My painfully embarassing NOOB mistake. and an awesome discovery - T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989

I would by no means consider myself a NOOB, as no one ever wants to be a newb. Although i have bricked and burned up a few devices. I have been a member of XDA for some quite some time. I started with an HTC HD2, i was dual booting windows phone 7 and gingerbread. UltimateDroid, to this day is and was still my favorite ROM of all time. Still wonder what happened to that guy. I ended up burning up that phone so much so that it would lock up and i would have to put it in the freezer for 10 minutes before putting the battery back in and turning it on. From there i graduated to an HTC sensation. Phone was awesome, i was running an early version of the InsertCoin rom, until i was on skype and dropped the phone. For some reason upon dropping the phone, it never turned on again. I then had a samsung galaxy captivate and was dissatisfied to find out i could only get 2g on tmobile based on the antenna in the phone not being able to recieve tmo's 3g signal. From there i went on to an LG G2x, what a great phone. I was using the Tsugi Rom with the oyusame overclocked, stock voltage kernel. I got kind of sick of the phone because i had flashed every new rom that came out and it just started to get redundant for me, that was when i got my Galaxy S2 Hercules. I love this phone but alas, in my continued need to root and flash the crap out of my phone with all XDA's latest and greatest goodies, i flashed a rom that didnt boot. (This was most certainly my fault for NOT THOUROUGHLY READING THE INSTRUCTIONS) so in discovering this with only a few minutes to spare before work, i opened up odin before work and grabbed what i thought was clockwork recovery and flashed it. This was not clockwork recovery and upon and flashing i recieved what every modder on here is terrifed of. QHSUSB_DLOAD followed by that god awful windows device driver error noise. Pissed off driving to work with no phone, i immediately ordered a USB jig off amazon for $3.50 cents plus an addition $35.00 to overnight ship it to my house. So impulsive to fix my phone, i even stopped at radio shack and bought myself a pack of 100k ohm resistors to try and make the part myself. Several broken usb cables, and my kitchen table looking like a tweekers wet dream later i had no resolution. I woke up the next morning tracking my usb jig every half hour and was very excited to recieve it, goign as far as to tell my wife that i would no longer be going to get her coffee or visiting her parents as I would be pre-occupied with my phone for a while. Murphy's law however saw otherwise as this did not fix my issue either. I of course knew that if i called T-Mo the insurance would not cover this. So i started calling local cellphone repair shops. After about the fifth place i called, i realized that most of those people are lightyears behind whats happening on here and found that when i tried to talk tech they would sit there and scratch their heads. Out of options, I called the 800 number for samsung on the label underneath the battery. I very openly and honestly explained to the lady that i had rooted my phone, installed a custom recovery and was flashing custom roms. I then explained something went terribly wrong and the phone does not respond at all. I also explained the QHSUSB_DLOAD problem. I believe this explanation went a little beyond they types of calls she was used to recieving. She did however explain that Samsung provides complimentry re-flashes of bricked phones as long as there is no hardware damage done to the device. She then e-mailed me a ups label with shipping paid , and my phone is in the process of being repaired. I did buy yet another HTC sensation to get me by for the 2 business day shipping to samsung, the 7 business day evaluation and repair process, and another 2 days for me to get it back. I hope this can help anyone who has made the same mistake, and moreso i hope this can show others how rushing, being careless, and not reading the instructions can come with HEAVY consequences. Although all should work for me just fine, i still had to spend $150 on a used sensation with a cracked screen, and the nearly 2 weeks of downtime i am without my GS2.
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Devices: HTC HD2(DEAD), HTC - Sensation(DEAD) Samsung Captivate(SOLD) LG G2X(SOLD) Galaxy S2 T989 (OUT FOR REPAIR) HTC Sensation (Were keeping that stock at least until i get the glass replaced and my GS2 back) LG G2X (Waiting to warranty my fiance's sensation to get it back)

