Please Help: G695U No longer working after the April 2020 Patch

Feb 17, 2014
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Last week on Thursday, I allowed Verizon to install their Software Update 21 (April 2020.) It made it as far as the going through the optimizing apps and then was stuck in a boot loop. The phone would be usable for about a minute, then would freeze, and then reboot. If I clicked on the System Update option in settings, it would say that a system update was in progress. I chatted with Verizon, and they ended up telling me that the only way to stop the update was to do a factory reset, which I am doing everything I can not to do that as I don't want to lose my data.

I changed it into maximum power mode and it did stop the update for that time being and I was able to use the phone, texting, etc. This allowed me to at least connect the phone to my computer to backup all of the directories. After many reboots, on Friday it finally stopped doing the update and gave me an error which I think was 410. It thought it was updated, though did show as failed. When checking for updates, it said it was the current version. Twice I was able to get the phone to stop by freezing when going to the app and stopping some programs (sadly, I was not able to remember the exact combination that worked) which allowed me to use the phone like normal. All this while, I was uninstalling a large amount of the apps that I had installed hoping that would minimize whatever may have been causing the problem.

Went to each of the google and samsung apps, stopped, disable, and reverted them all back to factory defaults. Guess that was a bad idea, from then on I received an error as soon as the phone started which caused it to go directly into recovery mode. I chatted with samsung and they thought it might be a hardware issue. I still think it is related to their software update, so not a hardware issue.

By using Odin, I loaded the firmware from March 2020, and when it rebooted, it did go as far as optimizing the apps, though anytime it booted up, it would never get past the white verizon loading screen. It took me hours before I discovered that Odin was failing to load the firmware on the phone as the Windows 10 laptop only had USB 3.0 ports which don't always work with Odin, and ended up being successful using my old Windows XP laptop as the USB 2.0 ports worked fine. After a bit hanging on the verizon loading screen, it would reboot and never went past. I have been able to load the March and April 2020, though none of them will ever get past that white verizon loading screen. I did see something say that in loading TWRP, I could possibly do a full backup of the phone which is what I would like to do.

One time I only loaded the AB file for a different version than I had loaded, and it was the first time it went beyond the white screen, only to tell me that the verification failed and it would need for me to do a factory reset. I was able to reboot the phone without actually doing the reset.

I have read many posts here and the forums on xdadeveloper, and with so many things, I really needed to post to get guidance from people here that can point me in the right direction for any other things that I can try. As you have read, doing everything that I can to get the phone working by keeping my data. Any help would really be appreciated.
 

mustang7757

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Last week on Thursday, I allowed Verizon to install their Software Update 21 (April 2020.) It made it as far as the going through the optimizing apps and then was stuck in a boot loop. The phone would be usable for about a minute, then would freeze, and then reboot. If I clicked on the System Update option in settings, it would say that a system update was in progress. I chatted with Verizon, and they ended up telling me that the only way to stop the update was to do a factory reset, which I am doing everything I can not to do that as I don't want to lose my data.

I changed it into maximum power mode and it did stop the update for that time being and I was able to use the phone, texting, etc. This allowed me to at least connect the phone to my computer to backup all of the directories. After many reboots, on Friday it finally stopped doing the update and gave me an error which I think was 410. It thought it was updated, though did show as failed. When checking for updates, it said it was the current version. Twice I was able to get the phone to stop by freezing when going to the app and stopping some programs (sadly, I was not able to remember the exact combination that worked) which allowed me to use the phone like normal. All this while, I was uninstalling a large amount of the apps that I had installed hoping that would minimize whatever may have been causing the problem.

Went to each of the google and samsung apps, stopped, disable, and reverted them all back to factory defaults. Guess that was a bad idea, from then on I received an error as soon as the phone started which caused it to go directly into recovery mode. I chatted with samsung and they thought it might be a hardware issue. I still think it is related to their software update, so not a hardware issue.

