So yesterday I tried Resurrection Remix on my phone. Then I decided to go back to stock (I like trying ROMs).
I did several clean flashes to try to get rid of this new problem (as in I wiped every partition including system and then flashed and relocked my bootloader). When the updates start, Google Play Services crash. This is new but fair enough. But then, Google Maps can't update, I get an error (Error retrieving information RPC:S-13:AEC-13 5 JOK-MVMB-5QA). Then same with Google itself, Google Drive, Translation, Clock and Chrome all fail.
Once the original update process is done, I can retry those and they end up updating. But the, when I get to install my apps, the same problem happens!
This is a new problem I've never had before. Could it be related to me trying Resurrection Remix? Like my account is now linked to more recent google services or something?
Thanks
So I've put TWRP back and not only wiped but repaired all the filesystems (data, system, etc.) then flashed again. Everything went smootly except one app that gave me an error but I just pressed "Install" again and it went right through!
Guess that was the problem!
Still getting the Google Play Services has stopped error after first boot and before it starts updating (so after the Google Play Store has updated itself). If I reboot it's OK. I feel like there's something on the server side of things.
Prosis said:
Still getting the Google Play Services has stopped error after first boot and before it starts updating (so after the Google Play Store has updated itself). If I reboot it's OK. I feel like there's something on the server side of things.
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Hello,
One question: how you relock the bootloader? me i install also 7.1.1 after reflash the stock rom with fastboot procedure but at the end when i type: fastboot oem lock say ok. Restart phone but message bootloader unlock stay.
pots22 said:
Hello,
One question: how you relock the bootloader? me i install also 7.1.1 after reflash the stock rom with fastboot procedure but at the end when i type: fastboot oem lock say ok. Restart phone but message bootloader unlock stay.
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Click to collapse
You'll always get that message, it's by design. The bootloader is locked but its status is 2 which means it has been unlocked. They added this message so people wouldn't try to send back the phone if they have a problem after flashing something on it (officially it's to protect buyers who would buy used phones but, you know, come on... ).
There's a logo.bin file on this forum that you have to flash in order to get rid of the message. If you want to make your own, you can also search for MotoBootLogoMaker.zip and use the logo.bin that comes with your stock ROM. If you search for this on the forum you'll find several threads about it.
Prosis said:
You'll always get that message, it's by design. The bootloader is locked but its status is 2 which means it has been unlocked. They added this message so people wouldn't try to send back the phone if they have a problem after flashing something on it (officially it's to protect buyers who would buy used phones but, you know, come on... ).
There's a logo.bin file on this forum that you have to flash in order to get rid of the message. If you want to make your own, you can also search for MotoBootLogoMaker.zip and use the logo.bin that comes with your stock ROM. If you search for this on the forum you'll find several threads about it.
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Click to collapse
Ok thank's, i flash first: 'fastboot oem lock begin' after the stock Rom and 'fastboot oem lock' and finaly logo.bin
pots22 said:
Ok thank's, i flash first: 'fastboot oem lock begin' after the stock Rom and 'fastboot oem lock' and finaly logo.bin
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Click to collapse
Yes and then if you decide to try another ROM before going back to stock, you can skip logo.bin file in the process so you don't have to flash the one without the warning again.
Excellent news and a solution i havent found anywhere else yet!
Follow up from - https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s8/help/restore-imei-attempt-stock-rom-flash-t3802527
TL;DR attempted to re-root as soon as the bootloader unlocked. It all seemed to stick again, and got the big red message of doom again.
"Official Binaries Only" - Last time i was able to restore to at least switch on the phone to run down the rmm state timer to zero to flash again.
Tried the several methods of flashing through a locked bootloader (old BL file, quickly restart download mode and spam start on odin, etc) - literally nothing would allow me to flash anything that included the BL file. IMEI and baseband remained unknown. Phone went in drawer for a few days.
Just went and downloaded the latest XSA (Australia, Unbranded) build - https://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/galaxy-s8/SM-G950F/XSA/ and guess what boys and girls?
This sucker flashes straight away with Odin 3.13.1
It has completely restored my IMEI and baseband, i now have full Cell connectivity again, and its all back and working again. OEM unlock is still disabled, Samsung Pay still locked out which is fine, but otherwise, i have gone from brick to fully working Exynos S8 again.
TL;DR IF YOU HAVE ISSUES WITH A BRICKED PHONE BECAUSE IT WONT LET YOU FLASH ANY STOCK ROMS TRY THAT ONE.
