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Samsung Galaxy S5 SM-S902L "Stuck in Odin Mode"

Kate Smith

Kate Smith

Newbie
My husband was trying to recover a deleted video, and ran Dr. Fone, and one or two other apps. After this, his phone was showing a Google error, and a bunch of apps were missing including the Play Store. We figured he had some malware screwing stuff up, so we tried to do a factory reset. Now it is stuck in Odin mode. I tried to do the Kies upgrade/reset, but there is no serial number under the battery and the IMEI number isn't working in place of the SN. I'm old school and still have a flip phone, and I don't know a darn thing about smart phones, other than what I picked up trolling Youtube for a few hours trying to fix this. Would love to find a way out, since we just bought this phone 4 months ago.... Thanks for any help anyone can offer!
 
I am greatly sorry your having this issue, and i understand files are important, but theirs no possible way to recover files without getting access to the OS, but you csn fix tge phone easily because Kies useally never works if just follow this guide:

Step 1: Download & Install The Samsung Driveres you can get them here: http://developer.samsung.com/galaxy/others/android-usb-driver-for-windows unzip and install as normal

Step 2: Download Odin and unzip it, it will be in another folder within of tge extracted folder, move it to your desktop: https://odindownload.com/download/Odin3_v3.12.3.zip and download the latest version.

Step 3: Download Your Appropriate firmware for your model here: https://updato.com/firmware-archive-select-model (RECOMMENDED WEBSITE) sammobile Is a great one too but you'll download 10x slower then normal trust me took and 2 days for a firmware to download as sammobile has an option to pay for faster speeds, its just not worth it, update doesn't require you to pay to download any firmware and is way faster estimation of 30mins or less depending on your internet connection speeds.

Step 4: Once its downloaded unzip the folder and move the firmware inside the folder of odin

Step 5: Now prepare your phone into download mode useally most Samsung phones have the same buttons to press by "Power+Vol Down+Home" then use your volume buttons to select continue

Step 6: now plug in your phone via usb into your computer depending if you done this before you shouldnt see your computer say installing drivers, if it does let it finish.

Step 7: once done open Odin (remember odin doesnt contain any viruses i have been using it for years) you should see on the bottom right saying numbers then saying added this means odin has successfully reconized your samsung device You need to select the button on the bottom right it should say on the button "AP"

Step 8: Once you select it choose the firmware you moved into the Odin Folder (DO NOT TOUCH ODIN TILL YOU SEE THE FIRMWARE PATH SHOW UP IN THE FIELD OF "AP" this will freeze the program, but if you accedentily touch your mouse/keyboard and it does not respond just either close the program and retry again or wait till it responds.)

Step 9: Once it shows up in the field of "AP" on the bottom you will see see a button that says "Start" once it starts just sit back and relax and DO NOT Touch your computer while it flashes you will see a progress bar on your phone, you'll know when Odin finishes flashing when the top left corner will says "Finished Or Passed" and have a green Background to it and your phone will restart.

Step 10: Once Odin does say "Finished Or Passed" you can unplug your Phone and exit Odin (be aware it may take 15 Mins Or less for os to boot)!

NOTICE: this is the only way to fix a boot issues, but unfortunately your situation is fixable but files are unrecoverable, keep in mind that ODIN will factory reset your device and format your internal storage to ensure safety of a proper boot!

If you need anymore assistance just either PM me or reply to this post
 
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It's apparently stuck in its 'Download Mode', sometimes an indicator the Android operating system is corrupted somehow so the phone simply cannot boot up properly. If things were OK you could intentionally boot up into Download Mode by simultaneously holding down the Volume Down, the Home, and the Power buttons.
Try rebooting into your Recovery Mode (simultaneously press and hold down the Volume Up, the Home, and the Power buttons). If you're running in Recovery Mode you'll notice it's also a text only interface. But there a various menu options available so you use the indicated buttons to navigate through the different selections. Select the 'wipe cache partition' option, and see if your phone will restart normally. If not, your next option will be to re-flash the stock ROM. Flashing the ROM is similar to reloading the operating system on a computer. You can get the proper ROM for your model (SM-S902L) from either sammobile or updato:
https://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/galaxy-s5/SM-S902L/TFN/download/S902LUDUAOD3/59939/
or
https://updato.com/firmware-archive-select-model?record=4B3F33C128CA11E6949E0CC47A44B7B2
At the bottom of the sammobile page there are basic instructions on using the Odin utility to flash the ROM to your S5. The instructions refer to using ver. 3.12 and if that works for you that's good but if not, try using ver. 3.09 as that's more suitable for KitKat. (The Odin utility is not very backwards compatible with older hardware to using an older version often works out better.)
You can get Odin from here:
https://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/galaxy-s5/SM-S902L/TFN/download/S902LUDUAOD3/59939/
You mentioned using Kies so you don't need to install the Samsung driver (that's part of the install process) but just note that Samsung has superseded Kies with 'SmartSwitch' so you might want to upgrade to that;
https://www.sammobile.com/samsung-smart-switch/
One last point is to make sure Kies is not actively running in the background while you use the Odin utility, or vice-versa as both utilities tend to conflict with each other. So be sure to go into the Windows Task Manager and confirm that only one or the other is running.
 
