SOS - OneClick Brick - Galaxy S 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Greetings,
I need some help. I purchased OneClickRoot for my Verizon S5. Everything went swimmingly right up until it didn't. I got root after several hours with the oneclick tech team. he gave me instructions on how to flash a ROM, but left out the apparently important step where I should have skipped the signature verification. So I had SafeStrap, wiped everything and tried to flash an unsigned ROM. now the phone is dead wit no OS and seemingly no ability to get back to safestrap. Should I just toss this phone in the rubbish and buy a new one or can it be saved? When I boot to recovery, it is Android recovery and it keeps failing on the verification.
All advice is welcome.
Doug M.

dwmackay said:
Greetings,
I need some help. I purchased OneClickRoot for my Verizon S5. Everything went swimmingly right up until it didn't. I got root after several hours with the oneclick tech team. he gave me instructions on how to flash a ROM, but left out the apparently important step where I should have skipped the signature verification. So I had SafeStrap, wiped everything and tried to flash an unsigned ROM. now the phone is dead wit no OS and seemingly no ability to get back to safestrap. Should I just toss this phone in the rubbish and buy a new one or can it be saved? When I boot to recovery, it is Android recovery and it keeps failing on the verification.
All advice is welcome.
Doug M.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm unfamiliar with Verizon variants, but have you tried using Odin to flash the original stock?
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2784880
Sent from my Samsung SM-G900I using XDA Labs

Yea dude as long as you can get into download mode (or Odin mode whatever you feel like calling it) you're fine just flash whatever version you feel like being on and I would follow these instructions for root and ROMs and possible bootloader unlock since it's Verizon https://forum.xda-developers.com/ve.../testers-required-easier-root-method-t3561529

So Close!!
Thanks for the help. I followed this guide ( https://forum.xda-developers.com/ve.../testers-required-easier-root-method-t3561529) and got it back; ...sort-of.
In Step 13, I used the 6.0 firmware.
In Step 14 I used the "latest stock rooted Lollipop Rom" that was recommended.
I have what appears to be a rooted 5.0 factory rom installed. However, when booting, I get process stopped errors for the first 2 minutes. Maybe 15 or 20 of them. After that, they stop.
Current Problems:
1) the radios are dead. Wi-Fi will not turn on and it does not know that my SIM card is installed
2) when the screen times-out I have to pull the battery to get it back.
3) All the error messages (android.process.media)
4) It does not see the SD card
Questions:
A) Can you help me fix the radio problems?
B) Once I get the radios working again, can I flash any G900V ROM with safestrap and it will likely solve 2, 3 &4?
C) Are the custom roms on 6.0 and higher rooted? I was looking at this one (https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s5/unified-development/rom-cosmic-os-3-1-t3553838)
Thanks for any assistance you can provide.

Idk if i can help bt i can try haha Well first thing first it sounds like you used marshmallow firmware but then flashed a lollipop ROM which yes it will boot up bt stuff like your radio and GPS, etc won't work so first thing is first i would say is do a complete wipe and get your self back to stock through Odin and get everything working first before worrying about ROMs then I have to ask is what is what is your emmc are you 15 (bootloader unlock and can easily root 6.0.1 or higher) or emmc 11 (can only root 5.0)

