Easy Lollipop 5.1 downgrade to KitKat 4.4.2 with TWRP - maybe - Galaxy S 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

If you want to read the below learning experience you may gain some knowledge but at this point I believe my method may have flaws. While it seemed fine at first the problem listed directly below could not be fixed without using Odin to flash a stock ROM back onto the phone. It had checked the hidden menu settings for MTP and ADB and PDA, CP etc and all were correct (I have another good working S5 to compare these values to). I tried an earlier restore of a TWRP backup and that just blew up with all sorts of FC's on boot. So thank goodness for Odin. After flashing the stock rom it booted fine and I can now write files from the PC to the phone again via USB. In the process right now of re-rooting, installing TWRP and doing a restore of my last backup.
Note : I have found one problem I am currently working on after using this method. I can hook up the phone to the PC and get a link, open folders on the phone and can copy file from the phone to the PC but can NOT copy files from the PC to the phone. More later .....
I've got a Samsung Galaxy S5 from US Cellular. Other than a few people in the Motorola subforum here trying this I haven't seen this exact method described here so apologies if I missed it somewhere - tried many searches. It seemed so easy - maybe it is just considered SOP for some - don't know so I'm going to run the details by here anyway in case it saves anyone some trouble. Do read my warnings below though before you attempt this.
1 - You want TWRP installed (or Philz CM Touch will probably work too - seems a bit more complex though) If you are flashing ROM's having TWRP or some other custom recovery is always a good idea and I'm sure most people have one of them.
2 - Always do a complete backup with TWRP before flashing anything new. You did a backup before going to Lollipop didn't you?
3 - So you are tired of the white screen, battery sucking, quirky Lollipop or maybe that Cyanogen Lollipop mod didn't quite work for you and you want the old Kitkat back. So fire up TWRP, go into Advanced wipe and wipe Dalvik Cache, System, Data and Cache. You aren't done wiping yet though. After you swiped to wipe those go back to the previous page and Swipe to Factory Reset. That may not actually make any difference but I just did it for good measure and my method worked great.
4 - Now without out even needing to reboot find your latest backup of Kitkat 4.4.2 that you have on your Internal SD or External SD card (you do keep one there don't you in case your phone glitches on you while you are out and about?)
5 - Do a Restore of everything - Boot, Recovery, System, Data, Cache.
6 - Reboot. You are done.
Firstly I need to add that I had flashed Cyanogen Mod 12.1 (Lollipop 5.1) after following directions here in the main Cyanogen subforum to flash that on my KitKat 4.4.2 Galaxy S5 phone. What may be noteworthy is that after flashing CM 12.1 I ran the App PhoneInfo Plus (made mostly for Samsungs) and the OS version showed as Lollipop 5.1 but some of the build numbers to my recollection showed 4.4.2. So this was not a stock Lollipop OTA - it was the Cyanogen mod of Lollipop made by developers here. I just assumed they started with Lollipop to make that latest 5.1 build but I haven't followed the Cyanogen mod much at all so I don't know if they have borrowed bits and pieces of Kitkat in their builds. If they have done that then this downgrade method may not work the same for an OTA Lollipop.
Another warning - I noticed in the Motorola subforum here that some people bricked their phone trying this type of downgrade with TWRP however I believe that is because they had Verizon phones with locked bootloaders and that is not the case for my phone (US Cellular) or any other phones beside VZ as far as I know. If you have a Verizon with locked bootloader beware! I will also add that on my first boot after restoring Kitkat 4.4.2 that the second the home screen was up I started quickly scanning through my app pages and the phone rebooted itself. I believe it wasn't fully done loading the OS and it just was a hiccup. It has not happened since after trying all sort of things. Everything is working great.
I saw most people recommending to use Odin to flash a stock Kitkat firmware back on the phone in order to downgrade from Lollipop. Then you need to re-install all your apps or maybe do a restore of a recovery but with this method using TWRP you bypass most of that and get it all done in one TWRP session.
Another note about what I read people having a problem with upon downgrading - some were losing their IMEI when using Odin to flash the original firmware. I still have my original IMEI with no problem. That is another reason I think this method may be better than using Odin for this downgrade. I'll add that there are a lot of people around here with a whole lot more knowledge about flashing and custom ROM's than me so don't take my ideas as hard fact without doing your own research for your particular phone and particular situation.

