[How to] Factory Restore (or Fix a Bricked Phone)

[ifallinrivers]

Frustrated and out of ideas, I went back to your original post to see if maybe there was anything I overlooked and I saw you made a comment about trying to restore with the battery removed. Thankfully this worked for me and my phone is up and running on Froyo EC05. Thank you very much for your suggestions and all the help provided in this guide.

 

[Paul627g]

Frustrated and out of ideas, I went back to your original post to see if maybe there was anything I overlooked and I saw you made a comment about trying to restore with the battery removed. Thankfully this worked for me and my phone is up and running on Froyo EC05. Thank you very much for your suggestions and all the help provided in this guide.

Awesome !

Glad it worked out for you, that is the whole reason behind posting those various Odin tips

 

[SAVEDCHILD]

Thank you Paul! EPIC RECOVERY is so RIGHT!!! Thought I killed my epic and was aggravated for a day with a bricked phone. (Flash accident with Odin) But after being frustrated about it leaving the battery out then just hoping for the best i tried download mode then following these EXCELLENT instructions, I am back up and running. So Grateful. If i could email a drink please know that I would. Nonetheless, thank you again.

 

[Paul627g]

Thank you Paul! EPIC RECOVERY is so RIGHT!!! Thought I killed my epic and was aggravated for a day with a bricked phone. (Flash accident with Odin) But after being frustrated about it leaving the battery out then just hoping for the best i tried download mode then following these EXCELLENT instructions, I am back up and running. So Grateful. If i could email a drink please know that I would. Nonetheless, thank you again.

Glad to hear it. Don't worry about the drink

 

[VicH]

Sorry for the question especially if it has been answered. I have searched but would like to make sure I get this right.

I have flashed to CM9, it seems to use my battery much quicker than the Mostly Stock rom I was using. I plan to restore back from my CWM backup. I know I need to ODIN back to EC05 and utilze the pit file set as well.

My question is will I loose my data on my SD card?

I had to do this one other time and it changed the size of my SD card from 16GB to 8GB. I just don't remember what happened to the data. Seems like it would be erased. I remember having to use EASUS to extend the partition.

Many thanks for the help.

 

[Paul627g]

No your sdcard will remain untouched. You can actually run it without your sdcard. I have used Odin more times than I want to remember and it never affected my sdcard.

Otherwise your steps you described are correct. Good luck.

Sent from my Nexus S 4g using Tapatalk

 

[boricua5389]

thank you! worked perfectly!

 

[rando991]

Paul, I guess it's time to update this now that the EL30 tar is out?

 

[Paul627g]

Paul, I guess it's time to update this now that the EL30 tar is out?

Yep, finally a new tar file after all this time.... Give me a day here to get the exact procedure down and I can update the OP.

 

[adlebo]

Yep el30 tar is finally here. Just in case if you need a link: Cyanogenmod Epic 4G: EL30 Factory Firmware Image

 

[Paul627g]

OP has been updated to support EL30

 

[rando991]

Paul, in the instructions it says to select "SPH-D700-EL30-8Gb-REL.tar.md5" but I downloaded "SPH-D700-EL30-8Gb-REL.tar.tar" from 2 of the different links. You don't need to change the extra ".tar" or delete it do you? Can you use just as it appears, i.e. "SPH-D700-EL30-8Gb-REL.tar.tar"?

 

[Paul627g]

Yep it should still work. It might skip the md5 check.

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

 

[DesertBullgator]

I have a rooted phone running Bonsai v4.0.1 / EC05.

I just want to get everything back to being completely stock. Can I Odin directly to EL30 per the first post?

There is one app that needs to be held intact...OI Safe since it has all of my password data. How do I make sure that happens as well?

Thanks, It has been a while since I have done any of this fun stuff!

 

[Paul627g]

Yes you can use the EL30 Odin method to restore your device.

I would recommend using Titanium Backup from the Market to make a APP & DATA save of the password app/file your talking about. NOTE: You will have to root again once on EL30 to restore this password file using Titanium. This is your only option.

 

[DesertBullgator]

Odin will not recognize my device...the drivers will not load on this POS Dell Laptop. I have a rooted Epic with ClockworkMod v3.0.0.6 and Bonsai v4.0 running. Any other way for me to get to Gingerbread? I was hoping to go back to stock, but it doesn't look like I can make that happen.

 

[dargen5378]

My friend dropped her epic in the toilet. I took it apart and and completely disconnected the motherboard, all flex and coax(looking white wire) and dried it out using rice, then moved it to a plastic bag with a tub of Damp-Rid. The phone will turn on to the Samsung Mobile start up screen but does not move forward.

The phone will Enter Download Mode using the 1 key and power on. Unfortunately, the phone will NOT enter recovery mode with VOL DOWN, CAM, AND POWER (I made sure I did this right by testing on my own Epic.)

I followed instructions for ODIN to flash back to EC05, which was successful.

However, the Epic still only goes to the Samsung Mobile Black screen and does not proceed from there.

The phone will still not enter recovery mode for hard reset.

The phone still enters download mode and Odin is always successful.

Is the phone a loss since it does not boot up after Samsung Mobile black screen? What else can I do?

 

[klbsa]

My friend dropped her epic in the toilet. I took it apart and and completely disconnected the motherboard, all flex and coax(looking white wire) and dried it out using rice, then moved it to a plastic bag with a tub of Damp-Rid. The phone will turn on to the Samsung Mobile start up screen but does not move forward.

The phone will Enter Download Mode using the 1 key and power on. Unfortunately, the phone will NOT enter recovery mode with VOL DOWN, CAM, AND POWER (I made sure I did this right by testing on my own Epic.)

I followed instructions for ODIN to flash back to EC05, which was successful.

However, the Epic still only goes to the Samsung Mobile Black screen and does not proceed from there.

The phone will still not enter recovery mode for hard reset.

The phone still enters download mode and Odin is always successful.

Is the phone a loss since it does not boot up after Samsung Mobile black screen? What else can I do?

I am having the exact same issue word for word...... Im at a loss.

 

[ratsttam]

My friend dropped her epic in the toilet. I took it apart and and completely disconnected the motherboard, all flex and coax(looking white wire) and dried it out using rice, then moved it to a plastic bag with a tub of Damp-Rid. The phone will turn on to the Samsung Mobile start up screen but does not move forward.

The phone will Enter Download Mode using the 1 key and power on. Unfortunately, the phone will NOT enter recovery mode with VOL DOWN, CAM, AND POWER (I made sure I did this right by testing on my own Epic.)

I followed instructions for ODIN to flash back to EC05, which was successful.

However, the Epic still only goes to the Samsung Mobile Black screen and does not proceed from there.

The phone will still not enter recovery mode for hard reset.

The phone still enters download mode and Odin is always successful.

Is the phone a loss since it does not boot up after Samsung Mobile black screen? What else can I do?

If ODIN comes up successful but not successful, then try to use it with the pit file, and choose re-partition option. Failing that, I would say the nand memory is fried. Silver lining is that you can get an epic really cheap with broken screen and good esn, and use the good parts to fix it up. You've already shown you are capable of a teardown and rebuild.

 

[dargen5378]

Funny you should mention the PIT and repartition. I already did that as well since I know repartition on a PC would have done a complete wipe and reinstall, including any partition used for Boot.

Just as I was afraid of, fried.