[Galaxy S 5 General] deanr1977:
Read before flashing a Rom (Tips for new &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;a m p; old)

I am just informing newbies & or maybe a few older rom users with some tips when flashing a custom rom on there S5 for the first time & there is some good infomation here so please read on. When i attemted to flash my Samsung this weekend for the first time i got myself locked out (due to the Reactivation lock) & stuck on a bootloop trying to refix my phone again, i know most of this stuff should be common knowledge but as i found out myself this weekend some isnt. I have had quite a few years experiance flashing various phones with custom roms, modding apks, flashing bootloaders & customising roms so i am not a newbie to the Xda forums or rom flashing. & if you need to reflash back to stock for any reason I have noticed that there is not many download links on Xda or the internet which is not good when the worst happens to your shiny S5.

So heres some useful steps to follow before you start rooting or flashing Roms

1. Make a backup of your rom (System), you can do this in recovery mode.

2. Download your new rom & bootloader & modem (if needed) & then check the MD5 hash/checkstring of your download (if its not the same as what is stated where you downloaded it from then redownload the file) You can download a free MD5 hash checker app via the googleplay store & then check the MD5 sums from the zip file on your phone.

3. Check in your settings that these opitions are right - Unknown sources is ticked & very inportant that the Reactivation lock is unticked! (located in settings/security) or you will lock up your phone after flashing your rom!, & USB debugging is ticked (located in settings/developer options).

4. Make sure your phone battery is not low, best get a full charge or at least 50% before flashing just incase anything goes wrong!

5. Download Odin (if needed) & make sure that the only items ticked are Auto reboot & F.Reset time, & only add firmware or recoverys into the PDA/AP button!

6. Download a Toolbox or prefered method for Rooting & follow the instructions from start to finish, do not miss anything & always read & read before you flash.

7. You can access Recovery mode by holding the Up Volume button/Home button/Power button held down together untill you see the first logo pop up, then release the buttons.

8. You can access Download mode by holding the Down Volume button/Home button/Power button held down together (if it don't pop up first time try again & make sure you have the USB wire plugged in to your laptop/pc & it should work everytime).

9. You can Soft Reboot/manual reboot the phone (if needed) by holding the Home button/Power button held down together.

10. You can Hard Reboot (by physically pulling out the battery) then re inserting it again then power on the device, this method maybe used if you are stuck in a bootloop.

11. Use a laptop which has been fully charged of over a 50% charge instead of a PC so that during the flashing period there is no chance of a power charge or power cut happening in your house that will interupt & could brick or soft brick your S5.

If you need any original firmware because you want to revert back at any point you can download them for free from SamMobile they have all different countrys & carriers but you will need to add a account first & just to warn you it will take a hour or more if you use the free download so if you are stuck in a bootloop just hard reset your phone (do a battery pull) then once downloaded start from there.

SamMobile Download link here - http://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/

It is safe to flash a custom rom to your phone but there is always the chance of something going wrong, you may bootloop or turn your S5 into a fancy paper weight (if your safe this won't happen), hope these little tricks help & these are some of the questions & things that can throw or put people off when flashing roms or rooting your phone.

If you find anything helpful in this thread feel free to push the like/thanks button.

(Hope this is in the right section if not please move, thanks)