Help!! Stuck

[lou1210]

I attempted to flash a rom using CWM and the system rebooted, the CWM logo came up and I am stuck at the SAMSUNG Galaxy S3 Logo.

I tried to use the power, home and volume down, but it only says it's downloading... I tried another reset during that, but it didn't work. I didn't know what or where it was downloading from...

What do I do??? Please help.. Have I bricked my phone?

 

[GatorPT]

Have you created a backup file? You would have done that in CWM? If so then reboot into recovery (hold down volume rocker(middle) and power button. Should take you to recovery. Then go to restore..

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Android Central Forums

 

[lou1210]

That doesn't seem to be working. I flashed the CWM Recovery... Every time I tried to flash a rom, it only gave me a choice to flash from cache, flash from Ext card or clear cache and reboot. What did I do wrong?

 

[BlastTyrant]

If you can getting to download mode, you're still in good shape. Just flash your nandroid backup the same way you flashed the rom. In a few minutes you'll be back to where you were before you flashed the rom...By going to restore mode like Gator said. LOL. I've been lucky....haven't had to do a restore from nandroid in a while...

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Android Central Forums

 

[BlastTyrant]

You DID do a backup, right?....

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Android Central Forums

 

[lou1210]

Yes. I did do a backup!
You say just flash your nandroid backup... How do I even get there? I don't have the option. I have a Droid green guy on the screen and the system just saying downloading... where do I go from here?

*** Edit - this is no longer possible. SD Card got formatted with the new ROM install in the recovery method I used below.

 

[lou1210]

Ok. I found a way to fix the phone and get it back to stock. A very early stock, but stock.

Next question - what should the total size of my CWM backup be from my stock? Why did CWM not do a complete flash the first time? Why did I only have a choice to load from cache?
Every Rom I tried to load kept failing with CWM.. What's the best ROM Flashing program to use? I"m not so sure I trust CWM anymore...

 

[lou1210]

I lost root access using the ODIN recovery mode... How do I get it back? Do I have to go through the process all over again? I followed Section 6 here

I realize I'm asking a lot of questions, but I noticed the build I used is back to July. If I accept an OTA update, will it brick my phone? Is it worth it to root again?

 

[Srambo217]

You're just bootlooping. Hold power/home/Volume up, wipe data, cache, and dalvik cache, than reboot.

Sent From My Rooted/Modded SGSIII - If I've helped you please click 'Thanks'!

 

[PsYcHoNeWb]

jaj is right. Whenever you are stuck on the boot up screen and it just keeps going and going your are bootlooping and that only means something happend in the flashing process. Could have been a bad download or just bad luck. It happens, and sometimes I can't explain it. I have had times where I flashed the same file, same recovery versions and one time it bootlooped while another time it booted fine.

If you ever experience this, you just need to pull the battery and boot right back up into your recovery (vol up, home, and power) and wipe everything (factory reset, cache, dalvik and system) and restore your backup that you made before you flashed anything. If you didn't make a backup thats when it becomes more of a pain in the but since then you might need to boot up into ODIN and reflash the stock rooted image from when you originally rooted.

If you lost root access with ODIN then you can follow the same process you did before, assuming that you use either ODIN to flash the stock rooted or the one click root method posted here and over on XDA.

 

[lou1210]

jaj is right. Whenever you are stuck on the boot up screen and it just keeps going and going your are bootlooping and that only means something happend in the flashing process. Could have been a bad download or just bad luck. It happens, and sometimes I can't explain it. I have had times where I flashed the same file, same recovery versions and one time it bootlooped while another time it booted fine.

If you ever experience this, you just need to pull the battery and boot right back up into your recovery (vol up, home, and power) and wipe everything (factory reset, cache, dalvik and system) and restore your backup that you made before you flashed anything. If you didn't make a backup thats when it becomes more of a pain in the but since then you might need to boot up into ODIN and reflash the stock rooted image from when you originally rooted.

If you lost root access with ODIN then you can follow the same process you did before, assuming that you use either ODIN to flash the stock rooted or the one click root method posted here and over on XDA.

The first issue I hit was the cwm qo old not flash correctly. It didn't seem to work the same way it did on my thunderbolt. I was used to doing install new rom, clicking ok and off it would go. Didn't matter if I tried the clean Rom, cm10 nightly or anything else. It qoukd fail or I would have a flash menu at boot up that didn't give me an option to flash.

That was the start. Thankfully I was able to get into Odin and flash a stock Rom, but not the Rom I had obviously my phone. I Dounloaded one that dated back to July 4. I lost root in the process and I'm afraid to update the software on my phone back to the latest version.

I want to root again but after my experience with cwm, I'm a little hesitant. I couldn't even get into my back up to go back to it if I wab Ted to. Flashing the stock Rom just to recover, wiped the on board memory.

I looked for the twrp recovery program but I couldn't figure out how to use that one. The root process was a piece of cake and I can do that part again. It's the flash process that has me skittish.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

[PsYcHoNeWb]

The first issue I hit was the cwm qo old not flash correctly. It didn't seem to work the same way it did on my thunderbolt. I was used to doing install new rom, clicking ok and off it would go. Didn't matter if I tried the clean Rom, cm10 nightly or anything else. It qoukd fail or I would have a flash menu at boot up that didn't give me an option to flash.

That was the start. Thankfully I was able to get into Odin and flash a stock Rom, but not the Rom I had obviously my phone. I Dounloaded one that dated back to July 4. I lost root in the process and I'm afraid to update the software on my phone back to the latest version.

I want to root again but after my experience with cwm, I'm a little hesitant. I couldn't even get into my back up to go back to it if I wab Ted to. Flashing the stock Rom just to recover, wiped the on board memory.

