# Sticky  [HOWTO] Defeating dreaded ICS Recovery Bootloop



## j2cool

So, after flashing a bad ROM while out and about, It would try to boot into Recovery and immediately fail. I was forced to hard reboot and use the 3-finger method to get into recovery. Now as we all know, that is a big NO when on ICS for the SCH-i500 (I use its real name to cover all derivations). Though, since I was not near a computer, i had no choice.
SO! I have found a way to defeat this error, once and for all.
Kind of a process, but it saves you from having to Odin like you would normally have to in this situation



Gunnermike53 said:


> its also much faster than the odin method. i dont think this should be a last resort to fix a recovery only boot loop. this is the first thing i will do when bricking from now on, huge time saver!


So there's that too.

1. If you're on ICS, you NEED to have a CM7 ROM and THS build 2 on hand at all times. Keep them on your SD card.
2. If you're bootlooping, do the dreaded 3-finger by holding til the SAMSUNG flashes once.
You'll reboot into ecovery, and you won't get back out. UNLESS!
3. Optionally wipe data here. Be sure to wipe both caches though.
4. Flash the CM7 zip you placed on your SDcard in step 1.
5 DO NOT REBOOT SYSTEM. Go to advanced and reboot recovery. 
6. It will now kick you into 5.0.2.x recovery.
7. Flash THS Build 2 at this point. It's automated reboot to finish and install are normal. 
-ELAPSED TIME: 5 minutes or less. (Odin would still be flashing)-
8. This will boot you into ICS! 
9. Now hold power, and reboot>recovery
10.Wipe and flash your desired ICS ROM.

Congratulations! You defeated the 3-finger bug!

If you use this method with success, let me know in the replies.

SOURCE; Own experience


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## sageDieu

fun fact: system data for cm7 and ics are interchangeable seemingly. I had a bootloop from playing with framework files a few days ago and couldn't get out of it so I flashed cm7 and then booted it up because I had an important phone call to make and didn't have time to flash back through ics and everything. I didn't wipe anything, just booted right up, and all my apps and everything were there. no issues. then I flashed back to ics afterwards and it had retained all my apps and preferences, even ics settings and rom control and stuff.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2


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## j2cool

sageDieu said:


> fun fact: system data for cm7 and ics are interchangeable seemingly. I had a bootloop from playing with framework files a few days ago and couldn't get out of it so I flashed cm7 and then booted it up because I had an important phone call to make and didn't have time to flash back through ics and everything. I didn't wipe anything, just booted right up, and all my apps and everything were there. no issues. then I flashed back to ics afterwards and it had retained all my apps and preferences, even ics settings and rom control and stuff.
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2


Welp, that answers #3. Thanks for sharing! That's awesome.


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## bobthesalesclerk

Thank you thank you thank you!

sent from my ice cream sandwiched Samsung fascinate


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## sarkozy

Out of curiosity, what build of cm7 seems to work? I've been trying this since the early days of ICS bootloops with an old nightly 108 I have on my SD card and it ALWAYS reboots the phone automatically (which just makes cm7 bootloop) after flashing. No chance to hit reboot recovery.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2


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## conmanxtreme

Another thing that's always worked for me, before getting into the recovery boot loop,(mine normally happened from the screen blacking out on my old rom), just pull the battery instead of using the 3-finger method lol


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## droidstyle

sarkozy said:


> Out of curiosity, what build of cm7 seems to work? I've been trying this since the early days of ICS bootloops with an old nightly 108 I have on my SD card and it ALWAYS reboots the phone automatically (which just makes cm7 bootloop) after flashing. No chance to hit reboot recovery.
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2


thats because you need to flash cm7 twice...


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## sarkozy

droidstyle said:


> thats because you need to flash cm7 twice...


I'm aware, however what I'm saying is immediately after flashing CM7 the first time, the phone reboots automatically and subsequently bootloops on the CM animation without a chance to select "reboot recovery."


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## droidstyle

i use makelegs cm7.2 skang.