Related

NEED HELP QUICK, fast, and in a hurry please

Alright, so i soft bricked my phone is what the internet is telling me. the phone turns on but stops at the opening samsung screen with the unlock symbol on it. i can get into odin mode, and recovery, but i have a locked recovery. I went to flash a rom to my stock slot which is what the forum said to do so i did it. looking back it was pretty stupid, and now when i tried to recover my back up it came back with an error and then said there was no os system in my stock slot. i tried doing a recovery in rom slot 1 which it recovered but when i restarted my phone everytime it went into a boot loop. so now i have a very expensive paperweight. so my questions are one is there anyway that i could salvage my phone. two is there a way i could get it back to where i was with any of my recoveries that i have. i herd the odin method works but will it work for my phone? i tried the odin before but never could get it to work. also kies is out of the question because neither programs will recognize my phone.
oh yeah my phone. so the last thing i had running on it was the 4.4.2 update I337 NC1 would i have to flash the NC1 os or could i flash an earlier one because all i could find were the 4.2.2's and the NB1 flash.
tshaulis said:
Alright, so i soft bricked my phone is what the internet is telling me. the phone turns on but stops at the opening samsung screen with the unlock symbol on it. i can get into odin mode, and recovery, but i have a locked recovery. I went to flash a rom to my stock slot which is what the forum said to do so i did it. looking back it was pretty stupid, and now when i tried to recover my back up it came back with an error and then said there was no os system in my stock slot. i tried doing a recovery in rom slot 1 which it recovered but when i restarted my phone everytime it went into a boot loop. so now i have a very expensive paperweight. so my questions are one is there anyway that i could salvage my phone. two is there a way i could get it back to where i was with any of my recoveries that i have. i herd the odin method works but will it work for my phone? i tried the odin before but never could get it to work. also kies is out of the question because neither programs will recognize my phone.
oh yeah my phone. so the last thing i had running on it was the 4.4.2 update I337 NC1 would i have to flash the NC1 os or could i flash an earlier one because all i could find were the 4.2.2's and the NB1 flash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. As long as you can get into Odin mode, you're ok.
2. if you are on NB1 or NC1 base running safestrap 3.72, stock slot is the ONLY slot you can use. ROM slots do not work.
3. it's not really clear what you did to cause the boot loop, but lets get you back to stock...
Check out post 5 in my thread. If you follow these steps, you should be back to stock (and rooted with recovery, if you want) in no time.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2616221
BTW - Post 2 has a list of ROMs that are safe to flash for safetrap users. Read the install notes first then follow the install instructions to install one of the ROMS.
guut13 said:
1. As long as you can get into Odin mode, you're ok.
2. if you are on NB1 or NC1 base running safestrap 3.72, stock slot is the ONLY slot you can use. ROM slots do not work.
3. it's not really clear what you did to cause the boot loop, but lets get you back to stock...
Check out post 5 in my thread. If you follow these steps, you should be back to stock (and rooted with recovery, if you want) in no time.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2616221
BTW - Post 2 has a list of ROMs that are safe to flash for safetrap users. Read the install notes first then follow the install instructions to install one of the ROMS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sir i will tell you that your a genius. its pretty cool to see the creator of the link you posted (which is you) being used on other sites. goes to show you really know what you are doing. for me well i thought i did, and wish i did. it might be awhile before i change roms again or at least until i get more knowledge.
ok so from my understanding safestrap is having difficulties being you and only flash in the stock slot. ok well what i did was flashed the hyperdrive rom (from your link) to the stock slot because in the hyperdrive forum it said only can flash on stock. so i did a full wipe on stock then flashed the hyperdrive and gapps. well my guess is when i did the full wipe it wiped the os. also i didn't grab the supporting modules for the rom so i didnt have wifi or service which made me try to restore from my nandroid and couldnt because it said error loading /system. then tried other things i thought would work and softbricked it so to that.
i think for newbies like myself its a lot of reading and well we could miss some things and screw things up. and plus samsung had to make different freakin models like the i337 or i9505 or the i9000 or something and everything has to be the exact same and perfect. but oh well. i am happy to tell you that my phone is fully restored and working from the day before all this happened. thanks again and sorry for the long message.

[Q] Phone has no recovery and other issues.

