Will I be able to root my galaxy s4 without a power button? - Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Last Christmas my galaxy s4 died, and I bought a z5 compact. After breaking the screen on the z5c a couple of months ago, I decided to try if the s4 have woken to life. I managed to get it on, but it turned itself off again. I figured out the power button was stuck, so I removed it, which made the phone working properly again.
I changed the screen and ear piece(which I broke while replacing the screen) on the z5c, but broke the screen again last week.
My s4 is 3 years old now, and have a decent crack in the screen. I decided I'll keep using my s4 instead of buying a new phone again in the near future, but it would be nice to customize it a bit to make it a "new phone". I was playing around last night with apps like "nova launcher" and "next" and it looks way better now. The thing is, it's kinda slow, and have a bunch of extra apps installed that I cant remove. which made me thing about rooting it.
I realize this turned out to be a rather long post for such a short question, but is it possible to root the phone without having the power button? If not, any suggestions for how I can customize it as awesome as possible without root?
Any helps is much appreciated, thanks =D

You can try Kingo root, but it is prone to problems.
Root in general is prone to problems on the S4's stock TouchWiz ROM.
Problems like random reboots.
Apart from Kingo root I don't think there is any other method that does not require you to reboot your device.
You could try replacing the power button yourself. A replacement isn't expensive.

GDReaper said:
You can try Kingo root, but it is prone to problems.
Root in general is prone to problems on the S4's stock TouchWiz ROM.
Problems like random reboots.
Apart from Kingo root I don't think there is any other method that does not require you to reboot your device.
You could try replacing the power button yourself. A replacement isn't expensive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Replacing the power button isn't really an option as I'd have to "melt" it on the motherboard, and I don't have the tools or skills for that.
I'll look into Kingo root, thank you.

Related

nexus one randomly just... died?

so, My n-1 had an "intermittent" power button problem.
so tonight, I had sent a text to someone, and saw that I had no response, so I clicked on the power button, nothing.
I charged phone, and the light goes to green when fully charged.
I can't soft, or hard reset the phone, since I'm guessing the power button isn't working or something?
The last thing that I had noticed, was that google goggles had updated itself.
Also, plugging it into the computer isn't doing anything either. There was no overheat issue, and I'm running vanilla stock froyo not rooted.
any ideas on what to do before I call HTC tomorrow?
edit: weird, I finally got it to turn on, by plugging in the usb, and taking out, and reinserting the battery a few times. I guess, if it does it again, back to HTC it will go.... but it still seems that the power button itself is not working.
edit again!:
power button has definitely failed. I downloaded widgetlocker as a temporary fix.... if anyone has any ideas (i.e. hard resetting the phone etc.) let me know before I call HTC please.
It's a HW failure, you should get it replaced. And on the next one install a ROM that supports trackball wake, that'll leave your power button much less prone to damage.
Downloaded no wake and sent in for a new phone. Luckily 2:00 am hawaii time is 7:00 am est.
Edit. Program is no lock lol.
another n1 user in hawaii sweet! lol
Jack_R1 said:
It's a HW failure, you should get it replaced. And on the next one install a ROM that supports trackball wake, that'll leave your power button much less prone to damage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but swapping Roms would kill the warranty and not enable me to get one repaired / replaced. ( yes I know most people with unlocked bootloaders got theirs fixed, but I'm not that lucky in life )
mrbkkt1 said:
Yes, but swapping Roms would kill the warranty and not enable me to get one repaired / replaced. ( yes I know most people with unlocked bootloaders got theirs fixed, but I'm not that lucky in life )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can root without unlocking the bootloader and voiding the warranty. I never thought I'd do it, but I did and am so happy. It's like I have a whole new phone.
bigmout said:
You can root without unlocking the bootloader and voiding the warranty. I never thought I'd do it, but I did and am so happy. It's like I have a whole new phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All my winmo phones needed new roms do I swapped like crazy. N1 was so solid out of the box I didn't feel the need to. On a side note. I'm still waiting for a shipping email. I wonder if they are out of stock?

