Related
I had thought I was one of the many SOD sufferers out there, but I'm not 100% sure now based on the symptoms that are happening with my phone versus others, so I wanted to create a new thread and just let you know what happened to me (and what is occurring right now).
I ordered my TP2 the day it was released through T-Mobile. I'd gone two or three weeks without having any issues. I didn't really install too many CABs on there (with the exception of updating Bing, mobile Netflix, Astraware Solitaire, the battery increment fix, and TouchLockPro).
I put the phone on the charger one night, and the next morning, I clicked the Power button to unlock it. It vibrated, indicating it was powering on (versus just unlocking). I thought, Okay, no big deal. Maybe I shut it off by accident.
The next day, it was off the charger, and I clicked on the Power button to unlock, and it wouldn't turn on at all. (This is where my issue seems to differ from the SOD sufferers... their phones are making noise and actually functioning, but their screens are black, so they can't really do anything with the phone until they reset.)
I panicked, but shoved the phone back on the charger. Thought maybe the battery was dead (though I knew the last I looked at it, it was at 82%). Nothing happened. The light did not light up to indicate it was charging or fully charged.
I took the phone off the charger and pressed the Power button again. The red light flickered off and on, but nothing.
I plugged it back into the charger. Kept pressing the power button. Nothing. Then suddenly it turned on. It worked fine.
This happened maybe one more time before I left for vacation two weeks ago. The phone seemed to work just fine until about two days into my vacation. Then that started happening again.
But this time, it was worse. The phone would turn back on, and as soon as it got to the passcode screen to log into the phone, it would shut off. Sometimes, it'd let me get two numbers in, but most of the time, I couldn't even get one digit in before it shut off.
This would happen about six times in a row, and then the phone would just flat out not turn on for an hour or so.
As the vacation wore on (it was tiring, as our itinerary was on our phone, so there were times we didn't know where we needed to be because I couldn't get the phone on... I had a hard copy in the room, but that would mean having to travel back to the room to get it, losing an hour or two, so it wasn't worth it), it started to get worse. More times of getting to the passcode screen. More times of it shutting off before I could enter the number. Then it got to the point where I couldn't turn it on for four or five hours at a time.
No matter what I tried, the phone continued to "die". Everything that seemed to work turned out to be a coincidence.
What I tried:
1. Reset button.
2. Pulling the battery out.
3. Pulling the SD out.
4. Pulling the SIM out. (Would boot up the phone sans SIM. Then put it back in and boot it up again. I THOUGHT this worked, as I went from last Wednesday to yesterday with it working, but alas, it occurred again, even without the SIM in).
5. There were times I even squeezed the phone a certain way because it seemed like the phone responded more when I held it tighter.
6. I was wary that something I installed (like TouchLockPro) was causing the problem, so I upgraded to latest version, still occurred, then removed.
7. Believe me, there was a ridiculous number of OTHER bizarre things I tried (not including a TP2 voodoo doll), but I'm too embarrassed to mention those!
Outside of formatting the phone, I had exhausted all of the possibilities. I even logged on here while I was away to find out if anything had changed with SOD, and it seemed like nothing new occurred.
I had had it when the problem started again yesterday, so I went to a local T-Mobile retailer. Imagine their surprise! The battery was swapped out, and that didn't change anything. Removed the SIM, removed the SD, it occurred over and over again (which was great! I was actually able to prove the issue).
The man I showed it to called Support, and Support was dumbfounded too, so T-Mobile is replacing the phone. I should have it in a few days.
After all that, the phone came back last night. I know it'll die sooner or later, so it's best I'm getting a new one.
I think I probably would have been fine about this experience except it occurred while I was on vacation. Like I said, it had our itinerary. It was our gateway to the pets at home (texts, emails, pictures). It was really our only connection to the outside world. Granted, when you're on vacation, you don't want that, but I definitely want to know our pets are still alive! I also like to know where I'm supposed to eat! It was definitely a black cloud over our trip. (Thank you, though, to xda-developers, for keeping me sane when I DID have access!)
I am still pretty sure it's hardware, based on everything I've done, read, and seen over the past couple weeks. I was hesitant about setting up the phone the way I have it now, but I need to prove to myself that it's faulty hardware first before blaming applications.
But I wanted to share my story (albeit long) with everyone out there. People may be having the same issue but don't want to post, so if you are, you're not alone!
