Develop Bugs

[Q] How to unbrick? (Blue LED of death)

I pretty much already know the answer - JTAG. I'm just hoping for a little bit of HOPE. Are there any other possible ways of me unbricking it with a blue LED of death?
No USB recognition, no Download mode, no recovery.
I was already on AOKP Build 30, I was getting forcecloses because I went from Build 29 to 30 without wiping data, so I used Mobile Odin for EL26 kernel, did a full wipe on data/cache, flashed AOKP Build 30, flashed Gapps, then I did a reboot. It rebooted onto the Galaxy SII screen with the yellow triangle, then it went away and rebooted again to come to the Blue LED of death and doesn't go away until a battery pull.
Apparently a USB jig won't work.
I can take it into Sprint (I have a warranty), but what should I tell them? Would they charge me for a new phone, and would I get it right away?

hrffd said:
I pretty much already know the answer - JTAG. I'm just hoping for a little bit of HOPE. Are there any other possible ways of me unbricking it with a blue LED of death?
No USB recognition, no Download mode, no recovery.
I was already on AOKP Build 30, I was getting forcecloses because I went from Build 29 to 30 without wiping data, so I used Mobile Odin for EL26 kernel, did a full wipe on data/cache, flashed AOKP Build 30, flashed Gapps, then I did a reboot. It rebooted onto the Galaxy SII screen with the yellow triangle, then it went away and rebooted again to come to the Blue LED of death and doesn't go away until a battery pull.
Apparently a USB jig won't work.
I can take it into Sprint (I have a warranty), but what should I tell them? Would they charge me for a new phone, and would I get it right away?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you may be hosed but if you have the jig I'd definitely give it a shot (just in case). If that doesn't work you can take it into Sprint. If I remember right with the warranty if they can repair it there's no charge, if they need to send you a new device it's a $100 deductible. Most people just say it quit working on them without offering an explanation, seems to work most of the time.
Good luck!

Apparently JTAG is not going to work either. Something seems to be actually destroying the MMC chip when you mess with ICS and custom recoveries.

sputnik767 said:
Apparently JTAG is not going to work either. Something seems to be actually destroying the MMC chip when you mess with ICS and custom recoveries.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
JTAG has been able to recover some hard bricks. I think it depends on the extent of the damage.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

Dchibro said:
JTAG has been able to recover some hard bricks. I think it depends on the extent of the damage.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have not heard of Jtag bringing anyone back from these bricks though.. Also there is a guy in the thread above yours... right before I posted that had a similar issue with AOKP Build30... Hope there is no problem with that rom..

playya said:
Also there is a guy in the thread above yours... right before I posted that had a similar issue with AOKP Build30... Hope there is no problem with that rom..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ya, Me too.

hrffd said:
I pretty much already know the answer - JTAG. I'm just hoping for a little bit of HOPE. Are there any other possible ways of me unbricking it with a blue LED of death?
No USB recognition, no Download mode, no recovery.
I was already on AOKP Build 30, I was getting forcecloses because I went from Build 29 to 30 without wiping data, so I used Mobile Odin for EL26 kernel, did a full wipe on data/cache, flashed AOKP Build 30, flashed Gapps, then I did a reboot. It rebooted onto the Galaxy SII screen with the yellow triangle, then it went away and rebooted again to come to the Blue LED of death and doesn't go away until a battery pull.
Apparently a USB jig won't work.
I can take it into Sprint (I have a warranty), but what should I tell them? Would they charge me for a new phone, and would I get it right away?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not sure if you listed every step you did or were just summarizing.
Did you have the Yellow Triangle before any of this? I ask because nothing you did should have triggered the yellow triangle unless you had it before (or traditional ODIN'd CWM outside of the steps you listed)
Also, nothing you did should have prevented you from getting into ODIN DL mode. Even in the case of /data EMMC corruption, you can still get into ODIN DL mode.
Are you sure you can't get into ODIN DL mode? Pull the battery, then as you insert the battery press-and-hold Power+VolDown. If it is difficult to do the finger combination, then you are doing it right.
If you can get into ODIN DL mode, use the EL29 OneClick to get back to a known base. Use the Full version. If it hangs on data.img, then you have the /data emmc corruption and your only option is to get the unit replaced. JTAG will not work.

