them or buy new.
You search on google,
find on Youtube,
Read between surveys and blogs,
tried it yourself,
sometimes got lucky sometimes got thorny.
Now you come to the XDA community. there is too much to absorb and you're kind a new, welcome to all of you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dealing with most of the trouble making bugs and useful insight into cornering them like a rat
1. Tab is Stuck on Charging Screen. Tab is not turning On, battery completely depleted/Not charging, Nothing is Working
2. Stuck On Samsung Logo Screen.
3. Stuck in a Boot Loop.
4. Stuck On Firmware Upgrade Encountered an Issue.
5. Bricked.​Explained in Post number 2
Well that would sum up for me and most of the users will agree that these are the cases that really needs attention and no cussing about how your droid lags and hangs, doesn't makes it to the lists So, by the end of this guide, I would hope and expect at least so much from users to at least have a better knowledge and general idea of how things work here. so users don't just go on saying HELP HELP I am a NooB, Please read and understand first, dude. Thank you I will try to make it simple even if you're not so cool.
A few words about me if you're interested
OH!! you clicked!! wow. well what should I say here. ahem, hello gorgeous. I am Sam So, unlikely,
So guys, I wasn't lucky enough to get everything organised at one thread and spend a lot of time finding a perfect place for everything I would want to, so I thought this would be worth a share. It took me almost a month to write this stuff. yeah I was bored to the core, so put in some fun stuff
along with most of my learning experience and knowledge gained here on XDA in this Guide over the span of 3 years, I would just read and experiment it myself, kind of guy, I wouldn't have dared to put up this guide sooner, but now after successfully solving most of the cases even other people hard bricks and trivial issues that I get to see everyday and keeping myself safe from hard bricks with still not knocked out by one. all thanks to this community this is my gift that I would like to give in return, and I am just someone who likes to get to the edge of the world, exactly, on a round globe. Thank You
Android Broken into 5 parts, Worth a Look
Well not exactly broken but explained in 5 parts ( There are more but I choose not to, thank me for that)
1. Boot section(bootloaders/kernel)
This is droid's heart(accept it), responsible for the droid's birth and keeping it alive, sleeping, waking up, slowdown and speedup, overall working of the system, it has impact on every part of the droid. mess up things here, and droid won't start up at all and will stop beating and malfunction. then you will need a pacemaker and CPR(J-TAG) to revive it or it will keep the brain in coma. yes pretty much like our heart.
2. System section
This is a droid's mind, Its the place where all main work and processes are happening, with rooting and flashing you get a licence to open that mind and analyse, read logs, stats. that brain, heart and all your body is producing, you can see it all and make changes in it, put few things from outside. clean it, format it, wipe it, make amend(patches). So, imagine all that happening in your mind and the idea of cleaning your brains for once, wiping the mind, giving new and fresh experiences(newer and updated files) new interface(new UI), affecting the overall performance and changing to a whole new perspective with which you look at things.
So Clear your mind about this and remove your bad experiences and upgrade it with new stable ones. err not the custom beta and alpha ones, cause then you will give your headaches and put them in depression.
3. Data
This place is the memories part, and everything is stored up here. Everything. some would be overtly stored(on sdcard) and some deep inside you(under system/data/data). now overtly ones are not a concern here but deeper ones are hard to forget and lingers in your system, these won't go well if your heart and mind changed or aren't supposed to be the same, or in trouble will they? (i know I am good at explaining this)
4. Cache
Well, this one is the dreams part. damn I am right just admit it now. they come from your memories, keep it or forget about it, that's unto you. sometimes it can interfere with your old memories when you get new ones. so if unknown problem persist, with your heart and mind working nicely please clear your dreams and look into some of the memories. otherwise get the mind checked first.
5. Recovery
This is the soul part, whenever your heart or mind or data or dreams are feeling lost, you connect to it and revive them accordingly, or contact ODIN.
I hope you had some fun in the above part and a very clear and better understanding, So now you know where things are going wrong​
The Beginning
Ensure your Charging Adapter, USB ports and your USB cable, are in good shape and working in accordance, Never depend on USB hubs or any USB port that is a faulty or slow performer, use original cables, or buy new ones, the cable does create problems in some cases. if you're sure that these are fine, then let it in charging for few hours to even a day. depending upon how fast the droid recovers.
So what do you do, when you have to go the custom way or solve your problems?
i. Press Power and Volume Up(right button) or
ii. Press Power and Volume Down(left button) or
iii.Press Power and Hold touch screen combinations.
iv. Press nicely and hold it for good few seconds there, no hurry, really.
v. Long press the power button, release the power button and, when you see a logo appear during boot-up, hold down both the volume up and volume down buttons. Continue holding the two buttons until the droid boots up with a safe mode indicator at the bottom-left corner of its screen.
vi. Plug it in PC with the USB.
vii. Remove the Battery blow air on it and pat a little and put it back inside.
So what happens after doing what I said above?
i. (a). The tab goes into download mode
ii (b). The tab goes into recovery mode
iii(c). the tab switch off/on again.
iv (d). Now the Combinations worked properly, beware cause many a times on droids this could be a seriously tricky part.
v (e). The tab goes into safe mode.
I know you got tired there holding the buttons and No you didn't had to press it so hard
vi (f). Your droid and PC responds and connects.
yeah, I know Nothing much of a Help, but it will make sense when it doesn't
vii(g).
this is an age old trick of which there is no proof of success, but it has been working since ages.
As long as you can enter download mode or recovery or safe mode you can walk the path of going custom and troubleshoot along the way. Piece of cake. Most of the ways including how to root, upgrades, lag free and better performance starts here
[if you're ready to take the plunge, remember there is no backing out.]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Choose your steps wisely here now, if possible just read the main points and see if you have done all those first. that will save your data in some case and in some save you from getting all messed up.
CORA, (CODE OF RECOVERING ANDROID)
For NON-ROOT USERS
Safe mode
Stock recovery
Download Mode
FOR ROOTED USERS
Custom recovery,
Nandroid BACKUP,
Download mode
Safe mode
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WITHOUT MODIFYING SYSTEM FOR HARDCORE STOCK USER
1. SAFE MODE
This mode generally helps when the problem is arising from 3rd party apps and is making your droid reboot again and again, lagging, hanging issues, so whatever is causing problem, if you can reach here, you can uninstall them clear their data and cache, and yes, free up some internal space too and backup your data from settings-backup as well. then factory reset if you want to.
2. STOCK RECOVERY WAY
You have never rooted your droid and you don't want to root and you don't want to move away from stock, well pressing the Power and Volume Down(left button) will take you there.
try to clear cache/data factory reset(will lose you data stored on internal droid) and yes it does solve few of the cases, even if it doesn't look so promising, it has solved, and will solve quiet a few issues. no chance of getting that data stored on internal., phone book, messages, chats.
3. THE DOWNLOAD MODE WAY
Flash a stock firmware Explained in post the download way.​
Code:
Now if you are already Rooted or want to Root to have a better option of saving your data, or reviving your droid
it's like performing a surgery on your body by yourself.
So be careful, you have been warned, Samsung voids the warranty,
and I don't give any Guarantees that these Instructions will work for all.
MODIFYING FOR PEOPLE WHO RISK IT