I can copy FROM the internal and external SD card to PC but not PC to either internal or external SD card and the permissions seem to be correct for the folders I'm trying to copy into. Anyone have any ideas on that? However I was able to use AirDroid (Wifi) to copy files to the phone from the PC - no real surprise there but it reaffirms that I can write to those folders - just not with the USB cable.
More info. I just decided to run the App KitKat external SD Card patch. It failed. I believe I ran that before flashing Lollipop and it worked but now it fails. ?? I don't know if it is related to this problem since both internal and external SD are having a problem - but only via USB.

I tried another Galaxy S5 with same computer and cable and that one works fine to copy to the SD cards so that eliminates the cable or computer. AirDroid - Wifi works but only a problem one way with USB - WTF?

droidzer1 said:
I tried another Galaxy S5 with same computer and cable and that one works fine to copy to the SD cards so that eliminates the cable or computer. AirDroid - Wifi works but only a problem one way with USB - WTF?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well thanks to TWRP AND Odin all is well once again in Androidland

Related

[Q] Any way of fixing System UID problem without flashing device?

Until yesterday, my Galaxy S II was working fine and I was recharging it as usual using my AC Adapter and it suddenly started to reboot itself constantly.
I thought nothing more of it until I found out that it wouldn't work at all.
I keep getting "System UID Inconsistent" messages and I try to force close the device but it doesn't work.
I'm using VillainROM 1.2 as my custom ROM as well as using the CF-Root Kernel to install it via Odin.
Is there anyway I can update VillainROM to fix the problem without wiping the data on the internal partition as well as accessing the internal partitions themselves?
(Ironically enough, I actually installed Titanium BACKUP itself on my device but for some reason, even though I paid for the full version, it would never let me upgrade to it!)
Apologies for bumping this thread but I really could do with some advice on how to fix this problem without having to flash the phone.
If phone turns on copy VR 1.4 file to sd card and flash through CWM as per roms instructions .
Or if you still have VR 1.2 on sd card reflash via CWM .
That fails a factory reset ( wipes all data ) may fix .
, I actually installed Titanium BACKUP itself on my device but for some reason, even though I paid for the full version, it would never let me upgrade to it!
You have the pro file on your sd card .
jje
Thanks for the advice and I'd try it if I could, but my phone still won't let me force close.
On a related note, I'm still trying to find out why I can't access the partitions on my mobile phone via USB even though the partitions appear in Windows Explorer.
I can't remember where I installed the upgrade file for Titanium, to be honest. I take it that where the upgrade file is installed could be the reason why the free version can't be upgraded?

No Data Samsung Xcover 2 GT-S7710L -- Latin Version

This all started when I ran out of data on my device and decided to root it so that I could use the SD card. I had previously rooted a droid 2 and a galaxy nexus so I wasn't a complete noob but I'm not in any way a programmer and I had never used Odin. So not wanting to mess with things without having a back up I followed some tutorials and downloaded the android sdk and used adb to back up. I thought I was doing a full system backup but whether I made a mistake or this simply doesn't back up everything I don't know. The file size should have been a clue but I missed it. I did get my apps
I then proceeded to follow the tutorials on this site for rooting the device. They are all for the GT-S7710 but I was hoping the letter (L) was a program only type thing and wouldn't make a difference. I used this guide http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=40232503&postcount=45 and downloaded the DEODEXED Version. I then rebooted the phone and everything appeared to be working fine and I was rooted. I could have sworn I had data. I then realized that I didn't have CWM as a recovery so I downloaded and installed CWM recovery http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=43294839 It was after rebooting (and maybe a reset I can't remember at this point) that I noticed I had no data.
So I flashed a few other ROMs including VANIR (and the recovery he suggests) http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2689519 I and CM 11 plus a stock rom (S7710LUBAMC1_S7710LUUBAMC1_CHO Samsung kies tells me CHO is the region for my device) but didn't have mobile data in any of them.
Still hoping to get mobile data working again I flashed a stock Recovery and A stock Boot.img from here...(Well I can't seem to find the thread now). It was a link to the stock boot.img and stock recovery.img (GT-S7710) from someone wanting a CWM recovery built. I then reflashed the stock ROM from above still no mobile data. My flash count in download mode is up to 26 lol and nothing I have tried restores the mobile data although as long as the phone boots, I do have wifi.
Is there ANYthing else I can try? I would really like to have my mobile data back even if it means I don't get to root.
No data connection
It turned out my no data was caused by not having any APN settings after flashing the custom ROM. I copied the settings from hubbies phone and now data works fine. I can't believe I spent so much time working on this and trying different things when it was something so simple.

[Q] [SOLVED] Adventures in CM11, still can't connect to T-Mobile USA.