I have a quick question since we seem to be on the topic of bricks today. Has anybody bricked from making a nandroid in ICS recovery then using format all zip and then restoring from it. I am not referring to AOKP, CM9, etc rather stock or themed stock ROMs. I would NEVER recommend anyone to do this but I have made a few and restored them only wiping with format all zip. Am I tempting fate here or what? I thought this was narrowed down to wiping individual partitions or working from AOKP, CM9 recovery. Any thoughts here?
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using xda premium

JohnCorleone said:
I have a quick question since we seem to be on the topic of bricks today. Has anybody bricked from making a nandroid in ICS recovery then using format all zip and then restoring from it. I am not referring to AOKP, CM9, etc rather stock or themed stock ROMs. I would NEVER recommend anyone to do this but I have made a few and restored them only wiping with format all zip. Am I tempting fate here or what? I thought this was narrowed down to wiping individual partitions or working from AOKP, CM9 recovery. Any thoughts here?
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the question is why are you wiping when restoring a nandroid back up?
You should be fine but the wiping step is pointless. The restore process should do it automatically.
Also yes, I have done a backup while in FC22 based CWM and recovered it from another FC22 based CWM install and it worked fine. No need to wipe at all.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2 Beta-5

@JohnCorleone,
There are other posters that agree with you that not all ICS ROMs have that problem. Epix4G has reminded me of this on occasion, but that was in regards to using Calk's ROMs and solutions. But I would also caution that this probably isn't a good idea for Joe Schmoe with a shiny new E4GT... maybe those that have been around longer or are willing to take that risk.
In my personal case I don't have the option for insurance and had to pay full price for this phone. I can't afford to brick it so I stick with the ODIN TARs for now. Maybe a few months down the road, once ICS is out and hopefully there's a better handle on this, I'll try some of the other options out there. Besides, coming from an Optimus S stock will do everything I need and more right now.

garwynn said:
@JohnCorleone,
In my personal case I don't have the option for insurance and had to pay full price for this phone. I can't afford to brick it so I stick with the ODIN TARs for now. Maybe a few months down the road, once ICS is out and hopefully there's a better handle on this, I'll try some of the other options out there. Besides, coming from an Optimus S stock will do everything I need and more right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ya, I was using my phone on a different carrier, and bricked it. Talk about a ****ty realization. And coming from an Optimus, life is goooood eh? lol.

take the phone to sprint as long as they cant see anything your good to go. tell them you plugged it in to charge came back and smelt something funny and phone was real hot.

Same brick here, only blue led of death and no activity.
The phone is outside US so can't even get warranty / replacement. Can't get get mmc chip from Samsung which in this case is KLMAG4FEJA-A003

Jtag
sent from MY BAD A$$ ET4G

JTAG has failed over RISC

Disillusioned said:
Same brick here, only blue led of death and no activity.
The phone is outside US so can't even get warranty / replacement. Can't get get mmc chip from Samsung which in this case is KLMAG4FEJA-A003
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you able to get ahold of a USB jig and see if this will somehow get it to come to life? If not, have you considered asking someone in the US to try and work with Samsung on your behalf?

Its pretty much dead at this point, time to replace the device. Even if a jig will trigger dl mode it will more than likely fail/hang at /data in odin.
Sent from my SPH-L710

-EViL-KoNCEPTz- said:
Its pretty much dead at this point, time to replace the device. Even if a jig will trigger dl mode it will more than likely fail/hang at /data in odin.
Sent from my SPH-L710
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but if there is not a replace option getting that far would mean a modified pit will restore most functionality.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

garwynn said:
Yes, but if there is not a replace option getting that far would mean a modified pit will restore most functionality.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, that's a 50/50 shot and worth the try if there's not a warranty or ins option, but if warranty is an option I'd personally grab a replacement instead of patching up a borked one just so I wouldn't run into a major issue from patching it back together and then be out of warranty and stuck with a total brick. I've also seen a few ppl be able to get to dl mode and it fail at data but the pit not work, probably user error but never know could just be totally fubar from the emmc bug
Sent from my SPH-L710

-EViL-KoNCEPTz- said:
True, that's a 50/50 shot and worth the try if there's not a warranty or ins option, but if warranty is an option I'd personally grab a replacement instead of patching up a borked one just so I wouldn't run into a major issue from patching it back together and then be out of warranty and stuck with a total brick. I've also seen a few ppl be able to get to dl mode and it fail at data but the pit not work, probably user error but never know could just be totally fubar from the emmc bug
Sent from my SPH-L710
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was def user error. In another post he said he loaded aokp from rujelus recovery:crying:

I bricked it was my fault....