First want to say hi and that this site is full of knowledge so any help with my subject will be great.
Got a att s4 sgh-i337 phone. I rooted it before the lollipop ota update was out and everything went fine. Then the lollipop update came out and I followed one of the methods on keeping root and updating to 5.0.1 lollipop on the phone. Everything went fine with that. Still showed root status and never did the phone brick or have any issues in the updating.
At some point though, I did run triangle away because I would have the custom logo and opened padlock when the phone would boot up. I knew it wasn't a huge deal but the counter showed correct and never could just figure out how to get it to go away. Either way, I did run it and I think rebooting twice, the factory loading image came back to it. Now it shows my current status as 0 for the counter and the binary is Official.
I have not tried to load any roms or nothing like this to the phone, just followed the instructions to give it root access so I could run a few different apps and adaway for when I listen to Spotify.
One day, I was trying to install a new version of Words with Friends and it failed because I think wwf was open, but I did go back and install it. For some reason now, my phone never notifies my with a wwf notification when somebody plays me. Every now and then, it might pop up when I restart the phone but that is it. I don't think facebook notifies me everytime also but was more worried about words with friends.
Searching google, it says to go into recovery mode and flash the cache of the phone there. I have done the cache memory in the phone but that has not fixed my problem. When trying to go to recovery, it never works, it would always show, recovery booting and then load the phone up as normal.
I have download quick boot and rom manager since they all have an option to boot into recovery rather than pressing the buttons but it always does the same thing. Reading the web though, it seemed like I needed to install a different recovery than the factory I guess, so using rom manager, I tried twrp and that didn't work so I installed ClockworldMod 6.0.4.7. Rom manager shows that as the current recovery method.
When I try to boot into recovery, it still shows that recovery is booting and then goes straight to loading the phone as it should normally.
Now though, every time I restart my phone, it says recovery is trying to boot but never does.
How do I fix my phone to be able to boot into recovery and it not try to boot every time it powers on. I have tried searching google but I just just can find an answer to my direct problem. I know how to hold the buttons and go to recovery but does not work, and I also know how to get to it from the different app programs(rom manager and quick boot) but they do not work either. It would be nice to get the wwf notifications to work properly again also.
If you need any information from my phone, please ask. Thanks for any help on my matter,
Charlie
Odin stock and start over.
Apparently, you are not aware that the boot loader is locked, preventing the installation of a custom kernel. You can not use twrp, or rom manager. Rom manager itself may cause issues.
I agree you should flash back to stock and start over to get a clean install. Hopefully, this will solve the issues with notifications as well. You can use the "[GUIDE]Odin to Stock, Updating, Rooting, and Installing Safestrap" by guut13 in the general forum for files and instructions.
creepyncrawly said:
Apparently, you are not aware that the boot loader is locked, preventing the installation of a custom kernel. You can not use twrp, or rom manager. Rom manager itself may cause issues.
I agree you should flash back to stock and start over to get a clean install. Hopefully, this will solve the issues with notifications as well. You can use the "[GUIDE]Odin to Stock, Updating, Rooting, and Installing Safestrap" by guut13 in the general forum for files and instructions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the replies guys, I really don't know a whole lot about rooting other than following instructions about it. I was unaware you could not use the twrp or cwr as a recovery. My recovery did not work before so that is why I was trying to install those. I knew you could not install custom roms but I did not know that you could not use rom manager to install custom recoveries.
I appreciate the help so far and I will look into that thread you mentioned. I haven't read it but will this take me back to stock lollipop 5.0.1 and I just reinstall apps or will I have to re-root the phone.
Charlie
please delete, sorry
Charlie
You have to go back to 4.4.4, to the nb1 base, root with towelroot, and then use the keeproot method to get back to 5.0.1 rooted. The instructions are in the guide, and also a link to the keeproot thread is there.
By the way, for future reference, questions, help and troubleshooting issues should go in the Q&A forum, not the general forum.
not having any luck
Ok guys,
I am trying to follow the guide but not having much luck.
I downloaded the I337UCUFNB1_4.4_Stock_Odin_tar and put it in the AP Odin file. I'm not sure if I should be using it or the other file named I337UCUFNB1_4.4_Rootable_Stock_Odin_tar to begin with. The instructions said to use the first one so that is the one I was trying to use.
After putting the first file in the AP slot of Odin and hitting start, it begins to try to do it's thing and then says it fails!
What do I do now? Am I doing something wrong or what because I'm trying to follow instructions but not having much luck.
Please help. Sorry for posting in the wrong area also in the beginning.
Charlie
I'm screwed
Now when I turn my phone on, it says Firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery mode in Kies and try again?
doing better now
Pretty sure I got it going finally. I changed cords and then changed ports on my computer and it finally did go back to stock without an error. I'm currently back on Lollipop and rooted so now is the fun of reinstalling contact info and anything else. So far I have not rebooted but it was not showing the recovery booting option when it did reboot. Hoping my notifications work properly now also!
Thanks!!!
Charlie