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2

LuniZ916 said:
I would by no means consider myself a NOOB, as no one ever wants to be a newb. Although i have bricked and burned up a few devices. I have been a member of XDA for some quite some time. I started with an HTC HD2, i was dual booting windows phone 7 and gingerbread. UltimateDroid, to this day is and was still my favorite ROM of all time. Still wonder what happened to that guy. I ended up burning up that phone so much so that it would lock up and i would have to put it in the freezer for 10 minutes before putting the battery back in and turning it on. From there i graduated to an HTC sensation. Phone was awesome, i was running an early version of the InsertCoin rom, until i was on skype and dropped the phone. For some reason upon dropping the phone, it never turned on again. I then had a samsung galaxy captivate and was dissatisfied to find out i could only get 2g on tmobile based on the antenna in the phone not being able to recieve tmo's 3g signal. From there i went on to an LG G2x, what a great phone. I was using the Tsugi Rom with the oyusame overclocked, stock voltage kernel. I got kind of sick of the phone because i had flashed every new rom that came out and it just started to get redundant for me, that was when i got my Galaxy S2 Hercules. I love this phone but alas, in my continued need to root and flash the crap out of my phone with all XDA's latest and greatest goodies, i flashed a rom that didnt boot. (This was most certainly my fault for NOT THOUROUGHLY READING THE INSTRUCTIONS) so in discovering this with only a few minutes to spare before work, i opened up odin before work and grabbed what i thought was clockwork recovery and flashed it. This was not clockwork recovery and upon and flashing i recieved what every modder on here is terrifed of. QHSUSB_DLOAD followed by that god awful windows device driver error noise. Pissed off driving to work with no phone, i immediately ordered a USB jig off amazon for $3.50 cents plus an addition $35.00 to overnight ship it to my house. So impulsive to fix my phone, i even stopped at radio shack and bought myself a pack of 100k ohm resistors to try and make the part myself. Several broken usb cables, and my kitchen table looking like a tweekers wet dream later i had no resolution. I woke up the next morning tracking my usb jig every half hour and was very excited to recieve it, goign as far as to tell my wife that i would no longer be going to get her coffee or visiting her parents as I would be pre-occupied with my phone for a while. Murphy's law however saw otherwise as this did not fix my issue either. I of course knew that if i called T-Mo the insurance would not cover this. So i started calling local cellphone repair shops. After about the fifth place i called, i realized that most of those people are lightyears behind whats happening on here and found that when i tried to talk tech they would sit there and scratch their heads. Out of options, I called the 800 number for samsung on the label underneath the battery. I very openly and honestly explained to the lady that i had rooted my phone, installed a custom recovery and was flashing custom roms. I then explained something went terribly wrong and the phone does not respond at all. I also explained the QHSUSB_DLOAD problem. I believe this explanation went a little beyond they types of calls she was used to recieving. She did however explain that Samsung provides complimentry re-flashes of bricked phones as long as there is no hardware damage done to the device. She then e-mailed me a ups label with shipping paid , and my phone is in the process of being repaired. I did buy yet another HTC sensation to get me by for the 2 business day shipping to samsung, the 7 business day evaluation and repair process, and another 2 days for me to get it back. I hope this can help anyone who has made the same mistake, and moreso i hope this can show others how rushing, being careless, and not reading the instructions can come with HEAVY consequences. Although all should work for me just fine, i still had to spend $150 on a used sensation with a cracked screen, and the nearly 2 weeks of downtime i am without my GS2.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Devices: HTC HD2(DEAD), HTC - Sensation(DEAD) Samsung Captivate(SOLD) LG G2X(SOLD) Galaxy S2 T989 (OUT FOR REPAIR) HTC Sensation (Were keeping that stock at least until i get the glass replaced and my GS2 back) LG G2X (Waiting to warranty my fiance's sensation to get it back)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same thing happen to me the dreaded QHSUSB error when I bricked my exhibit2. I know how you feel.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA Premium App

Lol. I bricked mt very first phone (the T989) the very first day i got it. I got it replaced for free with that 14 day gap thing that Tmo has. Got lucky. Ive never had a bad flash since.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda app-developers app

I've been on xda for quite some time now, and i know for a fact that people have gotten their phones replaced through standard warranty when they got that error, the old "it stopped working and won't turn on" has worked for some. If you cannot revive it chances are that no one at samsung can, i don't think they even bother, they just open it and reflash the phone.

supraman89 said:
I've been on xda for quite some time now, and i know for a fact that people have gotten their phones replaced through standard warranty when they got that error, the old "it stopped working and won't turn on" has worked for some. If you cannot revive it chances are that no one at samsung can, i don't think they even bother, they just open it and reflash the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stupid kies mini hard bricked my trusty vibrant... Luckily, t-mobile replaced it for free, but it was the horrible exhibit 1.

supraman89 said:
I've been on xda for quite some time now, and i know for a fact that people have gotten their phones replaced through standard warranty when they got that error, the old "it stopped working and won't turn on" has worked for some. If you cannot revive it chances are that no one at samsung can, i don't think they even bother, they just open it and reflash the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah most people went through regular warranty exchanges, but from what the OP was explaining he's a very honest person and would have said that he rooted the phone therefore he would not be able to exchange it.
That's good that he's honest, but it would have been a lot easier to just do that and get the phone next day because TMobile is just going to send that phone back to Samsung and they'll do the exact same thing they're doing to his phone now
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda app-developers app

This sounds exactly like something I would! Especially buying parts thinking I could fix it!!
I feel so at home on xda!!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2

U could a saved a ton of time and money by just saying ur phone stopped working. Cuz technically it did
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda app-developers app

LOOOOOOL this made my day^^
I have my phone till two years now and i bricked it once by disconnecting by mistake while unlocking bootloader (yes i fell with my phone in the hand and lukily it only disconnected and didnt pull my laptop with it.
I had it fixed in a half hour^^
Greets
Sent from my Xperia X10 using xda app-developers app

Good to know thanks
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using xda app-developers app

My very first device was the Mytouch 3G on T-Mobile. Back then, it was maybe the 2nd Android phone to have even existed at that point.
Me, never being satisfied with anything stock and coming from a heavily modified blackberry, wanted to tweak the hell out of it.
Back then, it took a LOT more to root and flash, ESPECIALLY HTC Devices. There were no custom tools yet to root, and the only easy part was using CWM. You HAD to use adb commands to exploit to get root and even get CWM on the device at that point, but only AFTER downgrading it back to Android 1.5, but after that it was easy.
(I couldn't believe how fast and easy it was to root and flash on the T989 after having HTC devices up until last year)
Anyways, I somehow managed to get it CWM to boot (you had to boot into normal recovery after replacing update.zip with a CWM zip, and then flash the new update.zip file back then) and went to flash a ROM, and instead I flashed a zip, but the wrong ROM was uploaded by the OP, and what I had flashed as for the G1. It was literally only uploaded for all of maybe 2 minutes before he pulled the post down and uploaded the correct version.
I was the ONLY one who downloaded and flashed it within that 2 minute window.
Needless to say, I hated my life.
Now the funny part:
I was so paranoid back then about not letting T-Mobile know that I was rooted, that I literally bought a BRAND NEW Mytouch 3G (because you couldn't even find broken ones on ebay yet) and sold the broken one, which I bought the day before mind you, for $20. I wish I would have known that, back then, there were no counters on the MT3G. T-Mobile would have never known as it wouldn't boot.
:crying:
Flash forward to today, and IDGAF.

