I update my device so installed kies and update, got interrupted somehow and soft bricked. Sent it off to samsung who told. Tried then to install software using odin and it is bricked again! I think it is a driver issue as I also tried one click, uses heimdell and it tried to install drivers and failed. Then asks me.

What is Bricking? “Brick” is a very familiar term among all who live in a civilized society but when it is used with reference to an electronic device it becomes one of the most misunderstood things. The term derives from the vaguely cuboid shape of many electronic devices and suggests a state when a device turns into a non-functioning and unusable thing like.

Thus, in the true sense of the word a bricked device is one that is not recoverable through normal means. A smartphone is bricked when its flash memory is completely corrupted and as a result it is unable to boot altogether. The major reason behind “bricking” is a bad flash that damages the existing data preset present on a phone’s system that handle bootloader, radio etc. Now, when we talk of the term “brick” for an Android device, it is classified into two types: Hard Brick and Soft Brick. A “hard-brick” is quite unlikely with “normal operations” like rooting or flashing custom ROMs. So, it’s mostly soft brick that is referred to when someone says “Alas, my phone is bricked!” While your device cannot be recoverable if it is hard-bricked, you can bring it back to life if it is soft-bricked. If you are able to boot your Android device into bootloader, fastboot, download or recovery mode in its non-functioning state, it is rather soft-bricked.

• Hard Brick Symptoms: Dead screen, no reaction at the press of power button. • Soft Brick Symptoms: Device not able to boot and is stuck on the Bootanimation, screen is turned off but it turns up when the power button or specific key combination is pressed. Unbrick Samsung Galaxy S4.

Since the present tutorial is about “unbricking” a soft-bricked Galaxy S4, I would limit the topic this device only. There are three ways to recover your Samsung Galaxy S4 if it is soft-bricked.

Recovering Galaxy S4 from a Bootloop: Bootloop is a state when your phone is not able to boot properly and it is stuck on the Bootanimation It is the commonest thing that Android users face with their phone or tablet device and this can be fixed easily by performing certain steps by booting the device into stock or custom recovery mode. Here is our detailed guide that will help you fix bootloop on your Galaxy S4. • By Installing the Official Firmware: If wiping the data/factory reset, and cache partition does not help you, or you are not able to boot into the Android System or ClockworkMod recovery on your Galaxy S4, you can try installing the official firmware on your phone. Read the following guide that will help you find the correct firmware for your Galaxy S4 and install it safely.

• By Flashing Stock Firmware and PIT File: In case the two methods described above do not bring your Galaxy S4 to normal state, the problem is a little serious but still not out of control. The following method is same as installing the official firmware described above, but it also involves flashing a PIT file along-with the firmware. This file is used to re-partition the corrupt partition on Galaxy devices. To unbrick your Galaxy S4 follow the steps given below but before installing the firmware, you need to make a little preparation. • Download Odin3 tool and unzip it on your desktop: • Download appropriate PIT file for Galaxy S4 GT-I9500, GT-I9505, AT&T SGH-I337 or Verizon SCH-I545 (corresponding to your phone model) and extract the zip file on your desktop: • • • • • • • Download and install either Samsung Kies or USB Drivers on your computer: • Download latest correct firmware for your Galaxy S4 and extract the zip: • Turn on USB Debugging on your Galaxy S4 from Settings>More>Developer Options. If you are unable to see “Developer options” under phone Settings, you’ll have to enable it first. See to enable the Developer Options on Galaxy S4.

• Charge your phone to at least 70% battery level. Note for Verizon S4 Users: If you own a Verizon Galaxy S4 SCH-I545, and your phone is not booting up normally, just download the following firmware file, extract the zip, boot phone into Download mode and install the file with.tar.md5 extension by clicking the PDA button on Odin. You need not use the PIT file from above.

Download Firmware (Android 4.4.2): Having done with the prerequisites, you can now proceed. Just follow the steps given below. • Turn off the device and boot it into Download/Odin Mode. Here is the method: press and hold the Volume Down+Home+Power buttons simultaneously for 2-3 seconds till you see a warning screen. Now press Volume Up key to enter Download Mode.

• Go to Odin folder and launch Odin3 3.07. • Connect your device using USB cable and wait till the ID:COM port at Odin turns blue and you see “Added!!” on the message box below. This shows that the connection between Odin and your device has been established. • Now click on PDA button, navigate to the firmware folder and select the file with.tar.md5 extension. • Then click on the PIT button, navigate to the PIT folder and select the file with.pit extension. • Make sure that Re-Partition and F Reset Time is selected on Odin.