Thanks for the replies to my other threads trying to help out with this. Much appreciated.
Peace out.
For heads up for other after this, how to get OEM unlock to pop up again.
Go-to date and time, change the date to 8 days prior, disable automatic update of time.
Reboot phone and it may take a few tries, but OEM unlock should pop up again in developer settings.
Just went through all this without any help and it sucked lol. Thanks for making this thread for everyone.
kratosjohn said:
For heads up for other after this, how to get OEM unlock to pop up again.
Go-to date and time, change the date to 8 days prior, disable automatic update of time.
Reboot phone and it may take a few tries, but OEM unlock should pop up again in developer settings.
Just went through all this without any help and it sucked lol. Thanks for making this thread for everyone.
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Click to collapse
Ive had a few cracks at this now but the date keeps resetting itself when you reset the phone despite having the automatic update option switched off.
Thanks for the info tho ill keep trying.
kratosjohn said:
For heads up for other after this, how to get OEM unlock to pop up again.
Go-to date and time, change the date to 8 days prior, disable automatic update of time.
Reboot phone and it may take a few tries, but OEM unlock should pop up again in developer settings.
Just went through all this without any help and it sucked lol. Thanks for making this thread for everyone.
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Click to collapse
Sunuva....
I havent been inside since i replied to you before. Gave up trying to fix that and was doing other things. Just reset both the s8 and s8+ to look at download mode... noticed the rmm flag was GONE rebooted and sure enough OEM Unlock is done.
You genius.
So - Anyone actuallly reading this -
Lost root, reflashed and cant install TWRP etc, "OFFICIAL BINARIES ONLY" crash, cant replace bootloader, missing IMEI/Unknown baseband -
TRY FLASHING XXU2CRED stock rom from 18/6/18 or later. This will flash despite a locked bootloader.
Once up and running set up the phone for use. Reboot as normal. Then turn off automatic time and date set date to 8 days prior, reset phone a couple of times. Get annoyed because you keep having to reset the date backwards. Reboot phone again and set automatic tin me and date again. Reboot. Bamf unlocked and completely restored SN-G950F.
Courtesy of Funkmonkey and @kratosjohn (the little legend)
Ah I should have also mentioned I also did the same, flashed the same firmware when I was desperate and after some bit I also noticed prenormal change to official in download mode (the tell tale). I had OEM unlock on always, just was stuck in prenormal mode and couldn't flash anything.
To speed up the OEM unlock trial and error process do this as well:
1. After setting time/date back 8 days (and auto update time off). Go-to updates in settings, select manual update and check the server (it will error probably but that sets a check on their server to allow the RMM state to change next time it's connected properly).
2. Do this quite a few times, with reboot and constantly fighting the date auto update.
3. Flash the CRED firmware mentioned, boot it and setup once. Then reboot and go-to download mode.
4. You should see official as the RMM state now and you can happily OEM and flash away!
kratosjohn said:
Ah I should have also mentioned I also did the same, flashed the same firmware when I was desperate and after some bit I also noticed prenormal change to official in download mode (the tell tale). I had OEM unlock on always, just was stuck in prenormal mode and couldn't flash anything.
To speed up the OEM unlock trial and error process do this as well:
1. After setting time/date back 8 days (and auto update time off). Go-to updates in settings, select manual update and check the server (it will error probably but that sets a check on their server to allow the RMM state to change next time it's connected properly).
2. Do this quite a few times, with reboot and constantly fighting the date auto update.
3. Flash the CRED firmware mentioned, and reboot and go-to download mode.
4. You should see official as the RMM state now and you can happily OEM and flash away!
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Click to collapse
Have just flashed TWRP, used the Comsy version to be safe (3.13.1 fine for the stock rom flash) - I used comsy as it is mentioned in hte post OREO S8 update. It allows TWRP to be flashed but maybe thats whats breaking everything else. Ill try magisk next.
Fire up TWRP and enable system changes. FIRST - Advanced wipe and format system (Im 99% sure this is what screwed my last couple of roots), hit yes and do it. Reboot into recovery again.
Flash no-verity, then SuperSU (or your preferred root, i use Aroma installer first, THEN you have to flash the SuperSU binary with that)
Wipe dalvik etc. Reboot into system. As i type this its now in the 'Welcome' screen. Gimme a minute and ill check all is good.
