Help w/ (Bricked?) Galaxy S2

olllive · Aug 7, 2012

Agh!

I recently rooted my SGH-I777, flashed using Clockword Mod Recovery, and then rebooted into recovery using CWM. But instead of rebooting into the recovery menu, everything went black. Now my phone won't reboot into recovery mode at all (not even with the Volume Up + Volume Down + Power combo). Instead, it gives me the Galaxy S2 GT-I9100 startup screen with the yellow triangle and then the screen goes all black, with quick flashes of dark gray.

When I removed the battery (to get it out of the black screen loop), returned the battery to the device, and plugged it in (without powering up the phone), the "charging" screen with the charging battery indicator flashed on the screen for a moment, and then back to all black flashes.

I removed the battery, SD card, and SIM card for about 20 minutes because I've read that can sometimes help. No dice.

This is probably either really bad or no big deal and I'm lame for not figuring it out, but... HELP! (Please?

)
If you need any other info, let me know!

Logan47 · Aug 7, 2012

Which files did you use to root with as it sound like you used the wrong version for your model? GT-I9100 is the international version.

olllive · Aug 7, 2012

Logan47 said:
Which files did you use to root with as it sound like you used the wrong version for your model? GT-I9100 is the international version.

Oh no! I used Odin3v185 to root. Is that bad news?

Logan47 · Aug 7, 2012

Odin is ok as that is used to flash kernels, firmware and so on, but which actual files did you flash via odin? If your device is showing GT-I9100 on boot then you may have used the wrong kernel or firmware to root. Name of the file or link to it would help identify them better.

olllive · Aug 7, 2012

Logan47 said:
Odin is ok as that is used to flash kernels, firmware and so on, but which actual files did you flash via odin? If your device is showing GT-I9100 on boot then you may have used the wrong kernel or firmware to root. Name of the file or link to it would help identify them better.

I used this method here to root, kernel included: How to Root ICS on AT&T Galaxy S2 SGH-i777! | Galaxy S2 Root

After that, I flashed using CWM and then rebooted. Then: catastrophe! :thinking:

Logan47 · Aug 7, 2012

Looking at the site and video you have done the correct version. I have the international version but I guess they all have the same boot screen, so no problem there. If your device still boots and you can get back into download mode then don't worry. Sounds like you're just in a boot loop which can sometimes happen after a kernel flash.
You could try and flash kernel again but it may still be stuck. I'd normally say try another insecure kernel or do a cache clear and maybe reset but I don't want to lead you in any particular direction as I don't have you actual model of the S2 variant. Better to wait for a few more replies from those that have your phone and are very familiar with its kernels and methods.
As I said, if you can get into download mode then don't worry it can be fixed.

olllive · Aug 7, 2012

Logan47 said:
Looking at the site and video you have done the correct version. I have the international version but I guess they all have the same boot screen, so no problem there. If your device still boots and you can get back into download mode then don't worry. Sounds like you're just in a boot loop which can sometimes happen after a kernel flash.
You could try and flash kernel again but it may still be stuck. I'd normally say try another insecure kernel or do a cache clear and maybe reset but I don't want to lead you in any particular direction as I don't have you actual model of the S2 variant. Better to wait for a few more replies from those that have your phone and are very familiar with its kernels and methods.
As I said, if you can get into download mode then don't worry it can be fixed.

Thank you! This is good news. I've re-flashed the kernel using DL mode (volume up, volume down, usb plugged in) and everything went smoothly-- outside of how it didn't solve the problem. haha But seeing the option of a menu screen was encouraging, so hearing that download mode is a good sign makes me feel much better.

I don't mind doing a full-fledged wipe if that would make my phone functional again-- though I'm not sure of how/if I can do that using only Odin in DL mode.

Logan47 · Aug 7, 2012

Yep, you would do a reset and clear caches in cwm but not available for you at the moment.
I'd link you to other kernels or firmware but I'm not familiar with your variant and wouldn't want you to flash an incorrect file as that can be unwise.
Just wait for some fellow I777 users to come along and steer you in the right direction.

olllive · Aug 7, 2012

Figured it out!

If anyone else searching gets into the same mess, I put the phone into download mode (volume up + volume down + usb attached). If the phone gets fussy and wants to go into a black boot screen cycle like mine did, just try it a few more times. Mine worked after the fourth attempt.
From there, follow the directions here: Samsung Galaxy SII (SGH-I777) AT&T only - Android Area51

That may fix it for you. It didn't work for me, but I was reunited with the option of a factory reset. And when the other option seems to be a constant boot cycle, that seemed fine for me, so I just reset the whole device.
It's like having a new phone! (haha? Ugh.) But it worked! And the perk of having an Android is that you can just sign into a few accounts and nearly everything is reset to how it was before!

Phew.
Good luck!!

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