Also, do not forget to uncheck the Auto Reboot options. • Your configuration on Odin should look like the following screenshot: • When you are sure that everything has been done correctly, click the Start button on Odin. • Doing this will start the installation and it might take about 2-4 minutes to complete. • When you see PASS! Message on Odin, disconnect the USB cable and close Odin. • Now remove the back cover on your device and pull out the battery. Wait for about 1 minute and then place the battery back to its place. Hampshire Tsharc Drivers on this page.

• Boot your Galaxy S4 into Android System Recovery mode: hold Volume Up+Home+Power keys together till the screen turns up and the Samsung logo blinks twice. Just as you see a green Android bot, release the Power button but keep Volume Up and Home keys pressed till you see the recovery menu (see below). In recovery mode use the volume keys to scroll and power button to select options: • Go to “wipe data/factory reset” option and wipe it. • Then “wipe cache partition”. • Finally, go to “reboot system now” and select it. Your Galaxy S4 will boot now.

Usually, it takes a longer time than usual to boot the device, so wait patiently till you see the Welcome Set Up screen. You know well what to do here.

Here ends our easy and detailed tutorial on unbricking the Samsung Galaxy S4 GT-I9500 and GT-I9505. If you have any questions or your are stuck at a certain step during the procedure, feel free to ask us via comments. Other Useful Tutorials. When I tried updating just the system it wouldn’t go through and sid there is no PIT partition so I had to download PIT file and tried it again twice.

I got same result both times like the picture above. I got screen which says: “Firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery in Kies & try again.” Tried that too but I got nowhere because for emergency firmware recovery I need a recovery code and also Kies is not recognising my phone, its saying so I tried your method but I’m stuck at this same firmware upgrade “issue”.

I was running 4.4.2 german unlocked firmware and I want to revert back to original BHT (BH Telecom) (Bosnian ROM) since same version came out recently (4.4.2) so now I’m stuck with soft-bricked phone which if I do not manage to get it up and running will be “hard” bricked against a wall. Please if you got any suggestions I’m open for them. Hi, my girlfriend’s phone (S4 GT-i9500) has had this same problem where it does not start and does not go in recovery mode, but it does go in Odin mode. I’ve followed each and every step on this page, downloaded the latest firmware and pit file, but I’m not able to get past “Initialization”. Can you help me with this?

Also one more problem is when the phone gets connected to the charger it will show a grey battery with the loading screen stuck for about 2-3 seconds and then it just shuts down again. Does this have anything to do with Odin getting stuck at initialization?

Hello, I have the T-Mobile S4 SGH-M919 and it’s stock I’ve never rooted it. I installed an app off google playstore and as soon as it finished my phone restarted and got stuck at the logo screen and sometimes will bootloop as well. It won’t go into the recovery screen when I use the hardkeys it just gets stuck at logo screen with “recovery booting” in top left corner.

The only thing i can get to is the downloading screen I tried reinstalling firmware over odin and I get this below.and on the phone in the top corner it says, START [224, 1440] SW REV. CHECK FAIL: fused: 4, Binary: 1 Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you ID:0/003>Added!!

Enter CS for MD5. Do not unplug the cable.

M919UVUAMDL_M919TMBAMDL_M919UVUAMDL_HOME.tar.md5 is valid. Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully. Odin v.3 engine (ID:3). File analysis. Get PIT for mapping. Firmware update start. Sbl2.mbn NAND Write Start!!

Sbl3.mbn rpm.mbn aboot.mbn FAIL! (Auth) Complete(Write) operation failed.

All threads completed. (succeed 0 / failed 1) •. Hey guys i am stuck. I was trying to reset my phone to stock and un-root it. I successfully got it back to stock firmware.

However for some reason it was telling me that i had an app trying to perform unauthorized actions. So i decided to reflash the firmware and completely erase everything. Anyway now when i went to flash this time in odin i keep getting this error. Enter CS for MD5.

Do not unplug the cable. L720VPUEMK2_L720SPTEMK2_L720VPUEMK2_HOME.tar.md5 is valid. Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully. Odin v.3 engine (ID:3).

File analysis. Set PIT file. DO NOT TURN OFF TARGET!!

Get PIT for mapping. Firmware update start. Sbl2.mbn NAND Write Start!!

Sbl3.mbn rpm.mbn aboot.mbn tz.mbn boot.img recovery.img system.img.ext4 Complete(Write) operation failed. All threads completed. (succeed 0 / failed 1) when i try to enter recovery mode it says i need to connect to kies. So i cant get into recovery.