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## j2cool

sarkozy said:


> Out of curiosity, what build of cm7 seems to work? I've been trying this since the early days of ICS bootloops with an old nightly 108 I have on my SD card and it ALWAYS reboots the phone automatically (which just makes cm7 bootloop) after flashing. No chance to hit reboot recovery.
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2


Makelegs' SKANG-A-LANG builds have always worked for me.


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## bigjobber69

if you are by a computer and dont want to wipe everything, u dont need to odin a factory fresh wipey, just odin latest CWM, 3 finger to it and flash whatever ICS you want. no wipe needed. have done this on several occasions.


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## hereticg0d

Thanks! I'll try this next time I'm in a bind. This recovery loop has driven me nuts, especially when i'm not near my laptop. Might just try this for shits and giggles later. I'll let ya know. Thanks again!


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## sageDieu

I personally use the official cm7.2 build but I don't think it really matters.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2


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## jbowm16

Yea guys, I was on CM9 build 6~ and I got bootlooped and all I had to do to fix it was flash the fixed CWM for CM7 and boot up, not sure if it will always work but it could make things simpler.


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## j2cool

Yes. reflashing a recovery in Odin fixes it. This is for when you're NOT near a computer.


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## 22stars

totally works. thank you.

idiot coworker wanted to see ICS on my phone, and then for some reason decided to 3-finger into the recovery because he wanted to see if it was different than his.

took these steps and fixed it, thanks again man.


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## Gunnermike53

great job on this. thank you. saved me the hour it takes to odin back and reflash the entire internet to get back to ics.


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## Gunnermike53

j2cool said:


> Yes. reflashing a recovery in Odin fixes it. This is for when you're NOT near a computer.


its also much faster than the odin method. i dont think this should be a last resort to fix a recovery only boot loop. this is the first thing i will do when bricking from now on, huge time saver!


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## bigjobber69

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ TROLLLLLLLLLLL


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## j2cool

Gunnermike53 said:


> great job on this. thank you. saved me the hour it takes to odin back and reflash the entire internet to get back to ics.


Again, this is for when you aren't near a computer to be able to Odin. I understand it's much faster to just Odin a new recovery, but if you're not near a computer and your phone screws up, you'd be without a phone until you could get to a computer.


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## bowtoy

I wishe this helped but I'm still stuck, I was on Milestone 5 updated to 35 today needed to do a backup it wouldn't reboot into recovery so I (stupidly) three fingered it. problem is I can't get my comp to recognize that my fascinate is connected, the phone goes into recovery, but doesn't shoe up in odin, I have insyalled uninstalled reinstalled re dowlnloaded etc samsung drivers. the phone is never recognized on xp or win7


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## Gunnermike53

j2cool said:


> Again, this is for when you aren't near a computer to be able to Odin. I understand it's much faster to just Odin a new recovery, but if you're not near a computer and your phone screws up, you'd be without a phone until you could get to a computer.


no way dude. 5-10 minutes to Odin back to stock. Add another 15-20 minutes to go through the flashing it takes to get back to ics. im not kidding, this is way faster, great job.


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## Gunnermike53

bowtoy said:


> I wishe this helped but I'm still stuck, I was on Milestone 5 updated to 35 today needed to do a backup it wouldn't reboot into recovery so I (stupidly) three fingered it. problem is I can't get my comp to recognize that my fascinate is connected, the phone goes into recovery, but doesn't shoe up in odin, I have insyalled uninstalled reinstalled re dowlnloaded etc samsung drivers. the phone is never recognized on xp or win7


in recovery go to mounts and storage and mount sd card. then drop on the needed roms and follow instructions in the op.


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## Gunnermike53

bigjobber69 said:


> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ TROLLLLLLLLLLL


huh?


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## hyann

Yeah thanks for a great post man. I flashed build 10 last week and today some how got stuck in the samsung logo screen. So here's how i got out of it,
-odin cwm fixed for cm7
-3 finger recovery
-flash build 10 from sd card.

it booted successfully and all my settings were there! now i gotta do the titanium backup ASAP
this saved my day!