By using Odin, I loaded the firmware from March 2020, and when it rebooted, it did go as far as optimizing the apps, though anytime it booted up, it would never get past the white verizon loading screen. It took me hours before I discovered that Odin was failing to load the firmware on the phone as the Windows 10 laptop only had USB 3.0 ports which don't always work with Odin, and ended up being successful using my old Windows XP laptop as the USB 2.0 ports worked fine. After a bit hanging on the verizon loading screen, it would reboot and never went past. I have been able to load the March and April 2020, though none of them will ever get past that white verizon loading screen. I did see something say that in loading TWRP, I could possibly do a full backup of the phone which is what I would like to do.

One time I only loaded the AB file for a different version than I had loaded, and it was the first time it went beyond the white screen, only to tell me that the verification failed and it would need for me to do a factory reset. I was able to reboot the phone without actually doing the reset.

I have read many posts here and the forums on xdadeveloper, and with so many things, I really needed to post to get guidance from people here that can point me in the right direction for any other things that I can try. As you have read, doing everything that I can to get the phone working by keeping my data. Any help would really be appreciated.
If you tried to do a OEM update while having a custom recovery like trwp it will never update .

Where did you get your Samsung stock files ?

You will have to flash odin your stock files from a reputable place ?


Where you trying to root? If you were able to unlock your bootloader forget saving data as it will wipe . At this point i dont know if you can save data but I need you to tell me more .



I'll leave a Link to register so you can communicate here as a guest account you can only post questions but can't reply.

https://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=409154
 
Feb 17, 2014
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Sorry about the cross-posting, and thank you merging the posts and your response. I posted in a Q&A area having not signed in, and realized afterwards to post in the Samsung 9+ forum having logged in.

My goal is just to get a fully functioning phone using whatever version of android 10 I can on my samsung s9+. I was never attempting to make any changes on the phone, this problem occurred only because verizon forced their software update 21 (april 2020) on me, and I am unsure if it ever completed correctly as the phone has been a problem since then. I didn't start doing anything with the flashing until after the boot screen gave me an error at startup because the OEM was not working. This error occurred after I did uninstall a bunch of apps to make sure there was ample internal storage space available and even reverting the samsung/verizon apps to default within my semi-functioning phone.

After I flashed the phone with the March 2020 Update, at least it allowed it to load to the white verizon screen, whereas it wasn't even doing that after I did the uninstalling/reverting apps process. As for where I did get all of my files, I downloaded them all from the sammobile website, which is where posts here and on other forums recommended.

I have now flashed the phone with the January, March, and April bios which are all android 10, so I know I can't go back further as all the other versions are for android 9. After I do flash a different version, it does go past the white verizon logo, does the optimization of all the apps, and then immediately reboots to only get stuck at the white verizon logo and then reboot.

Hope I have answered your questions, and there is still the chance for me to get my phone working without having to do the dreaded factory reset.
 

mustang7757

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Sorry about the cross-posting, and thank you merging the posts and your response. I posted in a Q&A area having not signed in, and realized afterwards to post in the Samsung 9+ forum having logged in.

My goal is just to get a fully functioning phone using whatever version of android 10 I can on my samsung s9+. I was never attempting to make any changes on the phone, this problem occurred only because verizon forced their software update 21 (april 2020) on me, and I am unsure if it ever completed correctly as the phone has been a problem since then. I didn't start doing anything with the flashing until after the boot screen gave me an error at startup because the OEM was not working. This error occurred after I did uninstall a bunch of apps to make sure there was ample internal storage space available and even reverting the samsung/verizon apps to default within my semi-functioning phone.

After I flashed the phone with the March 2020 Update, at least it allowed it to load to the white verizon screen, whereas it wasn't even doing that after I did the uninstalling/reverting apps process. As for where I did get all of my files, I downloaded them all from the sammobile website, which is where posts here and on other forums recommended.

I have now flashed the phone with the January, March, and April bios which are all android 10, so I know I can't go back further as all the other versions are for android 9. After I do flash a different version, it does go past the white verizon logo, does the optimization of all the apps, and then immediately reboots to only get stuck at the white verizon logo and then reboot.

Hope I have answered your questions, and there is still the chance for me to get my phone working without having to do the dreaded factory reset.
No problem !

Is this model number sm-g965u ?
 
Feb 17, 2014
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Previous to this, I had never even heard of Odin. The zips all come with 6 files. The CSC file I used the HOME version as everything i read said that would not overwrite the data.