Related

[Q] re: getting a replacement phone for free?

ok, so i finally bricked my phone .. and i need to get a replacement phone.
the impression i always got from the forums was that i just go to the Spring store and ask for a replacement, and show'em that my phone is "broken".. today i went in and they gave me a number to call (888.211.4727) and when i called/explained it.. they said i'd have to pay "only" $100 for the replacement since i had the protection plan...
is that how it works?? is there a way to get my phone replaced for free? i guess i'm in shock bc that's how i thought it worked for several other members here.
any suggestions?
Try a different store. Sometimes other stores don't care.
Sent from my Epic 4gizzle using XDA Premium App
do you have any suggestions on what to say? called sprint and they were just saying "we can't do anything about it Asurion is who does our insurance, blah blah blah"
does anyone have a experience (victories) getting their bricks replaced for free?
Tell them you need to do a warranty replacement. Not an insurance replacement. They might refer you to samsung not sure how sprint handles that stuff these days.
cd's or tapes?
My screen stopped working when I touched it and I had a crack in the plastic around the screen. At first the Sprint tech said the screen stopped working because of the crack in the plastic whih, according to him, is the accelerometer. I didn't get pissed. I just told him that the screen stopped working before that and if he put another accelerometer on it, the screen still wouldn't work. I ended up getting everything replaced except my motherboard so I basically have a new phone with original motherboard so I know what overclock/undervolt will work. I would take it to another store and be nice and play dumb. It worked for me and I didn't pay 1 cent.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App
cache83 said:
ok, so i finally bricked my phone .. and i need to get a replacement phone.
the impression i always got from the forums was that i just go to the Spring store and ask for a replacement, and show'em that my phone is "broken".. today i went in and they gave me a number to call (888.211.4727) and when i called/explained it.. they said i'd have to pay "only" $100 for the replacement since i had the protection plan...
is that how it works?? is there a way to get my phone replaced for free? i guess i'm in shock bc that's how i thought it worked for several other members here.
any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try
1)taking battery out.
2) plug in USB
3) hold keypad "1" and "power"
(note this process has battery out of phone entire time.)
i have an interesting update...
i dug around more posts on the forum -- and learned to pull the sdcard out, AND the battery... left it out a lil bit... now it'll be back into download mode, although it seems my odin attempts have been failing so far (the screen turned all yellow almost immediately on the first attempt... now this second attempt has gone a lil further and the screen just turned all blue)..
i think this is progress?
UPDATE!!! WOW!!!
i just re-incarnated my phone. i almost want to cry. for real!!
Now I'm curious what you guys would do... do you think my phone's suffered some hardware damage from all that (and therefore should play it safe).. or do you think it's safe to root, flash srf all the way up and try to flash genocide1.1final again?
i almost feel like i don't fear bricks any longer LOL
I had almost the exact same thing happen to my phone as you. The old vision kernel bricked my phone, took it into the sprint store and they were going to replace it but it was going to take about 4 days to do so. I screwed around with it and finally got it into download mode after a while.
I don't think there is any problem with you running everything just the way you have been. I can't see how there could have been any hardware damage unless you stepped on it or dropped it a long way or something. I would say its safe to go ahead and root it and continue to have fun with it.
I had almost the exact same thing happen to my phone as you. The old vision kernel bricked my phone, took it into the sprint store and they were going to replace it but it was going to take about 4 days to do so. I screwed around with it and finally got it into download mode after a while.
I don't think there is any problem with you running everything just the way you have been. I can't see how there could have been any hardware damage unless you stepped on it or dropped it a long way or something. I would say its safe to go ahead and root it and continue to have fun with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't recall anyone bricking on Genocide or Twilight Zone. 99% of the time you can Odin back to stock. It only takes 3 min 30 seconds. I would say stay rooted and have fun. I was nervous for a bit but I can't see myself going back to stock
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App
actually, what started me down this spiral today was trying to install the Genocide1.1final kernel.. i posted a question in there but haven't gotten a response yet -- i'm going to post/copy it here and just hope that i'm not violating any rules by doing so...
cache83 said:
I read through all the posts since 6/15 and haven't seen anyone post this issue... wondering if anyone had insights?
i was running srf1.1.1 with genocide1.0...
did a backup, and wiped cache/dalvik x3 and flashed genocide1.1final. then when i rebooted it stayed on the samsung startup screen for too long... kind of reminds me of when i tried to flash cwm3.0.2.5
so i pulled battery, and 3fingered into cwm. noticed it was still orange (3.0.0.6) -- restored my nandroid, rebooted... and i'm still getting stuck on the samsung startup screen.
i hate think this but i'll probably have to Odin back to stock and build my way back up to srf1.1.1 and then restore..
any ideas what went wrong? i really want to try on this kernel but i don't want to go through that whole cycle again!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cache83 said:
actually, what started me down this spiral today was trying to install the Genocide1.1final kernel.. i posted a question in there but haven't gotten a response yet -- i'm going to post/copy it here and just hope that i'm not violating any rules by doing so...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you possibly had a bad flash of the genocide 1.1 kernel. or maybe even a bad dl. i would say re-download the .zip for the genocide 1.1 and try again. i am running srf 1.1.1 with genocide 1.1. imo one of the best rom/kernel combos out here.
puhahahaa... i'm back w srf1.1.1 and now have genocide1.1final running... for some reason when i 3finger salute i still get cwm3.0.0.6 tho -- don't know if i'm doing it wrong??
Igot my phone from Radio Shack and got their ins. Paid $100.
Up front and am covered with no deductable for a yr. I've found that insuring through them was a better way to go.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

Had to get my sprint Gnex replaced.

