Can't get into recovery to save my life! - Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Guys, I'm wanting to get into recovery mode to wipe my Dalvik cache but for the life of me I can't get to it. I'm doing up+power+home and I go to screen saying 'Downloading do not restart target'. I guess this is download mode. How do I turn this off?
For kicks I tried down+power+home and it asks me if I want to enter download mode. Also tried up+down+power+home but this just does a normal boot.
I know this is probably something really basic but I just can't get in. I did have KingRoot installed a while back. Could this have caused the problem? Any help is greatly GREATLY appreciated. Thanks!

Hold power and volume down, then press volume up when the OS warning screen appears = download mode.
Hold power and volume up = recovery.
Don't bother with the home button. You don't need it. Should the key combinations not work correctly, you may have bad buttons on the motherboard.

Thanks for the quick reply. I double-checked my volume buttons and they work as they should (up = louder; down = softer). I tried power + up and still get the download mode screen. I even tried adb to boot into recovery and it brings me to that same 'Downloading do not restart target' screen.

Prior to writing my post above I tested my S4 to make sure I was giving correct information. Both key sequences worked on my S4.
The only thing I can think of is that you have a hardware issue with your volume down button. To test, try pressing and holding power without touching a volume button. If you enter OS warning mode without pressing a volume button, then your volume down button is worn out and needs to be replaced.
My reasoning is this.
Button failures are the most common issue with the Galaxy S4.
You instantly enter download mode by pressing power and volume up while being unable to enter recovery at all. This means you're skipping a step in accessing download mode, which wouldn't happen if all the buttons were working correctly.

Maybe, but shouldn't my phone go into recovery when I send the command to enter recovery from adb? It just reboots and goes to downloading. My buttons work fine when using the phone when android is up so I'm doubting that it is a hardware issue.

It should, but something is interfering with that. I'd go back to stock using Odin, simply to ensure all parts of the firmware match. Then see if you can get into the stock recovery with the key combo. If you are able to, then you can restore TWRP and flash a custom ROM. Otherwise the device needs to be looked at.

Thanks for the reply. I'm running the stock os without root. All I really want to do is wipe Dalvik cache. Can I do that from adb?

Yep.

Related

[Q] Phone will not boot, nor enter recovery mode HELP!

Was attempting to switch back to stock messaging app, and was using some old rom (mint jelly) with Titanium backup/rooted. I made the following changes :
unfreeze messaging app
restart bluetooth pairings
uninstall beauty face
uninstall best face
and then restarted my phone, and will not come back on? What the hell?
Will not enter recovery, at all. Just stays frozen on SAMSUNG. Not amused, please help if you can
Are you sure you are pressing the correct buttons? Volume UP + Power, when the device vibrates release the Power button and when 'Recovery Booting...' blue text appears release Volume UP button.
If you still can't enter the recovery mode there is only one option left: flash stock firmware with Odin!
jj
iJo09 said:
Are you sure you are pressing the correct buttons? Volume UP + Power, when the device vibrates release the Power button and when 'Recovery Booting...' blue text appears release Volume UP button.
If you still can't enter the recovery mode there is only one option left: flash stock firmware with Odin!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bah thanks, i looked at like 6 different "how to trigger recovery mode" and they were all wrong
its been months since i've done it so I'd completely forgotton
their method for download mode all worked fine, so i was worried
Damani311 said:
bah thanks, i looked at like 6 different "how to trigger recovery mode" and they were all wrong
its been months since i've done it so I'd completely forgotton
their method for download mode all worked fine, so i was worried
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
however there doesnt look like much i can do with recovery mode. the only backup is a year old and might as well be reflashing. is there some way to get into safe mode and maybe undo the changes i made in TitBackup?
To start Safe Mode you have to Power on the device with the Volume DOWN button pressed, until it boots up

