How do I get my phone out of the unstable state after ROM flash via SS?

[Ck_asdf]

[SOLVED] Phone stuck in an unstable state after ROM flash via SS

I have a Verizon Galaxy S4 with NC5 firmware. It has been rooted for the year-plus I've had it, and decided to meddle in the world of custom ROMs.

I tried one, had issues with the radios not working properly, so I downloaded Hyperdrive RLS20 to the SD card, booted to SafeStrap, wiped everything but sdcard, and flashed the zip. Everything was golden and working really well, so I set Titanium Backup to restore all my apps. Afterward, it suggested a restart, so I complied.

Upon restart, I would see the Samsung Galaxy S IV logo, then just a black screen and nothing else. I let it sit for a few minutes, but nothing. Pulled the battery and tried again. Couldn't get to Safe Strap, so I booted to download mode and tried to flash stock NC5 back onto it. It finished successfully, but when I booted to it, it asked me for a pin code. I entered the one I used with Hyperdrive which was accepted, and I saw the wallpaper I'd set in Hyperdrive. Then, an onslaught of messages advising that several programs were closing, and no way to make the messages go away.

Re-flashing stock (which is "clean" - no user configured settings) did not help. It seems there's a mix of stock & Hyperdrive, and it's causing conflict. I also tried checking the box in Odin called "Re-partition," but it would not flash with that box checked.

Through all the error messages, I managed to get to the factory restore page, but when I hit the button & entered the pin, it just said "shutting down." Tried that a few times, but no go.

I could connect via ADB, but it wouldn't let me clear the caches, as I needed root permission.

How do I get my phone into a usable state again? I appreciate any help!

 

[Ck_asdf]

Re: Phone stuck in an unstable state after ROM flash via SS

Great news, I was able to fix it!

Last night, I had tried getting into system recovery without any luck. Today, upon further research on ways I could resolve this, someone had again suggested recovery on a thread I came across. I decided to look up the instructions for the heck of it, and in addition to the button instructions which I knew, it asked me to release when the screen flickered or when I saw the recovery.

I tried it again this morning, and noticed when I turned it on (power + volume-up + home), some tiny blue text appeared in the upper left corner. I let go of the buttons as soon as I saw that, and I was in! Reset cache, as well as requested a wipe.

Finally, I was in the stock ROM with no more screen full of app closing errors. I've now gone through the process of putting Hyperdrive back on, and I've restarted a couple times with no issues. I'll probably be a bit more careful with Titanium going forward.

Hopefully this may help someone else who gets stuck in a similar circumstance.