yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Likkleskip:
https://forums.oneplus.net/threads/guide-xposed-framework-for-lollipop-alpha.276212/

Use the alpha 2 apk from that post... Its not about the s4 but the apk works after u flash the xposed zip
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] {davros}:
thank you!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] muniz_ri:
I also would be interested in hearing if many others are having this issue.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Digi7476:
Stuck at Samsung Screen

Hello,

This is the 3rd phone I have rooted, but it is the first time I have tried the GS4. I am having the same issue that several others in this forum have mentioned. I follow the steps to the letter, and I end up stuck at the Samsung screen after flashing with Flashfire. Here are the steps I have taken so far (high level steps as again I followed the instructions given in each post to the letter)

1: I started with a stock phone running NK1 (I had a cracked screen and the replacement phone came yesterday)

2: I rooted using Odin using the method outlined in the General Forum

3: at this point the phone was working great, but I decided I wanted Lolipop

4: I attempted to flash the deodex version linked above - Stuck at the samsung screen for 30 min

5: Flashed the full wipe NC5 to unbrick - Rooted with towelroot

6: I attempted to flash the Deodex version again - Stuck at the samsung screen for 30 min

7: Flashed the full wipe NC5 to unbrick - Rooted with towelroot

8: I gave up on deodex version and tried the odex version - Again stuck at the samsung screen for 30 min

9: Flashed the full wipe NC5 to unbrick - Rooted with towelroot

10: Not sure what to do now......

Anybody have any ideas?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] muniz_ri:
FF is still BETA and does have bugs however the most common cause of what you experienced is forgetting to set screen timeout to 10 mins. You can also flash the ROM with Safestrap but after the flash is complete you will need to reboot into download mode and Odin flash the I545_OC1_Stock_Kernel
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] jjj001:
Samsung Galaxy S4 Screen

I followed the steps to the t- everything went as planned using the root image file. Upon rebooting my Galaxy S4 is stuck on the black boot screen. How can I get my phone back to a functioning state?

FYI, I started with NC5 rooted.

Thank you,

JJ
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] EdrickMG:
I have experienced several issues regarding flash fire ? obviously i knew it's a Beta, when I flashed backup I ended up in samsung screen the way to go it's downgrade to NC5 Full wipe... The other didn't help... Also I have suffered stuck in Verizon screen my only advice it's use nc5 full wipe with pit ? and do all process and be patient, that's my two cents
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] dwhit24:
Odin back to NC5, root with towelroot, installed flashfire, flashed OC1 rooted file...all is well now. Thanks!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] jjj001:
Tried Odin, no workie.

I was in the same boat - stuck Samsung Boot logo.

However, when I try to flash full wipe with pit via odin, it fails. Why would this be? It starts the process on my phone but fails on odin.

Thank you.

JJ
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] klabit87:
I don't know if you've seen it or not but there is a zip that allows us to flash the OC1 kernel in Safestrap.

here it is I545_OC1_Stock_KERNEL_SafeStrap-Flashable.zip
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] muniz_ri:
Thank you, I am aware of that workaround that benwaffle and carl developed for the N900A and others have ported to other devices. However I feel safestrap is now obsolete and I am reluctant to promote it. I prefer to let it continue its slow death.

FF does have bugs but, based on usage in my threads covering many devices, it has worked ~99.5% of the time (plus there is always User error).
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] muniz_ri:
Yes, making and restoring backups continues to be the most common bug with FF. Hope it gets resolved soon.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] klabit87:
I understand. I plan to move to FF myself once it gets out of beta.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] danielnn:
Question

So I am trying to update my wife's phone her's is on NK4 bootloader running 4.4.2 rooted can I follow this process to update her to 5.0.1
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] muniz_ri:
Yes
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] jjj001:
Resolved

I resolved the issue.

Odin issue was resolved by using alternate computer. No idea why it wasn't working on my main machine but who cares.

Stuck Samsung Galaxy S4 screen was fixed by:

1)Flashing Stock NC5 via odin.