[Q] G900F Bricked(?), bootloop and not able to get into recovery.

Hey guys!
My friend just got the G900F and I wanted to help him root it and install custom recovery + custom rom.
1. I installed custom recovery
2. I rooted the phone with towelroot
- Everything seemed to work perfectly, I used apps that required root and had no problems.
3. I made a backup of the phone's original software
4. I made a backup of the phone's EFS
5. I updated the modem+bootloader to Lollipop latest versions for G900F (I did this when I had 4.4.2 installed on the phone)
6. I booted into TWRP and made a total wipe
7. I Installed XtreStoLite INTL 2.2 - I choose Ktoonsez's kernel and NEE as I am from Sweden.
8. I rebooted the phone and now the phone is in an endless bootloop - says Set Warranty Bit: Kernel and the Samsung Logo, then it reboots and vibrates 2 times.
I've tried to reinstall TWRP via latest ODIN v.3.10 - it works to install but I cannot go into recovery as it just restarts and the same bootloop as step 8 happends.
I've tried to reinstall CF-Auto-Root via latest ODIN to restore the original Recovery - it works to install it, I can see on the phone that it is recovering original recovery et.c but after that it ends in a bootloop as step 8.
I have no problems getting into download mode, KNOX is 0x1.
I don't know what to do and I seem to lack the knowledge how-to search correctly to find an answer for this model(?) How can I either get back to stock or make a total clean adb fastboot?
I'm guessing its semi or hard bricked? I don't understand why as I followed the steps 100% from this guide http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2699648
then I used the guidelines edgarf28 gives when installing the XtreStoLite rom and updating the modem/bootloader.
Help is very very appreciated.
Probably the Kernel not playing nice with the ROM
Install Samsung drivers on PC (KIES3 installs them, or grab from samsung.com)
Boot the phone into download mode (Volume Down, Home & Power)
Flash a stock ROM using ODIN 3.10.6 from sammobile dot com, or from the link in my Sig (United Kingdom G900F ROMS)
Great! Thanks. Exactly what I was looking for, I'm not the best on the search function. I did actually try to find the version needed to totally reboot via ODIN but didn't find it. I made the process and the phone works again, I will try to reproduce the steps but I guess I should skip Ktoonsez's kernel? Any idea why it doesn't work with it? As it is baked into the rom's aroma installer I thought it was compatible.
The kernel being the problem is just a guess, could have been something else, but from what you said, the only step I can see that might have bricked it was an incompatible Kernel, or maybe it didn't flash correctly and corrupted something
You can try flashing it again now you know how to recover the phone, see if it was just bad luck - best to reboot after each step to make sure it's working up to that step, then if it fails to boot after doing something else, you know exactly which step went wrong and can avoid it next time
Alright, made the exact same steps as before and it booted after every step. Last step was installing the ROM and it worked fine, after it says the same thing but this time I do not end up in a bootloop. Waiting for the phone to start for the first time, usually takes awhile.. I have seriously no idea what went wrong, only thing I could think of is that the phone was on 4.4.2 on the first try and the second I used your 5.0.. so.. conclusion is that.. that was the problem.
These things happen, I flashed back to KK to give it a try a few weeks ago, first flash ended in a bootloop, so I flashed the exact same KK ROM again, exact same process, second time it booted fine
It's what makes things like this fun & interesting I suppose, always something to learn
You're right! I'm happy that you helped me! Works perfect now, I'll continue to tweak things to give my friend the best experience... so nice to remove all the bloatware! What a beast compared to original.....