UPDATE - Everything restored installed titanium backup root held. Rebooted phone aaaaaaaaand - "Only official released binaries are allowed to be flashed" - Back to square one. Will attempt same reflash now, but the root procedure kills everything. Back in download mode again. RMM State: Prenormal returned.
It is now succesfully flashing the stock rom in Odin 3.13.1 - Accidentally started it with Comsy and it DID NOT WORK. You MUST use the normal version to flash the rom im using.
Looks like we def have a stable way to refire up the phone again, and get around RMM state prenormal nice and quickly, so ill go ahead now and try and find whats going on with things breaking afterwards!
Thanks again guys.
Did nearly the same as you, dejavu.
I use magisk though. Be sure to flash a rom or kernel with RMM state fixed lol, or you'll be back here soon.
Funkmonkey said:
Have just flashed TWRP, used the Comsy version to be safe (3.13.1 fine for the stock rom flash)
Fire up TWRP and enable system changes. FIRST - Advanced wipe and format system (Im 99% sure this is what screwed my last couple of roots), hit yes and do it. Reboot into recovery again.
Flash no-verity, then SuperSU (or your preferred root, i use Aroma installer first, THEN you have to flash the SuperSU binary with that)
Wipe dalvik etc. Reboot into system. As i type this its now in the 'Welcome' screen. Gimme a minute and ill check all is good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Someone should clean this up and get it stickied.
I imagine there are alot of users here with this same issue, after the CRED update we can't downgrade our bootloader, and in a panic you can get stuck here.
kratosjohn said:
Did nearly the same as you, dejavu.
I use magisk though. Be sure to flash a rom or kernel with RMM state fixed lol, or you'll be back here soon.
Looks like that wont be an issue any more to be honest this phone is now a backup thankfully so i can play around with it to my little hearts desire.
Im about to try the magisk install. SuperSU/Aroma definately breaking something somewhere. Or verity. I dont know but rooting the phone at the moment is killing it again.
Also, i have NOT lost IMEI or baseband this time. At the very least for Australian SN-G950F phones, this is a 100% flashable stock rom regardless of your RMM or phone status. I cannot say this for any other model in any other country on any other carrier, but this is all working for a carrier free Exynos S8.
Maybe y'all better archive the actual stock somewhere before someone realises theyve made a mistake somewhere and it gets pulled. Im definantly backing it up.
I just got that oem unlock trick to happen in 2 shutdown/restarts NOT reboots. BUT. I did NOT enable developer mode until i had disabled automatic time updates and turned the date back 8 days. The option came up instantly. Is something comparing a hardware clock deep in the system to a software clock in the os to and developer mode comparing something in between? Either way, on to reflash TWRP again now. This is a good day.
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Click to collapse
Hokay so - From a factory refresh, to the OEM unlock trick -
Flashing TWRP with 3.13.1 and allowing the phone to reboot - Phone will reboot as normal, TWRP doesnt stick. Shutdown and reboot into recovery gives you stock recovery.
Flashing but ensuring phone reboots directly into recovery gives you TWRP. A format data and reboot directly into twrp again lets me install no-verity.
- AFTER DOING THIS I AM GETTING THE RED LINE OF DEATH - Something in the system isnt letting the modifications stick.
Reflashing with the Home_CSC still seems to work as normal and i havent had to go through the welcome stuff this time...
Funkmonkey said:
Hokay so - From a factory refresh, to the OEM unlock trick -
Flashing TWRP with 3.13.1 and allowing the phone to reboot - Phone will reboot as normal, TWRP doesnt stick. Shutdown and reboot into recovery gives you stock recovery.
Flashing but ensuring phone reboots directly into recovery gives you TWRP. A format data and reboot directly into twrp again lets me install no-verity.
- AFTER DOING THIS I AM GETTING THE RED LINE OF DEATH - Something in the system isnt letting the modifications stick.
Reflashing with the Home_CSC still seems to work as normal and i havent had to go through the welcome stuff this time...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you found and used this after getting your phone setup right (w/twrp)?
I think you should flash magisk, then this after.
After I had this "panic" I flashed the custom rom I was aiming for (once RMM: Official). That rom has a kernel with the RMM state fixed/locked.
Maybe look for a custom kernel if you want root, I believe this is the fight we have to put up even on stock w/root.
Download the Australian stock rom and install it but do not recover IMEI or coverage. I think it's because my G950F (singlesim) cell phone thinks it's G950FD (double sim). This causes the cell phone to get confused and not recognize any imei or sim. Does anyone know how to fix it?
