We often ask you to not try our tutorials without following prereqs and guiding instructions properly or you might get your Android device bricked. Bricking technically means that your device turns into a non-functioning and unusable state. Bricking is categorized in two types:
- Hard Brick (dead screen, no reaction at the press of power button) and
- Soft Brick (Device unable to boot and is stuck on the Bootanimation. Screen is turned off but turns up when the power button or some specific key combination is pressed).
We will focus in this tutorial to unbrick the soft bricked Samsung Galaxy S4. Here goes the instructions and prereqs. Follow them vigilantly.
Prerequisites to unbrick Samsung Galaxy S4 by flashing stock firmware and PIT file:
- Download and install USB drivers for Galaxy S4 in your computer.
- Enable USB debugging option by pressing Menu > Settings > Applications. Navigate and tap on Developer Options to ensure that USB Debugging is enabled.
- Ensure that your SGS4 carries more than 70% of charge.
How to unbrick Samsung Galaxy S4 by flashing Stock firmware and PIT file:
Required files: download Odin3 tool and unzip it on your desktop: Odin3-V3.07.Zip. Also, download the stock firmware and relevant PIT file (Galaxy S4 i9500 or i9505) and extract the zip file.
- Turn off the SGS4 and boot it into Download/Odin Mode: press and hold the Volume Down, Home and Power buttons simultaneously for a couple of seconds till you see a warning screen. Then press Volume Upkey to enter Download Mode.
- From the Odin folder launch the exe.
- Now connect your device to PC via USB cable and wait till the ID:COM port at Odin turns blue and you get the “Added!!” message.
- Click on PDA button in Odin and select the file with .tar.md5 extension.
- Next click on the PIT button to select the file with .pit extension.
- Ensure that Re-Partition and F Reset Time checkboxes are selected on Odin. Uncheck the Auto Reboot options.
- Double check everything and hit the Start button on Odin to initiate the installation process which might take a few minutes.
- Once the installation is finished successfully, you will see a PASS! message on Odin. You can now disconnect the USB cable and close Odin.
- Remove the back cover of Galaxy S4 and pull out the battery. Wait for about a minute and then reinsert the battery back to its place.
- Boot your smartphone into Android System Recovery mode: hold Volume Up, Home and Power keys together till the screen turns up and the Samsung logo blinks twice. Release the Power button while keeping the rest of two keys pressed till you see the recovery menu. In recovery mode use the volume keys to scroll and power button to select.
- Perform wipe tasks: wipe data/factory reset option and confirm. Then select wipe cache partition.
- Now, select reboot system now and select it to reboot your device.
- This boot will take a little longer than usual to boot the device. Kindly wait patiently till you see the Welcome Set Up screen.
This should have unbricked your Galaxy S4! Let us know.
About the author: Rafia joined Wccftech in 2012 as a tech reporter. She is currently working on stories focusing on people and technologies that are turning Microsoft into a “company to watch” again. She is also responsible for collaborating with tech makers and e-commerce platforms to bring annoying but tempting deals to our readers.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
