[Galaxy Tab 2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] iamJParkinson:
Solved: stuck at "Firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery mode

So you are stuck on the dreaded " Firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery mode in Kies & try again" screen and there is nothing you can do to get your phone to start normally or even get to the download screen?

Fret not lads & ladies, I've already gone thru the pain and suffering and have come out new man, and I'll tell you how I did it. Also im starting all the way at linux/mac so everyones included.

First things first, you are going to have to get your computer ready with the right software for it to work.

You will need to make sure you get an original stock rom, make sure your source forwhere you download it is credible, this was my first mistake and why evidently I got myself into this mess.

I'm sure other roms might work that are modified for your device, but I suggest stock, and starting fresh just to make sure everything is up and running.

I am not responsible for your device, it may get bricked if done wrong.

Linux & Mac users first.

1. You will need to downloadable a program called Hiemdall, its a program similar to Odin3 (windows program).

2. You will need to extract the stock rom you downloaded earlier, I suggest to a folder in your desktop, wd will call it "folder1".

3. Now open up Hiemdall in root, (sudo Hiemdall-frontend for terminal) and then make sure device is on and stuck on the " Firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery mode in Kies & try again" screen, plug it in, then press the utilities tab and detect. ($ Heimdall detect)(terminal users). Make sure you do all this fast because the tablets are kinda funny when they stay connected.

4. Now clickthe Utilities tab then the "save as..." button and save the destination for the .pit file in the same location as the extracted stock rom folder (folder1).

5. Next click the Flash tab, and click browse and locate your .pit file, the one you just downloaded. Next click add under Partition (files), and then change the partion name (On the left hand under patition details) to recovery and browse to the extracted folder (folder1) and click and add the recovery.img and press start.

Now if all went well your tablet will have restarted itself and you have seen the logo (Samsung). but the chances are it wont load past that screen, but thats ok because now you can get your device into download mode and re-flash the whole rom. Do this the same way you did the recovery.img, but make sure you add each new one to the correct name in the partitions details section.

Now if this didnt work, then dont worry you can still join the windows crew and do it hat way. Simple download a program called virtualbox and get a windows xp iso, thats up to you to figure out as I deal with open source only O.S

So aftr you do that just load up the virtualbox with windows xp and follow below. I found it a bit easier as well.

Windows users....

I found this way to be pretty simple and straight forward,

1. Download Odin 1.3 (1.85 wasn't working for me)

2. Download the clockworkrecoveryMod

3. Open up Odin and browse in the PDA section for the CWM you downloaded and add it, next plug in your device and the box should turn yellow on the top left.

4. Press start and let it finish and reboot your device and you should now be able to boot into CWM and re flash a rom, or if you were smart just restore from a previous backup and get all the apps and stuff back too.

I dont know why cwm worked but it did so no complaints, just make sure you go into cwm and backup your device and with titanium (google play app) before you start playing with the root.

I did this and it worked for me, so hopefully it did for you. Im sorry if it didnt but dont get down, j6st be patient and ask and someone will help.

The key is getting the recovery.img to flash on I believe and maybe the cwm has it built in the package, im sure someone can shed some light on it.

"Im tired, cranky and hungry, but I got my baby back, no not you hunny, my GT2...":beer: