Develop Bugs

ICS Leaks Causing Bricks?! Updated With More Info.(New Link)

http://www.xda-developers.com/android/hard-brick-bug-on-galaxy-s-ii-and-note-leaked-ics-kernels/
Maybe someone who is a little more savvy in this field could take a look?
Here is a very good article and discussion about the issue:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1644364
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium

this is kinda scary but so far I never had any problem

We don't even have any kernel source. There is a leaked kernel but that didn't cause any brick in our devices. Also note that the article does not mention sgh t989 or sgh 727 and all its sub variants. If this was the case for us you would see many more "[Q] plz halp I haz brick " threads
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA

Hey guys. I just came over from the Sprint version of this phone (Epic 4G touch), and while I know that this article dosen't say that it pertains to our device specifically, one of the devs over there got in touch with samsung about the issues. You can see their progress here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1644364
For those who don't want to read (and I don't blame you if you don't want to, it's heavy stuff and I needed to have it explained to me), long story short: The memory chips (known as the EMMC) in the phone have their own firmware embedded in them, independent of the ROM, kernel, modem, etc. In that firmware, there's a bug that writes a string of zeros to an area of the firmware itself, kind of a self distrusting thing. It's only for certain revisions of the EMMC firmware, and it's only triggered by a specific low-level wipe function that is commonly used in recoveries (I'm not sure which, one of the partition wipes I think), and it for some reason seems to happen more with an ICS based kernel more than in a GB.
Given the nature of EMMC chips and the fact that multiple devices might share these same physical type of EMMC memory chips, it's hard to say how many different kinds of phones and devices might be affected, but it's safer to assume that we might be, rather than to think that we're safe based on this article alone.
There's no official solution as of yet, as far as I know. Samsung has started to patch their 4.x kernels to work around this specific wipe function, thus avoiding triggering the bug, and I think this is because rewriting the EMMC firmware itself is more risky and perhaps harder to do on a wide scale, but again, I'm not sure of their reasons. But, we do know that they're working to find some way around the bugs, and those who built custom kernels also removed/modified that wipe command to work around this bug with success.
Again, I know this doesn't say that it applies to our phones, but because of what was discovered on the Epic 4G touch, I believe that it *may* apply to many, many Samsung phones and devices, and just to be safe, I figure I should share this with you all.
The solution that we were using for time being was: never, ever do any recovery functions from a ICS based kernel/recovery. Always ODIN a GB based kernel/recovery to do what you need to do, then flash the proper ICS back. Kind of tedious, but it worked and prevented me from ever bricking when a LOT of other people were. Food for thought, everyone
TL;DR: You should probably avoid doing anything in an ICS based recovery/kernel on any Samsung device until we hear from them that they've worked out this bug.

kahm said:
Hey guys. I just came over from the Sprint version of this phone (Epic 4G touch), and while I know that this article dosen't say that it pertains to our device specifically, one of the devs over there got in touch with samsung about the issues. You can see their progress here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1644364
For those who don't want to read (and I don't blame you if you don't want to, it's heavy stuff and I needed to have it explained to me), long story short: The memory chips (known as the EMMC) in the phone have their own firmware embedded in them, independent of the ROM, kernel, modem, etc. In that firmware, there's a bug that writes a string of zeros to an area of the firmware itself, kind of a self distrusting thing. It's only for certain revisions of the EMMC firmware, and it's only triggered by a specific low-level wipe function that is commonly used in recoveries (I'm not sure which, one of the partition wipes I think), and it for some reason seems to happen more with an ICS based kernel more than in a GB.
Given the nature of EMMC chips and the fact that multiple devices might share these same physical type of EMMC memory chips, it's hard to say how many different kinds of phones and devices might be affected, but it's safer to assume that we might be, rather than to think that we're safe based on this article alone.
There's no official solution as of yet, as far as I know. Samsung has started to patch their 4.x kernels to work around this specific wipe function, thus avoiding triggering the bug, and I think this is because rewriting the EMMC firmware itself is more risky and perhaps harder to do on a wide scale, but again, I'm not sure of their reasons. But, we do know that they're working to find some way around the bugs, and those who built custom kernels also removed/modified that wipe command to work around this bug with success.
Again, I know this doesn't say that it applies to our phones, but because of what was discovered on the Epic 4G touch, I believe that it *may* apply to many, many Samsung phones and devices, and just to be safe, I figure I should share this with you all.
The solution that we were using for time being was: never, ever do any recovery functions from a ICS based kernel/recovery. Always ODIN a GB based kernel/recovery to do what you need to do, then flash the proper ICS back. Kind of tedious, but it worked and prevented me from ever bricking when a LOT of other people were. Food for thought, everyone
TL;DR: You should probably avoid doing anything in an ICS based recovery/kernel on any Samsung device until we hear from them that they've worked out this bug.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Finally someone with a brain! Thanks for the post
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium

Scary stuff indeed, has anyone confirmed that our devices (T989) is affected by this bug?

Back on the original Epic we used Odin to get the next version. I think it was 2.1 to 2.2 roms. I've always wondered how safe it was to revert to GB by flashing after installing ICS
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium

[Q] plz halp I haz brick
Disregard. Funny how you figure out your issue just seconds after you post and open yourself up to ridicule.
DOH!

mharmon said:
I seem to have hard-bricked my SGH-T989 phone after flashing task650-aokp-Build-36. I don't know if it's a superbrick, but nothing I can do seems to make any difference. The phone does not seem to respond and does not seem to power off, power on or go into download mode. I have swapped with a known good battery and I know that's not the issue. I've tried using a USB jig and that doesn't help. I've contacted Samsung and I should be shipping it to them Monday.
If anyone has any advice, I'm willing to try anything otherwise I'm going to take my lumps and ship my phone off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pull your battery sd card and sim card out. leave phone sitting with everything pulled for about an hour. put it back together and try again. make sure your battery is charged for sure. it would suck if it was nothing but a dead battery
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using xda premium

Micronads said:
Pull your battery sd card and sim card out. leave phone sitting with everything pulled for about an hour. put it back together and try again. make sure your battery is charged for sure. it would suck if it was nothing but a dead battery
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the quick response. I've tried pulling the battery, USB jig, etc. and can't get it to power on, off or go into download mode. I know what I did wrong. I made a rookie mistake and flashed a ROM meant for my AT&T I777. I feel stupid for bricking my phone.

mharmon said:
Thanks for the quick response. I've tried pulling the battery, USB jig, etc. and can't get it to power on, off or go into download mode. I know what I did wrong. I made a rookie mistake and flashed a ROM meant for my AT&T I777. I feel stupid for bricking my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like you are fizzucked then. Sorry to hear that. That is what sucks about having different phones and flashing stuff. Got to keep track of what is what.
Sent from my Galaxy SII T-mobile using xda premium

Micronads said:
Sounds like you are fizzucked then. Sorry to hear that. That is what sucks about having different phones and flashing stuff. Got to keep track of what is what.
Sent from my Galaxy SII T-mobile using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah sounds dead to me. Send in for warranty. Oh well, stuff happens. Good luck to you!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

Id rather risk bricking than rock without 4.04
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium

Nobody has said it is necessary applicable to this device.

jim93 said:
Nobody has said it is necessary applicable to this device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're right, it doesn't say it's applicable to our device. But it also doesn't say our device is one of the safe GS2 variants. As you can see in my signature, I'm also using 4.0.4. And if you read my post history, I recommend it to everyone. I'm just saying that it hasn't been proven safe yet, but there's also no proof its dangerous either.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium

ICS has been flashed to these phones probably a half million times by now. If it was causing bricks we would have heard about it.
Sent from the iPhone graveyard.

I've seen like two threads about bricking in this forum in the last two days. How could you say that there's no proof? I'm sorry to say it but I think everyone is being a little too cautiously optimistic. There's no harm in being safe. If you guys actually read about this, you'd realize that its not ICS causing bricks, its any ICS based recovery.

kahm said:
I've seen like two threads about bricking in this forum in the last two days. How could you say that there's no proof? I'm sorry to say it but I think everyone is being a little too cautiously optimistic. There's no harm in being safe. If you guys actually read about this, you'd realize that its not ICS causing bricks, its any ICS based recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also, people should know that the listed phones in the OP are Exynos based and T989, i727/r and i717 are Qualcomm based. This has been discussed in the skyrocket forums and some devs have explained that.
Just my 2 cents.

kahm said:
I've seen like two threads about bricking in this forum in the last two days. How could you say that there's no proof? I'm sorry to say it but I think everyone is being a little too cautiously optimistic. There's no harm in being safe. If you guys actually read about this, you'd realize that its not ICS causing bricks, its any ICS based recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The brick in this thread was due to flashing an i777 rom to a t989. Flashing an i777 rom to t989 regardless of OS will brick your phone.