Funkmonkey said:
Sunuva....
I havent been inside since i replied to you before. Gave up trying to fix that and was doing other things. Just reset both the s8 and s8+ to look at download mode... noticed the rmm flag was GONE rebooted and sure enough OEM Unlock is done.
You genius.
So - Anyone actuallly reading this -
Lost root, reflashed and cant install TWRP etc, "OFFICIAL BINARIES ONLY" crash, cant replace bootloader, missing IMEI/Unknown baseband -
TRY FLASHING XXU2CRED stock rom from 18/6/18 or later. This will flash despite a locked bootloader.
Once up and running set up the phone for use. Reboot as normal. Then turn off automatic time and date set date to 8 days prior, reset phone a couple of times. Get annoyed because you keep having to reset the date backwards. Reboot phone again and set automatic tin me and date again. Reboot. Bamf unlocked and completely restored SN-G950F.
Courtesy of Funkmonkey and @kratosjohn (the little legend)
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Click to collapse
Do we need to factory rest or just reboot phone after we change date?
Funkmonkey said:
Sunuva....
I havent been inside since i replied to you before. Gave up trying to fix that and was doing other things. Just reset both the s8 and s8+ to look at download mode... noticed the rmm flag was GONE rebooted and sure enough OEM Unlock is done.
You genius.
So - Anyone actuallly reading this -
Lost root, reflashed and cant install TWRP etc, "OFFICIAL BINARIES ONLY" crash, cant replace bootloader, missing IMEI/Unknown baseband -
TRY FLASHING XXU2CRED stock rom from 18/6/18 or later. This will flash despite a locked bootloader.
Once up and running set up the phone for use. Reboot as normal. Then turn off automatic time and date set date to 8 days prior, reset phone a couple of times. Get annoyed because you keep having to reset the date backwards. Reboot phone again and set automatic tin me and date again. Reboot. Bamf unlocked and completely restored SN-G950F.
Courtesy of Funkmonkey and @kratosjohn (the little legend)
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Click to collapse
Can you please help me? so when you say reset phone you are talking about restarting it? I have tried this a few times and not working for me. My oem has always been unlocked, but still have prenormal
Smartphones13 said:
Can you please help me? so when you say reset phone you are talking about restarting it? I have tried this a few times and not working for me. My oem has always been unlocked, but still have prenormal
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Click to collapse
I was stuck here too, flash the latest CRED firmware he linked.
Then boot it one time (setup til you see launcher).
Do the OEM unlock method.
You can follow the steps after if you want root.
I suggest magisk and a custom ROM, that had RMM state fixed (so you won't get locked again).
Good luck!
Smartphones13 said:
Can you please help me? so when you say reset phone you are talking about restarting it? I have tried this a few times and not working for me. My oem has always been unlocked, but still have prenormal
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Click to collapse
Sorry i missed your reply i hope you got it fixed if not post again and ill see if i can help. Ive definantly gotten that oem unlock trick working which is awesome but its fiddly. I dont think it works if you turn on flight mode and you have to let the phone fight you between 'no automatic date and time' and the network forcing the time.
Of course now i cant get the oem unlock trick working...
RE the dual sim issue... i think you would need the stock rom specific to your model try sammobile, see if there is a CRED release for your model. I cant guarantee it will work tho.
kratosjohn said:
I was stuck here too, flash the latest CRED firmware he linked.
Then boot it one time (setup til you see launcher).
Do the OEM unlock method.
You can follow the steps after if you want root.
I suggest magisk and a custom ROM, that had RMM state fixed (so you won't get locked again).
Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your help, I am on the latest firmware now and into my Google and Samsung accounts. I am a little confused on the wording in the oem steps. I have tried it a bunch of times. Prenormal is still there, I already have the OEM unblocked, I can toggle OEM on and off but it doesn't change my rmm status. I am not sure what I am doing wrong.
Smartphones13 said:
Thank you for your help, I am on the latest firmware now and into my Google and Samsung accounts. I am a little confused on the wording in the oem steps. I have tried it a bunch of times. Prenormal is still there, I already have the OEM unblocked, I can toggle OEM on and off but it doesn't change my rmm status. I am not sure what I am doing wrong.
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Click to collapse
Thats exactly what im now struggling with. It absolutely did work twice but i cant get it to go now.