Hi all,
For the last two to three months, I've been running a Universe ROM on my E4GT. Other than an occasional quirk, the phone has been working very well. I noticed that my phone didn't seem to be connecting to my home WiFi, so I put it into Airplane mode, and then took it out of Airplane mode. Instantly, it connected to my WiFi with a MUCH better signal After checking emails on the phone, I set an alarm and went to sleep. I woke up without the alarm since it did not go off. My phone appeared to be off. Holding the power button resulted in the blue LED charge light flashing, but the screen did not come on. I pulled the battery and put it back, thinking that the phone had some odd-ball software glitch that made it turn off in the middle of the night. When I hit power, the blue LED turns on, blinks, and that is all that happens. Once and only once since this started, my screen showed the boot animation, but did not get past that.
Because my screen turned on ONCE, I'm really hoping that I am soft bricked and not hard bricked. It does seem VERY odd for the phone to become bricked after working fine on this ROM for at least a couple months. The only change I made in recent time is to change a governor in ExTweaks from Hyper to Ondemand. I suppose that could have somehow caused this.
I stopped by a Sprint store, but they would not help as I do not have insurance and the phone is out of warranty.
Do you think making a USB jig or buying one may help? There is a Radio Shack close to where I live. And I have an extra USB cable I can take apart.
If that fails, should I send the phone to mobiletechvideos.com for their JTAG repair? It costs $50 plus shipping to them, but that is still cheaper than buying a new phone. If it came to that, I'd certainly hope they could fix it.
The fact that the blue LED light comes on seems like a decent sign of some life. While the battery animation does not come on, the light does.
Thanks for reading and offering any advice/suggestions.
Can you get into recovery or odin mode?
bigdaddy619 said:
Can you get into recovery or odin mode?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope. When I try either, I get the blue LED light, it blinks once, and then stays on. Nothing happens on-screen.
anindrew said:
Nope. When I try either, I get the blue LED light, it blinks once, and then stays on. Nothing happens on-screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well the jig may work give that a shot at least if you can get into odin mode you can start over using a one click good luck :d
bigdaddy619 said:
Well the jig may work give that a shot at least if you can get into odin mode you can start over using a one click good luck :d
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you! I'll post here if I get that to work or have an alternate solution.
Charge your battery. Use an external charger if need be.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app
BluesRulez said:
Charge your battery. Use an external charger if need be.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought that it could be the battery. My original got bloated about a month or two ago, so I bought an Anker battery from Amazon. It's been working great since I got it.
I had my Anker battery tested yesterday at a "Batteries Plus" store. The clerk put a new battery in the phone to see if it would help the phone, but it did the same blue LED thing. He used a multimeter to test my battery and the new one the store was selling. He said mine had more power in it than the one on the shelf and indicated that either battery has more than enough power to start the phone. While this still could be caused by my battery, it does seem strange for a new battery that has charge in it to not allow the phone to start. I don't have an external charger, but I could always visit my parents as they each have an E4GT.
Brick
Just went thru that and you have the same EXACT symptoms as my emmc brick. Jtag will not help so don't waste the money. Plenty to read on the emmc bug in the E4GT and SGS2 forums.
I hate to be a downer but, I can guarantee you that you will not get any more than the dreaded blue light no matter what you do.
Take it to Sprint and let them go thru the entire process of trying to get it to boot and they may even give you some kind of excuse like "well I'm gonna take it to the back and disassemble it and see if the screen connection came loose".
They will never get it to boot and it is a hardware problem!!
Free replacement and may be backordered because this problem is happening to quite a few of the first run Galaxies.
I spent hours on the phone with "supposed techs" and went to 2 stores because my home store "child" said I must have gotten it wet and handed me a card with Asurion and said to contact them and I'd have to pay my deductible. BS, i wasn't paying for a hardware issue and YOU NEED TO TELL THEM THAT!!!
I spent a week and a half checking components (after they had taken it apart already at the store) while I waited on my replacement because I wanted what was on my internal memory and nothing. I know enough about electronic repair doing it my entire life since I was 12, that you will not get it back.
Sorry but like I'd said "i just went thru this 2 months ago" and plenty to read here on that situation.
They won't see any mod or even any display so you're safe with the Sprint techs. Just tell them when you woke up after setting your alarm, it was dead.
One good thing, is your replacement should be pretty safe from the emmc problem and download Chainfires app to see what chipset you get. (GotBrickBug)!!
I will say that everything was working fantastic on the Rom I was using and it wasnt due to a botched flash. I was taking a couple pictures and when I plugged it into my laptop, I'd noticed it must have shut down never to boot again. It could happen at anytime I'm noticing.
Teknician said:
Just went thru that and you have the same EXACT symptoms as my emmc brick. Jtag will not help so don't waste the money. Plenty to read on the emmc bug in the E4GT and SGS2 forums.
I hate to be a downer but, I can guarantee you that you will not get any more than the dreaded blue light no matter what you do.
Take it to Sprint and let them go thru the entire process of trying to get it to boot and they may even give you some kind of excuse like "well I'm gonna take it to the back and disassemble it and see if the screen connection came loose".
They will never get it to boot and it is a hardware problem!!
Free replacement and may be backordered because this problem is happening to quite a few of the first run Galaxies.
I spent hours on the phone with "supposed techs" and went to 2 stores because my home store "child" said I must have gotten it wet and handed me a card with Asurion and said to contact them and I'd have to pay my deductible. BS, i wasn't paying for a hardware issue and YOU NEED TO TELL THEM THAT!!!
I spent a week and a half checking components (after they had taken it apart already at the store) while I waited on my replacement because I wanted what was on my internal memory and nothing. I know enough about electronic repair doing it my entire life since I was 12, that you will not get it back.
Sorry but like I'd said "i just went thru this 2 months ago" and plenty to read here on that situation.
They won't see any mod or even any display so you're safe with the Sprint techs. Just tell them when you woke up after setting your alarm, it was dead.
One good thing, is your replacement should be pretty safe from the emmc problem and download Chainfires app to see what chipset you get. (GotBrickBug)!!
I will say that everything was working fantastic on the Rom I was using and it wasnt due to a botched flash. I was taking a couple pictures and when I plugged it into my laptop, I'd noticed it must have shut down never to boot again. It could happen at anytime I'm noticing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much for the reply. My phone was having a strange issue with connecting to my home WiFi before I put it on the charger for the last time. I wonder if that was a tell-tale sign that something was up.
I went to the Sprint store closer to where I live and explained what happened. They didn't give me any argument at all. Their tech checked out my phone, but couldn't get it to power up at all. They ordered a replacement E4GT (might be new; might be refurbished) for me for $35. I should have it by Friday. I was surprised by how helpful they were. Apparently, they have see this issue occur on some other Android phones as well.
What is the Chainfires app? Does it identify if you have the "older" chipset which can cause the brick issue? That must be what you mean by "GotBrickBug," right?
Since I'm eligible for an upgrade in June, I think I'll just use the stock ROM to avoid any possible issues. I wonder if the GS4 will be out then. It's always interesting to see what the hot new phone is going to be when you're ready for an upgrade.
Again, thank you to everyone for the helpful replies!
Surprised they even had you pay but I'd have paid $35 also if they'd asked me too.
You should get either new or new board at least.
Here's Chainfire's thread and app in OP. By the looks of it, my chips firmware is updated and as much as I've tested and flashed in the last couple weeks, it's holding up great. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1693704
My first clue was that my phone was having problems being read by my PC. Couldn't see either the onboard usb or my external usb. It was intermittent and within a week it was gone.
Sprint has been seeing this problem for sure and in Chainfire's thread, Samsung is well aware.
Sent from my Blu Kuban FI27 E4GT SGS2 SPH~D710 (and whatever else they can call this phone) using Tapatalk 2
anindrew said:
I thought that it could be the battery. My original got bloated about a month or two ago, so I bought an Anker battery from Amazon. It's been working great since I got it.
I had my Anker battery tested yesterday at a "Batteries Plus" store. The clerk put a new battery in the phone to see if it would help the phone, but it did the same blue LED thing. He used a multimeter to test my battery and the new one the store was selling. He said mine had more power in it than the one on the shelf and indicated that either battery has more than enough power to start the phone. While this still could be caused by my battery, it does seem strange for a new battery that has charge in it to not allow the phone to start. I don't have an external charger, but I could always visit my parents as they each have an E4GT.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like the h/w took a dump on you - the phone replacement was probably the only route left. By any chance did you leave it charging and/or in a location that allowed it to store heat? (Like a blanket, foam cushion, etc)
Teknician said:
Just went thru that and you have the same EXACT symptoms as my emmc brick. Jtag will not help so don't waste the money. Plenty to read on the emmc bug in the E4GT and SGS2 forums.
I will say that everything was working fantastic on the Rom I was using and it wasnt due to a botched flash. I was taking a couple pictures and when I plugged it into my laptop, I'd noticed it must have shut down never to boot again. It could happen at anytime I'm noticing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's disturbing. I always thought that bug occurred when attempting to reset to defaults in the wrong way. I didn't think it could happen out of the blue.
In my case, which is awfully similar to the OP, my battery was running low, somewhere between 10 and 15%, and since I couldn't charge at the time, I powered down the phone. Next morning, I plugged it in to the usual wall charger and saw the battery charging symbol come up on screen as expected.
Instead of simply waiting for that screen to go off, I hit the power button to turn it off right away, but I might have inadvertently also pressed Vol Up with power or Vol Down with power, since I was doing it casually with one hand.
I didn't notice what might have happened right then, but a little later I saw that there was no charging LED. So I tried all the button combinations I knew to get it to come back to life, with and without the battery and power.