[Q] Power button sticking/not working

Ok, so my phones rooted and the power button recently started sticking and just not working the past few days. should i unroot it before i bring it into sprint or will they probably not look at that? also what is their policy with this problem, will they replace the phone or send me to insurance?
Rdot9 said:
Ok, so my phones rooted and the power button recently started sticking and just not working the past few days. should i unroot it before i bring it into sprint or will they probably not look at that? also what is their policy with this problem, will they replace the phone or send me to insurance?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Had this issue they replaced the button and it was fixed.
I would unroot just in case.
You don't want your line marked as rooted in case you ever have an issue again.
thats what i was thinking, better safe than sorry.
you could try to replace it yourself i you were game its quite easy to take the phone apart and you can get the Power button online. It maybe just dirt/dust or something making it stick.
bump for update from OP

Phone instantly reboots?

I was listening to an audiobook when my phone suddenly died. It would not start back up, so I removed the battery. When I replaced the battery, the samsung logo would pop up but after about a second it would go black again. It will not start again until I remove/replace the battery, at which point it does the one second shutdown again.
At one point I got the phone to boot (no idea what I did differently) and I noticed that it got very hot around the camera area before going black again. A second time I was able to get into recovery, where I did a factory reset. Booted back up and it seemed to be okay, but then heated up very quickly and shut down.
Now, even if the phone is totally cool, I cant get past that 1 second of samsung logo. I'm really at a loss here, and totally screwed without my phone because I am traveling non-stop for the next 2 weeks. Does anyone know how I might try to troubleshoot this? Thanks
Possibly flash a new ROM and start over. That's what I would do
This EXACT situation happened to me yesterday! I was streaming from Google music, it was on the charger and things were fine. A call came in and the phone started vibrating like crazy and wouldn't stop. The screen went black and it kept vibrating. Finally it went off. On boot it will get to my lock screen and then crash after about 30 seconds. If I take the battery out and try again it lasts another few seconds after boot. If I leave it for a LONG time with the battery out and restart it I can get like 2 mins on the next boot without it crashing. The top part by the camera is getting hot on my phone as well. Recovery mode and download mode start fine and the phone doesn't crash. I have some data on the internal that I want to save so I tried to use Odin to flash the most recent build L720VPUFNG2 as that would just install the OS and not touch the data. On the next reboot things seemed to be working fine and I got maybe 5 mins out of the phone before it crashed again. I still don't have enough time to get the data off so I think I'm just going to say screw it and wipe it completely. You guys know of a way I can backup this app data using Odin or recovery mode? My phone is currently unrooted. I'm new to all this tinkering stuff. Phone is out of warranty now anyway.
Threw on a custom recovery, backed up all my data, did a full wipe, now I am good as new.
It worked for awhile but now it is back to rebooting itself. Any idea what could be the issue? I'm assuming at this point it is hardware related. Why can recovery and download mode run consistently without crashing but when an os is fired up it has issues? If it was a hardware issue shouldn't it not work across the board?
So I had Sprint replace my phone on the 8th. I have been using my same batteries (1 stock 1 Anker) and chargers (some stock some not) without issue the past 5 days. I rooted and installed xposed and some modules (original broken phone was never rooted and was completely stock). Things were going great until tonight when it started reboot looping exactly like the old phone. I switched battery and same proble. After I took the battery out and left it out awhile it fired back up but I'm afraid the problem will return. Is it possible that the battery or charger randomly are causing damage to the phone? I only have 14 day warranty on this replacement and need to figure this out.
I have no idea maybe try just using your stock battery for a couple days. See how that goes then use your other battery for a couple days and see what happens.
i7vSa7vi7y said:
I have no idea maybe try just using your stock battery for a couple days. See how that goes then use your other battery for a couple days and see what happens.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it was one of the xposed modules causing the issue. I realized the rebooting seemed to happen whenever I pressed the power button. I had installed a power menu module so perhaps it was the cause. I restored from a nandroid and uninstalled that module and things seem to be working now. Hopefully that was the cause and this thing won't start acting up again after the return period.
killerz298 said:
I think it was one of the xposed modules causing the issue. I realized the rebooting seemed to happen whenever I pressed the power button. I had installed a power menu module so perhaps it was the cause. I restored from a nandroid and uninstalled that module and things seem to be working now. Hopefully that was the cause and this thing won't start acting up again after the return period.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That makes a lot of sense. Have to be careful with those Xposed modules. Don't get too carried away installing so many at one time and playing with them and then rebooting. You'll have a hard time figuring out which one is causing it. I'm pretty sure you found your problem.
i7vSa7vi7y said:
That makes a lot of sense. Have to be careful with those Xposed modules. Don't get too carried away installing so many at one time and playing with them and then rebooting. You'll have a hard time figuring out which one is causing it. I'm pretty sure you found your problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is exactly what I did I installed like 6 at once and things were working well for a few hours then disaster stuck. I think I won't play with this phone anymore as I am upgrading anyway and want to sell it in working order.
So things were going well for awhile and then the reboot loops started up again. I did some digging and read that apparently Samsung phones are notorious for sticking power buttons and the symptoms were exactly what I was experiencing. I watched some videos online how to open the phone and clean out the power button but it didn't make a difference. I then read that squeezing the connector for the power button with a pair of pliers sometimes does the trick. Not for me. So finally since I'm not under warranty, have no insurance, and the phone wasn't working anyway, I just ripped the white plastic part of the power button right off. Well, that seemed to do the trick. Phone immediately fired back up without issue and has been going strong. I glued a small thin piece of plastic where the old one used to be and I am back in action. If my little plastic piece solution eventually fails or breaks off I will consider soldering on a new button but so far so good.
If you have tried everything else, and are looking for last resort, try cleaning the power button with some alcohol, and if that fails, rip off that power button! Here is the video that gave me the idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Glllc7bEJs and here are some other power button videos: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=s4%20power%20button&search_type=&aq=f&oq=

20 days, 2 bricked Nexus 6P

I assume bricked is the right term. And I'm pleading for some help here on what I can try before I call Google Support again.
Here is the quick run down: Bought 2 Nexus 6P, (Gray - Me), (White - Wife). Wife bricks her phone in 15 days, screen seems to work when held at different angles, can't seem to get it to stay on permanently, acts almost like an old VCR where it will partially draw the screen horizontally. Almost like a loose connector. It only stays on for milliseconds at a time, not long enough to factory reset or do anything remotely useful. Holding power for 8 seconds doesn't help. Holding power and both volumes does not help. Just to clarify, device is running, screen is black. Not a boot issue per say as a screen issue. Could previously hear her get alerts, can't right now (only see a battery icon). Since the screen is the main issue, I'm flailing in the dark as to where I am at any given point in time.
I assume how she uses the device because mine has been perfect and I can't seem to find a vocal crowd with this issue. However, after she bricks hers, she uses mine for an entire week and doesn't have any problems. Google support is extremely helpful and sends out an entire new device. I set it up and restore the apps, within 3 days (Friday -> Sunday) she has the exact same issue again - bricked. Now I'm completely flabbergasted. This device is still spotless, she has barely used it, it hasn't hit a surface hard, hasn't even been sneezed on. I can't even begin to stress how short a time period this is for a device to brick in. I can't help but feel this is a software app and the restore brought over the delinquent app. However, how come I can't reset the device and get back to a clean slate? Can anyone give me a trick?
Please, please help. She wants me to switch back to Verizon because of these device issues. However, even with 2 people, we are saving a ton on Project Fi and I really need this to work. Everything else has been a joy.
So I got it working. But I have a few questions...
Process:
1. Connected it to charger
2. Held power and both volume connectors
3. Held power again
4. Did both of these actions for upwards of 30 seconds at a time hoping for some response from the device.
5. Put it down on the table to write my forum post (still charging).
6. Battery image came on and off the screen randomly
7. Picked it up and held power one last time and it started booting normally.
I'm not sure which sequence of events led to what and I'd really love to know how to reliably reset it in the future. If this is the case then it means it was a software issue all along that persisted over several reboots.
Additionally, I'm frantically pulling software off of her phone - Elmo Calls, Sesame Go, Snapfish, Pinterest, etc. Fearing that one of these apps that I don't run on my device could be causing this. Is there any way to troubleshoot the software itself and see what device could have had access to the screen power and perhaps been powering the screen off as soon as I attempted to power it on (causing a flicker)?
Thanks.
your experience is really unusual you bought 2 phones but the one you are using does not have problems but your wife has, you switched phone then the problem occurs there is a chance a program is causing it as you already received a new one and it still occurring try to let her use the phone with the same software you are using and avoid which you dont use see if there is any progress.
Did you try factory resetting either phone?
Sounds like a software issue if they both had the exact same issue.
does she have some kind of serious strong magnet in her body or purse? haha
Soulfly3 said:
does she have some kind of serious strong magnet in her body or purse? haha
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I was going to say. Seems consistent to what a strong magnet would do to a screen. My next guess was a rogue app.
No magnets, nothing crazy. It started happening again yesterday a few hours after fixing it, I've hard wiped the device and bypassed the restore. Only updated the base applications and it is sitting on a charger - waiting to see if it will happen again.
Get a new wife?
VerucaSalt said:
Get a new wife?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or, as OP seems to like to get things in 2, get 2 new wives so that if you brick one, you still have one left without having to wait for RMA.
All jokes aside, is there any specific oddities in how your wife uses phones (Does she work at a metal scrapyard with a big ass magnet? Okay, I promise, last one.) Or you could be extremely unlucky to have bought a defective unit, which was replaced by another defective unit.