Galaxy S4 i9500 Bootloop without Recovery Mode

Hi,
The problem I have is really very common to most Samsung Galaxy users, but I haven't found any solution to my particular problem. Well, basically my Samsung Galaxy won't get out of bootloop. It just won't go beyond Samsung Galaxy SIV I9500 screen. The phone never did this before this. The phone did, however, rebooted occasionally by itself when running normally.
My phone is rooted, but it runs the official version of Lollipop for Galaxy S4. I had to factory reset my phone one day, and I decided it to reset from the Recovery Mode. After successfully resetting the phone, it booted as usual. Soon after it suddenly turned off, and went into this complete bootloop and would not stop until I remove the battery. Whenever I insert the battery back in, the phone starts by itself, without me pressing any button, and goes in the bootloop again. I can only enter the Download Mode that too for a couple of seconds. When entering the download mode I don't have to press the power button.
Is there any solution to this? I am assuming that my power button suddenly failed. The power button is definitely not stuck. I have opened the entire phone and cleaned the motherboard, and rechecked, it still showed the same problem.
Really appreciate any kind of help.
Hardware issue. Lightly tap the side of the S4 against a table and see if that temporarily frees up the button. Regardless of the end result, you'll need to replace the power button.
Hi,
No need power button to boot in recovery.
Just hold Home+Volume up should do the trick.
@Yoanf_26: How do you expect the phone to get into recovery without turning it on? Volume up and Power are all that's needed to get into recovery. It's the Home button that is optional.
Try a different battery (ask a friend or something if possible). I had similar issues on an i9100 lately. It could only boot to download/recovery mode and was even producing write errors. Looked like brickbug first but was bad battery indeed. It starts slowly with weird behavior and you think you've just messed the rom and just need to reset but it gets worse and worse until you're stuck with download mode only. If you have a spare battery in range its worth a try for sure.
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
@Yoanf_26: How do you expect the phone to get into recovery without turning it on? Volume up and Power are all that's needed to get into recovery. It's the Home button that is optional.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello.
I already to start my S4 without power button must just with Volume up and home.
I test with Volume up with power, and my S4 start to recovery.
Differents methods are good to start to recovery. May not for all S4
Guess what? You have a faulty power button, because being able to start the device in any mode without the power button is simply not possible. I tried it just now. Also, if Samsung themselves require the power button to enter recovery or download mode it's illogical to not need it on what is (broadly) the same device.
My power button is good. I test with a custom recovery.
May be not possible with stock. I don't test with stock.
I'm not running stock anything on my I9505. TWRP 2.8.7.0 and CM 12.1 Optimized (currently) installed here. To access Download Mode requires Volume - and Power (Home optional). Accessing Recovery requires Volume + and Power (Home optional, again). Safe Mode requires pressing Volume - and Power, and holding down Volume - throughout the boot process.
As you can see, all functions require power. The fact yours doesn't is not normal.
Maybe, but my S4 is good.
If you think so, who am I to try and persuade you otherwise? When you do encounter an issue with that button, just think back to this thread rather than making a post about it. That way we can both avoid the inevitable "I told you so" that will come out of my mouth.

BOOLOOP

Hi all, I have been using CM for a long time, but I accidentally deleted the system and data and all the partitions, now I am trying to recover and I am not able to recover. What strikes me is that I try to enter the TWRP mode, I can not, or even Download Mode, nor can I run the adb command (because the phone is off). What happens is that also my power button has problems, when I put the battery, the cell phone turns on automatically, the question that I ask is will it interfere in not booting in recovery and download? Incidentally, when I put the battery at the same time I click on the Home and Volume-, it opens the warning screen on custom Os, but when I press the volume+ button nothing happens besides restarting and flashing in the bootlogo.
Desperately I need your help.
There's not much you can do without download mode. And if the power button is the problem, then I suggest fixing it somehow.
Pwnycorn said:
There's not much you can do without download mode. And if the power button is the problem, then I suggest fixing it somehow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fixed
Power Button problem!
Everything is fine now