A couple times I got the blue light and then the battery charging screen, before it disappeared. Once I saw, in small print, "Battery low!! Can't Download," which makes me think that it's stuck in ODIN mode, which AFAIK doesn't support charging.
Right now I'm in the midst of looking for another battery or an external charger. I hope this is not what you're talking about.
Update the next day: I found this thread, which is essentially a match for what I was experiencing. That one ended with a wait-it-out approach, and I basically did the same. I left it plugged in overnight, even though it appeared not to be charging at all (stone cold, no red light). In the morning, it was still all but dead, but I popped out the battery again (I had done this many times before), replugged it into power, and then it charged normally and completely for the first time since the incident. Moral: don't let the phone go below 15%, and if you do, plug it in ASAP. Don't ignore it overnight, even if it's powered off (maybe especially).
rseiler said:
That's disturbing. I always thought that bug occurred when attempting to reset to defaults in the wrong way. I didn't think it could happen out of the blue.
In my case, which is awfully similar to the OP, my battery was running low, somewhere between 10 and 15%, and since I couldn't charge at the time, I powered down the phone. Next morning, I plugged it in to the usual wall charger and saw the battery charging symbol come up on screen as expected.
Instead of simply waiting for that screen to go off, I hit the power button to turn it off right away, but I might have inadvertently also pressed Vol Up with power or Vol Down with power, since I was doing it casually with one hand.
I didn't notice what might have happened right then, but a little later I saw that there was no charging LED. So I tried all the button combinations I knew to get it to come back to life, with and without the battery and power.
A couple times I got the blue light and then the battery charging screen, before it disappeared. Once I saw, in small print, "Battery low!! Can't Download," which makes me think that it's stuck in ODIN mode, which AFAIK doesn't support charging.
Right now I'm in the midst of looking for another battery or an external charger. I hope this is not what you're talking about.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're right - folks, this is not the eMMC bug. Let's just clear that up. If you need further information on that you can refer to the discussion thread on that bug and all the research that several folks have put into it.
When I first got my E4GT there was talk of a BLOD or "sleep of death" where the phone would not come back on. Wasn't the eMMC bug. Most people had a low battery so it was thought the batteries were too low and that it booted and messed up the bootloader. Others thought they overheated. Problem is without any way to diagnose the problem it's hard to come up with a "true" answer.
Perhaps a JTAG could revive the phones. Odd that even if plugged in that nothing is happening. But sometimes h/w really can just go south and trash a phone.
I highly suggest backing up your internal usb drive as frequently as possible because I lost a lot of photos that I never transfered, thanks to Samsung and my hardware taking a crap. Emmc blue light bug really sucks, believe me...
---------- Post added at 03:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:29 AM ----------
rseiler said:
That's disturbing. I always thought that bug occurred when attempting to reset to defaults in the wrong way. I didn't think it could happen out of the blue.
In my case, which is awfully similar to the OP, my battery was running low, somewhere between 10 and 15%, and since I couldn't charge at the time, I powered down the phone. Next morning, I plugged it in to the usual wall charger and saw the battery charging symbol come up on screen as expected.
Instead of simply waiting for that screen to go off, I hit the power button to turn it off right away, but I might have inadvertently also pressed Vol Up with power or Vol Down with power, since I was doing it casually with one hand.
I didn't notice what might have happened right then, but a little later I saw that there was no charging LED. So I tried all the button combinations I knew to get it to come back to life, with and without the battery and power.
A couple times I got the blue light and then the battery charging screen, before it disappeared. Once I saw, in small print, "Battery low!! Can't Download," which makes me think that it's stuck in ODIN mode, which AFAIK doesn't support charging.
Right now I'm in the midst of looking for another battery or an external charger. I hope this is not what you're talking about.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't sound like emmc at all. All you will have is a blue light and that's it. If you saw ANY display, it's probably a battery and charging issue. You'll know the bug when you don't see anything but blue and no display at all.
Sent from my Blu Kuban FI27 E4GT SGS2 SPH~D710 (and whatever else they can call this phone) using Tapatalk 2
anindrew, how did it all turn out?
Hello everyone.
I have been using Tasks ROM for a while now. Last night my phone had a random reboot and other than that, no troubles.
Well about 20 minutes ago, my phone just turned off and will NOT come back on at all. I have done nothing different, cant get in to get a logcat or lastkmsg. It will not even boot up to the samsung screen.
It will vibrate when I plug it in or take out the battery and reput it in.
The only response I am getting is taking everything out (batter/sim/sd) and plugging it into my comp. The response is a Red light in the notification LED and a short vibrate, then nothing.