It seems to be all exynos based, but thanks for the heads up, man.

The ROM who has killed my screen's NOTE 2

Hi everybody,
I bought a Note 2 in october 2012. I installed the ROM HD Revolution. Until now there was no problem.
Few days ago, my screen has swiched off and there was lot of reds pixels everywere on the screen.
The phone of course was rooted and the garantly not applicable.
So in the samsung shop, i explain that the phone was rooted... The techniciens has puted a new screen thinking that the problem was coming from a screen hardware. This new screen has well worked during 20 mn, after that, same trouble, the screen was killed....
My phone was sent to another tehcniciens ( more specialists and i think, working directly with samsung) in france, who can works on the motherboard. But just before to sent it, the technical personnal has succefuly replace the rom Revolution by another official ROM by Odin. (In order to keep my garantly.....wonderful techniciens)
Today the phone was return to me, with just a new screen. The third screen after mine who was killed in first.
No motherboard trouble, no graphic chipset trouble was fixed, only the HD Revolution ROM who is apparently , and i 'am sure now, has killed the screen
I'am not able to explain why and how, I am not found on the web or another forum the same trouble.
Somebody know what's happened?
thanks

You might want to contact the developer, but I doubt the rom was the issue.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda premium

silentecho13 said:
You might want to contact the developer, but I doubt the rom was the issue.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'am sure, very sure that the problem on the screen is due to the ROM Revolution, otherwise explain me why the third screen has no trouble after changing only the ROM with the lastest samsung ROM?

The official technicians do try to convince you that a custom ROM is the cause of your problem. Not making a judgement on whether this was what happened in your case, but just my personal opinion.
I am in India, where anyway Sammy tries to avoid taking responsibility however possible. One of my friend had sds on his s3, and the guys from Samsung tried to refuse him warranty on the basis that they believed he had a custom firmware. They were adamant on this even on his pointing out that thousands had had this even on the stock ROM, and thus could not be in any way related to flashing a custom firmware. Only when he threatened them with legal action (as they couldn't prove it was flashed anyway) did they finally took it in for repairs.
My advice is, check out the devs thread for the ROM, if its a genuine problem then it is sure to be mentioned by someone there.
Sent from my GT-N7100.
Those who help noobs go to heaven. True story.

SacGuru said:
The official technicians do try to convince you that a custom ROM is the cause of your problem. Not making a judgement on whether this was what happened in your case, but just my personal opinion.
I am in India, where anyway Sammy tries to avoid taking responsibility however possible. One of my friend had sds on his s3, and the guys from Samsung tried to refuse him warranty on the basis that they believed he had a custom firmware. They were adamant on this even on his pointing out that thousands had had this even on the stock ROM, and thus could not be in any way related to flashing a custom firmware. Only when he threatened them with legal action (as they couldn't prove it was flashed anyway) did they finally took it in for repairs.
My advice is, check out the devs thread for the ROM, if its a genuine problem then it is sure to be mentioned by someone there.
Sent from my GT-N7100.
Those who help noobs go to heaven. True story.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand but, the first technicians i saw works for samsung, it's not samsung technicians, and these technicians has tried to change my ROM revolution in order to preserve my warrantly. Unfortunatly we have decided together that in first my phone will not send to Paris at Samsung.
The local technicians has received a new screen, and it was impossible for them to change the rom, anyway they has changed my screen by the new, after 20 mn the new screen has crashed...
We decided to send unfortuntly the phone to paris because we has think that the trouble was the motherbord or the graphic chipset. I was very afraid concerning my warrantly. But the local technicians has success just before to send the phone to change the revolution rom to a samsung in order to keep my warrantly. Otherwise the technicians of Paris..
At paris they has changed for the third time just the screen, anything else , and the note 2 is working perfectly....
I have the report by paper of all investigations makes... I am not a lie.. I cannot saw another reason of this trouble....