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## j2cool

Gunnermike53 said:


> no way dude. 5-10 minutes to Odin back to stock. Add another 15-20 minutes to go through the flashing it takes to get back to ics. im not kidding, this is way faster, great job.


Oh, alright then. My bad. Thanks.


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## Gunnermike53

j2cool said:


> Oh, alright then. My bad. Thanks.


no no, thank you ;D

i timed it last night just to be sure, this saves about 20 minutes.


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## j2cool

I just don't know what went wrong...
(doublepost)


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## Durendal

So I'm stuck in a recovery loop. I've tried everything in this thread, but nothing seems to work. I started with a stock Mesmerize, rooted it, Odin'd cwm4 for cm7, then THS 2, then to THS 6.5. Everything was working great. But, I missed the part about not 3-fingering it, and 3-fingered it. I tried both nandroids I made, one of stock, and one of ICS, but neither worked. I tried reflashing back to stock from Odin, more than once, and each time it says it completed, but does nothing. I've tried flashing pretty much everything I found to try recovery, and no luck. I even tried the official Samsung utility, connect in download modeI. It asked if I needed to fix my phone, it did it's thingm said it worked, but nothing. Now, my phone doesn't even show the Samsung logo when it turns on, but just goes into recovery.

There are some errors that pop up in recovery, such as the following:

When it starts up, right away I get


> ClockworkMod Recovery v4.0.1.0
> E:Cant mount /cache/recovery/command
> E:Cant mount /cache/recovery/log
> E:Cant open /cache/recovery/log
> E:Cant mount /cache/recovery/last_log
> E:Cant open /cache/recovery/last_log


Wiping the cache:


> -- Wiping cache...
> Formatting /cache...
> Error mounting /cache!
> Skipping format...
> Cache wipe complete.


Data wipe:


> -- Wiping data...
> FOrmatting /data...
> Formatting /cache...
> Error mounting /cache!
> Skipping format...
> Formatting /datadata...
> Error mounting /datadata!
> Skipping format...
> Formatting /sd-ext...
> Formatting /sdcard/.android_secure...
> Data wipe complete.


Installing any roms gives me:


> Finding update package...
> Opening update package...
> Installing update...
> Installation aborted.


Except for the THS builds (1, 2, and 6.5), which all give me:


> Finding update package...
> Opening update package...
> Installing update...
> Checking statle of BLM/MTD


The last part stays on the screen for only a couple seconds, with a status bar that just slightly begins to fill, then it reboots, back to recovery right away.

Im not sure what else to try, and any suggestions would be much appreciated.

EDIT: Just checked out a few more things in the log. After wiping the dalvik cache, this is what the log file says:


> E:unknown volume for path [/sd-ext]
> mount:mmounting /dev/block/stl11 on /cache failed: Invalid argument
> W:failed to mount /dev/block/stl11 (File exists)
> W:failed to mount /dev/block/stl11 (Invalid argument)
> rm: can't remove '/data/dalvik-cache': No such file or directory
> rm: can't remove '/cache/dalvik-cache': No such file or directory
> rm: can't remove '/sd-ext/dalvik-cache': No such file or directory


Using the fix permission option gives me this in the log:


> /sbin/fix_permissions 2.04 started at 01-01-2000 00:06:12
> cat: cant open '/data/system/packages.xml': No such file or directory
> cat: cant open '/data/system/packages.xml': No such file or directory
> /sbin/fix_permissions 2.04 ended at 01-01-2000 00:06:12 (Runtime:0m:0s)
> Done!


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## hindustani8

Can someone provide me a link for CM7?