I get a Samsung logo if I just pull battery and reinsert.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
So you can't get into CWM or TWRP? And what Galaxy S3 Variant are you using?
axel4401 said:
Hello everyone.
I have been using Tasks ROM for a while now. Last night my phone had a random reboot and other than that, no troubles.
Well about 20 minutes ago, my phone just turned off and will NOT come back on at all. I have done nothing different, cant get in to get a logcat or lastkmsg. It will not even boot up to the samsung screen.
It will vibrate when I plug it in or take out the battery and reput it in.
The only response I am getting is taking everything out (batter/sim/sd) and plugging it into my comp. The response is a Red light in the notification LED and a short vibrate, then nothing.
I get a Samsung logo if I just pull battery and reinsert.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks[/QUOTE
Ii it possible you may have a bad battery? How new is it?(not that age of it matters) Also, do you have a case on the phone? Check to make sure the power button is not stuck. If you can get to boot logo, then its not dead-dead. If you've had your phone for awhile, double check the battery terminals are not oxidized. Unlikley, but worth checking and maybe check battery wih voltage meter if you have access to one. Then charge it overnight and check it again. One last thing to try is plug it in with the battery out and see if that does anything. Have you flashed anything lately? Modem? Scripts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have taken the battery out and plugged the phone straight into the computer and all that i get is a red light where the notification light is and then it disappears.
As for age, its a little over a year old.
I wasnt doing any flashing at the time, it just went kaput right after a phone call.
I had a mophie case on it, but not right now. I guess ill take it a part when i can and throw som alcohol on the battery button to see if it loosens it up. But other than that, I'm at a loss.
Not trying to pay $80 for a craigslister either.
Bubba Fett said:
axel4401 said:
Hello everyone.
I have been using Tasks ROM for a while now. Last night my phone had a random reboot and other than that, no troubles.
Well about 20 minutes ago, my phone just turned off and will NOT come back on at all. I have done nothing different, cant get in to get a logcat or lastkmsg. It will not even boot up to the samsung screen.
It will vibrate when I plug it in or take out the battery and reput it in.
The only response I am getting is taking everything out (batter/sim/sd) and plugging it into my comp. The response is a Red light in the notification LED and a short vibrate, then nothing.
I get a Samsung logo if I just pull battery and reinsert.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks[/QUOTE
Ii it possible you may have a bad battery? How new is it?(not that age of it matters) Also, do you have a case on the phone? Check to make sure the power button is not stuck. If you can get to boot logo, then its not dead-dead. If you've had your phone for awhile, double check the battery terminals are not oxidized. Unlikley, but worth checking and maybe check battery wih voltage meter if you have access to one. Then charge it overnight and check it again. One last thing to try is plug it in with the battery out and see if that does anything. Have you flashed anything lately? Modem? Scripts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Man, I don't know. Sounded like a charging issue at first, but looking I'm not so sure now. Anything stuck in your power slot? Maybe try leaving battery out overnight and see if it clears anything. If it starts to boot I would go right to recovery and try flashing something. I would be concernedabout going straight to download mode and using oOdin cause of it does during the flash that is really bad...
Can you get into download mode? Pull battery plug in USB and hold volume down and home buttons I think... when you plug USB in to computer does Odin recognize it at all?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
I just started having the same issue. I have a an ATT S3 running the newest Hyperdrive. Mine wasnt doing a random reset, but it seemed like it has been turning itself off. Totally intermittent, i couldnt pinpoint the cause.
Then just today when i went to see if i had any messages and the phone was off again (i had about a 60-75% charge) I hit the power button a few times and now i am getting the symptoms described above.
When i try to go into TWRP, i get the blue text at the top left of the screen, sometimes i make it to the first hyperdrive screen, then it goes black.
When I go to download I can get to the hit up or down screen, i hit up to go into download, i get to the next screen then it goes black again.
I did leave the battery out for about 15minutes and no dice. I even tried to leave it on the charger thinking i lost all charge or something.
I am just a mere user, but i have always been able to tinker around enough not to bother the devs and get my way out of these situations, but I think i am stuck. Anyone have any ideas?
Thank you!
nightwulfss said:
I just started having the same issue. I have a an ATT S3 running the newest Hyperdrive. Mine wasnt doing a random reset, but it seemed like it has been turning itself off. Totally intermittent, i couldnt pinpoint the cause.
Then just today when i went to see if i had any messages and the phone was off again (i had about a 60-75% charge) I hit the power button a few times and now i am getting the symptoms described above.
When i try to go into TWRP, i get the blue text at the top left of the screen, sometimes i make it to the first hyperdrive screen, then it goes black.
When I go to download I can get to the hit up or down screen, i hit up to go into download, i get to the next screen then it goes black again.
I did leave the battery out for about 15minutes and no dice. I even tried to leave it on the charger thinking i lost all charge or something.