1. Getting Rooted
2. Custom recovery Way and (post number 4)
3. Download mode Way. (post number 5)
AND FOR THOSE WHO WILL BLAME ME
Seriously?
The most important and most essential part here is GETTING/HAVING a NANDROID BACKUP, the very FIRST THING that you MUST HAVE DID/DONE upon getting ROOTED. Make a Stable Clone guys.
You will need to get rooted and custom recovery to do that, not to forget enabling the USB Debugging Option from Settings->about device-> Build number-> press 7 times->back->developer->Enable USB Debugging and that's the beginning my friend.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Other threads with good post for the tab 2 series about rooting guides, containing firmware links, recoveries, Roms list, kernels, pretty much everything.
All about P51xx
All about P31xx
Latest Roms, Recoveries updated by Android-andi, the best developer around here
other droid users please look it up under your device thread tree, they will surely have a way, tailored and to the point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Getting Rooted is only advised if you're going to stay on stock rom, debloating the system and making changes yourself.
if you're going to install a custom rom, which would be generally rooted, so you can skip to getting a custom recovery first.
CF auto Root are better option for any device to get rooted rather than other options
CFauto-root GT-P3100
CF auto root for GT-P51xx
or you can visit the chainfire homepage for your device which contains the root file for almost every device.
ROOT FROM DEVICE WITHOUT PC
in cases where you can't use ODIN for rooting or you want root your droid and there is still no method explained for Root on XDA then using framaroot, towel root, baidu, kingo or any other app(they can root some sets of droid) is advised, without ODIN or in case you couldn't connect your tab to the PC with the USB, only then these apps are good ways to get root. after that you can use flashify app or other apps for same purpose that has the feature to flash .img files, you can also use Mobile Odin app which can pretty much work when you can't use Odin from Pc.
then you can download a copy of the custom recovery image.(recovery.img) browse in the app and let it do the installation for you. this is useful for droids which doesn't have that much support like we and others have here
Click to expand...
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Common Issues faced
If you have read about my explanation of android's partitions in the OP(Original Post above), you would know where exactly to look for the problems. Moving on,
For other Geeks
Please remind me if I missed few things, you see I have put up this Guide mostly of the files I have in my system partition,I might have missed few that were stored in data or cache partition
1. Tab is Stuck on Charging Screen. Tab is not turning On, battery completely depleted/Not charging, Nothing is Working​
Possibilities
* if the tab doesn't feels warm even after charging for a whole day,
F1. Battery dead,
F2. Circuit/Motherboard blown,
F3. Bad Charger/charging point
F4. No electricity
if it's getting warm and still not turning on
F5. Hardware buttons not working
F6. Motherboard needs replacement.
F7. Flashed a bootloader/kernel(along with a Rom/firmware), or something not meant for your device, which is the hard brick in this category please refer to case number 5. (process on post 2)
F8. Some Custom Roms have bugs that won't Charge, stay stuck on the battery icon, unless you remove the plug and turn on. always read before flashing a Rom, if there are no info, better ask the developer before you go flashing or post your Question in related thread where they would get noticed.
2. Stuck On Samsung Logo Screen.​
This could be from various reasons generally not so serious ones mostly recoverable issues of which, some are
Flashed a incompatible Custom Rom zip or any other flashable zip containing files not meant for the exact device.
Flashed a kernel/ bootloader incompatible with the Rom, wrong kernel modules, messed up system lib files, (lucky enough to still not be in hard bricked section.)
Formatted system partition and there is no OS installed. (one of the silliest mistakes I have done)
Some other that I maybe forgetting just like I completely forgot about the above
Possible Solutions
Go to the stock recovery and wipe data/factory reset (this will make your precious data that you stored vanish, except data stored on SDcard) (explained further in post 3)
Get a working stable compatible kernel/Rom or flash stock firmware. (explained in post 2 and 3)
Download from a different source cause chances are the file got corrupted or infected while downloading or transferring. (post 3)
Find the file that is stopping the device from booting up, starting from the kernel, to the system files. duh?
Go to the custom recovery way.
Go to the download way
3. Stuck in a Boot Loop.​
Boot Loops are crazy and they will make you mad, they can hit you anytime for even little of tasks, Root or not root, either you are testing a new app, modifying/copying/editing/deleting/overwriting files in the system or data that don't even look so dangerous, just flashing some mod, GAPPS, or just updates rolled out by devs(nothing against them) this will surely hit you, no matter how focused and diligently you work. boot loops will make you do hula hoops.
Boot Loop is generally solved by
Hello? whatever you did that I mentioned above, just roll it back.
if you can't figure it out, well then
Remember the CORA order Quoted above in the first post? Read on
Safe Mode?
Go to recovery and clear cache then reboot.
Clear data/factory reset from stock recovery(data stored will be lost) (root users can skip this and directly go to 7)
No, Recovery?, You sure pressed the button nicely?
Flash a custom recovery image(recovery.tar) from Odin
Repeat from 1-3
Backup/Restore from Nandroid backup
Don't sit for the next exams without memorizing your lesson.
Cleared cache/dalvik cache?
Flash a Compatible Custom kernel
Find the stock replacement of the file/app you messed up from a firmware or a custom Rom, put it in a flashable zip and flash it (advance users)
Clear/data factory reset either from custom recovery. (*loses data)
Flash the Custom Rom, first dirty flash then clean flash.
Flash a Stock firmware from Odin. (loses data)
4. Stuck On Firmware Upgrade Encountered an Issue.​
Well this problems hits non-root users and root users too? why? because we wanted an update.
it was trying to upgrade and something got in between to make it stop
Battery/Power/Electricity - for non root users, the most common culprit would be the battery, seriously guys, please keep the battery in mind always. it's a very common mistake that cost many of users. For ODIN users, please see you have a uninterrupted supply of power to your device and you are using latest version along with Hi speed USB ports.
kies!!! I hate that thing and majority of others will support me here. I got rid of it the day I installed that thing on my PC.
interruption from the user side while the device was taking an upgrade. removed battery? fell down on the floor? no?
hardware issue, unlikely, rare I would say, in case the device did came out with a weak emmc card.
Bad/wrong firmware downloaded files.
In case you had a custom recovery and its still working, check the custom recovery way
I Know 1st didn't helped you,
Refer to the Download Mode way and get a custom recovery
Don't forget to clear cache, you do know that's where the device keeps the downloaded/image firmware file, and that's where it is installing/extracting from. the dream partition, no wonder you got errors. you got a nightmare now
try the download mode way
probably it's best that you either forget about the mobile, or give it to a service center for a J-TAG and get it repaired.
I knew you would look here, there is indeed a last ray of hope, explained at the last thing to do in download mode way
5. Bricked.​
There are 3 types of Bricks, Soft Hard and The Brick, That's it.
Soft brick
well you are safe and sound, you can even recover from custom recovery mode.
Hard brick
skynet has fallen, just like it infected the droid Arnold Schwarzenegger of the terminator version 3.0, the codes were injected into his heart making the brain dis balance and resulting in partial heart seizure and a coma, but he still had the cache and data part intact along with recovery, so it went there, restored a nandroid backup and went online again. BAM!! so easy. but why? I mean ours droid having reached version 6.0 can't recover from the same way? Where only hope here is a CPR or getting J-TAGGED? not to mention, which should be done by expert surgeons who would charge exorbitant . So, don't waste time with a jig or any other miracle to happen and please don't go on the droid with a shocking therapy. I am more of a practical guy and prefer professionalism.
The Brick
err, that's the solid one, put that on your heart, and forget about this droid and shell out money for a new one. : that's what the company wants to tell you here and that's the reason it doesn't want to put the nandroid on the stock recovery cause they want the blame on you and not them. shhh, keep it hidden, don't say I told you their secret
General Overview of the Next Options we have.
a. The Download Mode Way
Before going this way I would suggest you see the recovery mode way, if it's not working for you, then go ahead here.
You have four things that you can do (other's I never needed to venture upon)
1. Flash a Recovery -
In case you want to change or update a Recovery or fix/access a Recovery again, to root, complete backup from recovery(nandroid), install new custom Rom, install stock Rom, plenty of options here. Probably the safest option here cause you don't lose your data unless you do something wrong here as to format it. whether you root your tablet or not, install a custom Rom or stay on stock, everyone MUST have a custom recovery, I don't understand why Stock recovery can't have this option as well?
2. Flash a stock firmware package -
in case you are on stock recovery never rooted,
can't reach or can't flash anything using custom recovery,
bootloops(applied in all cases), want to revert back to stock factory state. tab system is behaving weirdly, virus and Trojans attacked or you just want to upgrade or change your droid firmware.
Note Using this method, will result in the loss of all your data stored on the device internal card.
3. Flashing a Bootloader
Generally these are included in every stock firmware pack. if you had a ICS(4.0.4) stock Rom, and the device got an Official JB(4.2.2) update. you must update to that firmware first before flashing any later custom Roms[from kk to M(6.0)], the version which never got released officially. flashing this part separately is very risky and done with utmost care, remember it's your droid heart. don't fool around with it.
3. Flash firmware with pit file -
Warning : this is some high level flashing, it will re partition your device along with the stock firmware. in cases where NOTHING ELSE on the whole Internet worked for you, and you have tried almost everything, only then choose this path with clear mind. make mistake in this, and your tab will virtually turn into a paperweight. if you're not sure you could handle it, please send it for the service centers. this is going to flash every part of the droid's body
4. Flash the 4 files with pit
This is the secret way, where miracles can happen even when there was no hope of recovering yourself.
b. The Recovery Mode Way
Stock recovery - Here You can clear cache, there is nothing much happening in clearing cache, just clearing some temporary files and making you feel like you have got some space cleared out. it's just files that you most probably already used.
data/factory reset and reboot. Easy and simple solution . that does solve some of the problems you face without modifying your device much. so those of you who are afraid to flashing things and ending up on some bigger mistake, you can give this a try, but keep in mind, you will lose all your data stored in the device.
there is apply update from recovery, but that seldom has use in an average android user's life nothing much of a recovery.
Go to download mode way of flashing a custom recovery
or
If you have rooted your tab somehow using framaroot, towel root, baidu or any other app, without ODIN in case you can't connect your tab to the PC with the USB, then you can use flashify app or Kernel Adiutor(the latest one) or any other apps that has the feature to flash img from inside the device OS. you can download a copy of the custom recovery image.(recovery.img) browse in the app and let it do the installation for you.
Custom recovery - Here you have many things that you can do depending upon which recovery and which version you choose. CWM is past, philz is ok, TWRP is awesome. most of the options are common in these 3, but some are really better and fast than the previous ones. we will discuss only one, my favorite TWRP(Respect for the legend CWM though), the process is common on all but twrp is more feature rich.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Important files you must have NANDROID BACKUP, STOCK FIRMWARE, PIT FILE, and 4 FILES FIRMWARE PACKAGE, GET them even before you need to search for them
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Setting Up Everything
Before proceeding Always keep device battery fully charged and NEVER go flashing on low battery. Very Risky. Don't forget.
Always check the files that you are going to flash on your device. generally files will have device model mentioned in their filename.
Be Sure that you don't lose electricity or laptop on low battery while working. the device takes time to update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Things you need to Set up a 'Flashing Environment'
No, I am not going to talk about a flashy party setup ​
i. PC running Windows 7 and 8 (with 10 I haven't flashed anything yet, but it works.)
ii. A working data cable(some cables are bad and will not detect your device if you see unknown device better get a new one)
iii. Samsung USB Drivers it's much better than having samsung kies on your pc. I would personally suggest from my experience along with many people who have suffered from samsung kies, it's not worth the hassle. ODIN and KIES don't work alongside, so you will have to close.
iv. ODIN 3.10 (download plus instructions as well I used 1.85, 3.07, 3.09 All worked, and so will 3.10. if not, try different ones from Odin 1-85 to 3.07. these links have more step by step and detailed covering what I have left.
v. 7Zip better download this cause it can unpack most of the files.
Press and hold Power and Volume Up(right) button on your device for few good minutes until you see a download mode screen
Connect your USB cable to PC and press Up to Continue. sometimes there could be problem with the USB ports, you should check in all the ports available. avoid USB hubs or the front panel USB in case of PC, don't let a faulty port ruin this for you.
Problem/Failed with Odin? Refer to this thread Good Points here as well.
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Click to collapse
DOWNLOADING AND READING FILES
Believe it, this a very big problem that people tend to overlook
The file you need will look something like these
"P5100XXDMD1_P5100OJVDME1_P5100XXDLL2_EUR.tar.7z"
where
P5100 - Generally the first 5 letters/numbers means a device model number.
XXDMD1 this is PDA which will be 5 letters(much older devices)-6 letters denoting firmware build version.
OJVDME1 is CSC version these just contains regional wise APN, nothing much.
XXDLL2 is Modem version.
EUR is Country Code.
.7z means you need 7zip to extract this file.
Now see these 2 examples here
"S7562XXALJ4_S7562OXXALJ3_S7562XXLJ3_HUN.tar" and "S7562CZNUAMI2_S7562CCHUAMI2_CHU zip"
Sure it's S7562 device but wait the other one is S7562C !!! totally different device firmware. make mistake here and you are sure going to lose.
I Hope you can make out the difference now for every device now.
Now the real file that you need will always be inside a zip/tar/7z the correct format is "P5100XXDMD1_P5100OJVDME1_P5100XXDLL2.tar.md5 "
Remember to extract it and get the md5 file.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These are the known best sources
Enter and Download device model on sammobile
P5100 sammobile
P5110 sammobile
P5113 sammobile
P3100 sammobile
P3113 sammobile
*Bump Download firmwares available smart-gsm.net
Download firmwares available easy-firmware.com​The Only reason I am putting this here is while I was searching for genuine websites, I had a very hard time finding through sites that looks nothing else than scams and fakes and rarely had files that I needed and password protected. this websites has ads, but looks organized and for tab series, it had at-least all the firmwares downloading.
PHP:
Yes so, it will take time and require a good internet speed, there are other sites, but I don't recommend them unless they are from good source or sometimes the only option. Options are also available from GSMhosting site as well, its another good community but I feel XDA is much better. still if you have no options. you have to get it somehow. just stay away from the survey sites and bogus ones. specially the blogspot ones.