aquasirius said:
I understand but, the first technicians i saw works for samsung, it's not samsung technicians, and these technicians has tried to change my ROM revolution in order to preserve my warrantly. Unfortunatly we have decided together that in first my phone will not send to Paris at Samsung.
The local technicians has received a new screen, and it was impossible for them to change the rom, anyway they has changed my screen by the new, after 20 mn the new screen has crashed...
We decided to send unfortuntly the phone to paris because we has think that the trouble was the motherbord or the graphic chipset. I was very afraid concerning my warrantly. But the local technicians has success just before to send the phone to change the revolution rom to a samsung in order to keep my warrantly. Otherwise the technicians of Paris..
At paris they has changed for the third time just the screen, anything else , and the note 2 is working perfectly....
I have the report by paper of all investigations makes... I am not a lie.. I cannot saw another reason of this trouble....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I suggest you verify on the forum thread and contact the dev. I highly doubt its the rom. I imagine for what you say to be possibly its not rom related but kernel and would require some sort of color adjustment hack of sorts, even then I highly doubt it as more users would have experienced the same. As for your proof from samsung means nothing. I've sent devices and computers out to warranty and the document says one thing but when I take it apart I see things where changed that do not reflect what the work order says. Not saying its the case just saying take it with a grain of salt.
I can't seem to find the rom your talking about.

prbassplayer said:
I suggest you verify on the forum thread and contact the dev. I highly doubt its the rom. I imagine for what you say to be possibly its not rom related but kernel and would require some sort of color adjustment hack of sorts, even then I highly doubt it as more users would have experienced the same. As for your proof from samsung means nothing. I've sent devices and computers out to warranty and the document says one thing but when I take it apart I see things where changed that do not reflect what the work order says. Not saying its the case just saying take it with a grain of salt.
I can't seem to find the rom your talking about.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was the REVOLUTION HD Rom.
You think that the Samsung technicians when they changed the screen after the other first technicians has not been honnest?
It's incredible, i don't believe in this idea... I cannot see the interest... But if you are talking about the kernel maybe it yes...
It's a crazy story...

HD Revolution....? wait.. isnt it for a international version of Note 2?
No wonder why your phone is acting up. Flashing almost non compatible ROM on your device doesnt give you rights to discredit Dev.

I believe he is talking about this rom that is not in the att section.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1925402
OP, when flashing did you happen to flash anything else such as that gpu rendering thing they have on that page? Also, any extreme overclocking or anything?
Sent from the Bacon Pope's Galaxy Note 2

Well then if that is the rom there is your problem. Your lucky Note II in general share the same SoC else you would have hard bricked. I suggest you do your research correctly before saying something broke your device. In the end its your responsability to know what you are flashing and even if said rom/kernel/mod does break your device its your fault, you flashed it not the developer. Its a risk we all take when modifying our devices.

cwhitney24 said:
I believe he is talking about this rom that is not in the att section.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1925402
OP, when flashing did you happen to flash anything else such as that gpu rendering thing they have on that page? Also, any extreme overclocking or anything?
Sent from the Bacon Pope's Galaxy Note 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use the recovery mode after have put the zip's ROM on my SD card.
And i never use the o/c
I 'am sure that the trouble has been caused by the Kernel or the ROM... I don't remember what was the kernel... i thinking...

prbassplayer said:
Well then if that is the rom there is your problem. Your lucky Note II in general share the same SoC else you would have hard bricked. I suggest you do your research correctly before saying something broke your device. In the end its your responsability to know what you are flashing and even if said rom/kernel/mod does break your device its your fault, you flashed it not the developer. Its a risk we all take when modifying our devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know that, but on the french forum we are several with this ROM, i'am looking for the same trouble in France: nothing...
I'am wondering what's happened and i 'am not here to cry but to exlpain you this trouble and i 'am trying to have an elaborate conversation in order to find the origin, I find it normal beetween enthusiast....

aquasirius said:
I know that, but on the french forum we are several with this ROM, i'am looking for the same trouble in France: nothing...
I'am wondering what's happened and i 'am not here to cry but to exlpain you this trouble and i 'am trying to have an elaborate conversation in order to find the origin, I find it normal beetween enthusiast....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well you are disproving yourself. If no other LTE variant on that rom has had similar problems then its not the rom/kernel/mod. It was a fluke of bad hardware with lazy techs (don't want to generalize its easier to blame it on an external source than actually debugging). Second your arguments are null in the end becaus:
mike1986. said:
No mate, LTE version is not supported.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That includes I7105, I317[M] and T889[V]. It might work, but probably not 100% and the developer simply offers no support for it.