Also on the download mode screen it says WRITE PROTECTION ENABLED but since i cant start the phone or enter recovery i dont know how to change it. Any advice would be appreciated •. Enter CS for MD5. Do not unplug the cable. L720VPUAMDC_L720SPTAMDC_L720VPUAMDC_HOME.tar.md5 is valid. Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully.

Odin v.3 engine (ID:3). File analysis. Complete(Write) operation failed. All threads completed. (succeed 0 / failed 1) Please can you help I have the Sprint Samsung Galaxy S4 SPH-L720 and i tried you steps but it won’t work on odin3 v3.07 and it said it failed. The has been like this for 4 days and i can’t start the phone. Please help me.

Plus is there a PDA file for the sprint Galaxy S$ cuz i didn’t find it. Enter CS for MD5.

Do not unplug the cable. SCH-I545_MDK_562219_Stock_Restore.tar.md5 is valid. Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully.

Odin v.3 engine (ID:5). File analysis. Set PIT file.

DO NOT TURN OFF TARGET!! Get PIT for mapping. Firmware update start. Sbl1.mbn NAND Write Start!!

Sbl2.mbn sbl3.mbn rpm.mbn aboot.mbn FAIL! (Auth) All threads completed. (succeed 0 / failed 1) it fails at aboot. I have USA verizon one •.

DroidViewsportmapI don’t see a stock firmeware to download for sgh-i377 in the samsung-updates web, could you point me in the right direction? I was actually never able to boot into the 4.3, i applied the 4.3 rom using safestrap but since im unable to boot into android i can’t run safestrap anymore (recovery console is still stock), i saw that i did install something in the sd and i deleted it but it still won’t let me in. May be I can try with the 4.3 stock once Im able to find it for att usa sgh-i377, if you know where I can download from please let me know. Portmap Hi, you are facing the installation failure issue because you are trying to flash a lesser version of firmware. The latest bootloader from AT&T from build MF3 onwards do not allow downgrading.

Try to find the same firmware version your phone is currently on. Since you say your S4 has 4.3, it must be the MJ7 or MK2 build.

If you do not find the firmware, try to boot the device in recovery mode and wipe data factory reset and cache partition. Then reboot device. Since safestrap does not replace the original system files. I have not used Safestrap but as far as I know, it must have and option to switch between the stock and custom ROMs slot. If you find that option, switch to the stock one and delete the custom ROM slot. Hi, hoping you can give me a hand here, I have a sgh-i337.

It had the mf3 version of fw, I flashed a ROM from xda that was based on 4.3, specifically the cyanogenmod 10.2 nightlies, I flashed it using safestrap, right after that it just stays stucked in the samsung logo, I tried flashing the stock firmware and i get: Set PIT file. DO NOT TURN OFF TARGET!! Get PIT for mapping. Firmware update start.

Aboot.mbn NAND Write Start!! (Auth) All threads completed. (succeed 0 / failed 1) I tried PIT only, tried FW only, tried both, and I get the same FAIL! (Auth) error. For Firmware file I’m using I337UCUAMDL_I337ATTAMDL_I337UCUAMDL_HOME.tar.md5 which is supposedly for this phone. Would you please give me ideas on how to proceed?

I have galaxy s4, i perchased it 3 moths ago, last 3 days before as usual i open my mob it was off then i restart it, it was turn on and hanged at samsung logo with blue highlight, did power off the phone and pulled out the battery,after an hour i fix the battery and re start my phone again same thing happend, then next tym i power off the phone removed the battery and again fix and started with recovery mode, like reset factory after reboot also then same problem having,,, know unable to understand plz help me •. Happy Holidays, Followed tutorial to the key. Sprint SG4 (just got it for christmas) Odin3 v3.07 states “FAIL!” when i try to flash back to Sprint stock image. Set PIT file.

DO NOT TURN OFF TARGET!! Get PIT for mapping.

Firmware update start. Aboot.mbn NAND Write Start!! (Auth) All threads completed. (succeed 0 / failed 1) Tried PIT for I9500 and I9505. On Download Screen: start [224, 1440] secure check fail: PIT SW REV. Check fail: fused 4, Binary: 1 any help?

