[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Daniel Smedegaard Buus:
EDIT: As I've now gotten Odin to flash again, and my device still won't boot, I'm really starting to think Andromeda's recovery has wiped something vital that isn't restored with a "regular" stock ROM image. PIT? EFS? Partitioning? Something like that? Odin successfully flashes the whole image tar (which I've previously used successfully), and the boot splash now correctly changes to the default Samsung one without triangle, but still the phone won't boot (as described in msg #3). So I'm now wondering if there's any way to a more aggressive restore (whence the topic title change)? Or am I barking up the wrong tree here?

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Hi :)

Okay, so I was testing out different kernels with Paranoid Android. I had the Dorimanx kernel installed at first, but had some volume issues, so I shifted to the Dream kernel, wouldn't boot. Then then the Andromeda kernel, and it still wouldn't boot, so I thought I might try doing a factory wipe in Andromeda's recovery. It then froze, and after about 20 minutes I gave up waiting for it and reset the device.

I then tried using the recovery to reinstall the Dorimanx kernel that worked, but it would fail, too. Just hang. After some attempts, also at just mounting the storage via USB, everything would fail, a couple of times with a message about emmc not mounting IIRC.

I then got a response on PA's forum about which kernel was suggested, and the answer was the stock kernel, so I thought I'd just use Odin to flash a CF kernel.

I think I had to do two attempts, or maybe just one, but it succeeded in installing the kernel, and the device rebooted. Except it didn't really. I can't get a "regular" boot screen (the one with the triangle), and so I can't get into recovery. Also, when the charger is plugged in, instead of showing first the grey battery icon with the spinner in it (which I seem to remember would spin before) and the going to the battery with green, it just show the grey icon with a spinner that doesn't spin. It never goes to the green battery screen.

I could (and can) still get to download mode, so I thought I'd do a back to stock routine. I downloaded a full stock ROM and tried to flash it with Odin. It would then freeze at the setup connection step. I tried a different image, same result. I tried reflashing the CF kernel (which worked just minutes before with Odin), again with the same result. I tried different USB ports and cables (even though I just used Odin successfully before), rebooting, unplugging at the frozen step and plugging back in, but to no avail. Odin won't flash any .tar.md5 anymore AFAICT. At least not with the regular no-frills one-click approach.

I'm fearing a hardbrick here. Except I still have access to download mode, and Odin sees the device. Could the recovery in Andromeda have destroyed the partition table perhaps? Or overwritten something it wasn't supposed to?

Is there a different approach to recovery that I could try out? Or does any one of you have any tips I might try out? Anything would be most welcome and appreciated :)

Thank you,

Daniel

PS: Oh, I just tried starting it up after it's been without battery and unplugged overnight and all day. I tried starting it into recovery mode, and now I have a different screen altogether: It says, "Firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery mode in Kies & try again. Well, that sounds tempting! Except - I've never used Kies on this device in the first place, and Kies does not having any clue what I've been doing with this thing... Would it be safe to try out? I'm hesitant...