2)Towelroot for root

3)Following procedure on pg. 1

Like I said before, followed instructions to a T and had issues. Perhaps it is always best to flash back to stock NC5 first?

JJ
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] ATGkompressor:
Flashing from NK1 seems to cause problems. Though, some have had success. But NC5 is definitely the way to go.

And I found it's best, if using FlashFire, to Odin back to NC5 if u are wishing to switch to odex/deodex (or any other LP rom) from an already OC1 Rom. While the roms do perform a full wipe upon install, it just seems like something tags along that sabotages the install. It's crazy.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] muniz_ri:
I wonder if FF struggles with the system.img method that I use in my ROM's instead of the traditional system folder. I will upload new ROM's using the traiditonal system folder and see if that eliminates these one-off failures.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] muniz_ri:
The new ROM files have been added to the OP. Let me know how they perform. Thx
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] skepticmisfit:
through the old files that i literally downloaded today (lol), flashing the deodex ROM worked through Safestrap. I flashed a ROM with the traditional file system scheme (rather than image files) through FF and that worked fine.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] muniz_ri:
The system.img method works with FF most of the time but every once in a while I still hear of someone getting stuck on the Samsung boot screen. I am not seeing that for the ROM's using the system folder so I believe FF may struggle with the img sometimes, idk. Hope these new files run just as good as the img files but without any more stuck on boot issues. We'll see...
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] asssboy:
I tried searching this thread, but didn't find anything. Is anyone else having problems sending MMS on this build?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] sinner822:
Personally I like the Safestrap method with a flashable kernel. Boot is slow. Worst case you have to Odin NC5 kernel to restore a backup. Flashfire has to many issues. Plus no quick fix. Just my opinion. Of which means absolutely nothing.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] ATGkompressor:
I've not had hardly any issues with FlashFire. I see many ppl sticking with Safestrap as opposed to defecting to FlashFire. I will say though Safestrap is a work of art. It made the impossible, possible. But as far as FlashFire is concerned, it is still in BETA. If only it could handle aroma...This ROM is crazy stable and flashes good in FF. These bootloop issues I see make no sense to me. I thought the same with SS and KK roms, many ppl reported issues but I never had any. Obviously, if the OP is written, then it had to come from somewhere. These devs aren't gonna post instructions saying follow them to the T without knowing what works and what doesn't. Bad flashes are 99% user/equipment error.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] sinner822:
Agreed. I have not had any issues with Flashfire. I use both. Flashfire to install and Safestrap to backup till I am stable. I prefer to remove all but the absolute must have files. Total debloat. If Flashfire could be booted into like Safestrap it would be perfect. That is the ONLY benefit of Safestrap to me. I too don't understand why people have so many problems installing. I myself make it a mission to make my rom as small as possible. Currently under 650m
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] fxwrangler:
muniz_ri I really don't think it has anything to do with the ROM's you posted either way. I've tried both the old and the new files and FF just either works or doesn't. Its still a beta application, so I'm guessing there is just some bugs that are still not quite worked out. That being said, I still like FF. Its just that sometimes, even though I've followed the OP to a 'T' ..it just doesn't always finish the flashing process. Even doing the full wipe back to NC5, it just doesnt always work. Thanks for your awesome work, as usual!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Osama Chishty:
muniz_ri need to ask 1 think can we install this rom using flashfire or safestrap.. ? http://xdaforums.com/galaxy-s4/i9505-develop/rom-albe95-lollirom-official-1-0-t3049564

or u can make rom like this ? i love what u did for us in previous rom but i really want you to make a rom like this one i know u r best hope we can see this soon ... thanks in advance :)
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] dnoyeb:
not sure why but on the latest versions i'm not getting it to work... i've followed the directions to a T and tried both files... After Flash fire does it's thing it gets stuck on the Samsung Galaxy S4 splash screen and just stays there.

I saw someone made a note about older versions of flash fire; anyone have an older apk I can try?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] rp1226:
Just use safestrap. It works well and no issues. There is a thread on how to change kernel without ODIN. Best of luck!