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## rzdw92

Durendal said:


> So I'm stuck in a recovery loop. I've tried everything in this thread, but nothing seems to work. I started with a stock Mesmerize, rooted it, Odin'd cwm4 for cm7, then THS 2, then to THS 6.5. Everything was working great. But, I missed the part about not 3-fingering it, and 3-fingered it. I tried both nandroids I made, one of stock, and one of ICS, but neither worked. I tried reflashing back to stock from Odin, more than once, and each time it says it completed, but does nothing. I've tried flashing pretty much everything I found to try recovery, and no luck. I even tried the official Samsung utility, connect in download modeI. It asked if I needed to fix my phone, it did it's thingm said it worked, but nothing. Now, my phone doesn't even show the Samsung logo when it turns on, but just goes into recovery.
> 
> There are some errors that pop up in recovery, such as the following:
> 
> When it starts up, right away I get
> 
> Wiping the cache:
> 
> Data wipe:
> 
> Installing any roms gives me:
> 
> Except for the THS builds (1, 2, and 6.5), which all give me:
> 
> The last part stays on the screen for only a couple seconds, with a status bar that just slightly begins to fill, then it reboots, back to recovery right away.
> 
> Im not sure what else to try, and any suggestions would be much appreciated.
> 
> EDIT: Just checked out a few more things in the log. After wiping the dalvik cache, this is what the log file says:
> 
> Using the fix permission option gives me this in the log:


just a thought: when you Odin'ed back to stock did you check the "Re-Partition" or "Phone EFS Clear", or "Phone Bootloader" checkboxes? Perhaps try them one, two and three at a time.I had similar problems, checked all three, and was able to get the phone to boot back into stock. I'm not sure if I needed all 3 to be checked -- I ended up having to do a *228 re-activation of my phone service.


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## fluffmeister9000

hindustani8 said:


> Can someone provide me a link for CM7?


http://download.cyan...ce=fascinatemtd

Also, thanks for the guide j2. Haven't used it myself yet but I often run into bootloops cause I love to tinker and flash nightlies so I'm sure I'll get the chance here soon.


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## zmedhaug

Did this for the recovery loop. Didn't work for me. Had to go to stock start over. Memorize is a very frustrating phone!


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## MistaWolfe

So....

What if you're in a recovery bootloop in CWM v5.5.0.4? My girl had to pull her battery, went to boot like normal and we can't get out of it. I've reflashed the ROM and it will hit the Samsung logo (flash once) show it again, then go back into recovery.

Did I mention I hate this phone more than anything? I've had locked down Motos that were not near as big of a PITA as this f**king phone.

Please help....


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## hottcakes

i thought this phone was rather easy to mess with. odin has fixed everything i have ever messed up. you just need to go to the right stock version and start all over.


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## j2cool

MistaWolfe said:


> So....
> 
> What if you're in a recovery bootloop in CWM v5.5.0.4? My filly had to pull her battery, went to boot like normal and we can't get out of it. I've reflashed the ROM and it will hit the Samsung logo (flash once) show it again, then go back into recovery.
> 
> Did I mention I hate this phone more than anything? I've had locked down Motos that were not near as big of a PITA as this f**king phone.
> 
> Please help....


Did you follow the OP? It has been foolproof for me.


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## CantEvenGo

checking in to say that that procedure saved my ass - i have a Mac and no access to a windows PC. Thanks for the info!


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## darodeth

GAH! Wish I would have seen this 3 day's ago before I assumed my phone was bricked and bought a new SIII. For some reason my computer wasn't able to connect my phone so I couldn't ODIN it back to stock. I thought my phone was bricked. I saw this thread and on a whim decided to give it a shot and low and behold the phone is fixed! Now if I can convince my wife to return the SIII life will be good...


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## Tomji

Just a note, I was on THS 6.5 (CM9) with this bug and thought I was smart and could go straight to CM10 instead of downgrading to CM7 first, that didn't work and made it worse, would just loop the Samsung logo, not even go into recovery anymore. So I had to Odin back to stock GB, and go from there.


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## ricon0820

Thanks man. That helped me out a lot. It didnt even take me 10 mins.







I was in a jam.









Thank you again


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## scubamike

After flashing CM7, rebooting to 5.0.2 and installing THS build 2 I get a random offset message. It never reboots on its own. When I manually reboot I end up right back at CWM 5.5, stuck in the recovery bootloop. Any thoughts?


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## scubamike

As a side note, I did Odin back to stock, reroot, and reflash to AOKP milestone 6. I'm still curious why this methom wouldn't work for me though.


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