Hey guys, I posted a thread last week of a problem I had with my stock unrooted gnex. The problem was that everytime I went to the settings, the settings app would crash and wouldn't let me press "more" in order to access mobile network modes etc.
I rooted it and flashed a couple of roms and the issue kept returning. I un-rooted it this morning and reflashed via odin the latest stock FD02 tar thinking the issue would be gone since everything was going to be wiped.The issue came back again so I went to the sprint store (thank god for TEP) and the techs were acting like it wasnt a big deal. They reset the phone 4 times (the tech did it in fornt of me) and the issue was still there.
So 1 and a half hour later, the manager comes out and tells me she ordered me a new phone (probably a refurb but who cares at this point ) and it would arrive on thursday.
the tech started joking around with me at the end saying that if I got a bad gnex from the factory, that he would give me a NIB GSIII. I hope thats the case haha But I still love my Gnex and its peppy updates and hate touch wiz to death.
Interesting thanks for sharing bud
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
little curious about this. has anybody that has gotten a new phone from sprint through tep had any problems with the new phone? any differences that you can tell from your first phone? sorry about kinda hijacking.
kashb91 said:
little curious about this. has anybody that has gotten a new phone from sprint through tep had any problems with the new phone? any differences that you can tell from your first phone? sorry about kinda hijacking.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can say from experience, since I had an evo 4g before the nexus and my wife has an iphone 4s. We have gone through TEP with both devices.
Lets start with the Evo.
I was getting a lot of dropped calls, the speakers were worn out sounding poorly, it started turning on and off by itself. Went to sprint, the techs diagnosed that there was no water damage or accident damage so they didn't ask for the deductible and ordered me a phone. Replacement arrived in a generic white sprint box, the tech used the same battery I had and gave me a working phone (no scratches,dings or anything looked brand new)
My wifes iphone 4s
The bluetooth wasn't holding a connection to her cars bluetooth system or any bluetooth device at all. The techs diagnosed it and gave her the same treatment. The phone came in a generic box looking new and worked fine.
The story behind whether you ACTUALLY get a refurb or a truly new phone is this.
When the rep places the phone order the system tells him if there are any refurbished units at their warehouse. When there are none the warehouse itself sends a totally new not refurbished phone in the same generic box.
How do you know if you got a new phone or a refurb? Theres no way in my experience (I've had to order around 4 phones in the past 5 years with TEP and they have always worked great and looked new)
If you file a claim with asurion (theft, accidental damage or water damage) they send you a brand new phone after paying the $100 deductible.(happened with 1 phone that I dropped and cracked the screen)
interesting. what i was mostly wondering about was the screen on the gnex. i remember when i had the nexus 4g, people that went through tep said that the screen was replaced with a different one. it wasnt oled, or whatever the original screen was.
I had the issue when I flashed cm9 and paranoid android Roms. But the issue was only the roms
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
kashb91 said:
interesting. what i was mostly wondering about was the screen on the gnex. i remember when i had the nexus 4g, people that went through tep said that the screen was replaced with a different one. it wasnt oled, or whatever the original screen was.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting, It could be a temporary outage of the parts.
I know for certain that for the iphones, the refurbish process is done by apple
So I would think that samsung is responsible for supplying sprints refurb units. Since the screen is made by Samsung themselves they should focus on putting the right screens.
and thursday can't come fast enough My gnex is now getting delayed texts. A lot of people text me, like once an hour the phone is ringing all of the messages that were sent to me at once during that period of time.

[Q] Does anyone know if Samsung will take my phone in repair if it's rooted?

So I bricked my phone two days ago, and I have tried the JIG but it wont work. So I'm coming to a conclusion that it's hard bricked and I might need to send it to Sammy for a JTAG repair.. Since the warranty is voided from flashing ROM's, does anyone think they will still do it for me? cause my phone is only a month old. Not sure if this will help, but my download mode won't work either, so would they see my flash counter?
They probably won't accept it. You are better off sending it somewhere else to get it repaired.
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda premium
Send it to mobiletech...
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
Software problem? Nope
Hardware problem? I believe they would
So I did this to my phone. I rooted it I had to custom recovery change the kernel I updated the ROM .
Then I flash the wrong kernel . I flashed an international kernel I 9300 I think it was.
Bricked it bigger than sh*t wouldn't even boot wouldn't do anything it would vibrate and Black screen nothing.
29th day I had it I did this . On the 29th day I hopped my motorcycle and I went right to the AT&T actually I went to RadioShack I asked for a Jay tag or a USB jumper whatever they had .
I then hop back of my motorcycle and went straight to the AT&T store.
This is what I told them and they gave me a new phone no charge know anything I just traded them.
I was using Kies to sync up my phone I had to leave the house in a big hurry with my wife my grandson and my daughter were there my daughter wasn't paying attention. When I got home my laptop was on the phone was on the floor and my phone was on the table with the wire still sticking out of it. Now it doesn't work can you help me.
She was lying she knew I flashed it she was very suspicious I stuck my story.
The laptop was on the floor phone was on the table the computer had come off of the USB wire while the phone was on.
She immediately started trying to do the three button mode to work to wake the phone up. I told her I had pushed all the buttons. She just smiled at me and kept pushing the buttons.
One of the other text came over noticing she was having problems they both tried to put the phone up and then I said what are you doing I noticed you push the buttons are pushed him like how are you pushed the mall once they both rolled their eyes at me. The second girl said is a battery charge batteries dead get another battery so they went and got another battery and put it in it I assured them that the battery was not dead and it was not dead I killed the phone. Finally the second girl just got sick of it all to just give me a phone. The first girl told me that then that it was the 29th day and if I would've waited one day to come in she could've done anything for me.
I asked about a service department or a techie Guy. something because what I really wanted them to do was I wanted them to pull up their jay tag get me to download mode tell me that I change my flash counter.
The only reason I deemed my phone dead was because I loaned my Jtag jumper out and never got another one I wanted them to jump it back to download mode so I could take it home run home on my motorcycle take it home to my laptop and fix it. there was nothing wrong with my laptop and the only thing wrong with my phone was a flash and international kernel.
So anyway they gave me a new phone because I was before the 30th day and I'm more careful now want to flash it.
I'm rooted kernel Koons kernel actually areal ROM new radio not radio new modem the works .
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