Hello,
I have a MB525 that I purchased retail in the United States so it was never locked to any carrier. Currently I'm a T-Mobile customer and have no interest in changing that. I have to say I love this phone, mainly because it seems indestructible. Even years later the battery life is still good, but the stock 2.2.2 Froyo has become something of a problem because many of the Apps I would like to use have started requiring newer versions of Android.
I can't stay in the past forever, but I'm not quite ready to give up on this device so I started looking around at my options, and would you believe I found lots of other people who have this device and have worked very hard to produce updated Android OSes for it, and who have reported reasonably good success updating the device. I figured, Its already out of warranty, so I can't void a warranty I don't have. I also figured I'm a reasonably intelligent individual and have enough experience with Unix like operating systems that even if I get in trouble, I'll be able to ask the right questions to get out of trouble. Guess what point I have gotten to?
I started following the guide wikiDOTcyanogenmodDOTorg/w/Install_CM_for_jordan The Framaroot Gimli exploit worked great. I installed bootmenu 6.1 and Clockwork Mod Recovery. Fantastic. At this point, I was able to enter CMR and backup my mostly still factory ROM. If I understand correctly this is a nandroid backup. I copied that backup off of my SD Card to my PC. From this point I felt reasonably confident I could try things and in a worst case scenario restore to this backup.
Now I happen to have a stock ROM that seems to be a bit rare online, Blur_Version.34.4.806.MB525.Latam.en.01, so I figured at this point I'd do a service and create a backup using CWM after having done a factory reset. So I booted into the stock recovery, did a factory reset, restarted, and the OS was in a like new state. Perfect. Rebooted into CWM, and made a second backup of the factory reset state. I copied this off the SD Card to the PC. Now I figured I was ready for real fun.
I figured, I might as well put the most recent Android version I could find that people were reporting success with. This appeared to be @quarkx Kitkat build. The thread is almost a year old and has 500+ replies and so I guessed that most of the major kinks would have been worked out by now. I followed the directions on quarx2kDOTru and installed cm-11-20141015-NIGHTLY-mb52x.zip from Quarx2k.ru, and low and behold it worked. CM11 booted and everything looked great. WiFi worked. Gapps worked. Play store started installing my apps.
There was one small problem. The phone refused to connect to T-Mobile at all. So I did the reasonable thing. I searched and learned about base band switching, and consulted T-Mobile on what would be the correct APN settings. Occasionally it would connect to AT&T for emergency calling, but it never connected to T-Mobile no matter what I did. From my home I was normally getting excellent signal on the stock ROM, so I am reasonably certain that the actual signal in the area was not the problem, and that this had to be some kind of configuration or software issue. A wiser person probably would have gotten on the forum and asked for help, but wisdom be damned, I wanted to do it for myself.
So more research and at some point I thought, Well, I'll go back to the Stock ROM so the phone will be usable again, and I'll take another crack at CM11 again later. It was at this point that I realized that CMR had been replaced with Team Win Recovery Project. This recovery looked to be more feature rich and easier to use, so I accepted that. I backed up my CM11 install. then went to restore my original backup. Well you might have guessed by now that TWRP and CMR don't use exactly the same backup formats. I saw no obvious way to get back to my backup and couldn't find information that would allow reinstalling CMR. This was the first warning signal I foolishly ignored.
At this point I started looking around for slightly earlier builds of CM11 that might not have had the the problem connecting to T-Mobile. Here is where things get fuzzy about how things got into this state, since the work was spread over two days at this point. Somehow between all the flashing backing up and restoring, the device got to a state where the OS never actually finished could do here is yank the battery and reboot into TFRP.
At this point, attempting to restore would just result in the messages 'E: Unable to mount '/cache' and 'E: Unable to mount '/data' in the terminal. So After searching around I learned that I probably needed to format /cache and /data because somehow they were broken. Terminal commands, I can handle this. I start reading up and find the correct command and parameters for the format, and I type into the terminal inside TWRP and low any behold format can't be found. I start looking around the directories in my file system from inside TWRP and I've got a complete directoty structure, but no files in any directories other than on /sdcard. Well fuuuu.
Not sure what made me even try, but copying any file from my sdcard into /data somehow put /data into a state where a TWRP restore would work. So at this point I was able to restore the CM11 backup, and my phone now boots into CM11, 11-20141007-NIGHTLY-mb526. But.... the cellular network still doesn't work.
But now I am wiser and I am back to the point where a wiser person would have asked for help. So... Help?
Is 11-20141007-Nightly-mb526 the best rom an appropriate rom for my device? I'm guessing I missed something because other discussions on this forum mention newer builds, and also, my device is definitely a 525 not a 526.
Is my baseband version EPU93_U_00.60.03 right? The baseband selector allows me to pick from three T-Mobile settings: 3.4.2.-107-4, 3.4.2.-107-9, and 6.xx.0, none of which seems to allow me to connect to the cell network.
Thanks in advance for any assistance offered.
Sorry for the long potato.
Here is what I did to fix my problem.
I started with the original backup of my stock rom, and I used the unyaffs.exe from this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1199416 to convert my CMR backup into individual files. I then went into those files, and found \system\etc\motorola\bp_nvm_default\ and pulled out the original radio firmware from my device. From there I used advice from several pages to create my own update.zip, copied it to my SD card and I booted into TWRP and installed the zip there. Reboot and Voila, It connected right at startup to T-Mobile with the normal speeds I get from my home.
Bonus, I attached my zip in case anyone else comes across this and needs it.
My Device has an FCC ID of IHDP56LC1 if that helps anyone match their hardware.