---------- Post added at 11:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:50 AM ----------

Here is the link to the topic!

http://xdaforums.com/galaxy-s4-verizon/general/guide-safestrap-access-odin-t3120483
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] rmedure:
Hey guys ... regarding flashfire causing softbrick; maybe flashfire is quitting the flash process prematurely.

I've had issues with flashfire quitting prematurely while performing backup about 2 minutes into it. I found a reliable work around which is to periodically press the volume up and/or volume down button during the backup process. Maybe give it a try during the flash process as well?

Cheers!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] dnoyeb:
doing it the ss mode, which rom is recommended to use? the one in the OP? i'm really needing to get the wifi tethering piece in there working since i'm on the UDP...
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] AFront85:
Wifi is still acting pretty terribly for me. Any fixes?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] kevinbakon:
Please help a noob(ish) upgrade from MK2...

After searching through all sorts of threads (both on xda and others) I believe this thread offers the best possible solution for where I need to be. After reading through this thread and and searching some key words, so far I have only found little gems to help me understand my current situation and some of the complications I will be faced with. While I scour through the 76 pages, I was hoping someone could chime in and help offer a relatively inexperienced person upgrade their Verizon S4 to the latest version of Android, without loosing root.

Honestly I'm a little overwhelmed with some of what I've read. My main concerns are losing root, bricking my phone and spending an exorbitant amount of time flashing and troubleshooting. I'm open to other suggestions, but ultimately what brings me to this point is the fact that the combination of my phone's OS, firmware and Xposed modifications have started crippling my day-to-day usage and reliability. I believe simply doing a factory reset will brick my phone (since I've uninstalled and frozen a ton of Samsung apps), among other potential complications. I need to upgrade to something more steady, but not KitKat (mainly because I am a heavy SD card user) and am hoping someone can help make this process a tad more straight forward for me (including links).....

Here is my current setup:

Verizon S4 (I545)

Bootloader VRUEMK2 (verified through terminal command in adb)

Rooted stock Android 4.3

Xposed Framework with many modules (I'm aware I'll lose some with Lollipop)

All Apps, data, SMS, etc have been backed up through my SD card via Titanium, then to my PC

Windows 8 user

Heavy Wifi user

That's all I can think of...

I'm not concerned with breaking my warranty at this point

I'm also open to flashing to the latest CM nightlies or another very stable and well supported ROM

Thank you in advance,

Kevin
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Digi7476:
The new ROMs did the trick for me. After 6 total soft bricks with the old ones the new deodex ROM worked on the first try.

Thanks for your help!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] mrmondaynight:
Did this & it says i'm still on 4.4.2

Odd
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] bangdosa:
hello, I upgraded to OC1 using an early may version of the rooted stock flashfire. I was fumbling a bit and messed up, resulting in removing the samsung keyboard from the system. I was thinking of starting over anyways and was wondering wether I should use the old rom or the new rom as the md5 of the stock I have downloaded then doesnt match the links of the current ones. I was also wondering if it is safe for me to do the flash on this rooted lolipop.

Thanks whoever responds for all your help!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Digi7476:
OK this might sound crazy but I wanted to submit my findings for a couple reason regardless of how crazy it sounds. First, it might help some one else out there having problems, and second, it might help the developers to figure out what is causing the issue with FlashFire in the first place...

After my last post I was happily messing around with the settings of the my rooted GS4 running the deodex oc1. I'm not sure how I did it, but some combination of actions caused my phone to soft brick.

I thought, "no big deal, just flash back to NC5 and start the process over again now that it is working."

I flashed back to NC5, Rooted with Towelroot, Downloaded SuperSU, and I had a functional rooted NC5.

When I tried to flash to oc1 again using exactly the same method from the OP that had worked a few hours earlier it did not complete the flashing process and my phone was soft bricked and stuck at the Samsung screen during the boot.

I tried a few more times before giving up and just leaving it set up as a Rooted NC5. I completely restored my apps and settings with every intention of being patient and waiting for Lollipop until a solution was found.

This morning I tried again and it worked the first time.