Heres the thing - both times i did it before, i would turn off automatic time and date and set the date backwards, then reboot the phone, when it reboots, automatic time and date were rechecked, and the date reset to now (hence the 'fighting with the date' comments) ... i think thats important, because now when i try it, automatic time and date stay OFF, the date does not reset, and i cant get the trick to work anymore. No amount of wifi/airplane/mobile data on/off seems to change owt.
If anyone reading has any ideas it would help.
Funkmonkey said:
Thats exactly what im now struggling with. It absolutely did work twice but i cant get it to go now.
Heres the thing - both times i did it before, i would turn off automatic time and date and set the date backwards, then reboot the phone, when it reboots, automatic time and date were rechecked, and the date reset to now (hence the 'fighting with the date' comments) ... i think thats important, because now when i try it, automatic time and date stay OFF, the date does not reset, and i cant get the trick to work anymore. No amount of wifi/airplane/mobile data on/off seems to change owt.
If anyone reading has any ideas it would help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see, so you suppose to set date back 8 days and turn off auto time and date and restart phone? When it comes back on to and set the date back to 8 days again? I thought you have to check the software? And then do those steps? So after I change the date back after that first restart, then what? Do I just turn OEM lock on and check download mode to see what the status is? I am not trying to be a pain o am just confused a little on the steps. Thank you for all your help
Smartphones13 said:
I see, so you suppose to set date back 8 days and turn off auto time and date and restart phone? When it comes back on to and set the date back to 8 days again? I thought you have to check the software? And then do those steps? So after I change the date back after that first restart, then what? Do I just turn OEM lock on and check download mode to see what the status is? I am not trying to be a pain o am just confused a little on the steps. Thank you for all your help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think we might be looking at different issues.
This is to fix a semi bricked phone that has locked up its bootloader. In the past to resurrect a samsung all you had to do was flash twrp and your new rom but since Oreo some funkiness has been added to the system which only lets you flash a stock rom, (i.e. restoring a phone to factory settings and software) via ODIN/HEIMDALL then it locks up the bootloader for a week so you CANNOT flash anything into the phone that modifies the bootloader (i.e. TWRP OR *any* rom) until its timer runs out. This is most likely an anti theft feature esp with samsung and google pay use as it means there is no way to easily break into a stolen phone and use it as normal, and reflashing breaks all of the security features of the phone (e-fuse) - no knox no samsung or google pay no samsung pass as your device is insecure and could spoof false banking details etc.
The rom i linked to is important as it is a new AUSTRALIAN unbranded STOCK rom, that for some reason you can flash OVER a locked bootloader, meaning you can resurrect (australian at the very least) SN-G950F phones (exynos)
If you already have a working phone and can get to your developer settings then most of this thread is irrelevant to you.
Now - OEM unlock - You just bought a brand new galaxy from samsung (or youre me and you bought a MINT second hand one from cash converters for $700 less) - your phone is factory standard and schmicky. THE BOOTLOADER IS LOCKED. THE RMM STATE SHOULD NOT be triggered. If right now you went to flash something it would fail.
So you go to about phone - software information and you tap 'build number' seven times to unlock developer mode. Hit back twice and developer mode will be at the bottom of settings.
Click into this and you should see without swiping down 'OEM UNLOCK' - If you enable this, you can then reboot straight into download mode (power vol down and bixby) and flash twrp or whatever rom.
If you dont see this option, you either have a snapdragon model (youre **** outta luck permanently) or RMM is PRENORMAL and you either have to try the unlock trick(s) or leave your phone SWITCHED ON for 1 week and it will unlock itself.
The biggest issue at the moment is that i keep breaking something after i attempt to root so not sure whats happening there so use major caution.
Now as i said the trick posted above to unlock without having to wait a week (which i think youre asking about) im now not sure how it works because i cant get it to work any more.
Automatic time and date off, set date back 8 days, reset the phone. Do this a couple of times, then turn on automatic date and time again. HERE THERE BE ISSUES. When i first did it - i switch off time and date and change then reset, when the phone came on, auto date and time was on again. Turn off, change date, reset. Again, its back on. Turn off, change date, reset. Its back on. I give up and leave it, and notice later the option was available, so it worked. I broke the phone, reflashed again, did the trick in ONE reboot. Fcked something again, reflashed, now auto time and date stays off and the trick wont work so i cant help you with that until someone comes up with more info im sorry! Its a bit zarbis.