Recovery Mode Way
Recovering from a custom recovery
Important Part​Creating Nandroid Backup - This is the most important thing that you will ever need, and will always regret not having it when you chose this path, should be the first priority.
Getting Inside
Switch off the device
Let it completely shutdown
Hold Power and Volume Down(left button)
This is how it looks saw that backup button? yes that is where you tap first (other recoveries will have different looks, but same "backup" and
This is where you do it . by tapping again or navigating through the volume up and down button in case of older recoveries this would not at all be same, this is the most latest feature rich recovery.
Those Running CWM older builds, won't find the options to select boot, system cache and data and instead there will be just "backup" and backup to external.
CWM by default will Backup boot, system, data, cache partitions. Philz will also do it. But TWRP has better features. although they do the same. You just select system, boot, data and cache. that would be all to recover using nandroid backup.
Now here it depends on what you are trying to do and what would you like to recover from, also depends on what you are comfortable with doing and how much space you can spare. if you have a lot, I would say skip this step and backup all for once.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not Noob Friendly
if you have that same custom Rom zip that you would like to restore the backup of, then there is no need to copy/backup /system partition again, it will save you some space. so you can skip it in that case for TWRP.
if you're only going to modify device kernel - backup boot. or just data if you already have the custom Rom with kernel.
other than that twrp offers what CWM lacked, skip md5 generation during backup well this is a good option and saves some time while backup, on restoring you can also enable or disable it. the purpose of this is simple, md5 is like a security/seal on your backup file, so you don't mess up anything while restoring it on your device. after all you never know when a virus might attack or you might put the wrong files on it. if you are sure about your talents, you can skip it or else it's better to let it generate and verify while restore. CWM has this setup as default.
Now you have one? GREAT! GENIUS!! Now whenever you encounter a problem make sure you can use it like a BOSS.
Restore Nandroid Backup​
Enter recovery mode by Pressing Power and Volume Down(left button),
you reach the main screen,
you see a "restore" option and tap it,
you will see folders name starting with the date you made a nandroid backup,
you recognize which one you want by the date and information listed there, and select it. CWM only offered dates, but twrp even offers more detailed info including OS version and Rom name. one more reason I suggest you to use twrp.
In case you want only data to be restored, then you choose advanced restore and check the data and restore. but before doing this part make sure you are not restoring conflicting data or system or kernel with incompatible versions.
you can't restore a data backup from a Jellybean Rom and put it on a custom Rom based on Lollipop, neither a kernel from Lollipop to jellybean.
Data should only be recovered on the same Rom you took the backup from.
In case the custom Rom developer rolls an update of the same fixing issues,(not some major changes) then you can in some cases think of getting this worked out smoothly. This is called a "dirty flash". which is the reason why sometimes users experience problems running certain Roms, even when they are good and stable Roms. So before complaining to devs make sure you follow the clean install method.
Note: System and data most of the times will cause problems. Kernels are not meant at all to play with. they are the biggest source of bricks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
​
Wiping Part - Steer Clear the problems away
this is where wipe takes place[PIC]
here are the wipes options on a custom recovery
Factory reset - Wipes cache, dalvik, data/ excluding your media part on the internal drive.(your pics, videos are safe)
this will generally clear you problems if they are not some big issues. but you will lose the apps and contacts messages stored.
Advanced wipe - Format system
you can try to do this first if you don't want to lose your data while troubleshooting.
format system if you're facing issues with the files on system partition, but remember to install the same Rom you had earlier. if you had stock, you will need a stock Rom zip not to forget keeping the file ready beforehand on the external SD card.
Beware while navigating in advance wipe menu, never wipe in a hurry, never drink and wipe, never take eyes off here, cause you might end up touching external SD card, USB-OTG, internal storage and lose your precious data
Format data - this wipes the data partition
problems arising from the data partition side could be solved here, but you lose your precious data on the internal and get rid of the bad, virus, trojans, trouble making apps.​
How to perform A CLEAN INSTALL when you are going to update to a new Rom?
Factory Reset and Format System, Format CACHE
or
Format /System, Format /Data, Format /Cache, WIPE Dalvik Cache, Factory Reset.
This will Surely Solve Some Great & Average Problems of Day to Day Flashing.[/B]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's a Dirty Flash then?
Format System, without Deleting Data partition. before doing this, please do a nandroid backup in case you mess things up. if not, format system again and flash the Rom that was initially running with that data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now Comes the Installing part
Installing Menu​
You download a copy of a custom Rom or stock Rom, after following the developer's thread, reading through it's bugs and reviews. you don't want a unstable or alpha Roms.
There would be installing process explained on that thread follow it and always make sure that inside the zip file it contains a meta-inf and system folder with boot.img) always look inside before going to flash, don't trust me, don't trust anyone. although
if you tried to flash a firmware zip file containing a .img file, without Meta-Inf folder, it won't flash. cause the custom recovery needs instructions from updater-script. Now, I know this was mostly going on like this before, but now with latest custom recoveries, (twrp) you can even flash .img files without needing a zip.
You perform a Clean Install wipe stated in the wipe section above
Reboot to Recovery(Don't select reboot to system, there is no system after clean wipe)
You browse through the files list and external storage,
Find that zip file and
Swipe or press or touch to flash it.
You wait for it to complete the process then
You can wipe/cache/dalvik and reboot or you just reboot. depends on what you choose "clean install" or "dirty install".
You want to report any errors while flashing? you are free to do so on the Rom thread, don't expect me to solve those cases.
If all went well, reboot to system and your tab should be up running again. if not refer to the Download mode Way.