Recovery in Chinese

Hi all,
Got this phone last week. It's been really laggy and basically unusable, it even lags when receiving calls and I miss half of them from being unable to answer. I was advised to wipe the cache partition, but the recovery menu is in Chinese. I got in touch with Motorola support who first tried to get me to delete all my data in the Chinese recovery menu, then gave me instructions to wipe the partition in English which I can't follow because the menu is in Chinese, and then said they couldn't help further. I can't find any other examples of Motorola phones with a Chinese recovery menu online.
Really not sure what to do!
Thanks for reading.
When I pressed power+volume down, phone booted into some Chinese screen, but it was not recovery, it was I think a testing menu. You might have pressed the same buttons. To boot to recovery, press power+volume up, this will launch a menu, keep pressing volume up to select recovery, then press volume down to launch recovery, after launching recovery you'll see no command screen, there you should hold power button and press volume up, this will launch recovery. Hope it helps.
That worked, thank you! Motorola were less than useless. Much appreciated.
In case it helps anyone, I fixed the lagging today by installing a new version of google play services, which I found by googling. Made everything better.
Please confirm which version of Google Play services you installed as I have the same problem.
Aman301582 said:
When I pressed power+volume down, phone booted into some Chinese screen, but it was not recovery, it was I think a testing menu. You might have pressed the same buttons. To boot to recovery, press power+volume up, this will launch a menu, keep pressing volume up to select recovery, then press volume down to launch recovery, after launching recovery you'll see no command screen, there you should hold power button and press volume up, this will launch recovery. Hope it helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This wont work for me it will just restart the phone back to where you can choice fastboot, recovery and normal.. ****ing annoying.... Got the bot with no command text under and press power button and volum up frustrating. Even worse when someone els got it to work so it should be working.
wackyleaks said:
This wont work for me it will just restart the phone back to where you can choice fastboot, recovery and normal.. ****ing annoying.... Got the bot with no command text under and press power button and volum up frustrating. Even worse when someone els got it to work so it should be working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to hold Power button and tap volume up. Don't press both buttons simultaneously, hold Power, while holding Power tap volume up. If it does not work, then a system update might have changed the process (though highly unlikely I think).
Aman301582 said:
You have to hold Power button and tap volume up. Don't press both buttons simultaneously, hold Power, while holding Power tap volume up. If it does not work, then a system update might have changed the process (though highly unlikely I think).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Iv managed to installl twrp but in the processes I dont know how only used fastboot format userdata and installed recovery. Rebooted the phone and it stuck it got no internal memory... So its totally wiped now its a xt1706 belive thats the E3 Power cant find any roms for it.
wackyleaks said:
Iv managed to installl twrp but in the processes I dont know how only used fastboot format userdata and installed recovery. Rebooted the phone and it stuck it got no internal memory... So its totally wiped now its a xt1706 belive thats the E3 Power cant find any roms for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock images for e3 Power are available somewhere in the forum. Try flashing stock images. By the way there is no need to format userdata while flashing recovery.
Okay i managed to figure it out spent 5 houres or so had to use SP_Flash_TooL and some USB VCOM drivers for phone this can only be used on MTK chips.
trust me i just saw this post every google search is saying stuff about pressing volume down like it works XDA developers are life and life savers been using this since like 8 years ago and it still going strong had to leave my first comment
My huawei y511-u30 mobile is showing chineese in recovery mode and its not working also. As i want to flash my rom unable to get device detected by pc also

phone wont stay on long enough to do anything

My note 4 wont stay on not even long enought to login to the play store, it just freezes for a second and reboots.
would it be possible to fix it with a custom rom and theres a way to install without installing any app on the phone
Hey there, you can try to do a factory data reset if the phone boots into recovery mode.
NOTE: A factory data reset will wipe the whole device including the internal storage.
To enter into recovery mode, power off the phone. Then, hold the vol up + home + power buttons together till you see the Samsung splash screen. When the splash screen comes, release the power button and continue holding the volume up and home buttons till it boots into recovery.
Once it's in recovery mode, you can use the volume down button to scroll to the 'Wipe Data/ Factory Data Reset' and then hit the power button to select the option.
RVR said:
Hey there, you can try to do a factory data reset if the phone boots into recovery mode.
NOTE: A factory data reset will wipe the whole device including the internal storage.
To enter into recovery mode, power off the phone. Then, hold the vol up + home + power buttons together till you see the Samsung splash screen. When the splash screen comes, release the power button and continue holding the volume up and home buttons till it boots into recovery.
Once it's in recovery mode, you can use the volume down button to scroll to the 'Wipe Data/ Factory Data Reset' and then hit the power button to select the option.
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Click to collapse
the phone boots normali in recovery mode but after the factory reset it keeps shutting off after less than a minute wich isnt enough time to do anything on it
notgonzo said:
the phone boots normali in recovery mode but after the factory reset it keeps shutting off after less than a minute wich isnt enough time to do anything on it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay. Does it boot into Download Mode?
To enter into download mode, power down the phone. Similar to the recovery boot process. Just that instead of the volume up button, you need to hold the volume down button.
If it does boot into download mode. Does it stay on or give you the same problem?
RVR said:
Okay. Does it boot into Download Mode?
To enter into download mode, power down the phone. Similar to the recovery boot process. Just that instead of the volume up button, you need to hold the volume down button.
If it does boot into download mode. Does it stay on or give you the same problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It boots normally to download mode and stays there without restarting
notgonzo said:
It boots normally to download mode and stays there without restarting
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe you can try installing the firmware through Odin. It may fix things. Else it could be an eMMC failure.
It could be a battery problem. I had kinda the same issues (random reboots that became more and more frequent and at some point the phone barely booted). So i ordered a new battery and problem is solved, phone is up and running again. If you can, try another battery just to be sure that this is your case. Also, the worst scenario is that some people reported random reboots when emmc memory failed. I hope this is not your case

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