[Q] note 4 restoring after root help!

Hello! I have a note 4 sm n910f build number n910fxxuanj4.
Recently, I have rooted it, installed twrp and flashed the infamous rom. It does not recognize my Italian sim card, so I decided to restore the phone with twrp from the backup I had previously done ( with twrp) . Then, I tried flashing cm12 with twrp, but it gave me an error, saying that my device was different from the one that should've been used, so it stopped before even trying. I went back to touch wiz after that, and now, I have the following issues: I can't download images / videos or audios from whatsapp , telegram , dropbox or facebook ( they are the only ones I have tried) I can't even send any of those in fact. Also, I can't save any python script with the app
"Qpython" as it either sais that the place where I want to save it is unwritable, or that he can't save it in the temp file ( no idea what the second means...). I though that there was some problem with my sd card...I fact there is: I went to do an sd card data a wipe with twrp, but it would always fail. I then tried to format the sd card from the phone's settings, and that worked, but I still have the same problems I had before. I tried restoring again with my twrp backup, but I every time, the problems remain. I am starting to get a little worried and scared...I don't mind losing all the data, or having to format the entire phone or things like that....I just want to get it working like before... will flashing the stock firmware with odin do any good? Or would that risk bricking the phone ( maybe it tries to wipe the sd and it fails...I don't know)? Is there any other way? Someone please help me! Thanks a lot!

Note 3 N900W8 (Canadian Rogers) Internal SD Card Malfunctioning

Hi,
So I have a Note 3 N900W8, Stock 4.4.2, rooted with SuperSU & the usual xposed & busybox config.
I had TWRP working fine but I hadn't gone to recovery in a while, probably a few months or so & when I went a few days ago somehow recovery had reset to stock recovery.
I usually download TWRP off their website & install using a terminal on the phone itself. But the TWRP website wasn't working so I couldn't download the file, so I installed TWRP (the latest version for hltecan) from TWRP Manager which is on the PlayStore.
It got installed just fine & TWRP loads up perfect. Right after that I wiped my cache & dalvik/art. That also went just fine.
But since then, my internal SD card has been going nuts. The phone turns on perfect, everything works, apps still function for the most part. What isn't working is, SD card is not entirely readable I think & definitely not writable through apps.
ES explorer shows the sdcard as blank in every location (not a single folder).
Titanium backup doesn't even load up, just stuck at loading screen says loading app data.
Lucky patcher says SD card not mounted
Camera doesn't work, can take pictures but they of course don't get saved & videos say recording failed.
I'm guessing a factory reset would probably fix it, or not. But before trying that I want to know if there's any other way?
Please help!
Thanks!
Cheers!
Personally, I would flash the latest stock ROM from sammobile.com, set up the phone to make sure everything works, then flash TWRP and a custom ROM of your choice.
audit13 said:
Personally, I would flash the latest stock ROM from sammobile.com, set up the phone to make sure everything works, then flash TWRP and a custom ROM of your choice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey yeah, exactly my thoughts, unfortunately sammobile hasn't been working for a while I think, their free servers are down :/ But 5.0 is finally available for the Canadian Note 3s! Should get on that!
But anyhow, I found the fix, there's this app on the PlayStore; Int-SdCard Write Fix (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vinny.intsdfixer&hl=en), does the trick! I'm guessing it's just a small bit of code but bloody brilliant!

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