Root [International] Unable to flash custom ROMs - though no errors on TWRP

[pachk]

Hi all,

I am in a weird situation. I have an S3 GT-I9300 - international variant. I have been able to root the phone, flash TWRP recovery, create nandroid backup, EFS backup, Titanium backup copies without issues.

So far, I have tried flashing these ROMs

• Slim-i9300-4.4.4
  
• LiquidSmooth Kitkat v3.2-i9300 ROM
• Archidroid Cyanogenmod ROM for GT-I9300
• OmniROM 4.4 for GT-I9300.

All ROMs were successfully flashed - as per status messages on TWRP. But after flashing each ROM, phone was either stuck in logo animation while booting - endless loop of animated Slim ROM logo or LiquidSmooth logo. And in the ArchiDroid CM / OmniROM cases, I did pass the logo animation stage of booting - but received "Encryption unsuccessful" error, so no success again. (btw never did any phone encryption and don't need it too, phone was never modified/rooted/flashed until now).

After going through multiple tries of flashing the ROMs above, promptly followed by cache/dalvik/data wipe or factory resets, nothing worked.

I also tried flashing the kernel after flashing the ROMs above, in the last few tries, to see if this changes anything.

Kernels I flashed were -

• ArchiKernel_V1.7-AOSP_KK
• PSN_AGNi_pureSTOCK-v4.9_Ported-4.4.2-4.4.4_I9300_AROMA

With one of the kernels above, received the "Encryption unsuccessful" error, and with the other one - endless animation screen of the custom ROM logo, like before.

After all this, I can still revert back to the nandroid backup through TWRP like nothing happened, which is a relief. But the current / stock condition of the system itself is pretty messy, and I would like to switch to one of the custom ROMs soon.

Any advise would be of great help; I have reached the state of pulling my own hair, since the above activities have taken several days already.

Thanks in advance,
pachk

 

[funkylogik]

Hey mate. Are you on a recent version of twrp?
If so and it isn't working, why not flash Philz recovery and try that? (Philz can restore twrp nandroids)

 

[pachk]

Yep, on the 2.8.1.0 which is pretty recent. I had downloaded the Philz recovery, so let me give it a try too. Thanks!

 

[pachk]

Trying with Philz recovery -

So far, tried the following on Philz recovery -

• LiquidSmooth Kitkat v3.2-i9300 ROM - Endless animation of Liquidsmooth logo
  
• Archidroid Cyanogenmod ROM for GT-I9300 - "Encryption unsuccessful" error. After the error, did a data/cache/dalvik wipe as well, no change.
  • Tried with Stock kernel offered on Archidroid ROM - no change, encryption error
    
  • Archidroid kernel - no change

Each time after ROM change, kernel change, did cache/dalvik/data wipe too, no change.

Doesn't look like changing the recovery has helped. But going to try the OmniROM image and Slim ROM in next few hours. Any advise would be welcome. Thanks in advance, once again!

 

[pachk]

Just an update, OmniROM flashing on Philz recovery ended up in encryption error too.

 

[scary alien]

Guys, I've moved this thread over to our SGS3 all-things-root (international) area for you.

I have no real answer for your issue, pachk, but I wonder if there's a file (or partition flag?) that indicates that your phone is or should be encrypted and that's why you're seeing the "Encryption unsuccessful" message? I dunno but I'll see if the TWRP source contains a reference to that and if so, under what circumstances (I believe their source is open and available).

edit: meh--not in TWRP source ; also, I realized that you said you were receiving the message after passing the boot animation, so that's well after any involvement by a custom recovery. I don't have any experience with the encryption process / environment, so I'm shooting blind here.

By the way, welcome to our AndroidForums, @pachk!

(and cheers, @funkylogik--always great to see you around and helping out! )

 

[scary alien]

Interesting results from this post on XDA (it's ICS-related, so really just a shot in the dark):

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=25382379&postcount=4

The issue we are seeing under ICS roms is that if MTP mode is set rather then UMS and you connect your phone to a pc then your next reboot will display the Encryption error.

Was your phone set in MTP mode when you left for lunch ?

edit: lots of other research shows the "Encryption Unsuccessful" issue with lots of different devices under various conditions / scenarios...not sure what else to suggest since I don't actually have an SGS3 so I can't give you any specific advice.

​

 

[funkylogik]

Cheers Scary mate. Yup well that leaves me stumped too
Any joy OP?

 

[pachk]

Well, I'm not really sure whether to call it success or not. But this ROM worked - sort of - http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3/development/rom-smartdroid-simple-kk-b1-t2563082.

Flashed with both the kitkat and jellybean versions of this ROM, flashing was successful and the phone actually booted just fine this time.

But all the user data has been intact - while flashing, Philz seems to be unable to format data - so there has been zero changes to the icons, theme, applications, launcher etc. Phone looks and feels exactly like how it was - and almost similar level of slowness - except the details in "About" point that its on Smart Droid ROM and on KK 4.4. Any thoughts?

 

[funkylogik]

To be safe id do a factory reset (i dont know why philz wont do it but) you can always do one in storage settings.
Be aware though that this will wipe EVERYTHING from the internal sd so move anything important to external first
(A data wipe in philz would have just mainly wiped apps and their data from the internal sd but in the os settings it will wipe everything)