Wrong Rom: A Cautionary Tale

I'd like to share with you all my tale of rom flashing gone horribly wrong. It's really only important for 2 pieces of misinformation that I've seen kicking around the forums. First, the story.
I had already rooted my Telus Galaxy S3 (SGH-i747M), but was still running stock. I started looking around for compatible roms running JB, but didn't have much luck (finding ones that support the Canadian version is not easy). At the same time, I had to update and reset my old Galaxy S2 for a relative who was taking it off my hands. I found a JB rom that was available for both the S2 and S3, from the same dev. I decided to try both out, downloaded them and copied the respective files to the S2 and S3, but quickly realized that the S3 version didn't support my Canadian phone. No problem, I'll leave the S3 as rooted stock.
I proceeded to flash and install the rom on my S2. Everything seemed to be going fine until the first reboot after flashing. The phone appeared to be completely dead. I tried putting the phone into download mode but it was completely dead and would not even show signs that it was plugged into a power outlet. Then, horror. Both my S2 and S3 are in Otterbox Commuter cases. They look very similar. At 1 in the morning in a dimly lit room, they look identical.
Yes. Like an idiot, I had installed the incompatible S3 rom to my Canadian S3. I had, in fact, hard bricked my phone. I set aside my grief for 10 minutes and got the S2 done, as that was the original goal of this adventure. That worked fine. Of course.
For the next several hours and most of the following day, I searched and searched. I ended up on the posts talking about QHSUSB_DLOAD and how I'd screwed myself. No hope. Only option is either JTAG service or, and this brings me to misinformation #1, sending it back to Samsung. Why send a rooted and screwed phone back to Samsung? Well, the argument was that in all likeliness they wouldn't be able to tell and would probably just get it up and running anyway, perhaps with some nominal fee. Also, and here comes misinformation #2, there was a good chance that they would have to fix the problem in order to verify it.
Thankfully, in my only intelligent move in the last year, I had opted to choose the extra device protection offered by my carrier. Which meant, if it wasn't covered under warranty, I could get a brand new phone at a significantly reduced rate. But it did mean I had to send it in to Samsung first. And so, I walked into a carrier store and simply stated that it wouldn't power up. I neglected to mention the whole "I'm an idiot and accidentally installed an incompatible rom at 1AM". At the end of the day, they don't care anyway.
So I waited for almost 3 weeks before getting an update from my carrier. Samsung had looked at it and had a quote. I called the store to find out the cost. The phone needs a new mainboard. $350+ (I remember it being more than $350 but less than $400). Ah, no thank you. I politely declined and contacted the company providing the device protection. No problem, phone would be in my hands in 2-3 business days. I just need to send the damaged phone back when I get it from Samsung.
When the phone did get back from Samsung (within 24 hours, I might add), it came with a note to the carrier indicating that the phone had been rooted. The store manager actually made a good point too. If they were able to get it up and running to figure out it was rooted, why did it need a new mainboard? In all likeliness, they just wanted to teach me a $350+ lesson in voiding the warranty. So, what did I learn from this experience?
1) If you are rooting multiple phones, don't leave them all laying around in identical cases in a dimly lit room at 1AM.
2) Don't root phones in a dimly lit room at 1AM.
3) If you royally mess up your bootloader and it won't boot up, Samsung can still boot up that phone.
4) If that same phone is rooted, Samsung can not only tell, but ensure that the phone remains in it's screwed state for return.
5) They might just try and teach you a $350+ lesson; my guess is this ultimately depends on who looks at it (just like walking into an Apple store and walking out with a replacement, prior to Applecare+).
If anyone is curious why I didn't JTAG service the phone, it's simply because I can't afford to wait that long without a phone and the cost difference between JTAG and my device protection plan is not significant.
I think the are full of it.. I bet they did not even boot it up.
It would be possible for them to boot into download mode using a JTAG device, flash a working bootloader and at the very least load up a recovery environment terminal to check for root access. This is assuming of course they couldn't do this directly from their JTAG skipping having to fix the bootloader. Even so whats to stop them flashing a non working bootloader back to the device after they found what they are looking for. Not only would this not take very long, for the chance at turning 350 bucks work of profit vs a warranty fix im sure the techs are required to do this. This of course doesn't justify the obvious fact that a replacement motherboard is completely ridiculous. I'm of the opinion that it isn't right to cheat the manufacturers by getting warranty replacements on user created errors, however if they are attempting to gouge the end user instead of just charge them to fix the problem then i say all's fair. Lets face it, its not as if they don't take these warranty devices, especially the hard bricked ones, and simply fix the software, repackage and sell them again.
Exactly. I sent it in and fully expected some kind of charge, like labor, to get it working again. But not almost $400.
Yea, that is pretty lame. Its no different than a damaged led lens, which they charge the full LED assembly price of $175 instead of just fixing the problem. I just did this today on my phone for $20 and an hour or so of my time.