aquasirius said:
I understand but, the first technicians i saw works for samsung, it's not samsung technicians, and these technicians has tried to change my ROM revolution in order to preserve my warrantly. Unfortunatly we have decided together that in first my phone will not send to Paris at Samsung.
The local technicians has received a new screen, and it was impossible for them to change the rom, anyway they has changed my screen by the new, after 20 mn the new screen has crashed...
We decided to send unfortuntly the phone to paris because we has think that the trouble was the motherbord or the graphic chipset. I was very afraid concerning my warrantly. But the local technicians has success just before to send the phone to change the revolution rom to a samsung in order to keep my warrantly. Otherwise the technicians of Paris..
At paris they has changed for the third time just the screen, anything else , and the note 2 is working perfectly....
I have the report by paper of all investigations makes... I am not a lie.. I cannot saw another reason of this trouble....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Relax man, I did not think you were lying, neither did I accuse you of it, I merely asked you to, and personally believe,that the developers on this forum (who are people like you and me) are anyday more trustworthy than repair men who are from samsung or freelancers (read people bent on profiting from me screwing up my cellphone). Thus I asked you to visit the developers thread and look for comments about the issues you were facing, that is what I would've done.
Apparently you flashed a ROM which was not meant for your particular model. Whether that is true or not, I am sorry for all the trouble you had to go through with the engineers and all. I hope your note 2 functions great from now on.
Je vous présente mes meilleurs vœux pour l'année 2013
Sent from my GT-N7100.
Those who help noobs go to heaven. True story.

prbassplayer said:
Well you are disproving yourself. If no other LTE variant on that rom has had similar problems then its not the rom/kernel/mod. It was a fluke of bad hardware with lazy techs (don't want to generalize its easier to blame it on an external source than actually debugging). Second your arguments are null in the end becaus:
That includes I7105, I317[M] and T889[V]. It might work, but probably not 100% and the developer simply offers no support for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was the REVOLUTION HD 4, installed in november, not the 8 or the 9
I used the ROM perfectly adapted for my note 2
Now my note is working without problem with the last samsung rom with 4.1.2 android version.
Nothing has been changed into my phone (hardware etc...) just a new ROM...
And never else was happened on my phone before the trouble.

aquasirius said:
It was the REVOLUTION HD 4, installed in november, not the 8 or the 9
I used the ROM perfectly adapted for my note 2
Now my note is working without problem with the last samsung rom with 4.1.2 android version.
Nothing has been changed into my phone (hardware etc...) just a new ROM...
And never else was happened on my phone before the trouble.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Man you said your on a 3rd screen so don't say hardware hasn't changed. This is not counting for anything that changed when you shipped out. In the end it doesn't matter if it was a November rom, or January rom its based on the N7100 firmware not N7105 therefor although it might work probably won't work 100%. You are so caught up that it has to be the rom that you are ignoring key points in your argument. It is more likely to be a hardware problem than software. I'm not saying it wasn't the rom/kernel combination because its possible, who knows, however its a rom based on Sammy firmware that isn't made for your device. Plain and simple.
Cheers

prbassplayer said:
Man you said your on a 3rd screen so don't say hardware hasn't changed. This is not counting for anything that changed when you shipped out. In the end it doesn't matter if it was a November rom, or January rom its based on the N7100 firmware not N7105 therefor although it might work probably won't work 100%. You are so caught up that it has to be the rom that you are ignoring key points in your argument. It is more likely to be a hardware problem than software. I'm not saying it wasn't the rom/kernel combination because its possible, who knows, however its a rom based on Sammy firmware that isn't made for your device. Plain and simple.
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mean hardware (motherboard, chipset,....etc) of course screens are hardware.
And I have 7100 and the ROM I used was for the 7100.
The ROM has broken something on my phone, i don't know what, maybe my english is too bad and i'am not able to do understand my story with the corrects words
I'am not a noob to choose the wrong ROM for my note 2...
we thought that the problem has came from a voltage problem beetween the screen and the GPU or the chipset...
Without any else action from me (no o/c, no brutality) i cannot see anything else....

I think several people have made good points though who knows, it's also possible some part of your os got corrupted and it killed the screens. I've seen a lot of wierd stuff happen with computers over the years. I repair phones, desktops and laptops myself and I continue to see new problems. Some of it I figure out, some I never do.
Another explanation that occurs to me - a transitory short that fried the screens. Did you drop or jar the phone? Spill fluid? Have high or extremes of temp or humidity ? **** happens. Intermitant problems are the absolute worst to track down. If it is something lurking in the hardware and they didn't fix it completely, it may say hello to you again! Problem devices often stay problem devices even after a number of "final" repairs that work for a while. That's why if something like that happened to me, I'd be happier with a replacement device.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app