The Download Mode Way
The Download Mode Way
1. FLASH A CUSTOM RECOVERY
Find the recoveries in their respective threads. For P51xx and P31xx Recovery thread others can look in their respective device sections, XDA has development thread of most of the Samsung devices and people do post there.
it should look like this on your address bar
"http forum.xda-developers.com / galaxy-tab-2 / general"
xda website /__ (devicename)/ (sub-forum)
(development) OR (/general) section
You can always google it too.
remember you will need a recovery.md5 that will be inside a zip file extract from it.
Always check whats in the archive then go the recovery mode way, it should be .md5
Sorry I have not put up detailed step by step process here because my guide is covering a lot of things already and this is something each device specific, refer to this For General step by step instructions with pictures, this has very detailed process.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
​
2 FLASH A STOCK FIRMWARE
These package contains files needed to update or revert to the same position where it was shipped to your country along with your android device. you can find all Samsung device firmwares released from all parts of the world, and yes, you can flash firmwares of other country/regions from the sammobile site just stay away from the carrier specific firmwares(unless you are on one) that should be used for the same specific carriers device only they are married to the carrier company and probably won't let you have your own ways with others.
You should also remember not to downgrade a stock firmware once you have upgraded, that will surely create problems​
Run Odin as administrator
Browse PDA/AP and find the firmware .md5 file
This is how you should see on your ODIN screen. always be very very careful to uncheck the Re-partition. it's unchecked by default.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Code:
The yellow column/(Blue for other versions) means
your device is detected by the PC.
If it's not lit, you have messed up USB drivers
still not uninstalled kies Completely or
not connected the device properly.
try changing to different USB Ports.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Press Start
Wait for the process to complete and let the device reboot from download mode
Remove cable when you see PASS written with green above the Yellow/Blue com port.
PHP:
Most Problems are solved here when you see success/PASS.
Except one The emmc bug. Replace the internal emmc, or J-TAG or
mysteriously something else done by professionals.
[*]if it shows failed, see if you can go to recovery mode and clear data, check Mount/Unmount System, data
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if it still says failed, the downloaded file is corrupted, wrong Odin version(try with different Odin versions) you have flashed wrong device files which has messed up the partition table of your device. refer to other ways.
Threads with good post for the tab 2 series these contains firmware links, guides, recoveries, Roms list, kernels pretty much everything.
All about P51xx
All about P31xx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3. FLASH A BOOTLOADER
First ask yourself why you would want to do this?
Be extra careful with this part, if you have already flashed a updated firmware, you don't need this part.
Those who are using old stock firmware, please flash a stock last updated firmware. you won't need to do this.
Those who did not follow the above two, so it's now unto you, this a risky thing, you have been advised you are going further yourself
Those who are experiencing problems that are not solved even after most of my other instructions here, then it's onto you to decide you want to try this too or not. this could solve problems when device is in serious condition, after all it's the heart partition and remember no downgrades in this once you upgrade. thats it. this could seriously create problems, including bringing back the emmc issue as well.
Refer to this DETAILS AND INSTRUCTIONS to FLASH A BOOTLOADER for SAMSUNG TAB 2 SERIES follow safely by @Joery360 other users please be careful with these files and don't go on flashing others files? okay. Great!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
4. FLASH FIRMWARE WITH PIT FILE
Wait!! You are sure that you want to try this part? this is the point of no return. Whatever happens to your device by following this guide, good or bad, it's your own responsibility. You can't blame me for it. so be sensible, if you're not sure please let this be done by someone who has the experience of dealing with this kind of stuff.
Now pit files are some serious files, they contain information about your device partition and they help flash erase and rewrite files on their correct partition, so better not take a wrong file, sometimes you have the same device but different internal space, so don't end up choosing a pit file for a 8 GB variant on your 16 GB variant of device, in that case your device will end up using 8gb only, or worse if it's other device, it might never boot up again.
Always remember don't flash pit files ever without a firmware file in place.
Download Pit files for Samsung tab 2 p51xx p31xx series
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Run Odin as administrator
Browse PDA and find the firmware .md5 file
Browse Pit and select the pit file (reminder : file confirmed?)
Make Sure Re-partition is checked cause we are using Pit File to re partition again
Never flash a Pit file without a firmware placed in PDA/AP
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Press Start
Wait for the process to complete and let the device reboot from download mode
Remove cable when you see PASS written with green above the Yellow/Blue com port.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if it shows failed while flashing, you did used correct files, right? after this if there is still a download mode running on your device. try the special case files.
this has happened with me on a unknown MTK device, the pit file was slightly different from the original one on device, so it failed, but that was at the start before it could flash. I did somehow managed to flash that different pit file, just lost some disk space. cause I used a lower variant pit but it got the device running up again.
The device takes a long time to boot while it's updating firmware, so you are required to have sufficiently charged battery, Take no chances here.
if even after a successful flash with Odin, you face problems, then that's a emmc bug case. motherboard replacement or emmc replacement, or tab replacement. nothing else.
5. FLASH PIT WITH 4 FILES FIRMWARE
Find the repair firmware files at this Website
it has the 4 files for most of the devices including the Tab 2 series
Instructions for using these 4 files, however please note that the only difference would be the ODIN versions, cause device needs specific ODIN version, some can flash all.
this is the only way, that I have seen working for numerous devices and it is most successful one among all options to recover an almost bricked device, on which you have tried everything.
For other devices
Find them here
​
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