I don't know why it worked. It could be the act of fully restoring all the apps and settings before flashing. It could be the fact that I took the time to freeze knox with Titanium Backup. It could be allowing the phone to come to some "equilibrium state" after sitting overnight. It could be the phone was overheating from all the bricking/unbricking/bricking again.... IDK...

What I do know is the two times I have gotten this to work it was after I had resigned myself to the fact that the update wasn't going to work and took the time to completely set up the phone as a rooted NC5, and then left it that way at least overnight....

Like I said....Crazy... Hope this helps someone....
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] grimjeeper:
I've had the same issues as you, been running nc5 again for a free weeks now. Just hate for it to fail and have to redo everything again.

I've been curious as if it fails, to flash back to nc5 then restore a back up in safe strap.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] MaxPower742:
I was rooted and followed the instructions exactly and now I'm running lollipop but am not rooted. Maybe I misunderstood the point?

My phone is acting up now and I just want to factory reset to official stock, and undo what I've done by following the steps of this post. If I factory reset through the phone, won't it just re-flash the image provided in this thread? Should I factory reset with kies? How do I get to vanilla lollipop so I can just wait for a proper root method?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] steepdgaf:
I had no problem with the ROM and like to say its running awesome but if anyone is interested I saw that FF released an update today, maybe that will help those with any issues...sorry if off topic.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] klabit87:
Has anybody had problems with the stock email app?

I use exchange mail for work and everytime I reply or forward an email the app will fc.

I can send an email no problem.

Just wondering if it's just me.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] gordonlw:
This worked perfect for me.. I was on rooted S4 4.4.2 nk1 and updated to rooted stock 5.0.1.

A couple questions and forgive me if it's been covered.

Is there anyway to get custom recovery? I've installed cwm and twrp and both seem to install fine but when I try to boot into recovery it is stock recovery.

I'm hoping to go to a custom rom with 5.1 from this but pretty sure I would need custom recovery to do so. overall I like this rom but am experiencing the memory leak and some app crash's (I've reset and wiped cache, froze bloatware etc).
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] kevinbakon:
Bump...

Simply put, whats the best way for me to upgrade from 4.3 to 5.0.1, without losing root?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] muniz_ri:
Odin flash the NC5 .tar, root with towelroot then follow the OP.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] EdrickMG:
Muniz I tried the new Rom and can't pass samsung unlock screen is there any way to obtain all old roms? Thanks
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] muniz_ri:
The issue is not the ROM, it's FF which has a bug that sometimes causes a premature reboot during the flash resulting in being stuck in the samsung boot screen.

One user avoided this by pressing the volume key every few seconds during the flash. Seems to work.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] AFront85:
I have been having a lot of problems with wifi cutting out. I'm using the odexed version. Any suggestions or solutions?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] rslu2:
Try the v21 version of FF. It eliminated the premature reboots for me.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] EdrickMG:
I tried new versíon remain the same, tried using volume keys same results, i dont know if its the cable, sounds completly strange to me because ive flashed all the versions since Lollipop and the most recent ones are the ones giving me bad time, and FlashFire used to work so im lost!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] M_SpatRN:
Thanks again

Thank you for the instructions this worked perfectly, still rooted, no issues.:)
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] muniz_ri:
Just downloaded and tested the deodexed version and it worked fine.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] grimjeeper:
Strange, I have tried all kinds of suggested methods and tricks to no avail. It musty work fine because others have had success, like I said your first release back in may worked like a dream. At that time I had my back light set to 2 minutes.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] muniz_ri:
Added to OP.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] ATGkompressor:
So is this thing flashable in safestrap or is flashfire the only option?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] xCHAOSNCx:
Ok Muniz the op says safestrap won't work after flashing so what do we use for recovery? I'm downloading file now but I'm trying to be as prepared as possible for after I flash and I didn't see the oc1 kernal in the op sorry if I've missed something but thanks in advance
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] ustewjt:
Wifi

Hi - So I'm confused. Do I need to reflash the entire package to restore Wifi ? I flashed before it was working and it currently does not work on this phone. Is it just the utility from the Play Store that needs to be updated or was there a new ROM?