Hey thanks for the patience, i got it into download mode but u will be amazed how,,,,,, (i put in the battery connect it to the wall charger and before it comes on press vol downhome key and power key but as soon as it reaches the screen for the warning to press up to enter the download mode it i have to take out the battery and press up quickly or else it shuts off) but this does not happen when i try plugging it into the computer im not sure what is happening if the battery is bad or what. Recently when i upgraded to the 4.3 update on my phone it was working smoothly for few days and to my horror one fine day my phone just switched off. When i tried switching it on it just goes to the Samsung galaxy i9500 screen and blacks out. I Could go into the download mode as well in the download mode i can see following things: ODIN MODE PRODUCT NAME: GT- I9500 Current Binary: Samsung Official System Status: Official Warannty bit: 0 Could you please help me out in one way or the other so as to bring my S4 back to life. Scrabble Junior Dora The Explorer Edition Instructions Not Included Movie.

Really disappointed with the new update issue. I,ve read almost many blogs but couldn’t repair it with odin it gets stuck at either pit file issues once i put the pit file it gets stuck at set partition. Please help me out peeps!!!:'( •. Well, unfortunately I have no friend that own S4 here. I have contacted the Octopus support few days ago they said I need to repair my efs but Octopus has no support for model I9500 yet. So, it seems like I still have to wait 🙁 my imei is fine now the signal bar is full but can’t make any call it will pop up “Not registered on network” the Samsung service told me to change the board which will cost me bout 200-250 US.Dollars coz my phone is root.

So no way out for me yet but thank you fir sharing anyway •. Dear Rakesh, I have a problem with my S4 I9500. I am from kenya and i had I9500XXUAMDK_I9500OJVAMDK_I9500XXUAMDK firmware and i updated with UAE firmware I9500XXUBMG9_I9500OJVBMG9_I9500XXUBMG9. Some how it was not smooth so i reflashed the original rom now the imei is not there and unable to register in the network so the phone is not usable. Again i flashed the UAE rom and it is registering in the network and able to see the original imei number. Please can you help me to get back to kenya firmware. I have a big problem and i hope you will help:(.I rooted and installed cw recovery 1 week ago, and i installed the 4.3 stock android rom ( I have the S4 l9505 from Romanian carrier Orange).After a week i found some bugs and i wanted to flash cm 10.1,and before i deleted all the stuff i shell but now my phone stucks at the first samsung logo 🙁 i tried the battery trick but no success.Is there any new to recover my phone as it was?Any wait to get the waranty again?

I forgot to mention that in my custom recovery there isn’t no “install from sd card option” just something with “install update package”Please help i need my phone! The firmware is the latest one(official) because after I flash the stock firmware that I have with Odin, the status of the phone became back to official and the phone download the update through wifi automatically.

The problem still presents. I search through internet, seems like many people have problem with the “not registered on network” but the solution I found didn’t fix my problem. I found a thread about a patch(Ariza Patch) but it supports only Note2 and I9300.

So, still keep looking. Thank you again for you advise. First of all thanks a lot for your helpits good to know i am not alone in thisI appreciate it. I will share my experiencefinally i was able to boot the Galaxy S4 i9500 by doing a magic trick i thinkit was a coin toss but it workedi have another Galaxy S4 i9500 working.so i decided to backup my efs in Philz Touch Recovery from the working phone to the stucked phone with the same recoveryit just occurred me that maybe (and just maybe) the phone will boot that way. And actually did.the problem was i ended up in the same path we are Angel Swith a Generic IMEI and a expensive Media Player:( Still hoping to get some advicelooking trough the internet i find exactly the same information you do Angelsonothing clear about IMEI injection or Repair for I9500. Rakeshthanxs for your time and efforti like this page a lotthanxs and we will be waiting for more suggestions.

Any other advice? I’m sorry I didn’t notice this before I told Mr.Rakesh that I will write the full detail about how I did to make my phone boot up normally but honestly my friendI’m still not sureall I know isthe code that Mr.Rakesh gave me is work so, let’s try it again shall we? First of allI’m not sure if go back to stock firmware will relevant or not so, if you wanna be on stock firmware then it’s fine 2. Must have PhilZ Touch Recovery as your recovery modewhich I see you have it and also have Aroma File Manger which can enter Terminal Emulator alsothat’s good 3. Dear Rakesh, Thank you for the link. I have checked that link before alsoat this point I hang on my hope to fix IMEI with those boxes but none support repair IMEI of I9500. The boxes can read and write efsbut not write IMEI(repair it) so, for nowI still stare at the nv files in hes editorthough it makes me feel so sicklol and ohI wanna tell Jesus Rock Star about the way that i forced the efs to mount if you don’t mind actually, it’s your waycoz you’re the one who told me how to ^_^ if there’s anything new about repairing imei of model I9500 please, let me know Thank you again •.

