Root Can not use odin on Prevail, but not a total brick

[xuare]

I'm at a loss. My phone won't flash with Odin. I get three possible outcomes:

First, when I use only PDA and Phone images:
http://androidforums.com/samsung-ga...op-after-deleting-system-app.html#post3754829

Second, when I use the boot image as well:
http://androidforums.com/samsung-ga...op-after-deleting-system-app.html#post3756020

I also tried CyanogenMod beta's one-package, which fails as well. The closest I ever got to having an upload work was the first one that bombed out on step 1 when downloading the boot image when one wasn't specified. I killed it after over 10 minuets of waiting. It was running from a network drive.

The current ODIN results are run locally from the C drive. The phone boots afterward far enough to enter adb shell commands in recovery mode, however it cannot boot all the way due to my attempts to symlink system/apps (see http://androidforums.com/samsung-ga...op-after-deleting-system-app.html#post3756020)

Any ideas? I have a useless phone if I can't either reflash it or find a way to regain root via adb shell in recovery mode (i.e. w/o the SuperUser app able to run, or any java/gui based program).

The Prevail in question came stock from Boost with 2.3.1 IIRC

 

[Lordvincent 90]

Try to use the ee14 Odin image. See if same result, re download ejo6 image try again, download stock ejo6 try... Well you get the idea...

 

[xuare]

I've rotated between the rom images and retried so much I worry I am going to break the usb port from fatigue. I was hoping for some...lower level help. For instance, is it possible to upload the raw images via TFTP?

 

[hroark13]

I'm at a loss. My phone won't flash with Odin. I get three possible outcomes:

First, when I use only PDA and Phone images:
http://androidforums.com/samsung-ga...op-after-deleting-system-app.html#post3754829

Second, when I use the boot image as well:
http://androidforums.com/samsung-ga...op-after-deleting-system-app.html#post3756020

I also tried CyanogenMod beta's one-package, which fails as well. The closest I ever got to having an upload work was the first one that bombed out on step 1 when downloading the boot image when one wasn't specified. I killed it after over 10 minuets of waiting. It was running from a network drive.

The current ODIN results are run locally from the C drive. The phone boots afterward far enough to enter adb shell commands in recovery mode, however it cannot boot all the way due to my attempts to symlink system/apps (see http://androidforums.com/samsung-ga...op-after-deleting-system-app.html#post3756020)

Any ideas? I have a useless phone if I can't either reflash it or find a way to regain root via adb shell in recovery mode (i.e. w/o the SuperUser app able to run, or any java/gui based program).

The Prevail in question came stock from Boost with 2.3.1 IIRC

There is no CyanogenMod beta's one-package

Did you try flashing all three tars?
Does the phone reboot after Odin load the image and says reset?
Can you get into recovery (vol up and power)?

 

[xuare]

-I have tried flashing all three images. Anytime the Boot image is in the set I get instant FAIL (I have tried different combinations of the three images)



-Anytime it is the Phone, PDA, or both Phone and PDA images, the upload remains in START and produces no output after the last "big partition size!" warning. I let in run last night and it dies at 533 minutes when the battery gave out.

The instructions for the one package came from HROAK_CWMv5_SPH-M820 readme.txt [may not be CM as indicated previously, sorry). I tried both the mod and the recovery file. Other ROM's I have tried are SPHM820_EJ06-CWM5-Rooted and (per Lordvincent's idea) SPHM820_EE14_FACTORY.

 

[hroark13]

-I have tried flashing all three images. Anytime the Boot image is in the set I get instant FAIL (I have tried different combinations of the three images)



-Anytime it is the Phone, PDA, or both Phone and PDA images, the upload remains in START and produces no output after the last "big partition size!" warning. I let in run last night and it dies at 533 minutes when the battery gave out.

The instructions for the one package came from HROAK_CWMv5_SPH-M820 readme.txt [may not be CM as indicated previously, sorry). I tried both the mod and the recovery file. Other ROM's I have tried are SPHM820_EJ06-CWM5-Rooted and (per Lordvincent's idea) SPHM820_EE14_FACTORY.

reboot computer
try again
unplug sdcard from phone
try again
unplug battery for 30 seconds and put back in
try again
try different USB port
try again
try different USB cable
try again
try different computer
try again

It should not take longer than 5 minutes for Odin to finish loading all three tar files

You have to select the OPS and and all three tars at the same time, One package should NOT be unchecked for this (installing ROM)

If after all this, if it does not work, your phone may have some type of hardware failure.

 

[xuare]

I am about to try with my Touchpad's USB cable (thicker, higher gauge wires may provide better signals). After that, I can try the new computer, but it would be a slower Pentium II. The current computer was completely reformatted and only used for this recovery process (can't connect to anything outside our LAN).

 

[new optimus]

I am about to try with my Touchpad's USB cable (thicker, higher gauge wires may provide better signals). After that, I can try the new computer, but it would be a slower Pentium II. The current computer was completely reformatted and only used for this recovery process (can't connect to anything outside our LAN).

not all cables are able to transmit data to samsung phones, I have an older samsung eternity 2 and a couple of lg phones that all have the same connecter yet only the samsung cable and the prevail stock cable can transmit data.

 

[xuare]

Neither the USB cable nor the PII w/ Win2K seem to have worked. I'm at a loss.

 

[Alsaces Daddy]

I've been having the same trouble getting my usb to connect to my computer. Thing is my wife's phone connects with both usbs that I have and same computer. Oh, and we both have prevails.

 

[Bandaid]

Xuare, when using odin and selecting

 

[xuare]

Bandaid: All the files I have been attempting to upload into the phone via Odin are TAR (tape archive) files. This is how they came out of the image archive, which was a ZIP. i.e., "SPHM820_EJ06-CWM5-Rooted-rfsCache.zip" contained Odin 4.4.2 and a Phone, PDA, and Boot TAR file. Odin gave no warnings upon using these files.

 

[Kcsuper]

I'm wondering if you manipulated/broke a vital piece of hardware in your phone.
Can you use odin to flash back to Froyo (I think you can do that right?).
What about using only the .ops and just one .tar like only PDA or only Phone...it obviously won't complete but see if it deivers any additional progress.

 

[hroark13]

I also tried CyanogenMod beta's one-package, which fails as well.

Which CyanogenMod beta's one-package ?

The Prevail in question came stock from Boost with 2.3.1 IIRC

What is 2.3.1 IIRC ?

 

[Koumajutsu]

IIRC ?

If I Recall Correctly

 

[Kcsuper]

LOL @ Kouma, I actually googled that acronym.

 

[new optimus]

Bandaid: All the files I have been attempting to upload into the phone via Odin are TAR (tape archive) files. This is how they came out of the image archive, which was a ZIP. i.e., "SPHM820_EJ06-CWM5-Rooted-rfsCache.zip" contained Odin 4.4.2 and a Phone, PDA, and Boot TAR file. Odin gave no warnings upon using these files.

if it came with gingerbread it is fairly new it could be possible they made a hardware change.

 

[Koumajutsu]

Stupid question, but you are putting the phone in download mode first, right?

 

[Bandaid]

I just wanted to make sure you unzipped the main zip file and not the other zip files that were included.

 

[xuare]

Thanks for all the interest!

-The phone is in download mode (down vol, camera, power)
-I have tried using just one type of image in a flash (usually PDA, but also phone and boot)
-The name of the "one package file was "HROARK_CWMv5_SPH-M820_Odin_1P.tar", from HROARK_CWMv5_SPH-M820
-I don't think Odin cares about the file, as I have tried a few different images. I don't have high hopes about Froyo or other images, as the phone doesn't ever change as a result of flashing.

I think my problem is over for now, as I have managed to exchange the hardware. Troubleshooting is great for building experience and knowledge, however my time has become limited recently and I needed to have a working phone.

EDIT: Final thoughts

To those who deal with this kind of issue, here are some lessons learned:

-Don't try to flash a phone through Parallels or VMWare. The Samsung USB drivers are special, low level drivers that cannot operate properly when translated through the standard USB systems of MacOS / Linux / etc.

-Don't blindly mess with your sdcard. The Android JVM is critical to the GUI and system, and doesn't mount at boot. Android doesn't use standard fstab and mounting procedures for the sdcard.

-Don't turn your USB debugging off. This has security issues for the phone, so if this is a concern you will need to find other mitigations for losing a phone with personal information on it.

-Test your phone's flash-ability early, and use WinXP SP2 or newer w/ ODIN. It is possible for ODIN to not work, which will limit the amount of tinkering you will want to do with the phone.

If you are really paranoid, you will want to create a personally secured version of su or rootsu with the suid flag set. Basically, some way of getting root without using the GUI / JVM / Superuser.apk so recovery mode & adb can be used to make changes. You very likely will NOT want to store this binary on the phone (security)

 

[xuare]

On an interesting note, my new phone has "all the old flash symptoms" of the old one. At this point I'm left with two conclusions. More likely, I'm doing something wrong (for the life of me I can't figure out what), or there's an Odin block in the newer phones. The new phone came with 2.3.5 installed.

Given my past pain, I'm not going to worry about flashing it, though I do have the su process stored to allow root access when I do Su from the adb shell... just in case

 

[wetbiker7]

Thanks for all the interest!

-The phone is in download mode (down vol, camera, power)
-I have tried using just one type of image in a flash (usually PDA, but also phone and boot)
-The name of the "one package file was "HROARK_CWMv5_SPH-M820_Odin_1P.tar", from HROARK_CWMv5_SPH-M820
-I don't think Odin cares about the file, as I have tried a few different images. I don't have high hopes about Froyo or other images, as the phone doesn't ever change as a result of flashing.

I think my problem is over for now, as I have managed to exchange the hardware. Troubleshooting is great for building experience and knowledge, however my time has become limited recently and I needed to have a working phone.

EDIT: Final thoughts

To those who deal with this kind of issue, here are some lessons learned:

-Don't try to flash a phone through Parallels or VMWare. The Samsung USB drivers are special, low level drivers that cannot operate properly when translated through the standard USB systems of MacOS / Linux / etc.

-Don't blindly mess with your sdcard. The Android JVM is critical to the GUI and system, and doesn't mount at boot. Android doesn't use standard fstab and mounting procedures for the sdcard.

-Don't turn your USB debugging off. This has security issues for the phone, so if this is a concern you will need to find other mitigations for losing a phone with personal information on it.

-Test your phone's flash-ability early, and use WinXP SP2 or newer w/ ODIN. It is possible for ODIN to not work, which will limit the amount of tinkering you will want to do with the phone.

If you are really paranoid, you will want to create a personally secured version of su or rootsu with the suid flag set. Basically, some way of getting root without using the GUI / JVM / Superuser.apk so recovery mode & adb can be used to make changes. You very likely will NOT want to store this binary on the phone (security)

Thanks for taking the time to share your info with the Forum .

 

[inigomontoyasr]

just catching up.

what OS and Odin version are you using to try this?

 

[hroark13]

The problem the other person was having, was he was not using the Odin that came with the zip file

he was downloading another version of Odin from the internet

I dont think Odin is being blocked on new phones