[Q] Accidentally killed stock recovery

Hello everyone! I'm brand new to the forums so if I am breaking any rule or regulation, just give me a heads up. So, some basic information about my predicament.
- own a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 from Verizon.
- I use t-mobile network. Works great with no problems.
- phone was successfully rooted via towel root.
I was looking to get cynagenmod on the phone so I started looking up guides and such. Only thing I wasn't aware of was that carrier branded versions can't have their recovery flashed. That said, I used flashify and the clockwork apk. The app did its job, killed the stock recovery, but couldn't load the new one. Now the phone says error, no recovery when trying to access it during boot.
It should be said that the phone still boots and works normally but I really want to get the recovery working so I can at least try again the right way to get cynagenmod working.
My question is, is it possible to get my hands on the stock recovery for my phone and just flash it back to how it was? Basically, how do I fix this problem I put myself in. Of course, I didn't make backups. During the whole process, I figured "if I follow this tutorial word for word, why bother with backups?" look how wrong I was
Any help would be sincerely appreciated. I'm posting this from my replacement phone, not my note 3.

[Dirty-Santa Root] Bricked Verizon LG V20 Please Help!!!

I have rooted many phones before without an issue, and during the root process for this phone, everything was going great, I flashed SuperSU zip in TWRP and rebooted, since it was the first boot I expected a decently long wait, after about 25 minutes I followed the guide's instructions for Verizon since it did say some Verizon users were experiencing long first boot times. I took the battery out like it said, put it back in, then proceeded to fastboot boot2.img, like the guide said. After letting it sit for an hour this time, I got the idea that something was obviously wrong. After multiple attempts with no success I tried to fix it myself. So far I have learned that on the fastboot screen it says my bootloader is locked again, even after unlocking it. I have tried flashing TWRP as a recovery, just to at least have a recovery boot, that does not work either unfortunately. So as of right now, all I have is a v20 that has no OS, a locked bootloader, no way of booting recovery, I can fastboot with no ADB, and its virtually a paperweight. If anyone has a solution to at least get back to Stock, I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks!
First off. It will say: Bootloader Unlocked: No
Thats normal. 2nd. you are not bricked. You have TWRP installed. You just need to redo some steps.
PM me. and I will help you.
Did you get it fixed?
frome901 said:
Did you get it fixed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He has not responded to my pm
What roms can we use with dirty santa root?
me2151 said:
First off. It will say: Bootloader Unlocked: No
Thats normal. 2nd. you are not bricked. You have TWRP installed. You just need to redo some steps.
PM me. and I will help you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bricked 2 LG V20s this way any help would be appreciated lol what steps do I need to redo...
TheDantee said:
Bricked 2 LG V20s this way any help would be appreciated lol what steps do I need to redo...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In his case we needed to redo from step 3.
I managed to un-brick mines after returning sadly from the Sprint store.
First, get to the boot loader screen and try running thru the steps again, especially step 3. You need to make sure you have TWRP.
Use this link to make sure you can get into the different modes (Download mode, fastboot, etc) http://www.hardreset.info/devices/lg/lg-v20/
Once you can get TWRP to show up,then you are good. In the mean time I downloaded "LS997-deODEXd-signed"
When I got into TWRP, I transferred the file to my phone. Rebooted from TWRP back into TWRP and flashed the ROM.
During my reboots, I do get a message saying my phone is corrupt, blah blahblah, but I just wait a few seconds and it will boot up.
Hope this helps.
I had managed to brick mines only 3 hours after upgrading from my Note 4. It took me from 9pm to almost 2am to get it back up again. I can live with the message about my phone being unbootable until someone comes up with a work thru.
Bricked T-Mobile v20