Im not going too nuts trying to fix it as i now have a fully working stock backup phone that sits on DeX plugged into my bedroom tv full time and im not into custom roms, root keeps breaking the phone, and ive sonce replaced it with a mint S8+ that im not even THINKING about considering rooting until its replaced maybe next year. Its not as easy to get around anymore and thankfully a) picasa and hangouts are no longer stock apps and can be banished and b) you can now disable all the other built in apps natively so its now a lot more bearable with a totally stock phone.
Hello, I really messed this up... I haven't rooted a phone in over 5 years, but just ordered a moto g7 from google fi because I wanted to play around with rooting and rooted apps again.
Setup:
-got moto drivers, adb, set developer mode, unlocked bootloader
I had tried to just root using the "simple?" method of using Magisk with the lolinet firmware files. I used the PPO files in the Official/FI dir. I thought that I had seen an error when flashing the magisk modified boot.img that there was an issue or that it wasn't valid, I (stupidly) assumed that this was like the notification you get after unlocking bootloader about invalid key or whatever. When trying to boot up it would just keep boot looping, and I went into hard panic mode... I saw other people had mentioned using retail or retus firmware on the google fi variant, so I proceeded to try to just flash those stock boot.img files after the fi one hadn't worked. I then finally got it to boot up fully, I don't even remember which firmware it was (retail maybe) and felt a little bit better about it, but had also seen that some people had said it wouldn't have the full functionality of network switching if I wasn't using the fi firmware. So... back to the fi firmware...
I was able to get it booting up on stock fi firmware, and to be honest I should have stopped there and given up on root, because I'm guessing I would have been perfectly fine up to that point... I again tried magisk modified fi firmware to no avail, and was having trouble getting back on stock fi for some reason... I followed a post to reset to stock and relock bootloader ***I'm guessing this was my major fault***, I must not have been paying enough attention to the command prompts doing this, but I think this is where I messed something up royally. It was able to boot, but then it said it had updated software to the 'PPOS' variant which I thought was strange... After attempting to reflash stock fi and then magisk fi boot.img it is failing and won't even get to boot loop.... when trying the slew of commands to flash full stock firmware I keep getting issues with the "_a" partition being not found.
At this point I can't get to recovery, or boot after attempting to flash a number of times. Any help would be appreciated, even if it is just a confirmation that I f'd this device and to stop wasting my time and give up on ever having a rooted device again lol.
Thanks for your time, and let me know if there is additional info to provide that may help.
Edit: Current status:
"Start Up Failed: Your device didn't start up successfully. Use the Software Repair Assistant on computer to repair your device. Connect your device to your computer to get the software Repair Assistant."
in Bootloader logs, but I don't know what software repair assistant it is referring to, i have tried connecting to pc.
Edit 2: Or I'm just a complete idiot and needed to re-unlock bootloader with the code like previous... which I totally should have known, but again, I'm an idiot...
So, now that I've got it booting up, do I attempt reflashing a magisk img or just admit I'm too stupid to do this? Or should I go with twrp which seemed like more steps and potentially more issues to run into?
Sorry for the scare and immense stupidity!
Hi,
the other day a friend gave me her old Samsung tab 4 7.0 (SM-T235). It's in its default state, running Android 5.1.1 stock ROM with all the most recent (5 year old) updates. "KNOX" appears to be ok, afaik.
This is my first Samsung device, up to the date I had experience with HTC Desire, Sony Xperia (2x) and OnePlus devices. I unlocked / rooted and installed custom ROMs on all of them.
Done quite a bit of googling and playing around with my "new" Samsung to see where it's different compared to my other devices. But there still are some blank spots, and there doesn't seem to be too much information out there regarding that specific tab 4 device. Before I start messing around I'd love to have some input from experienced Samsung users in regards to custom recoveries and ROMs, and possibly rooting. If there are comprehensive guides etc. out there that I simply didn't find don't hesitate to give me some hints:
First of all it appears to me that this device is going under the codename "degas". Correct? (meanwhile confirmed)
I hooked up the device to my PC, made sure that adb found it alright, then called "adb reboot recovery". That worked nicely, got me into Samsung recovery
Next I again tried to connect through ADB to the device still being in recovery, but that didn't work. To be expected?
Still in recovery I chose the "boot to bootloader" option, but that got me back into system instead.
So from system I again connected to adb then called "adb reboot bootloader". Device booted alright, but again it just rebooted into system.