I am just a mere user, but i have always been able to tinker around enough not to bother the devs and get my way out of these situations, but I think i am stuck. Anyone have any ideas?
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe a stuck power button? Try cleaning it out a little. .. sounds like it's rebooting itself.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
blaker13 said:
Maybe a stuck power button? Try cleaning it out a little. .. sounds like it's rebooting itself.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am trying that, it doesn't seem like there is anything in there, but you never know.
If the power button was stuck on, wouldn't the phone keep trying to restart? Or no?
nightwulfss said:
I am trying that, it doesn't seem like there is anything in there, but you never know.
If the power button was stuck on, wouldn't the phone keep trying to restart? Or no?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe so, unless you pull the battery. In fact pull battery plug into usb and go into down load mode and see if it restarts. Or go into recovery without holding power button, and if you can then that means the power button is stuck on.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
blaker13 said:
I believe so, unless you pull the battery. In fact pull battery plug into usb and go into down load mode and see if it restarts. Or go into recovery without holding power button, and if you can then that means the power button is stuck on.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tried that as well. Whenever it goes into download mode the screen goes black after a couple of seconds. And it doesn't boot into recovery as well since it seems to go dead too quick.
I mainly just want to recover my pictures at this point. I am leaving the battery out of the phone for the day and see if that makes a difference this evening.
I am out of ideas, lol
nightwulfss said:
I have tried that as well. Whenever it goes into download mode the screen goes black after a couple of seconds. And it doesn't boot into recovery as well since it seems to go dead too quick.
I mainly just want to recover my pictures at this point. I am leaving the battery out of the phone for the day and see if that makes a difference this evening.
I am out of ideas, lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Take the six acres it and open her up, Take out button off and clean it and where it goes.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
blaker13 said:
Take the six acres it and open her up, Take out button off and clean it and where it goes.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty sure the flex cable on you're power button is not working as intended, could be a short from a rain drop or just everyday wear and tear another issue could be that the battery is fried and can't hold a charge, but this seems unlikely given you're circumstance.
I always tell people to utilize pie controls to save you're everyday use from wearing out our precious hardware buttons, My power and home only get pressed to wake the device, everything else is pie control via LMT launcher
That happened to me a few months ago. I was at work when it happened. The phone would just continually restart, vibrate, restart, back and forth. I ended up taking the battery out so it wouldn't get drained. Had it out for about four hours. Once I got home, I put it back in and never had any more problems. It was just a random thing, so try keeping the battery out for a while.
I'll keep my fingers crossed. I took the phone apart last night to clean it out and it was pretty spotless. But It keeps shutting off after trying to boot after a few seconds. I just hope I can get to a point where I can get my pictures off of it now.
nightwulfss said:
I'll keep my fingers crossed. I took the phone apart last night to clean it out and it was pretty spotless. But It keeps shutting off after trying to boot after a few seconds. I just hope I can get to a point where I can get my pictures off of it now.
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Hello all, as an update, I did nothing to my S3 over the weekend haping something magical could happen.
Today I went through all the normal steps again, and still a dead soldier. Now it wont ever SHow the Samsung logo however - just a short vibrate then nothing..
Still get a red light and a short vibrate when plugging into the comp without battery in though.
I have NOT taken it apart yet, but I will tonight most likely.
Thanks for all the suggestions and Ill keep this updated.
axel4401 said:
Hello all, as an update, I did nothing to my S3 over the weekend haping something magical could happen.
Today I went through all the normal steps again, and still a dead soldier. Now it wont ever SHow the Samsung logo however - just a short vibrate then nothing..
Still get a red light and a short vibrate when plugging into the comp without battery in though.
I have NOT taken it apart yet, but I will tonight most likely.
Thanks for all the suggestions and Ill keep this updated.
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Click to collapse
Hello again,
Some news, I am able to get it into download mode for about 1 second then the phone shuts off - just like the other person in this thread with the same issue.
I took the phone apart and used a Qtip with 91% isopropyl Alcohol to try and clean the power button (which looks surprisingly clean). Still the same thing happening.
I'm running out of ideas here, so please chime in if you have any.
Thanks
axel4401 said:
Hello again,
Some news, I am able to get it into download mode for about 1 second then the phone shuts off - just like the other person in this thread with the same issue.
I took the phone apart and used a Qtip with 91% isopropyl Alcohol to try and clean the power button (which looks surprisingly clean). Still the same thing happening.
I'm running out of ideas here, so please chime in if you have any.
Thanks
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Click to collapse
I was going to try the alcohol tonight, but I am afraid that I will have same results. I am going to try a new battery from another s3 tomorrow. I will post the results.
nightwulfss said:
I was going to try the alcohol tonight, but I am afraid that I will have same results. I am going to try a new battery from another s3 tomorrow. I will post the results.