I looked for the twrp recovery program but I couldn't figure out how to use that one. The root process was a piece of cake and I can do that part again. It's the flash process that has me skittish.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

What steps did you follow in CWM? Go through the exact process of what you did to flash your ROM.

 

[lou1210]

Followed the instructions using the debugfs command window. Installed ez-unlock. Unlocked the system. Verified root access. Installed easy recovery and installed cwm. Downloaded Rom manager and backed up my existing stock Rom. Opened cwm and selected install Rom. Selected the Rom from my onboard sd card (not external). Phone rebooted. It did not install automatically. Gave me a menu to clear cache or install a Rom from a location (in cwm). Selected a Rom and it failed. Tried again, phone rebooted, failed again. Stuck on the galaxy s3 screen.

Since then, I have been able to boot into Odin and have flashed to a stock Rom and no longer have root access. I still want to root and try flashing a new Rom but I'm skittish now.

So what happened?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

[PsYcHoNeWb]

Followed the instructions using the debugfs command window. Installed ez-unlock. Unlocked the system. Verified root access. Installed easy recovery and installed cwm. Downloaded Rom manager and backed up my existing stock Rom. Opened cwm and selected install Rom. Selected the Rom from my onboard sd card (not external). Phone rebooted. It did not install automatically. Gave me a menu to clear cache or install a Rom from a location (in cwm). Selected a Rom and it failed. Tried again, phone rebooted, failed again. Stuck on the galaxy s3 screen.

Since then, I have been able to boot into Odin and have flashed to a stock Rom and no longer have root access. I still want to root and try flashing a new Rom but I'm skittish now.

So what happened?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

The bolded part above scares me. By opened CWM do you mean booted into your manual recovery or did you try to flash the ROM using the ROM Manager app? I hope you tried manual recovery because if you tried to flash with CWM ROM Manager app then I will tell you thats your problem. Also, what version of EZ-Unlock did you download? If you got the one from the market then that might not have worked to unlock your bootloader properly. The dev has stated in his thread over on Rootz that if you need to unlock your bootloader to use v1.1 or 1.2, not 1.4 which is the version downloadable from the play store. You can download them from here... [App] [9/20] EZ-Unlock 1.4 - Easiest way to unlock your bootloader! - Verizon Galaxy S III Development - RootzWiki.

 

[lou1210]

The bolded part above scares me. By opened CWM do you mean booted into your manual recovery or did you try to flash the ROM using the ROM Manager app? I hope you tried manual recovery because if you tried to flash with CWM ROM Manager app then I will tell you thats your problem. Also, what version of EZ-Unlock did you download? If you got the one from the market then that might not have worked to unlock your bootloader properly. The dev has stated in his thread over on Rootz that if you need to unlock your bootloader to use v1.1 or 1.2, not 1.4 which is the version downloadable from the play store. You can download them from here... [App] [9/20] EZ-Unlock 1.4 - Easiest way to unlock your bootloader! - Verizon Galaxy S III Development - RootzWiki.

I downloaded version 1.2 as directed in the root instructions. I read the directions like 10 times and made sure I had the correct versions. Rooting wasn't a problem and neither was unlocking the bootloader. It was flashing that was my issue.

Yes I used cwm on my phone. I'm not sure what you mean by doing it manually. I had a thunderbolt and was used to flashing using the gui (Selecting install Rom from sd cars, saying ok and letting the phone do the rest) but it sounds like that was my issue on the g3. Where can I find the right steps for flashing. I have 3 Roms that I already want to try and I want to get this right.

Thanks for the help!!

Sent from my Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk 2

 

[PsYcHoNeWb]

I downloaded version 1.2 as directed in the root instructions. I read the directions like 10 times and made sure I had the correct versions. Rooting wasn't a problem and neither was unlocking the bootloader. It was flashing that was my issue.

Yes I used cwm on my phone. I'm not sure what you mean by doing it manually. I had a thunderbolt and was used to flashing using the gui (Selecting install Rom from sd cars, saying ok and letting the phone do the rest) but it sounds like that was my issue on the g3. Where can I find the right steps for flashing. I have 3 Roms that I already want to try and I want to get this right.

Thanks for the help!!

Sent from my Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk 2

Did you power your phone off and boot into recovery? This means your didn't actually flash the ROM while your phone was "on". Basically it works like a DOS prompt of the phone, if you didn't do that then it sounds like you used the app which could very well cause a problem. You need to boot you phone into recovery mode by powering your phone off fully and once its off power it into recovery mode by holding volume up, home and the power button simultaneously. If you did this correct you should get into you phones recovery which will allow you to properly flash your ROM. Check my flashing guide in my signature and it will give you the proper instructions on how to flash your ROM with a recovery wether it be CWM or TWRP.

 

[lou1210]

I was able to power off and recover that way but had to use Odin. I never saw a cwm option. Is it possible to flash using Odin? Even though I installed cwm I could never get to it by using volume down + home + power, only Odin. I will check out your instructions and let you know what happens. Thanks for all of the help and information. I really appreciate it. Wish me luck.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

[PsYcHoNeWb]

I was able to power off and recover that way but had to use Odin. I never saw a cwm option. Is it possible to flash using Odin? Even though I installed cwm I could never get to it by using volume down + home + power, only Odin. I will check out your instructions and let you know what happens. Thanks for all of the help and information. I really appreciate it. Wish me luck.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

You need to press VOLUME UP, not down. Down will always put you in ODIN mode.

 

[lou1210]

Thank you!!! I went back over the root and flash process and was able to install AOKP's build 4 ROM!