Siri am having a big problem.my efs partition is corruptedi have a galaxy s4 i9500 and i have done everything in my mind to get it out being stuck at samsung logoi am trying with terminal emulator in philz touch but it says cant find /dev/block/mmcbllk0p1 in etc/fstab. My efs folder is empty mke2fs command seems to workbut after that is wrongplease help.i am desperate!!

Actually i was reading fro another user that you help him with this exact problem and he could boot his phone please help!!! Hi Ryan try this first: 1. Start Kies 2.Click Tools->Firmware upgrade and initilazation 3.Type in model of your phone for example AT&T is: SGH-I747 ( all in capital letters) click OK. In some cases letter after number can be small. In example for Samsung Galaxy S3 Rogers you can try SGH-I747m. 4.Then type serial number off the stcker under battery also in capital letters click OK 5.There will be info about firmware click OK 6.Info about software version. Put your phone in download mode by pressing volume down key, home button and power button then connect to PC using orginal USB cable, click OK 7.

Follow info on screen. Phone will reboot by itself when all is done correctly. Hello,thanks for this tutorial and sry for my bad english (i am from Germany). My S4 was rootet and i put the google 4.3 rom on it.

At least i disliked it and want back my stock rom. After flashing with odin 3.07 (as like the most usual tutorials say) my s4 hang at the moment showing the samsung logo (blue led lightning).

Now i want to Recover my S4 (GT-I9505) by flashing stock firmware (MF8) and pit file. Following your Tutorial form 1 to 11 I couldnot boot the Galaxy S4 into Android System Recovery mode. It only virates. What should i do? A Noob needs help! Dear Rakesh, Well, it’s because of my curious T_T After a week that I got this phone I’ve decided to root it, then search through the internet about app for root phone. I then found the article about Swapper2 app So, I’ve decided to followed the instruction and install swapper2 on my phone.

There’s nothing happened for few days, then I’ve decided(again) that this app may not be useful for me so, I’m about to uninstall it after I reboot my phonebut when the phone reboot that dayit stuck on the Samsung logoand still stuck ’til now I don’t want to send my phone to mobile service now because they’ll blame the hardware inside and try to make me pay to change it(the shop that I bought the phone from said the ram was brokenneed to change!!! How can I know it’s broken for sureI’m not an mobile engineer) unlessthat I’m pretty sure that the hardware has broken for real then I’m willing to pay. It’s my fault and I blame no-one I have installed the PhilZ Touch 5 Recovery version 6.0.3.2 and then try to make back up of the efs it can back up the efs.img file but can’t make the tar file the system will pop-up that it can’t mount efs again fortunately that the new recovery has the Aroma File Manager Support so I installed the Aroma and it can open Terminal Emulator in Recovery mode So, I’ll try your code to force the efs to mount I’ll notice you again when it’s done Thank you so much again Hope that code will work •. Dear Rakesh, I’ve flashed the rom with pit file again today to see if it will solve the bootloop problem. It’s passed welll in Odin but when the phone startit stuck on the Samsung logo again!!!

I can’t make the phone start up normally no matter what I doIt’s still be “E: failed to mount /efs (Invalid argument)” in recovery mode as the same When I connect my phone to my computer and open command prompt in sdk tool, try to use adb command it seems like it can detect my phone but the status of device is offline what should I do now?? Please, advise Thank you so much again. Hi Angel, sorry for the late reply. It appears that your phone’s EFS data has corrupted. I some cases I have noticed flashing with PIT resolved the EFS mount issue. You can try this. When you phone boots up after installing the ROM, dial *#06# to check that your phone has IMEI number or not.

In case you do not see it, root your phone and install the latest Busybox app from the Play Store. Also install Android Terminal Emulator app on the phone. Launch the terminal app and type the following command: su mke2fs /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 mount -w -t ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 reboot Doing this will force the EFS to mount. Then install the firmware file with PIT file (using the steps in the tutorial above). Boot device in stock Recovery mode and wipe data/factory reset and cache partition.

Reboot the device and it should be fixed. I have tested in on my Galaxy S3 and it worked.

You should also see this article: •. Hello, my galaxy s4 stuck on Samsung logo. It is a root phone, I have no back up so, I tried wipe data/factory reset, flash stock rom but it’s still stuck, when I go to recovery mode it said “E: failed to mount /efs (Invalid argument)” I’ve never tired flash with pit file beforeI’m very new to android system. Could this method fix my problem? I asked the mobile engineer from the store that I bought this phone he said the ram may be broke down!! I went to ask another mobile shop, they can’t fix it either I have attached the picture of the screen in recovery mode.

I found it in another website, it’s I9300 picture but I have the same problem as in this picture. Please, advise •.