To reliably reset the 6P you just hold the power button until the phone vibrates as it starts to boot again. Did the screen flake out as it booted up too?
ttminh1997 said:
Or, as OP seems to like to get things in 2, get 2 new wives so that if you brick one, you still have one left without having to wait for RMA.
All jokes aside, is there any specific oddities in how your wife uses phones (Does she work at a metal scrapyard with a big ass magnet? Okay, I promise, last one.) Or you could be extremely unlucky to have bought a defective unit, which was replaced by another defective unit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Although these posts are funny as hell, honestly you would be surprised how many common every day things you come into contact with that can wipe data right off any storage medium. Although its definitely a possibility that you received a crap refurb phone, when you get the next RMA I would take some time to monitor your wife's daily routine with her cell (not her tinder activities), she might just be placing it near/on something that is wiping the phone or corrupting the data. Could also be a really junk app, but google is pretty good about keeping them out of the play store the best they can.
dl200010 said:
To reliably reset the 6P you just hold the power button until the phone vibrates as it starts to boot again. Did the screen flake out as it booted up too?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, it was flaking out on the 8 second hold reboot - I performed it dozens of times without getting my screen back. What works reliably for me is to hold power and both volumes and then hit power again once the diagnostic screen shows up (whether I can actually see it or not). The reboot off of the diagnostic screen seems to bring the phone back to life consistently.
She is using the phone w/ just the base apps from yesterday - I told her to try breaking it without loading new apps - will see how this plays out today.
jaaaaaaaaf said:
Yea, it was flaking out on the 8 second hold reboot - I performed it dozens of times without getting my screen back. What works reliably for me is to hold power and both volumes and then hit power again once the diagnostic screen shows up (whether I can actually see it or not). The reboot off of the diagnostic screen seems to bring the phone back to life consistently.
She is using the phone w/ just the base apps from yesterday - I told her to try breaking it without loading new apps - will see how this plays out today.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Was that diagnostic screen flaking out too? I suggest to get more aggressive and factory reset through recovery and than ONLY connect her google account to get her contacts. Run like that for about a week. Otherwise your other choice would be to unlock the bootloader and try a custom ROM. I would suggest Cyanogenmod, DLROM (mine), Pure Nexus Project, or even Noob Builds.
ttminh1997 said:
Or, as OP seems to like to get things in 2, get 2 new wives so that if you brick one, you still have one left without having to wait for RMA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
haaaaaaaa, very good
---------- Post added at 03:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:35 PM ----------
Soulfly3 said:
does she have some kind of serious strong magnet in her body or purse? haha
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Was actually going to say this too, is there somewhere she goes or sits which has some kind of strong magnetic field? It's odd that it happened to one and then to the next one, unless they're just both from a faulty batch.
Suppose I will add a follow-up. Since I ripped all her software off the device it hasn't crashed once in the same fashion. So I mean, that is the conclusion. I'd love to say I knew how to dive deep enough into Android to pinpoint exactly which app had such incredibly disruptive and adverse affects (far worse than complete OS crashes). But I don't know Android well enough. Google has the original phone. It definitely seems like an app should not have been able to take over the display so completely.
I'm going to move forward and have my wife install more of her apps. Just wanted to shoot an update out in case I don't revisit this. Thanks everyone who posted.
Maybe a combo of rogue (rouge?) apps? I mean some apps do have the ability to draw over screen, so that might have caused whatever problem you had.
And OP, don't leave us

Is my Note 4 dead?