So yesterday I flashed the new aokp build 39 know all the risks of bricking but i thought my phone was immuned lmao no jk but i have been flashing for a few months now sometimes going back to el26 and sometimes i just flashed using ics recoveries wiped data and all and since i never bricked I thought it was safe, but yesterday i was not so lucky like i said i was on aokp 39 and wanted to go back to wicked so instead of going back to el26 i used the included cwm recovery and went to restore my backup and to stop this story from dragging on it restored but when it booted back up it would not go past samsung screen i cld get into recovery and odin mode tried sfhub one click same thing stuck at samsung logo everything i tried nothing worked brought it to sprint today I was honest told em i was rooted and explained i already tried to flash back to stock their guy said' "i'll be able to get it." Lol i said okay but I knew he could not he came bck said he couldnt i have tep and he ordered me a new one and i can get it tomorrow with no charge... Just an fyi u can get ur phone replaced for nothing even if u brick so i have my tablet to get me by til tomorrow so the cwm included in aokp 39 is not safe...
Sent from my K1 using xda premium

"MOD EDIT: Always use the Stock CWM5 recovery for anything you want to flash. Do not use the recovery that comes with this rom to flash or do anything with. "
You kind of set your self up there. The thread states that AOKP B39 doesn't come with a safe recovery. Either way, have fun with your new E4GT

MochaCharok said:
"MOD EDIT: Always use the Stock CWM5 recovery for anything you want to flash. Do not use the recovery that comes with this rom to flash or do anything with. "
You kind of set your self up there. The thread states that AOKP B39 doesn't come with a safe recovery. Either way, have fun with your new E4GT
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe Jay added the MOD EDIT after he had bricked his phone. There was no warning about not using that recovery prior to that. There was a long discussion about that in the thread.

dafluke24 said:
I believe Jay added the MOD EDIT after he had bricked his phone. There was no warning about not using that recovery prior to that. There was a long discussion about that in the thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Boom. Looks like you're right -- oh well. Sorry OP.

Same thing happened here

sbeekman said:
So yesterday I flashed the new aokp build 39 know all the risks of bricking but i thought my phone was immuned lmao no jk but i have been flashing for a few months now sometimes going back to el26 and sometimes i just flashed using ics recoveries wiped data and all and since i never bricked I thought it was safe, but yesterday i was not so lucky like i said i was on aokp 39 and wanted to go back to wicked so instead of going back to el26 i used the included cwm recovery and went to restore my backup and to stop this story from dragging on it restored but when it booted back up it would not go past samsung screen i cld get into recovery and odin mode tried sfhub one click same thing stuck at samsung logo everything i tried nothing worked brought it to sprint today I was honest told em i was rooted and explained i already tried to flash back to stock their guy said' "i'll be able to get it." Lol i said okay but I knew he could not he came bck said he couldnt i have tep and he ordered me a new one and i can get it tomorrow with no charge... Just an fyi u can get ur phone replaced for nothing even if u brick so i have my tablet to get me by til tomorrow so the cwm included in aokp 39 is not safe...
Sent from my K1 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't feel too bad. I did something similar the other day and experienced a brick myself. I now have a new E4GT, free of charge. I made an elementary mistake, but I knew the risks.

I do not believe the new AOKP posted has a safe updater binary (since they did not say so) which makes it a bad deal to flash in ICS recovery still even a safe one.

Hate to hear this. But seriously OP. Thanks for actually owning up to it. When I bricked mine I did just like you. Sbrissen got me on Gtalk and apologized for bricking my device. I told him that I had not been aware that he had come to my house and flashed my phone for me. He said he hadn't and so I said then how is it your fault. I've seen so many times where someone bricks their phone and blames the dev. So props for being a stand up guy. Also. It is amazing what you can get with sprint reps when you just shoot straight with em isn't it. Glad you got it worked out.

Yea same here bricked mine and was titally my fault did it the same day I got the device and have no insurance really liked this device from the little I got to use it maybe one day I can afford another and nit be so stupid next time but least I know I'm not alone
sent from my Verizon Wireless HTC EVO 3D

@ruffneckZeVo,
First off no need to post the same thing in 3 threads. You'll get a reply.
Even though you didn't have insurance did you try taking it in to get it to Sprint for replacement? Samsung should also cover it but Sprint will probably be the easier solution if possible.
As for modified .PIT files we don't have one for the E4GT - it was quickly recommended not for long term use, so replacement has been the recommended solution. I don't believe anyone has been outright denied one yet - but I could be wrong.