Dumbo53 said:
I think several people have made good points though who knows, it's also possible some part of your os got corrupted and it killed the screens. I've seen a lot of wierd stuff happen with computers over the years. I repair phones, desktops and laptops myself and I continue to see new problems. Some of it I figure out, some I never do.
Another explanation that occurs to me - a transitory short that fried the screens. Did you drop or jar the phone? Spill fluid? Have high or extremes of temp or humidity ? **** happens. Intermitant problems are the absolute worst to track down. If it is something lurking in the hardware and they didn't fix it completely, it may say hello to you again! Problem devices often stay problem devices even after a number of "final" repairs that work for a while. That's why if something like that happened to me, I'd be happier with a replacement device.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe you right, and the phone has been exposed every time in good condition, and never droped or jared. I will see with the time if it was a another hardware problem.
I think actually the association ROM/kernel has revealed an intrinseq hardware problem on my phone and maybe later even with a samsung rom the problem should be appear again....

aquasirius said:
I mean hardware (motherboard, chipset,....etc) of course screens are hardware.
And I have 7100 and the ROM I used was for the 7100.
The ROM has broken something on my phone, i don't know what, maybe my english is too bad and i'am not able to do understand my story with the corrects words
I'am not a noob to choose the wrong ROM for my note 2...
we thought that the problem has came from a voltage problem beetween the screen and the GPU or the chipset...
Without any else action from me (no o/c, no brutality) i cannot see anything else....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait.....Your Note 2 is an N7100? Then why did you come to an i317 forum to complain about a ROM somehow breaking your screen?
If you really think you have a legitimate concern that a ROM may have damaged your phone in some way, contact the developer. Maybe it has happened before. Maybe the developer can make changes to prevent it from happening to others. What you probably shouldn't do is to make claims that a ROM damaged your phone on a forum for a different model of phone.

My Note II on 4.1.2 Experienced SDS

I just wanted to let you all know that even on 4.1.2 (stock and stock recovery), your note can just all of a sudden die. For no reason. I had stock malaysia ROM 4.1.2 that was released in April I believe. It was rooted, but all I used that for was Titanium Backup.
My usage of the phone was bare minimum, all I really use the phone is for Google Talk. That's actually all I was doing when all of a sudden the screen froze and the phone would not respond to any buttons or touches. Once I removed the battery it never started again. I can't get it to boot normally, or download mode or anything.
I'm in the US and i bought this off eBay back in November or something of last year, so I have no idea what to do now except get another phone.

Yes its the chipset in the phone that has a bug which can kill the phone. Alot of the note2 phones have it including mine. There is an app on market that can tell you if you got the chip in your phone but by now you already know that. Try a phone repair shop or if you want surf around the net and see if you can find a motherboard for a decent price then you could change it your self.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
---------- Post added at 06:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:47 PM ----------
The newer roms have a software fix for the hardware bug. Dont remember if that fix is in the rom it self or in the kernel but if you had the latest custom rom on your phone then it might not have died.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

I was on 4.1.2 with stock rom and kernel combination. As far as everyone seems to say on this site, that is what you need to do to try to avoid SDS. In either case, my suggestion to everyone here is to just get another phone before yours dies as well.

ksc6000 said:
I was on 4.1.2 with stock rom and kernel combination. As far as everyone seems to say on this site, that is what you need to do to try to avoid SDS. In either case, my suggestion to everyone here is to just get another phone before yours dies as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My N7105 died also, simply would not boot, not even into download/recovery mode at all, no red led. Tried switching batteries, charging, pressing buttons for 30secs, etc; no response.
It was running 4.1.2 and on Perseus kernel alpha33, which was what everyone said it needed to avoid the SDS issue. My phone was even tested safe/sane via the eMMC test app.
Not 100% certain if it was SDS, but either way it was unresponsive/dead.

ksc6000 said:
I just wanted to let you all know that even on 4.1.2 (stock and stock recovery), your note can just all of a sudden die. For no reason. I had stock malaysia ROM 4.1.2 that was released in April I believe. It was rooted, but all I used that for was Titanium Backup.
My usage of the phone was bare minimum, all I really use the phone is for Google Talk. That's actually all I was doing when all of a sudden the screen froze and the phone would not respond to any buttons or touches. Once I removed the battery it never started again. I can't get it to boot normally, or download mode or anything.
I'm in the US and i bought this off eBay back in November or something of last year, so I have no idea what to do now except get another phone.
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Click to collapse
Ohh,Sorry for that & Thanks share this IMP Info,Have u ever Test eMMC Bug app? U have Sane Chip?U bought new phone?