I have rooted many phones before without an issue, and during the root process for this phone, everything was going great, I flashed SuperSU zip in TWRP and rebooted, since it was flash a new rom on it then i get boot loop with TWRP. so i decide to OEM LOCK again after that everything was stuck on my phone just boot loop with LG so any solutions please help me...... THx u for help me.
Kinda nerve wrecking to read about all these "bricked" phones popping up after trying this method lol.. Perhaps I'll just wait until a more tried and true way comes out...
Dirty Santa root is not for the average user who has a couple of experience in rooting.
You have to at least have background on Hard bricking phones to fully understand what you are getting yourself into
For anyone that isnt on sprint that has "bricked" their phone. There are kdz's that will allow you to reflash back to 'stock". Someone had an issue with the kdz, but it was an easy fix. If you failed the process, it can be restored. Just if it doesnt want to boot, just lock and unlock the bootloader...
If your phone doesnt have a kdz, I know TeamDev is working on a custom kdz for such phones. Don't bug him if it isn't finished as I type this.
Anyone that can't get into TWRP, or has failed the process. Either start back at step 3, or if you have TWRP installed but can't get to it, the manual way to get into TWRP is a pain.
Keep your back cover off and hold the volume down button for ease. Now press the power button and as soon as you see an LG logo, let go and repress the power button. Its tricky.... If you get the corrupted screen, pop your battery out and put it back in quick and repress volume down and power. Usually if Im quick enough the first LG logo will hang a lot longer than usual and that gives me time to enter TWRP. A factory reset screen will pop up. Hit Yes twice.
Please help urgent
lcovel said:
I managed to un-brick mines after returning sadly from the Sprint store.
First, get to the boot loader screen and try running thru the steps again, especially step 3. You need to make sure you have TWRP.
Use this link to make sure you can get into the different modes (Download mode, fastboot, etc)
Once you can get TWRP to show up,then you are good. In the mean time I downloaded "LS997-deODEXd-signed"
When I got into TWRP, I transferred the file to my phone. Rebooted from TWRP back into TWRP and flashed the ROM.
During my reboots, I do get a message saying my phone is corrupt, blah blahblah, but I just wait a few seconds and it will boot up.
Hope this helps.
I had managed to brick mines only 3 hours after upgrading from my Note 4. It took me from 9pm to almost 2am to get it back up again. I can live with the message about my phone being unbootable until someone comes up with a work thru.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please can u help ke unbrick mine i bought this mobile in my country its expensive and has no support. I have tried all tools but still getting the error model unknown please help sir
Jaistah said:
Dirty Santa root is not for the average user who has a couple of experience in rooting.
You have to at least have background on Hard bricking phones to fully understand what you are getting yourself into
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What does that mean? Not for the average user who has a couple of experiences in rooting.
I've only rooted 2 phones, this is my 3rd (maybe 4th). I am on Sprint. Instructions worked fine for me. I did have one hiccup, but it was my fault, and I was able to root just fine. I've been running for a few months now.
I have not flashed any custom ROM yet, I'm going to wait for the next major version of Android to come out. The only mods I've done so far are Titanium Backup install so I can remove Sprint crap.
yuppicide said:
What does that mean? Not for the average user who has a couple of experiences in rooting.
I've only rooted 2 phones, this is my 3rd (maybe 4th). I am on Sprint. Instructions worked fine for me. I did have one hiccup, but it was my fault, and I was able to root just fine. I've been running for a few months now.
I have not flashed any custom ROM yet, I'm going to wait for the next major version of Android to come out. The only mods I've done so far are Titanium Backup install so I can remove Sprint crap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it means dirty santa root got a high posibility rate of bricking a device compared to other root methods for other devices and if you have no experience in bricking phones before then you're screwed if it happens to you
