The old Samsung Tab 3 Lite was acting up – it went on an endless boot loop. So the current user, my little boy of 4, came to me to fix it.
Here are the options I ran into:
I. Clear cache/Hard Reset
One can access the system menu by pressing the power, up-volume and home keys simultaneously while the device is still powered down. Release the keys when the splash screen (logo) comes up. The screen will then bring up a prompt. Follow the prompt to continue. A menu will next come up on what you wish to do on the device. Pick a choice by moving the volume keys up or down.
II. Flashing
Flashing involves uploading a new OS image or in our case a recovery file to fix or upgrade a device.
Flashing requires a computer with the appropriate software and a data cable to connect to the device and of course the file to “flash” into the device. For Windows, the Samsung software is Odin, although this is not officially released to the public. An open-source alternative to Odin that works on both Windows and Linux is Heimdall. Install and run your flashing software of choice and connect the device while it is in download mode.
Prepare the file to be “flashed”. Find the file from the web and download it. For recovery files, this is usually an .img file compressed as a tar.gz file.
To install Heimdall on Ubuntu Linux:
sudo apt-get install heimdall-flash heimdall-flash-frontend
One can enter the device’s download mode menu by pressing the power, down-volume and home keys simultaneouslywhile the device is still powered down. Release the keys when the splash screen (logo) comes up. The screen will then bring up a prompt. Follow the prompt to continue. The device will proceed into the download mode.
Once in download mode connect the device via the data cable. Execute a test command to make sure the device and the computer are communicating, and communicating properly.
sudo heimdall detect
sudo heimdall print-pit
Alternatively, this can be done via the Heimdall GUI.
To run the Heimdall GUI:
sudo heimdall-frontend
Via the GUI tools tab, save the existing .pit file on your local. The .pit file is required prior to flashing.
Under the flash tab, locate the PIT section. Browse for and select the .pit file you have just saved. Select the appropriate partition, in our case “Recovery”, and press the Add key. Make sure to take extra care in adding the partition name. Adding in the wrong partition name can result in the device permanently bricked.
Next, under the Partition Details section, browse for the recovery .img file inside the .tar.gz. Make sure that “repartition” checkbox at the PIT section, as well as those inside the Session section are all unchecked. Hit Start.
References:
https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/97304/how-to-use-img-file-instead-of-gz-or-pit-file-with-heimdall
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2674649
How To Flash a Recovery Image Using Heimdall on linux from Android