Cyberdev said:
I am greatly sorry your having this issue, and i understand files are important, but theirs no possible way to recover files without getting access to the OS, but you csn fix tge phone easily because Kies useally never works if just follow this guide:

Step 1: Download & Install The Samsung Driveres you can get them here: http://developer.samsung.com/galaxy/others/android-usb-driver-for-windows unzip and install as normal

Step 2: Download Odin and unzip it, it will be in another folder within of tge extracted folder, move it to your desktop: https://odindownload.com/ and download the latest version.




Thanks so much! Your link for Odin doesn't work, though, so I just went to download.com and wasn't sure which one I needed.
Click to expand...
 
svim said:
It's apparently stuck in its 'Download Mode', sometimes an indicator the Android operating system is corrupted somehow so the phone simply cannot boot up properly. If things were OK you could intentionally boot up into Download Mode by simultaneously holding down the Volume Down, the Home, and the Power buttons.
Try rebooting into your Recovery Mode (simultaneously press and hold down the Volume Up, the Home, and the Power buttons).
Click to expand...

This is what happens when I Volume Down, the Home, and the Power buttons. No other selections and won't let me scroll.
 

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Then your fine just plug it in your computer, and as you scroll down the page theirs one that says Download Odin they look like links not the images ones the images are just ads also dont use download.com its a virus infestested website and ill send you the download ill update the links in a sec
 
@svim sammobile is a good site but update has faster downloads and sammobile will take hours to download, update find the appropriate firmware on your model number and its way faster without to pay to get faster download speeds, however v3.12.3 actually works even on older hardware most people just forget what to select since they changed the PA button to AP, but v3.09 can help if V3.12.3 doesn't work
 
Wow, not my night. Ok, got Odin unzipped to my desktop, but when I click run, I get this:
 

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Try that if not ill send you a copy of my own that works on my pc when i get up in the morning
 
Yep, restarted, deleted, re-downloaded, and still the same box. I super appreciate your help!! My husband only got the phone in October, so it would be crumby to lose it now. Thanks!
 
Try agsin but ensire your phone is in downlowd mode and securely plugged in
 
Cyberdev said:
@svim sammobile is a good site but update has faster downloads and sammobile will take hours to download,...
Click to expand...
Yes this is because sammobile intentionally restricts the bandwidth speeds on its download servers (or become a member). But both sammobile and updato have reputations for providing valid stock Samsung ROMs. It's not like there aren't plenty of other viable sources but the problem is there are always a few that do alter their downloads.

Edit: One thing to note about updato. It has just recently (last month or two) become significantly more aggressive about slipping web trackers and third-party cookies into your browser. So yeah, it will allow faster download speeds than sammobile but you're 'paying' for the convenience by sacrificing some data mining info.
 
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Kate Smith said:
Now stuck here. Tiny steps of progress...
Click to expand...
Instead of v3.12.3, try using a version of Odin that's more compatible with that KitKat ROM you're working with.
And again,don't forget to confirm Kies isn't running in the background.
 
svim said:
Instead of v3.12.3, try using a version of Odin that's more compatible with that KitKat ROM you're working with.
And again,don't forget to confirm Kies isn't running in the background.
Click to expand...

I deleted Kies, so I think that's ok. How do I know what version of what I need? The only KitKat I know is the one you eat! Lol, sorry!
 
Kate Smith said:
I deleted Kies, so I think that's ok. How do I know what version of what I need? The only KitKat I know is the one you eat! Lol, sorry!
Click to expand...
Uninstall the current version of Odin from your computer, and instead download and install version 3.09.
http://www.droidviews.com/download-odin-tool-for-samsung-galaxy-devices-all-versions/
Again, the Odin utility is not very backwards compatible so using the most current version is not necessarily going to work properly when it involves older products. You have a dated phone, a S5, and flashing a dated ROM, ver. 4.4.2 (KitKat):
https://updato.com/firmware-archive-select-model?record=4B3F33C128CA11E6949E0CC47A44B7B2
 
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