Hello dear community,
I'm posting there because I have some doubts about my phone and i'd like some answers from you.
1 month ago, I was charging my phone. When it reached 100% battery, It was fine but the problem is when I was trying to press "power" to turn it on but It didn't want to. So, I removed the battery because I couldn't even turn it off. When I tried to restart it again, it didn't want to. No reaction to the "power" button.
I followed EVERY tips on Google but none worked. I also tried to change my battery but nothing. I tried also to connect it to my computer, it was detected but my phone didn't turn on.
So, I guess my phone is dead unless if there is a solution to make it working? Also before that, my phone was becoming very laggy and when it had a small lag, it was turning off and was rebooting.
Thank you in advance for your answers.
CSM Fol said:
I have mustered some conclusions about your phone based on what you typed:
1st claim: The power button no longer works anymore
•Reason: "... when I was trying to press "power" to turn it on... it didn't want to... When I tried to restart it again, it didn't want to. No reaction to the "power" button."
—Seems like you're gonna have to find another Note 4 and replace its motherboard with the Note 4 whose power button doesn't work anymore after 5 years.
But before spending, I would like you to try this method from a Youtube comment:
"... you'll just have to keep the charger [cable connected] on [your phone] while you take off the battery, and put it back after; then, remove the charger quickly..."
—————
2nd claim: The screen no longer works
•Reason: "I tried also to connect it to my computer, it was detected but my phone didn't turn on."
—If the phone is charged, seeing nothing but blackness, but you still see an emitting LED light on the top-left corner, that's a sign that it still works, just not the screen. So I would suggest that you buy a new screen and replace it with your old one. If you think you can't, then go to a phone repair shop and let others do the repairing.
—————
3rd claim: The motherboard is dead
•Reason: "... before that, my phone was becoming very laggy and when it had a small lag, it was turning off and was rebooting."
—The motherboard might be dead if these are happening, but I don't think this is the right reason unless the first two conclusions are proven to be true. If the first two conclusions are proven to be false, then the motherboard is dead, and you may either buy another Note 4 motherboard or get a new phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your answer.
To answer you clearly about all the points you clarified, there is no led light appearing when putting it on charge and I also tried the "Youtube comment" but nothing.
So I think, the motherboard is dead as you mentioned. I just don't understand how it died after a charge but as I saw on Google, it's a general problem on Galaxy Note 4, so I think i'm not surprised at all. It's been since 2015 I had it.
Thank you for your time and to have solved my doubts about the death about my phone.
xSLOom said:
Hello dear community,
I'm posting there because I have some doubts about my phone and i'd like some answers from you.
1 month ago, I was charging my phone. When it reached 100% battery, It was fine but the problem is when I was trying to press "power" to turn it on but It didn't want to. So, I removed the battery because I couldn't even turn it off. When I tried to restart it again, it didn't want to. No reaction to the "power" button.
I followed EVERY tips on Google but none worked. I also tried to change my battery but nothing. I tried also to connect it to my computer, it was detected but my phone didn't turn on.
So, I guess my phone is dead unless if there is a solution to make it working? Also before that, my phone was becoming very laggy and when it had a small lag, it was turning off and was rebooting.
Thank you in advance for your answers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Put in cold fridge for 30 min without battery, then try to turn it on. If not, try the cardboard method under the emmc chip (search youtube)
Timpaa said:
Put in cold fridge for 30 min without battery, then try to turn it on. If not, try the cardboard method under the emmc chip (search youtube)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this a serious thing ? (fridge)
I did the oven trick on my n910t. I left my phone stuck in the grill of my truck when I changed the brakes. I took it for a test drive and ended up running over the phone. Me being a noob at the time didn't know the AT&T Note 4 would not unlock Bootloader for custom roms or custom recoveries. I purchased the AT&T Note and was sorely disappointed there after. Flash 2019 I still have the motherboard for my note that I ran over. I can only get in to go into download mode and only when it was plugged in. I flash custom ROM or custom recovery and it would say would pass but it would just boot loop and boot loop. So I read somewhere where you can put it in the oven for around 5 to 6 minutes at about 200° and that it would settle any of the cracked solder that be around the emmc or anywhere else on the board. So I tried it. I stuck it in two different times at five minutes a piece, pull the board out and let it set for a day. I installed the board just a little while ago and she fired right up. It's amazing
I've recently replaced the motherboard on my N910F with a used one bought from AliExpress. As it's used I've no idea how long it will last but for £30 was worth a try.
It was pretty straightforward replacing the motherboard using one of the tear down guides on YouTube.

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