Wow that sucks. At least your other phone still works.
sent from my rooted galaxy 3.6
Noob question:
Did you use Triangle Away? If they can just boot up the device and find if you have root access, is the point of Triangle Away just aesthetics?
I think that is more or less an easy give away the uneducated rep at the sales counter can look for.
i must confess i've rooted my phone dozens of times, and i can say that over 80% of those were in the dark after midnight.
Yeah, me too. It only takes one mistake though ...
yes rooting is such another .apk on the phone and certainly does not void the hardware warranty... Obviouisly they should charge you for software issues which you did.. did you get the phone back and have someone else jtag and fix it?
No. I have to send it back in to the company I have device protection through. But I have a new S3 already. JTAG would probably work, but it would take too long and isn't much cheaper than getting the new one.
Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2
And yeah your full of it lmao. I had a galaxy s3 that just stopped working after being left in charger a night. Took it.to a rsi (Samsung official customer service and service center here in dallas Texas) and they said the motherboard was ruined. And it was stock non rooted. And it was covered under warranty and they had to create a new imei for the phone. So $350? Yeah right
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda premium
Sorry, I'm full of it? Your phone is non rooted, so your point is completely moot. Your phone legitimately died. Mine was screwed because of my own fault of flashing the wrong rom. There was and is nothing wrong with the motherboard on this phone. They were just trying to teach me a $350 lesson in rooting/voiding my warranty. But thanks for your insightful comment.
JTAG
bionemesis said:
Sorry, I'm full of it? Your phone is non rooted, so your point is completely moot. Your phone legitimately died. Mine was screwed because of my own fault of flashing the wrong rom. There was and is nothing wrong with the motherboard on this phone. They were just trying to teach me a $350 lesson in rooting/voiding my warranty. But thanks for your insightful comment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
happened to be last night,only option was to JTAG it so sent it to MTV Mobile Tech Videos,sucks ass....will se how long i am in Texas and sent it to Bryan Texas.Hopefully Get it back albeit in one piece by Wednesday Meanwhile i have no Phone.
This is not to offend anyone or cause a flamme war.
But I don't think people should be lying to Samsung or any carrier, that 1. Your phone isn't bricked/rooted and 2. That you have no idea of what's going on and it just wouldn't turn on.
You as a user should hold all responsibility for a bricked device. Should they charge you 400$? Damn right they should.
That's one of the many reasons why Samsung and many other carriers either ship their devices with locked bootloaders or don't release source code. And don't say the whole "I played 500$ for my phone I get to do what I want," yeah you're completely right. But let's say you're changing your cars oil and the person being the n00b that they are decides to mix synthetic oil and convention oil in the engine. Oh no you're screwed. You dont take your car to the dealership saying "I don't know what happened the engine just won't turn on," THEYRE GOING TO KNOW lol, and expect to get a free car or not get charged for your miss hap. C'mon. If you screw up at least be responsible to pay some kind of fee to get it fixed. I despise folks who "try to play the system" because of them phones will be locked down in the near future. Now its illegal to carrier unlock your device unless its paid for because of folks like that. I understand the OPs mistake. Yeah I've done it. But I paid to fix my mistake. Be responsible people. We're grown ups here. Same with flashing stuff. Do a little reading before you start a thread on how you "bricked your phone" but its really stuck in a boot loop.
Just my 2ยข
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
I couldn't read all of that I must have a terrible attention span these days.
But I did read that you were with telus, not at&t; but of course its morally wrong to lie to at&t but the way I see it is I pay them $2000+ over the course of my contract for this phone and if I want to take advantage of their warranty system to save $300-400 (a small fraction of what they're making off of 1 customer) and try my best to get a free replacement you can bet your ass I will.
Heisenberg420 said:
I couldn't read all of that I must have a terrible attention span these days.
But I did read that you were with telus, not at&t; but of course its morally wrong to lie to at&t but the way I see it is I pay them $2000+ over the course of my contract for this phone and if I want to take advantage of their warranty system to save $300-400 (a small fraction of what they're making off of 1 customer) and try my best to get a free replacement you can bet your ass I will.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see were you're getting at but you pay ATT for a service, not a phone. Those 300-400$ are for Samsung, which is different. They're kind of giving you a discount. Phone cost 700$ but they'll kindly replace it for 300$ they're being lenient about it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
bionemesis said:
If anyone is curious why I didn't JTAG service the phone, it's simply because I can't afford to wait that long without a phone and the cost difference between JTAG and my device protection plan is not significant.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
JTAG costs $50 and has a two day return.
Did you try a jig to force the phone into download mode.?