No I didn't buy a new phone yet, don't have the money. I probably won't, I'll probably just use my old Nexus One. Yes I did use that app and it was insane chip. I just thought that with 4.1.2 it was safe, guess not.
Anybody know if it's safe for me to sell this phone on eBay? Obviously I'm going to sell it as is and write that it doesn't work, but I'm wondering if I do that, if someone can get it repaired, will they have access to my data that was on it?

ksc6000 said:
No I didn't buy a new phone yet, don't have the money. I probably won't, I'll probably just use my old Nexus One. Yes I did use that app and it was insane chip. I just thought that with 4.1.2 it was safe, guess not.
Anybody know if it's safe for me to sell this phone on eBay? Obviously I'm going to sell it as is and write that it doesn't work, but I'm wondering if I do that, if someone can get it repaired, will they have access to my data that was on it?
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Oh OK,but who ever face SDS they have one common symptoms like when press power button red led blinks,is it same happening in your mobile? also they are able to go in download mod but product id will be missing but in your case u r not able to go in download mod,its confusing.

jdomadia said:
Oh OK,but who ever face SDS they have one common symptoms like when press power button red led blinks,is it same happening in your mobile? also they are able to go in download mod but product id will be missing but in your case u r not able to go in download mod,its confusing.
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Click to collapse
No red light. I can't get into download mode at all.

a piece of my knowledge acquired by reading the whole thread. First of all it doesn't matter if you were at 4.1.2 it should be dlk7 or higher (firsts 4.1.2 didn't have it). so do you know the number? if it was higher it could be a big problem for the affected chips :S
and secondly, there are 2 ways of SDS the first is known as "soft" which allow to enter download. the second is the hard one and the one that OP may have.
hope it helped somehow
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium

aka_sirok said:
First of all it doesn't matter if you were at 4.1.2 it should be dlk7 or higher (firsts 4.1.2 didn't have it). so do you know the number? if it was higher it could be a big problem for the affected chips :S
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Hmm ok, just curious, my dead phone was running 'HashCheck Hybrid v2.2 ZHDMB1.t0lte' with Perseus kernel. Should it have been safe or no?
aka_sirok said:
and secondly, there are 2 ways of SDS the first is known as "soft" which allow to enter download. the second is the hard one and the one that OP may have.
hope it helped somehow
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see, so Hard SDS it was then.

Perseus kernel has the patch for sds added.
GT N7105 with XDA Premium......that is all......

sure but i readed somewhere that to be 100% safe it has to be kernel and recovery sds patched. if you had those patched both the ones that have the insane chip must be worried :S
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium

I wonder if using cyanogenmod also end up the same? I mean this problem only caused by original firmware? if both is the same is there a reasonable solution for stock users? My wife has the phone for 2 months and I want to make sure she doesn't suffer the problem from the beginning. What are the measures I can take to avoid this problem?

maluus said:
I wonder if using cyanogenmod also end up the same? I mean this problem only caused by original firmware? if both is the same is there a reasonable solution for stock users? My wife has the phone for 2 months and I want to make sure she doesn't suffer the problem from the beginning. What are the measures I can take to avoid this problem?
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Click to collapse
it is a hardware problem. check the version of the chip with EMMC checker, 2 months old it's quite a good notice because it means newer chip probably.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium

Well hopefully. But while investigating the issue in internet I read 1-2 guys who have so called "sane" chips but still having freezes. I don't know if they really had the same issue or they had their phones bricked in the end but that caused me to doubt the safety of sane chips. I don't know.
Enviado desde mi One S usando Tapatalk 4

aka_sirok said:
sure but i readed somewhere that to be 100% safe it has to be kernel and recovery sds patched. if you had those patched both the ones that have the insane chip must be worried :S
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Click to collapse
That was my understanding too, I had Philz CWM Touch (cant remember which version, but I d/led and installed it last month) installed as well.

This was the version I was running:
N7100XXDMC3 N7100OLBDMD1 - Malaysia

maluus said:
Well hopefully. But while investigating the issue in internet I read 1-2 guys who have so called "sane" chips but still having freezes. I don't know if they really had the same issue or they had their phones bricked in the end but that caused me to doubt the safety of sane chips. I don't know.
Enviado desde mi One S usando Tapatalk 4
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Click to collapse
Checked it and my wife's is a "sane" chip.

