[Galaxy Ace S5830i Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] yuyu2809:
Hi to all, I'm new to all this but I hope you guys can help me.

I have a Samsung Galaxy Ace GT-S5830i, rooted but no ROM flashed; I unlocked it a couple of weeks ago using an app whose name I don't remember, but it was working fine after that. I was running short of internal memory so I did the little tweak as described in this page (I'm sorry about the links, I can't post them yet):

techgage [DOT] com/article/moving_your_non-movable_android_apps_to_an_sd_card/

After I successfully did the steps to enable moving the apps, I moved some of them to the SD Card, basically Whatsapp and Sleep as Android. I accidentally moved the Google Play Services too, but I put them back in internal phone storage thinking that it could be an important app. However, I think I didn't set the default installation location back to internal memory (setting value=0) after I did this. I also unchecked the USB debugging option. Now, a day later, I restarted my phone because it froze (I actually had to remove the battery cause it didn't respond to any input), and I couldn't turn it on again. It was just frozen in the boot screen where it says "Samsung Galaxy Ace GT-S5830i".

I have tried formatting the phone from the system recovery utility (accessed by using the Power+VolumeUp+Menu combination), but it does nothing. The options I have are:

1) "reboot system now", which doesn't do anything. It just says "-- Appling Muti-CSC --", with the options no longer available to select, so I have to restart it.

2) "apply update from sdcard", which gives back the error message "E:failed to mount /sdcard (No such file or directory) E: Can't mount /sdcard Install from sdcard complete." After this I can still select any of the other options. I do have the SD card inside its slot.

3) "wipe data/factory reset" gives a warning message that "THIS CAN NOT BE UNDONE" and, after selecting "Yes -- delete all user data" it just sits there saying "-- Wiping data... Formatting /data..." with a progress bar in the background that doesn't advance even after letting it there over a night.

4) "wipe cache partition" just does that ("-- Wiping cache... Formatting /cache... Cache wipe complete."), and then I can select the other options again.

I don't know what to do anymore. I have tried updating the firmware using the Samsung Kies program but for some reason it doesn't accept the serial number (S/N) when asked for it, and my computer doesn't seem to detect the phone. When I plug it in through the USB port I can see the "Removable Disk (F:)" device appear, but when I try to access it asks to "insert a disk into F:", so I suspect it may be the SD card what it detects. When I use the command "adb devices" in the command prompt, no device is listed. All the other adb commands I have tried give back the "error: device not found" message.

Moreover, now I don't need to use the Power+VolumeUp+Menu combination to get to recovery mode: every time I turn it on or plug it to the computer it directly takes me to "Android system recovery utility" after the booting screen.

In the following link you'll find a photo of the screen of my phone after performing the options 2), 4) and 3) (in that order) from the recovery mode. Sorry for the bad quality; the messages are transcribed above. I hope any of you guys can help me.

Screen photo: imgur [DOT] com/P6b1OfQ

EDIT: I have tried to install the Stock Firmware using Odin as explained in this thread:

[XDA FORUM ADDRESS] /showthread.php?t=2639940

I have done all the steps succesfully, but after the phone reboots, it gets stuck again in the formatting process... The message are like follow:

"Finding update package...

Opening update package...

Installing update...

-- Appling Muti-CSC --

Formatting /cache [Progress bar in the background that isn't moving for 20 minutes]

-- Appling Muti-CSC --"

It's been like that for 20 minutes already, and Odin says "PASS!", but the phone just stopped there, trying to format...

This is what the Odin log said:

"<ID:0/005> Added!!

<ID:0/005> Removed!!

<ID:0/005> Removed!!

<ID:0/003> Added!!

<ID:0/003> Odin v.3 engine (ID:3)..

<ID:0/003> File analysis..

<ID:0/003> SetupConnection..

<ID:0/003> Initialzation..

<ID:0/003> Set PIT file..

<ID:0/003> DO NOT TURN OFF TARGET!!

<ID:0/003> Get PIT for mapping..

<ID:0/003> Firmware update start..

<ID:0/003> sbl.bin

<ID:0/003> NAND Write Start!!

<ID:0/003> BcmCP.img

<ID:0/003> boot.img

<ID:0/003> system.img

<ID:0/003> param.lfs

<ID:0/003> csc.rfs

<ID:0/003> RQT_CLOSE !!

<ID:0/003> RES OK !!

<ID:0/003> Removed!!

<ID:0/003> Remain Port .... 0

<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 1 / failed 0)"

I will be forever thankful if somebody can help me. Thank you very much in advance.