>> Is there really no way to get into bootloader?
Trying to find out what has to be done in order to flash a custom ROM (rooted or not): from what I get, and unlike my other devices, I do not have to unlock the device / bootloader to begin with. It looks as if it was sufficient to boot into what they call "download mode", then hook up the device to my PC where ODIN is waiting already. Following this thread (and others) it then is sufficient to just flash TWRP from ODIN, boot to recovery and then do what is usually done here (like flash custom ROM, flash Gapps and possibly Magisk etc.). Is there something else / important I should know / observe?
Speaking about TWRP and Custom ROMs: TWRP.me lists that device on their site. So has anyone here flashed latest TWRP (3.6.2_x)? Or should I rather start with an older version like the one listed here, then possibly upgrade from there?
In regards to Custom ROMs I basically just found this LOS 16 thread (which is the same linked in the previous "TWRP" bullet). I assume that's it, or does anyone know about a newer android version (which I didn't find so far)? There seems to be lots of activity around "matisse" and "millet", but apparently those aren't the right devices, right?
Back to recovery: I see that in stock recovery there is an option to "wipe data/factory reset": should I do that before flashing TWRP from ODIN, or is it sufficient to wipe everything once I booted into TWRP?
I'm aware that I'll lose "Knox" as soon as I flash a different ROM / Recovery. As I don't want to use the tab 4 in some critical "BYOD" area I don't care (neither do I care about warranty, that's long gone anyways). But just to be sure: is it true that I'll lose "Knox" access?
In case I would decide to "go back" to stock ROM one day, how would I proceed then? Would ODIN still work so that I can flash latest stock ROM? Would Knox then be restored, or is that a thing of the past once I leave the stock ROM path?
Again: if you think I've done a bad job searching for answers don't hesitate to let me know but please be so kind then to hint the phrases I should look for ("SM-T235" really doesn't bring up that much valuable info)
Thanks and cheers
Update 2022-08-03: meanwhile I realized that the device is connected to my PC through generic drivers. Would it help to install specific Samsung drivers although both ADB and ODIN are acknowledging the device? Or can I just neglect that?
Since no answers came in I dared to just try. Meanwhile I'm running the device on LOS 16 with TWRP 3.5.2_9. Then flashed MindTheGapps (arm/Android 9 flavour)The switch wasn't as easy as I expected for some reason not obvious to me (somehow I couldn't get into TWRP after flashing it through ODIN. Then after the ~25th attempt it suddenly worked). Meanwhile I installed the official Samsung drivers, and maybe that helped, in combination with other adjustments I lost trace of...
I'll answer some of the above questions, for anyone who's interested:
#3: while in recovery (TWRP 3.5.2, as it is now) I still cannot access the device through adb. But I have access from windows' file explorer, so at least I can exchange files while being in recovery. Strange thing, this is the only one of my devices that behaves this way. The other day I'll try again from a Linux machine. maybe that works...
#4/5/6: boot to bootloader still doesn't work no matter what I try - devices always boots back into system
#7: Once I managed to get into TWRP the rest was a breeze
#8: I tried TWRP 3.6.0_9-0 which worked but on every boot into recovery it shows first a red notice that recovery was not enforcing SEAndroid. The notice then turns into blue and a second later TWRP logo shows up. This dowsn't happen with TWRP 3.5.2_9, so I stay there for the time being. Then I felt lucky and installed TWRP 3.6.2_9 image from running TWRP recovery, then rebooted. That again showed the red "not enforcing" message - and got stuck there. Solution was to get back into "Download mode" then re-flash TWRP 3.5.2 through ODIN.
Conclusion TWRP 3.6.2 is not fit to be used on that device (no, I didn't try 3.6.1...)
#9: since there aren't any more security updates released by google for A9 ROMs it would really be great to be able to upgrade to an A10 or even A11 ROM... anyone ever tried to use a "matisse" or "millet" ROM?
#10: I decided to use that - wiping everything that was on the device then doing a factory reset as well before flashing LOS 16. Then after first boot into LOS 16 a strange thing happened: when I made a basic setting (in regards to location services" the device told me that in a previous version I had decided to NOT allow google to use those services: after all that wiping and factory resetting: how could the device know that? By that time I had not yet logged myself into Google. Very mysterious!
#11/12: I guess I know the answer: I'm out of "Knox" now once and forever. And apparently ODIN is still working and recognizing the device.
Cheers!