Replaced emmc after brick bug and was warned not to flash a new rom

Hi
Had the sds bug kill my n7100 and Samsung wouldn't fix under warranty saying the phone is scratched and therefore no warranty, amazing how easy it is to turn a fan into a hater but that's unrelated to this post.
After a private lab replaced my emmc they warned me not to flash a new rom but when I asked why they couldn't give me a proper explanation hence my post.
Can anyone elaborate more about this and explain what the risks are and what the reproductions are in flashing a new rom like omega for example? I'm fairly technical and have good knowledge about flashing roms restoring efs etc. So a technical explanation will be extremely appreciated.
Thanks
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk

eMMC erase bug is related to Samsung's fault. The firmware versions >4.1.2 are belived to be safe. Check the threads about SDS here, there are more than just one.
In fact, the bug fix been done by a patch that gets loaded by each boot. One for the OS, one for the recovery mode. Most of the custom kernels or ROMs made for N7100 feature the SDS fix patch.
Actually, you should definitelly flash another ROM. Try to avoid using recovery mode before you have flashed safe rom or kernel. Any action done in the recovery mode with insane chip and android ver. earlier than 4.1.2 may cause sudden death of the device.
It is simply unacceptable insolence of Samsung to try to hide from customers the fact that SDS is a big, embarrassing faoult of themselves. Yes, they are searching for even a smallest scratch and try to convince people that THAT is a reason for sudden death. LOL! Just insist that the www is overfilled with information about that. Also i9300 has it, N7000 has a hard brick bug.
Saying that, I just have bought a new n7100 as it is amazing device with one of the lowest SAR values among all ever made cell phones. Strong reason to own it, especially now when the price has dropped after Note 3 is released.

Thanks for your answer, the lab actually replaced the emmc to the a sane chip now, shouldn't be hitting sds anymore.
They said that because this is not the original emmc it could cause problems when flashing roms, I was wondering why they would say that.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk

petelking said:
Thanks for your answer, the lab actually replaced the emmc to the a sane chip now, shouldn't be hitting sds anymore.
They said that because this is not the original emmc it could cause problems when flashing roms, I was wondering why they would say that.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where did you get it fixed at? Thanks
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

Local shop here in Israel

Is Israel there is common KASTAH policy for every fixed device.
Do nothing or have your own KASTAH ready. Not our business...
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk

So you are saying this is just kisuy tachat?

[Q] About SDS

Hi folks,
i have a question about the popular SDS.
My Note2 is running with Ketan's V6 Rom. If i send the phone to the Sammsung service, would they solve the problem with the insane chip even i have root. I am not really interested to unroot, flash stock rom, set the device status to official and WAIT till the device dies. Because i don't know when the phone is dead. It can took months or years. But i have warranty till september this year. If I give it to the service with note about the insane chip, would it then clarify. Or have the phone to die for the repair. I see there is no solution till now for SDS. And i don't know how long the user before me used it on 4.1.1. Does anyone have experience...
Thanks

tryunus said:
Hi folks,
i have a question about the popular SDS.
My Note2 is running with Ketan's V6 Rom. If i send the phone to the Sammsung service, would they solve the problem with the insane chip even i have root. I am not really interested to unroot, flash stock rom, set the device status to official and WAIT till the device dies. Because i don't know when the phone is dead. It can took months or years. But i have warranty till september this year. If I give it to the service with note about the insane chip, would it then clarify. Or have the phone to die for the repair. I see there is no solution till now for SDS. And i don't know how long the user before me used it on 4.1.1. Does anyone have experience...
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the device officially updated to 4.1.2 there was an implemented fix from Samsung. Besides, running a custom rom also prohibits by 99,9 percent the SDS. As far as I have read around the world, there are seldom recognized SDS cases. Many claim SDS but there are other reasons of wrecking the phone. I don't think Samsung will exchange the chip only by suspicion.

as said, in theory there is a fix from 4.1.2 dlk7 and up versions., they'll not fix the phone (well in fact if you are in china they'll do) due to the fact that they'll lose money with it(it is easier to wait til phone dies or til the warranty is over)
and referring to the rom question, if they see that there is the binary changed and another rom, they'll make things more difficult to fix it.
I recommend you to install emmc brickbug check from playatore and run the memory test. if you pass it in fact there is no reason to worry about SDS if you continue using Roms with the fix (almost all of them have the fix, but ask first)
hope I clarified and helped, bests
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk

OK, the emmc brickbug check is runny at the moment.
Update: ''Test Passed''
Thanks friends. I'm now a little bit calmed.