you'll find these buttons on every post.
it's better to notify a user when you're asking that user a question or use @username of the user for mentioning in your post, that will give in a notification for you.

I think there could be more, i know it's already lengthy but who knows?

How to Convert N986U1 Android 11One UI 3.0 Beta to Official Carrier N986U Android 11 (ATT,TMB,SPR,VZW,USC,etc.)

Hello,
First, let me preface this by saying that this is not for those who are already technically capable of flashing U firmware from U1 firmware. This will serve as a tutorial for those who are not sure how to go about doing so. This could at least be a means to access U One UI 3.0 firmware, as it will be posted here for for faster download and bypassing decryption process. I've already done that for you.
So I have a N986U(VZW) and wanted to get an early look at Android 11 One UI 3.0. So, I went through the process of flashing U1 firmware, enrolled in Beta Program, and OTA'd up to latest beta (beta 3). Then, I see that carrier locked devices (to date, ATT, TMB, SPR, VZW) have begun receiving the official One UI 3.0 firmware OTA. Now don't get me wrong, I love U1 firmware, no carrier bloat, more features, typically, than what carrier branded have, among so many others. Alas, carrier branded firmware is generally more safe for me.
So, if you are like me, I wanted to have a means to be able to convert back to U firmware, while still remaining on One UI 3.0. Many of us already know how to go about doing so, but some may not, so I figured I'll outline the steps to go from U1 One UI 3.0 to U Carrier Branded One UI 3.0. I've provided links to the firmware and Odin for easy access and I'm always around, in case any of you have questions or have issues with any links.
Now, we have to have the essentials:
1. Odin(3.14.1_3B Patched is what I used)
2. Frija, or at the very least the firmware to convert over to
4. An archive extractor (Winzip, Winrar, 7zip, etc.) I'll explain why we don't want to use Windows Archive Tool in this explanation.
3. Some form of technical aptitude to be able to download and flash firmware using a tool
After you've gathered all of these, we need to ensure that no fingerprints or other forms of security are on the device. The reason we do this is the avoid any FRP (factory reset protection) issues after flashing. The way we do this is by disabling fingerprint unlock from settings. Change your unlock preferences to Swipe No Security. Do not forget to do this, because if you do, you will need to have an internet connection to the device during initial setup to authenticate your google account.
1.Once you've done this, you want to power down your device. For those who have enabled side button power menu, this is pretty self explanatory. Those who haven't, swiping down from your notification tray will reveal your power button. You know what to do from there.
2.Next, you want to press and hold Vol+, Vol-, and plug a USB-C cable into your device and subsequently into an available USB-A port on your PC. Allow Windows a moment to setup your device if your haven't plugged your device into your PC while in Download Mode before. You should see your device boot into Download Mode, and you will be presented with a Vol+ and Vol- and Power option. You will need to press Vol+ to continue into Download Mode.
3.Then, you will need to open Odin. When you do so, you should see a blue bar indicating that your device is recognized (represented by COM). If you don't see this within Odin, try re-inserting your USB cable into your PC, either into another USB port or changing your USB cable for another.
4.Once you are successfully able to see the blue COM indicator in Odin, you are to choose the applicable partitions (BL, AP, CP, and CSC). These will be archived in the firmware downloaded by Frija or link I provided. Each partition is labeled by it appropriate partition. Clicking each label in Odin will direct you to Windows Explorer, where you can browse for the directory where the downloaded files are locally stored.
THIS IS IMPORTANT!!! IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A ATT, TMB, OR SPR, DO NOT CHOOSE A USERDATA PARTITION. THIS IS POINTLESS TO FLASH, AND IT WILL SERVE NO BENEFIT IN THE USE OF THE DEVICE AFTER SETUP.
5.In Odin, you will see three tabs under the COM blue bar, named Log, Options, and PIT. I want to direct your attention to the tab labeled PIT. You will need to apply a PIT file in this tab. This file is located in the CSC partition. I have uploaded this file as well. But, if you want to learn how to extract it from the CSC partition, use the aforementioned Archive Extractors to open the CSC partition, and it should be the second in the list of files. Right click this file and select Extract to... From there, you are able to choose the folder you would like to extract to.
The reason you want to use the extractors I mentioned rather than Windows embedded extractor is due to Windows not being able to handle .md5 or .tar files. You will get an error if you attempt to open these types of files with Windows Extractor.
6. Once you've chosen all the partitions in Odin, you will click Start. It may take some time to complete the flashing process, so be patient. Once it completes, you will see Success in the field above COM, and the COM field will change from blue to green. If it doesn't change to green, and instead changes to red, be sure to let it be known to the thread, so that I can assist in the best way I can.
7. At this time, your device may reboot to recovery. This is fine, it just means that you will need to factory reset. Use Vol- to select Factory Reset. Select the option using the Power button. Upon successfully doing so, your device will reset to the setup screen.
8.Your device will be an Out-of-Box state upon reboot. Setup the device as normal.
9.All done! You are now on U firmware One UI 3.0! Congratulations!
I understand that this is a very lengthy explanation and that some, if not all, of this will be redundant to some users. That is okay. Not all of the users on XDA are educated on how to flash firmware on Samsung devices. I hope that after following this guide, that may soon change.
Below are all the files needed in order to flash what is needed in this guide. If you have any issues with downloading them, let me know. I'll be happy to re-upload them on another file sharing client for you.
Update: I've also uploaded the CTL4 firmware for U1 for those who want the updated unlocked firmware, in case you want to switch back to U1.
Odin:
Odin 3.14.1_3B
Frija:
Frija 1.4.3
N986U One UI 3.0:
N986USQU1CTL2
N986U1 One UI 3.0:
N986U1UEU1CTL4
PIT File for Repartitioning:
PIT C2Q_USA_SINGLE.pit