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Click to collapse
Final update (hopefully)
I got the qtip and scrubbed anything to do with the battery, pressed the power button, got more alcohol in by the button (not a lot) scrubbed some more terminals, and the battery terminals, etc. waited about ten minutes and put the battery in...
Low and behold, something worked and now the phone comes on.
I dont know which part of the scrubbing actually did it, but something worked.
All in all I have no idea what actually fixed it, but the point is that it works.
Thank you for who those that insisted that it was a power button issue - you were most likely right.
So here are my results as of today, and what I have tried to get to this point:
After my S3 died and wouldn't boot up into recovery i tried cleaning all the internals with alcohol. I cleaned thoroughly, and focused on the charging port, the power switch and battery terminals. The phone acted exactly the same.
I then tried putting it in a bowl of rice for about 24 hours. I was thinking that it might have been caused by some condensation. No success.
I was thinking since the power would turn on whenever i plugged the battery in, that maybe the switch was stuck. I took it apart again and tested the switch with a multi-meter. The switch seemed fine. It was responding when i pushed it, so i figured that wasn't the problem.
I kept reading that apparently this is an issue with the mother board. I tried the broken PS3 method of heating up the motherboard with a heat gun in hopes to re-seat something that may be loose. This did not work either. After this, I figured i was SOL since I was out of ideas and out of warranty (which didn't really matter anyway since I am running Hyperdrive).
Earlier today I figured the best tool in your toolbox sometimes is a hammer. I started tapping the phone on the side of my table, especially around the power button, while trying to turn it on. It didn't seem like it was doing anything either. I then plugged the phone into the charger since i thought the battery was totally dead.
A few minutes after i walked away from the phone, I came back into room and the red charging light was on. I tried turning it on, and holy cow it works...wtf...
I have no idea what made this work. It could be a complete coincidence. But, this phone has not worked since last Saturday. I just kept messing with it and may have just gotten lucky. I don't think banging your phone will fix this, but if truly was a hardware issue, maybe something in the phones mother board is becoming loose from the extreme heat they endure at times. I know my S3 has gotten pretty hot when I use it to navigate and leave it in the case.
I don't know if any of this will help anyone, but this is my experience so far of my S3 having what I think is the sudden death failure. I will followup with any updates if it decides to act up again.
Two weeks ago my galaxy just stopped working. it was at a decent battery; just stopped. I tried charging it but the phone would vibrate. phone would come on, then shut off. I tried it multiple times and same result; a few times the phone would make it to the samsung startup animation, sometimes it would just flash the samsung logo, once it compleley got to my screen start before shutting off.
I brought my phone to get fixed. It took a whole week and the guy said my phone was just not fixable. It would work for a few hours then shut off again, according to him. I suspect he didnt work much on it though as hed rather fix phones with easy problems as mine was a tough one.
I've had to replace my phone with an iphone now, but right now, out of curiosity, I completely took my phone apart, and started using tweezers to play the power on button. The camera part just broke off (not the actual camera) but now my phone is actually charging! The red light is on, and click the main button, it shows the battery being charged. This has not happened ever since the phone broke.
Am I bricked? Is there hope for this phone??? Please tell me there is lol.
EDIT: My phone seems to have restarted! Turned it on and it's asking for my simcard what is GOING ON LOL
Summertimes said:
Two weeks ago my galaxy just stopped working. it was at a decent battery; just stopped. I tried charging it but the phone would vibrate. phone would come on, then shut off. I tried it multiple times and same result; a few times the phone would make it to the samsung startup animation, sometimes it would just flash the samsung logo, once it compleley got to my screen start before shutting off.
I brought my phone to get fixed. It took a whole week and the guy said my phone was just not fixable. It would work for a few hours then shut off again, according to him. I suspect he didnt work much on it though as hed rather fix phones with easy problems as mine was a tough one.
I've had to replace my phone with an iphone now, but right now, out of curiosity, I completely took my phone apart, and started using tweezers to play the power on button. The camera part just broke off (not the actual camera) but now my phone is actually charging! The red light is on, and click the main button, it shows the battery being charged. This has not happened ever since the phone broke.
Am I bricked? Is there hope for this phone??? Please tell me there is lol.
EDIT: My phone seems to have restarted! Turned it on and it's asking for my simcard what is GOING ON LOL
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idont know what you did there, but it worked plus you gotta be more specific to how the phone broke and could not boot-up to screen
winosxbuntu said:
idont know what you did there, but it worked plus you gotta be more specific to how the phone broke and could not boot-up to screen
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It just randomly shut off. It was if someone would constantly be turning the phone off as soon as I turned it on. But then I couldn't even charge the phone. No red light, no screen, nothing, just vibration. I would try to turn it on sometimes it would get to the boot up, sometimes not, sometimes nothing, just a vibrate.