Every time I did the loading, I always populated the five sections, and left the flags F Reset and Reboot active. Wish I had known that odin doesn't like usb 3.0, as I was losing my mind for hours trying to get it to work on my new windows 10 laptop. Thank goodness I read somewhere about that issue, and ended up using my old windows xp laptop that has usb 2.0 on it.
 

mustang7757

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Previous to this, I had never even heard of Odin. The zips all come with 6 files. The CSC file I used the HOME version as everything i read said that would not overwrite the data.

Every time I did the loading, I always populated the five sections, and left the flags F Reset and Reboot active. Wish I had known that odin doesn't like usb 3.0, as I was losing my mind for hours trying to get it to work on my new windows 10 laptop. Thank goodness I read somewhere about that issue, and ended up using my old windows xp laptop that has usb 2.0 on it.
Yeah thats correct with Home CSC

I think you successfully flashed, just need to boot in recovery and factory reset .

You know it can stay at that Verizon logo after boot up for good 3 to 4 minutes sometimes , maybe you didn't allow enough time
 
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I never touched the phone when it has been sitting at the white verizon logo, after a bit, it reboots all itself. After it does it five times, I get the message that things may not be good with the phone, and that it gives me a few options: Try Again, Erase App Data, View Recovery Logs, and I think Power Down.

I have tried using Smart Switch and Kies, though they never fully detect the phone, and if I let it load to the white verizon screen it boots before it can finish making a connection, provided it actually would succeed in connecting anyway.

Did my best to read and try a lot of things before I posted here. Still have a little hope that there is something that I can do, that I hadn't tried already. This was the only reason I even attempted to install TWRP, as I saw that it had a backup option. Was not even doing it to root the phone.
 

mustang7757

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Kies too old for this phone
Smart switch won't detect unless phone powered on .

I dont think you could even install twrp US version are bootloader locked and most likely no root option.

Go into recovery and choose factory reset or erase app data.


I'll get you through this ..
 
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That is the thing, I don't want to erase the app data or factory reset, unless there is no other option. I could have done that previously, though I am still holding out that there may be other options. Yes, in regards to twrp, that is what I read after the fact.

Is there really nothing else I can try?
 

mustang7757

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That is the thing, I don't want to erase the app data or factory reset, unless there is no other option. I could have done that previously, though I am still holding out that there may be other options. Yes, in regards to twrp, that is what I read after the fact.

Is there really nothing else I can try?
At this point, I dont think we have a option
You can try going here and back up your data if you had sign in with your Samsung phone https://findmymobile.samsung.com/


Otherwise we have to do the factory reset and see what happens, I'm giving the best advice as I've have a lot of experience in this and helped lot of people , you'll have to trust me on this .
 

mustang7757

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Otherwise you want get 2nd opinion on this , ill help you either way but data might be loss and can't be helped
 
Feb 17, 2014
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I checked the samsgung website, and it says the phone will take a few days to sync, and that seems insane as I came back into the US from a trip back on 01/31/20 for which I had been using a foreign sim card.

I do trust you and believe you, though I don't feel ready to give up just yet. I really do appreciate your help and honesty, so please don't think that my not doing this just right now, is not a reflection of that.

Time for me to get to bed. Let me sleep on it, and see if I come up with anything brilliant between now and the morning. Thanks again, and have a good night. I did post this two other places, and I will keep my fingers crossed that someone comes up with a magical way to fix my phone. Perhaps they will fly in on a winged unicorn. :) Doing my best to keep positive.
 

mustang7757

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I checked the samsgung website, and it says the phone will take a few days to sync, and that seems insane as I came back into the US from a trip back on 01/31/20 for which I had been using a foreign sim card.

I do trust you and believe you, though I don't feel ready to give up just yet. I really do appreciate your help and honesty, so please don't think that my not doing this just right now, is not a reflection of that.

Time for me to get to bed. Let me sleep on it, and see if I come up with anything brilliant between now and the morning. Thanks again, and have a good night. I did post this two other places, and I will keep my fingers crossed that someone comes up with a magical way to fix my phone. Perhaps they will fly in on a winged unicorn. :) Doing my best to keep positive.
Thank you !
Ok keep me posted, like I said I'm here if you need any help , have a good nite !