[Q] Fried eMMC chip Desire Z

Hi everybody,
After having tried to sort this mess out myself for days now, I feel that I am all out of options. I hate to have to bother you with this problem, because I'm sure I'm not the first one that has a fried Desire Z, but I really hope somebody can help me out. It seems that none of the solutions I have seen to revive this phone work for me.
Okay, so after having made that apology for wasting your time beforehand, let's see if somebody has any idea how to make my phones heart beating again.
The phone in question is the HTC Desire Z. It's not rooted and it's S-On. Honestly, before my phone died I did not even know what H-boot, fastboot, rooting or S-On meant. I had never heard of a bootloader before, but I've tried to educate myself on the matter as good as I could.
Anyway, it died after I tried to install a bunch of Market updates. Google taught me that that is how the phone dies for most people.
During the Market updates the phone froze, and I pulled the battery. After inserting the battery again, the phone got stuck in a boot loop. Pulling the battery yet again fixed that issue, and the phone booted fine.
And that's when I got stupid and decided to run the Market updates again. Long story short: Phone froze again, I pulled the battery, and now the phone is stuck displaying the HTC logo (without the "'Quietly Brilliant" slogan underneath) on a white background.
First thing I did was calling HTC support, just to find out the phone is not under warranty anymore. So I'll have to mess with it myself, hopefully with you guys trying to hold my hand during the process...
The phone will still boot in H-boot.
If I select FASTBOOT I can still communicate with the darn thing when it's hooked up to my computer's USB-port. So at least that part still works. I installed the Android SDK on my computer so I have fastboot on it.
Selecting RECOVERY will make the phone reboot. After displaying the HTC-logo for about 5-10 seconds it will display a fancy looking icon of a phone with a green arrow for a couple of seconds (I can try and make a photo of it if anyone wants to see it?), and after that the screen goes dark. Then it will vibrate 7 times, and that's it.
Selecting FACTORY RESET just instantly freezes the phone in H-boot.
I did find a couple of topics on this forum that looked helpful, but I just cannot figure out how to make it all work.
Here is one that looked very promising:
"[GUIDE] Booting an Android System when only Recovery is at your disposal"
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1572924
However, my problem is that Recovery is not at my disposal.
And that is where I got stuck. What is also not very helpful is that my phone is not rooted and it's S-on, and I can't find out how to root a unresponsive phone with which I only have FASTBOOT access. I don't even know if that is possible at all.
So yeah, again:
A completely stock Desire S with a fried eMMC chip and no working recovery in H-boot...Any ideas, or am I just really, really screwed? With my own research I've come to conclude the latter, but I so sincerely hope someone can prove me wrong...
EDIT:
For what it's worth, here is the H-boot information
VISION PUT SHIP S-ON
HBOOT-0.85.0013
MICROP-0425
RADIO-26.10.51.26
eMMC-boot
Apr 11 2011, 23:36:27
Yeah probably screwed... sorry
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=33917375
Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk 2
Hey, thanks for the reply. You are kinda confirming what I had already found out.
Guess all that is left to do is to take a hammer to my Desire Z brick, and to start to learn how to live life without a cell-phone and internet everywhere you go. Well, I guess we all did that 10 years ago.
Did you try the ruu... unlikely but last hope
Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk 2
Thanks for your reply, demkantor.
No, I have not tried the RUU. And I'm sorry for having to ask this, because I'm sure you have answered this question a million times already, but can you explain to me what you mean by that?
I did run the "fastboot oem check_emmc_mid" command, and my chip showed up as the Samsung. So that doesn't look good.
It stands for ROM utility update or something like that, its what HTC uses for a full update to their phones when not done through an ota.
the thread I linked you too has a heading like stuck in boot loop not rooted
There I suggest trying to boot in same mode, factory reset or flashing latest ruu, unfortunately with a stock phone there isn't much else to do. But if all fails it more or less insures you have the bad chip and it has lost the ability to read and write to it.
Instruction to flash the ruu or in the HTC website, link in that post to it, just simple fastboot commands
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
demkantor said:
It stands for ROM utility update or something like that, its what HTC uses for a full update to their phones when not done through an ota.
the thread I linked you too has a heading like stuck in boot loop not rooted
There I suggest trying to boot in same mode, factory reset or flashing latest ruu, unfortunately with a stock phone there isn't much else to do. But if all fails it more or less insures you have the bad chip and it has lost the ability to read and write to it.
Instruction to flash the ruu or in the HTC website, link in that post to it, just simple fastboot commands
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks again for replying so quickly, demkantor.
I will look at that thread, and try flashing the latest ruu, and report back here. Although I guess we both kinda know my phone is completely dead already, at least I want to have tried every possible solution for a stock phone.
I'm just kinda upset with this whole business. This was not a cheap phone when I bought it, and all HTC has to say is: Sorry, your warranty ran out in August. There was a 16 month warranty on this phone, but of course the darn thing decided to die right after that.
I can still send it in for repairs, but I'll be looking at 250 dollars to have it fixed. That's money I don't have.
Any other comparable phone I can get on ebay will run about 150-200 dollars, and that's also something I was not expecting to have to shell out, especially with Christmas coming up.
And because I don't have a back-up cellphone, and no land-line, it just means that I'm pretty much completely cut off. I mean, on one hand it's really peaceful not to get any phone calls, but it's mostly just outright frustrating.
I can't believe there is not an extended warranty or something on these phones, because I'm sure that HTC is very well aware of this problem by now. Although the lady from HTC-support told me that I was the first person ever she talked to that had this problem.
Oh well, I'm just venting right now, so I'll stop typing, start flashing the ruu, and report back here in a little bit.
And thanks again demkantor, for your willingness to reply to questions that have been asked a million times already...
May I suggest buying a cheap g1 to have as a backup incase another similar thing happens, they are quite inexpensive now and are probably one of the best made smart phones, not to mention still somewhat developed on. Also consider finding another g2 or mytouch 4g slide if you want a qwerty, or for more money the samsung relay 4g seems promising.
For me personaly, although my opinion on htc has dropped tremedously over the past year or two, the g1 and g2 are just amazing phones for their time and to this day I can not find a better phone to suit my needs then the g2/dz regardless the price.
If you are in desperate need I used to buy and refurbish to sell both g1s and g2s (along with other phones) but have stopped selling for a few months due to school and getting married and all sorts of personal things keeping my side buissness moving (also fix and repair cars, motercycles etc) but if you can't find or need a reputable seller feel free to pm me as this is the last week of finals ill probably do some more of this soon
Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk 2
demkantor said:
May I suggest buying a cheap g1 to have as a backup incase another similar thing happens, they are quite inexpensive now and are probably one of the best made smart phones, not to mention still somewhat developed on. Also consider finding another g2 or mytouch 4g slide if you want a qwerty, or for more money the samsung relay 4g seems promising.
For me personaly, although my opinion on htc has dropped tremedously over the past year or two, the g1 and g2 are just amazing phones for their time and to this day I can not find a better phone to suit my needs then the g2/dz regardless the price.
If you are in desperate need I used to buy and refurbish to sell both g1s and g2s (along with other phones) but have stopped selling for a few months due to school and getting married and all sorts of personal things keeping my side buissness moving (also fix and repair cars, motercycles etc) but if you can't find or need a reputable seller feel free to pm me as this is the last week of finals ill probably do some more of this soon
Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi demkantor. Well, to be honest, after this fiasco of a phone I'm done with HTC. Needless to say I will never want to buy another Desire Z, because who's to say that one is not just gonna die soon? Also, my previous phone was a TytnII (also made by HTC, running Windows Mobile 6.1), and that thing was incredibly slow out of the box, and gradually got worse and worse over time. Apparently the Tytn II has a graphics chip that HTC never bothered to make a driver for, hence the screen is incredibly slow when doing things like scrolling through a menu or webpage.
HTC has now proven twice to me that they don't give a crap about their products, so neither am I going to.
That being said, I did try to flash the RUU with the link you provided, but it doesn't work. The updater tries to reboot the boot-loader and that makes my phone freeze up.
So I guess that's totally it then? Phone is dead, and that's that.
Yeah that's too bad, phone is shot. The g2/dz had two different chips, one great and one prone to failure. I have been liking the build quality of Samsung a little more as of late, but the older HTC's do seem better. The g1 suggestion is just to have a cheap sturdy backup, but you will probably want a more advanced phone for daily use.
There are always one of the various nexus models, but none come with a hardware keyboard. So if you need one and want to stay away from HTC consider the relay 4g by Samsung.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
demkantor said:
Yeah that's too bad, phone is shot. The g2/dz had two different chips, one great and one prone to failure. I have been liking the build quality of Samsung a little more as of late, but the older HTC's do seem better. The g1 suggestion is just to have a cheap sturdy backup, but you will probably want a more advanced phone for daily use.
There are always one of the various nexus models, but none come with a hardware keyboard. So if you need one and want to stay away from HTC consider the relay 4g by Samsung.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi demkantor, Right, that's what I thought. Phone is shot. I'm gonna smack the hell out of it with a hammer now, just to get some frustration out of my system. Thinking about uploading that to Youtube, just to see how many kids out there will reply with a: "why did you kill a perfectly good phone?..."
If only this one would have come with the Sandisk chip. Who would have guessed it was possible for the eMMC to die this quickly? Little over a year and a half old, and always babied the darn thing. Not a scratch on it, never dropped...
Thank you for the G1 suggestion, but I'd rather save up a little longer and then buy a phone I do like. Guess I might have to do without the qwerty-keyboard in the future, because there are not a lot of phone out there with that option anymore.
I'll take a look at the relay 4g by Samsung. In the meantime, I did send you another PM...:good:
EDIT:
Yeah, the 4G looks like a nice phone, but is:
1) Way out of my budget
2) It's a T-mobile phone. I have an AT&T simcard...
Well, I can't believe there's no way out with HTC?!?!?!?
My backup phone is a brand new htc desire Z. ( I guy from my cell pohone provider get rid of it since they are ''old'').
Played some months with it, take it when my daily desirez had some trouble with custom roms...
So my unused back up desire z with stock rom (no-rotted), just get what you described!! Tried everything, looks like fried emmc.
Got the 7 times vibrate, htc logo, freeze on ruu restore...
what a waste...
Hi oVeRdOsE. Yeah, it's just outright ridiculous, how quick these phones with the bad eMMC's die. And HTC just doesn't care.
RUU !
RUU option from fastboot is your best chance of *trying* to save it !!
Else you could try and replace/repair the eMMC yourself !!
the Desire Z is still better then others in the market ! try ur best to save it !
mohnish.killer said:
RUU option from fastboot is your best chance of *trying* to save it !!
Else you could try and replace/repair the eMMC yourself !!
the Desire Z is still better then others in the market ! try ur best to save it !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understantd, but still, my dz is almost new...
RUU is just running for ever, do nothing.
with a fried chip your emmc can not read/write to some or all partitions making an ruu not an option. The only thing to do is boot from sd if you were rooted, if not time to get another phone, it sucks but yeah...
Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk 2
demkantor said:
with a fried chip your emmc can not read/write to some or all partitions making an ruu not an option. The only thing to do is boot from sd if you were rooted, if not time to get another phone, it sucks but yeah...
Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is eMMC replaceable?
If you own a factory machine to solder a new one in, if you were super good at it, soldering by hand would be extreamly difficult and getting a new chip to solder in would be hard as well. Then you would need to JTAG the new firmware onto the new chip... I'd just buy a new phone or buy a new motherboard
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
demkantor said:
If you own a factory machine to solder a new one in, if you were super good at it, soldering by hand would be extreamly difficult and getting a new chip to solder in would be hard as well. Then you would need to JTAG the new firmware onto the new chip... I'd just buy a new phone or buy a new motherboard
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Asking cuz i saw someone in forum have replaced it for like a 15 euros.I wouldn't try cuz i'm to nervous and will send it to the wall as a result If it was bigger...well i could make it. I know a guy who can do it. Actually he root my phone, cuz i didn't do it right after i bought it and didn't want to lose everything on phone. He has this little toolbox, that attaching to sim port and root in a 5 minutes or less
Yes, you could replace the eMMC chip, but to do BGA soldering you need special equipment and you need to be pretty skilled. Because of the known problem with the HTC Desire phones, the Chinese jumped on the bandwagon and are offering eMMC chips that come pre-installed.
This basically means that you don't need JTAG to put new firmware on the chip. After soldering it'll boot straight up.
You can buy one of these chips here, for example:
http://www.parts4repair.com/htc-desire-s-sandisk-sdin5c2-8g-nand-flash-chip-with-f/
Another fun fact is that the replacement chip is 8GB. But, as others said before: You need skill and the right equipment. I have a soldering iron and some basic skill, but I'm not even going to attempt to do this.

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