I literally took tweezers and lifted the green board out from around the power on button (it's an actual tiny white button on the inside). and then it randomly started working again
Summertimes said:
It just randomly shut off. It was if someone would constantly be turning the phone off as soon as I turned it on. But then I couldn't even charge the phone. No red light, no screen, nothing, just vibration. I would try to turn it on sometimes it would get to the boot up, sometimes not, sometimes nothing, just a vibrate.
I literally took tweezers and lifted the green board out from around the power on button (it's an actual tiny white button on the inside). and then it randomly started working again
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Could be a power button failure. Happens somewhat often.
Could be battery related too, a cheap replacement battery could strike that off.
polobunny said:
Could be a power button failure. Happens somewhat often.
Could be battery related too, a cheap replacement battery could strike that off.
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agree with what he said, it could be a problem with the power button or battery is not working
off topic did you really get 176Mb/s download or is it fake
if its real then was it WIFI or DATA , i have never topped 50Mb/s both wifi and data) but DATA seems to be 10x faster than my wifi
Hi everyone, I am looking to troubleshoot my T-Mobile Galaxy S4 which I believe has suffered from a Power IC malfunction. It has all the symptoms that relate to a broken power button, which of I already sent in for repair and that didn't seem to fix the problem. The guy installed a brand new power button and the problem still persists. Continued researching and it might be a broken Power IC chip.
The phone will power on for a second and display the Samsung logo, then shut off and reboot itself and sometimes be in a constant vibration cycle like it's trying to power on. Sometimes it just freezes on the Samsung logo and will not continue past that. Sometimes if I'm lucky, it will boot up like normal but once it gets to the T-Mobile splash screen, the screen will distort and then reboot itself where it will just go through either of the symptoms already mentioned. Weird thing is, I am still able to boot into recovery (takes a couple tries though) and download mode fine without any reboots or anything. I have tried flashing numerous stock firmwares/ROMs via download mode/recovery in hope maybe that'll correct something, but to no avail.
The problem happened shortly after I accidentally dropped my phone getting out of the car. The phone worked fine for a day and then one day while driving, the phone did something crazy and froze up, displayed the power menu, and then shut off by itself. Then after that is when all the problems happened. I took the phone apart and cleaned the power button. Rubbed the contacts with rubbing alcohol and even tried to get inside the power button with some. Took a can of air and sprayed the button until it was dry. I think that was my mistake because I think some alcohol got onto, or into the power IC located near the power button and fried something.
Looking for possible answers as to what could have caused this. The phone will not charge normally unless I boot into recovery/download mode. Plugging the phone in while powered off displays the charging icon with the grey battery and a circle in the middle but doesn't continue past that and reboots itself after a while. Tried a different battery as well and it's all the same symptoms which is why it's something internally.
On a side note, if anybody has experience with replacing the Power IC and would like to offer their service to me, we can arrange a price and continue from there. Please be a reputable member though. Thanks for reading. Hope to resolve this annoying issue.
If you are able to go into recovery mode, have you maybe considered flashing a new ROM?
Do you have some sort of custom recovery? If yes, maybe you could first back up all your stuff to an SD card (in case nothing helps bring the phone back to life).
Since your boot up logo shows up, but the ROM doesn't seem to start, to me it looks like your onboard flash memory might be the problem, not the power IC. The S4 is actually an awesome phone from a repairability standpoint.
Best of Luck! :good:
I will be starting to do power IC replacements in these phone in a couple weeks actually! I have a little cell repair business that i started a few months ago, but I have never done this specific repair. It isn't difficult, and as soon as I have a few successful attempts under my belt I will update you! Although, usually the phone won't boot at all if it has a bad power IC. I would do more research and see what can cause your specific problem. Feel free to message me or just reply on here with questions
deke997 said:
I will be starting to do power IC replacements in these phone in a couple weeks actually! I have a little cell repair business that i started a few months ago, but I have never done this specific repair. It isn't difficult, and as soon as I have a few successful attempts under my belt I will update you! Although, usually the phone won't boot at all if it has a bad power IC. I would do more research and see what can cause your specific problem. Feel free to message me or just reply on here with questions
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Hi Deke. Sorry for not replying sooner. Kind of forgot about this thread after giving up on trying to fix it. But if you are willing to repair it in the future please let me know! I'll give you some business for your repair shop. Congrats on starting one too .
As for the phone not powering on at all if the problem was the power IC, that's what I thought at first too. But after getting a new power button installed and the problem still persisted, the power IC was the next option.
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