Actually, if you follow the directions, almost none of the problems create a true brick-- which means unrecoverable. For most of the cases, you might get a soft brick, meaning you have to back out, use a KDZ to repair it or reflash something else, or start over from scratch and try again-- but usually (maybe with some help from here) you can pull the phone back into a usable state.
I would hazard to guess for the vast majority the process works fine, maybe with a hiccup, but I've not seen many reports of a truly unrecoverable brick from this method. It's complicated, yes, and you need to be ready to read a LOT to understand what's going on, but it seems pretty difficult to end up with a $700 paperweight with this.
So i have been trying tonroot my sprint lg v20 and everytime i try and go to the phone on mobile terminal to enter id
Then enter the apply patch /system/bin/atd /storage/emulated/0/dirtysanta i get this message and i cant go to step 2 to boot into recovery
Any help would be appreciated: i have a sprint v20 and i wanted to know if i have to flash the stock sprint rom or can i just flash lineage rom following this guide? I have it running on AT&T and i want to keep it on AT&T...
can you please assist
Could you help out, please? I don't believe I have hard bricked my LG V20 H910. However, I have read and tried all of the unbrick info out. It seems my screw up is unique. I completed dirty Santa then went to flash a custom. in the boot between that. I get a black screen and cant do anything even download mode will not come up. My PC does make its usual noises when i connect or disconnect, but my phone does nothing.
Ok, I managed to brick mine too. It's a VS995, it was running stock 1AC. I used the LGUP tool to downgrade it to VS99512A, and then did Dirty Sanata and TWRP. After booting into TWRP I decided to try lineage OS with Android 8.0, I did not make a backup of the Stock ROM, which was very stupid. Lineage OS 15.1 flashed but I had no cell service so I panicked and instead of wiping it in TWRP and using the backup of stock I should have created, I just opened LGUP and tried to downgrade it back to stock VSS99512A. Well LGUP said it worked, but when it went to boot it would hang at the Verizon logo with 4 pastel dots. Device manager could see an ADB device and I could connect to it with ADB. So I did and read the logcat. I could see it was trying to update as part of the rollback, but it appeared that some components from Android 8x could not be "upgraded" to Andoird 7.x. There was a repeated error about failing to update SQLite instance version from 3 to 1.
The one feature that could fix this is if the refurbish function worked with any of the VS995 KDZ files we all have access to. But alas, none work instead we only get the upgrade function... or so I thought. Somewhere in my search for the past 2 weeks I found a modified LGUP https://forum.xda-developers.com/v20/how-to/guide-patch-lgup-to-unlock-features-t3652222
**Please be warned what I did was absolutely ****ing stupid, and it was sheer luck I didn't screw anything up.**
From what I can tell if you only flash ("LGUP Upgrade") the KDZ from the same model it never clears the partition it just adds to it. My problem was there was stuff from lineage OS 15 stuck on one of the partitions that was making the rollback to stock fail because it kept saying it couldn't update the SQLLite DB from 3 to 1. So no "upgrade" within LGUP would work because the upgrade function does not clear internal storage. But the link above is to a version someone modded so you can force a partition update from any KDZ onto the system. So I started playing around with forcing KDZs from other models onto my VS995, and I noticed when using the Partion DL function with non-VS995 KDZ files it would say something about the partition changing. All I can assume is that the partition layout is so different on each model and it forces LGUP to re-partition the storage.
**Again I state for the record this was stupid, and I'm only fortunate it worked.**
I forced Partion DL of H91510d_00_VTR_CA_OP_1110.kdz, then H990N10b_00_OPEN_HK_DS_OP_1017.kdz, then back to VS99512A_06_1114_ARB00.kdz, then when it booted it gave the Verizon hello, and moved on finally but the setting service kept crashing while it was trying to load the Secure Boot screen. So I yanked the battery and went into the boot menu and did the Factory Reset function, and it worked.
Lesson learned, always make a backup and don't be so hasty to use tools that aren't fully functional (LGUP).
Perhaps what I've done may help others, maybe I've found out how to reimage or unbrick our V20s. Or maybe I just got really stupid lucky.

Resources