Thanks for all your work!

Tim
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] rp1226:
It would nice to get the alterative steps for Safestrap in OP that are clear to reduce confusion.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Jeezy831:
It can be flashed on Safestrap 3.75. Do a full wipe before install. Make sure to Flash the OC1 kernel in the OP using Odin. If it bootloops in Safestrap startup, just hit continue on the bottom right hand screen and it should load. It did that to me the first time, but not aNY time after.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] rp1226:
i don't see the OC1 Kernel in the OP. Do you mean " I545_OC1_TetherAddOn"?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Jeezy831:
Yes, that one. Sorry didn't mean to cause confusion on my part. The only reason I said kernel is because that is how it appears on my computer after downloading the file.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] jam0688:
Can also confirm that flashing works though safestrap. wifi is also working with no lock ups. thank you once again for all your work Muniz!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] dgutierrez04:
He uploaded a new rom. Just flash it on top from the previous rom. Doing a wipe is not necessary.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] rmena28:
I followed all the steps, but I was on rooted NK4 (with NK1 Kernel) instead of NC5..

Now the phone gets stuck on Samsung Logo.

I tried entering to recovery and perform a full wipe, but It didn't work.

Anything else to try before download the NC5 tar? :(

EDIT: I went back to NC5 via ODIN, followed the steps from OP and everything is working fine (including WIFI)
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] rp1226:
Where did you put the file for flashing in ODIN? BL? AP? CP? or CSC?

Thanks!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Jeezy831:
In the AP slot
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] 6david7:
Would the googlies nc2 WiFi fix work with this? Just throwing ideas out there.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] muniz_ri:
Safestrap is now obsolete. FF is the new recovery solution.

Also, look out for Multisystem which will be coming soon. It will allow you to create ROM slots very similar to Safestrap.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] curry101:
I'm having the same issue. I can't get the phone to go past the Samsung Logo that happens with Safestrap. I wiped all data except for internal storage and flashed using fireflash. Please advise. I really need my phone sooner rather than later. Thank you!!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] xprobert:
I did the steps for tether, But still does not work. Am I missing something? I flashed with ff.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Legitsu:
you either didn't wait long enough or didn't uncheck the ever root options or you didn't uncheck the automount

because you where impatient and interrupted the process now you are screwed

ODIN back to stock NC5 And try it again

which you can find instructions to here

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2735172

use the full-wipe package and the .pit file
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] dgutierrez04:
Wifi has already been fix in the new rom
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] curry101:
Darn alright. If I ODIN back to stock NC5, will I still have root?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] EdrickMG:
Well I won't go out tonight, so I'll try all possible ways deodexed, regular, flashfire, safestrap etc,

I did a weird experiment today, I went back to nk5 root with towel installed busybox, safestrap and it did restart enter to no problem to kitkat but when I choose recovery it remained black screen no accessing strap so definitely I assume must be in the partition like I said I'll try every variation available I got plenty time :cool:
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] muniz_ri:
Are you seeing "Rebooting...." at the end of the FF flash? Also, which version of flash fire did you have success with?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] EdrickMG:
Negative i don´t see rebooting unless its too fast to see it, a

FlashFire v.19 i didnt try 20 but definitly 21 is not working, man i end with Samsung Galaxy s4 and its awful
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] muniz_ri:
Did you try pressing the volume button every few seconds during the flash to prevent the premature reboot? Also, do you still have FF v19 apk to test?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] EdrickMG:
It must be something you update from Google Apps, I was about to give up and download all the bloat even did a safestrap nandroid back up... I was willing to use it in kit Kat... But when tried flash fire it went through so I assume must be something you download and update from PlayStore or even after restart it several times I ll do more tests...
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] wreckwriter:
Have the wifi issues been sorted out?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] wreckwriter:
Well, hung on Samsung screen with unlocked padlock that says Custom for 20 minutes now. Am I screwed?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] muniz_ri:
Flash the NC5 .tar to recover. Did you set your screen timeout to 10mins before flashing?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] wreckwriter:
Yes, i did set to 10 min