Just wanted to say "thank you" for posting this! I knew what to do already, however, I just didn't have any links for the zipped update that I needed!
I first had gotten a phone notification (Friday morning) that I could tap on to download the update OTA, however, I was at work so I had dismissed that notification... Unfortunately, after doing so, I was unable to get the update as no available updates even showed up in the settings... So I figured that I'd just need to manually push it through since OTA updates have consistently been skipping my device... Regardless, we're working now! So thanks again for the download links and I hope that you enjoy the holidays!

NippleSauce said:
Just wanted to say "thank you" for posting this! I knew what to do already, however, I just didn't have any links for the zipped update that I needed!
I first had gotten a phone notification (Friday morning) that I could tap on to download the update OTA, however, I was at work so I had dismissed that notification... Unfortunately, after doing so, I was unable to get the update as no available updates even showed up in the settings... So I figured that I'd just need to manually push it through since OTA updates have consistently been skipping my device... Regardless, we're working now! So thanks again for the download links and I hope that you enjoy the holidays!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks so much. Just wanted to provide a means for new users a detailed explanation on how to change firmware, preventing the needs for QAs on bricked devices. Even though it's bound to happen eventually.

Just to verify, I have the verizon snapdragon variant and frija does not find the firmware, is the firmware you linked for the verizon snapdragon variant?

j3ffm1ll said:
Just to verify, I have the verizon snapdragon variant and frija does not find the firmware, is the firmware you linked for the verizon snapdragon variant?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This version is for anyone who has N986U or N986U1 devices. Bear in mind that this firmware is CTL2, whereas Verizon locked firmware is CTL4. Can confirm that I have a Verizon N20Ultra and am on CTL2 and all features are working except RCS, but even users on CTL4 are having this same error.

Update: I've linked the CTL4 U1 firmware for faster access. When and if I come across U CTL4 VZW firmware, I'll be sure to upload to the file repository. Thanks! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

I am curious as to why you say it is safe for you. I am currently on Sprint/Tmobile. I converted to U1 to get update because I am impatient. What would be the benefits of doing this for me? This is a honest question even though as I reread this, it sounds a-holish. My apologies if it sounds like i am being a jerk. I am not. I do want to know.

sclarktay4 said:
I am curious as to why you say it is safe for you. I am currently on Sprint/Tmobile. I converted to U1 to get update because I am impatient. What would be the benefits of doing this for me? This is a honest question even though as I reread this, it sounds a-holish. My apologies if it sounds like i am being a jerk. I am not. I do want to know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure thing. When I say safer, I mean that in an RMA lens. Based on your DID, Samsung knows what your devices CSC, model, and whether your device is U branded or U1 unlocked. There is a chance that your device can be deemed "tampered" with in the case where you send it for repairs and alterations have been made, like firmware. So, only spoken from that perspective. I've would've included this use case scenario, but as you and others can see, this post was extremely wordy to begin with

denson9874 said:
Sure thing. When I say safer, I mean that in an RMA lens. Based on your DID, Samsung knows what your devices CSC, model, and whether your device is U branded or U1 unlocked. There is a chance that your device can be deemed "tampered" with in the case where you send it for repairs and alterations have been made, like firmware. So, only spoken from that perspective. I've would've included this use case scenario, but as you and others can see, this post was extremely wordy to begin with
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@sclarktay4 This is not true and incorrect info. I have personally Verified multiple times on multiple Samsung devices. I also have some insider info how they verify tampered devices but won't get into that. Even unlocked bootloader went through fine with RMA except once but flashing u1 on u will not cause RMA issues.
As far as this thread is concerned, this information is already posted so you wasted time in writing this wordy thread. Just saying cause no point wasting time in duplicating work and causing confusion to many here who aren't advanced users.

warriorvibhu said:
@sclarktay4 This is not true and incorrect info. I have personally Verified multiple times on multiple Samsung devices. I also have some insider info how they verify tampered devices but won't get into that. Even unlocked bootloader went through fine with RMA except once but flashing u1 on u will not cause RMA issues.
As far as this thread is concerned, this information is already posted so you wasted time in writing this wordy thread. Just saying cause no point wasting time in duplicating work and causing confusion to many here who aren't advanced users.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My dear friend, we meet again. I must disagree because I, being a former support technician for a vendor who handled RMA for carriers (Asurion), have seen devices regretted due non-carrier firmware being loaded on them. As a senior user on this forum, it is important to address all possibilities so that users are informed. As I stated in the beginning of my post, this is to serve as a means to educate users on the process, not for those who already know the process, like yourself. I, for one, respect all comments given, but those who come on to the forum to play repeat police, I can't waste time on that. Educating new users, I'll continue to waste my time on. Good holiday, sir.

denson9874 said:
My dear friend, we meet again. I must disagree because I, being a former support technician for a vendor who handled RMA for carriers (Asurion), have seen devices regretted due non-carrier firmware being loaded on them. As a senior user on this forum, it is important to address all possibilities so that users are informed. As I stated in the beginning of my post, this is to serve as a means to educate users on the process, not for those who already know the process, like yourself. I, for one, respect all comments given, but those who come on to the forum to play repeat police, I can't waste time on that. Educating new users, I'll continue to waste my time on. Good holiday, sir.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well then your process was unique at Asurion, even Samsung stores here in NYC dont know about that unique process of yours. All they care about is if there is rooting or water ingress/ physical damage. Your means to educate others is by posting duplicate threads? Please dont be suggestive by saying you respect all comments as if others dont. Repeat police?? LOL ..Stop repeating same things then.. go read and educate yourself bro, if someone is playing repeat police by urging you to not post something twice to avoid confusion that too in the same device forum, same subsection where it was already posted. You want to feel important find other ways (being senior member is not an achievement you are trying to show off here buddy) may be make efforts to help people by posting in cross device forums.
And if we meet again that means you are lucky. Happy Holidays to you too.

warriorvibhu said:
Well then your process was unique at Asurion, even Samsung stores here in NYC dont know about that unique process of yours. All they care about is if there is rooting or water ingress/ physical damage. Your means to educate others is by posting duplicate threads? Please dont be suggestive by saying you respect all comments as if others dont. Repeat police?? LOL ..Stop repeating same things then.. go read and educate yourself bro, if someone is playing repeat police by urging you to not post something twice to avoid confusion that too in the same device forum, same subsection where it was already posted. You want to feel important find other ways (being senior member is not an achievement you are trying to show off here buddy) may be make efforts to help people by posting in cross device forums.
And if we meet again that means you are lucky. Happy Holidays to you too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I prefer to stay in lane and educate on what I know rather than come half-stepped. It is clear we won't see eye to eye, which after our two encounters to this point, I'm glad for that. As long as forums will exists, there will always be users like you and I, quarreling over someone else's IP who make money on the both of us. All of this is beneath us. I wish you well, I truly mean that.

denson9874 said:
I prefer to stay in lane and educate on what I know rather than come half-stepped. It is clear we won't see eye to eye, which after our two encounters to this point, I'm glad for that. As long as forums will exists, there will always be users like you and I, quarreling over someone else's IP who make money on the both of us. All of this is beneath us. I wish you well, I truly mean that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very well said. Cheers to that. This is amazing and we both agree on. Moving on wishing you well too stay safe and have an amazing holiday season.

Just wanted to say thank you for the easy to follow and use instructions and files. Took only 3 minutes to complete once all was downloaded and extracted as instructed. Cheers and thanks for taking the time to help those of us out who enjoy dabbling but don't really have the know-how to do these things without a great community of people! Thank you good sir and have a great holiday.

ethos7788 said:
Just wanted to say thank you for the easy to follow and use instructions and files. Took only 3 minutes to complete once all was downloaded and extracted as instructed. Cheers and thanks for taking the time to help those of us out who enjoy dabbling but don't really have the know-how to do these things without a great community of people! Thank you good sir and have a great holiday.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to see that you were able to find the instructions useful and informative. I hope that you have a happy holidays as well!!!

I am curious about something and hope you can give me an explanation. This is regarding your instructions for flashing the PIT file.
I have been flashing Samsung devices for many years and in all the time I have flashed firmware, I have never extracted and then added the PIT file in Odin. Can you tell me the reasons it is necessary to do that based on the steps you outline? What does flashing the PIT file do that would not be done if you don't flash it that way?
I am not saying it is wrong to flash the PIT file, only that I would like to know the reasons it is necessary. If you can explain that I would really appreciate it.
Thanks

Geekser said:
I am curious about something and hope you can give me an explanation. This is regarding your instructions for flashing the PIT file.
I have been flashing Samsung devices for many years and in all the time I have flashed firmware, I have never extracted and then added the PIT file in Odin. Can you tell me the reasons it is necessary to do that based on the steps you outline? What does flashing the PIT file do that would not be done if you don't flash it that way?
I am not saying it is wrong to flash the PIT file, only that I would like to know the reasons it is necessary. If you can explain that I would really appreciate it.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure, I don't mind providing an explanation. So, essentially, PIT files provide the table or map and allocation size for each partition that Odin require to have a more successful flash process. Think of it as the roadmap for the firmware. This file is included in the CSC file, so extracting is not completely necessary, as it will be accessed during the flashing process. The reason I suggest applying the PIT file along with assigning CSC is for redundancy. Also, for these reasons:
1. To avoid a "Get PIT for mapping" error when flashing.
2. Prevent "Invalid EXT4 image" issues
3. Re-partitioning/NAND Erasing
4. Avoid possible boot loops
5. Proper internal storage allocation (Ensure if you have a 512GB device, you don't end up with 128GB visible.)**
** This is only an issue if you elect to download a PIT file from the web, rather than extracting it from the firmware.

denson9874 said:
Sure, I don't mind providing an explanation. So, essentially, PIT files provide the table or map and allocation size for each partition that Odin require to have a more successful flash process. Think of it as the roadmap for the firmware. This file is included in the CSC file, so extracting is not completely necessary, as it will be accessed during the flashing process. The reason I suggest applying the PIT file along with assigning CSC is for redundancy. Also, for these reasons:
1. To avoid a "Get PIT for mapping" error when flashing.
2. Prevent "Invalid EXT4 image" issues
3. Re-partitioning/NAND Erasing
4. Avoid possible boot loops
5. Proper internal storage allocation (Ensure if you have a 512GB device, you don't end up with 128GB visible.)**
** This is only an issue if you elect to download a PIT file from the web, rather than extracting it from the firmware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for an easy to understand and complete explanation. Your response is one of the reasons I love XDA - getting these kinds of answers help me and anyone else reading (who doesn't already know) to get a much better understanding of our phones and the way things work.
Thank you very much!

Geekser said:
Thank you for an easy to understand and complete explanation. Your response is one of the reasons I love XDA - getting these kinds of answers help me and anyone else reading (who doesn't already know) to get a much better understanding of our phones and the way things work.
Thank you very much!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well thank you so much. As long as I'm helping someone here, then this thread is serving its purpose. I care a lot about the why as much as I care about the what. This is the reason why I make lengthy post. Maybe a far amount of users don't really care about the details, I think it's important the understand the methodology. I hope that more and more people begin to share that same ethos.