Anybody without insurance that bricks there phone (b.l.o.d.) just go to an a.s.c. location (authorized service center) and tell them your phone won't turn on and you don't know why....you pay $35 and they order you a replacement that will be delivered next business day unless its back ordered. Then you have the option of adding T.E.P. going forward. They will also give you the option of a white or black device. (Unless the tech is a d.bag)
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

dafluke24 said:
I believe Jay added the MOD EDIT after he had bricked his phone. There was no warning about not using that recovery prior to that. There was a long discussion about that in the thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same... second brick too. Should've been more careful though.
---------- Post added at 05:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:52 PM ----------
anti-up said:
Anybody without insurance that bricks there phone (b.l.o.d.) just go to an a.s.c. location (authorized service center) and tell them your phone won't turn on and you don't know why....you pay $35 and they order you a replacement that will be delivered next business day unless its back ordered. Then you have the option of adding T.E.P. going forward. They will also give you the option of a white or black device. (Unless the tech is a d.bag)
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make sure you odin to a stock samsung rom(it will fail at data.img, so just unplug it there. This most hints that youre on a non stock rom such as the warning icon.) and then use a usb jig(~$20) This gets rid of all binary flashes in download mode.

That's if you can turn the phone on. Some can and some can't

garwynn said:
@ruffneckZeVo,
First off no need to post the same thing in 3 threads. You'll get a reply.
Even though you didn't have insurance did you try taking it in to get it to Sprint for replacement? Samsung should also cover it but Sprint will probably be the easier solution if possible.
As for modified .PIT files we don't have one for the E4GT - it was quickly recommended not for long term use, so replacement has been the recommended solution. I don't believe anyone has been outright denied one yet - but I could be wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry just anxious to get this fixed I had the device one day and really liked it its not on sprint I got it from cl and flashed to vzw so sprint isn't an option to fix it ill find another asc thanks for the info
sent from my Verizon Wireless HTC EVO 3D

For what it's worth....
I've had my SG2 E4GT since the middle of april. Rooted it about 3 days after having bought it. And have been using Blue Kuban's Rom ever since.
Sadly, for some dumb reason, I decided to try out the new AOKP build -.-
Ironically I think I bricked it trying to flash from Blue Kuban back into a Gingerbread EL29 build...... But it had Team Rogue's CWM 5.1.0 or 5.0.1 one of them -.-
Either way, after flashing AOKP went to reboot and black screen, only blue blinking LCD light of doom.
I've ordered a USB Jig so I can try to use that to reboot into recovery... but I'm prolly messed eh?
Should probably try going to the sprint store where I got it? I do have T.E.P.

anti-up said:
Anybody without insurance that bricks there phone (b.l.o.d.) just go to an a.s.c. location (authorized service center) and tell them your phone won't turn on and you don't know why....you pay $35 and they order you a replacement that will be delivered next business day unless its back ordered. Then you have the option of adding T.E.P. going forward. They will also give you the option of a white or black device. (Unless the tech is a d.bag)
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did the same thing. I felt bad but well you know. Anyway it worked great, they even had it in stock.

[Q][HELP]S3 Hard Bricked after Flashing Illusions

I FIXED IT
Here's the Link to my Guide.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2369125
Okay, So here's what I did.
I flashed the latest Illusions ROM for my S3 and the Slim AIO 7 for 4.2.2 (since Illusions is based out of SLIM, AOKP, PA, CM, ETC). Then TWRP 2.6.0.0 said that SuperSu wasn't installed (what the heck?!?!?) and it prompted me to install su so I was like "What the heck, why not" so I swiped for yes. Then the screen went black for a good 20 minutes. I got worried, did a battery pull and tried to but straight to recovery... no bueno. Same for booting to dl mode. I plugged my phone in to my computer without the battery and the red LED comes on for 10 seconds and then it dies. It prompted windows to install the QHUSB_DL driver and it failed. WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED?!?
Is there anything I can do to unbrick it?
Do I have to JTAG/JIG or what? If so, can anyone direct me to it? (Last resort)
I'm on the MD4 bootloader and modem.
I really need to get this phone fixed before I go to basic on the 23rd of July.
Other info: Yes, I already went to the local Sprint store (not to get a replacement. That would be irresponsible of me considering my S3 is built by me from the MoBo on up) to get help on flashing it back to stock.

Jtag is the only way and you need to send it to someone who does that.
Sent from the future via Tapatalk 4

deBricker said:
Okay, So here's what I did.
I flashed the latest Illusions ROM for my S3 and the Slim AIO 7 for 4.2.2 (since Illusions is based out of SLIM, AOKP, PA, CM, ETC). Then TWRP 2.6.0.0 said that SuperSu wasn't installed (what the heck?!?!?) and it prompted me to install su so I was like "What the heck, why not" so I swiped for yes. Then the screen went black for a good 20 minutes. I got worried, did a battery pull and tried to but straight to recovery... no bueno. Same for booting to dl mode. I plugged my phone in to my computer without the battery and the red LED comes on for 10 seconds and then it dies. It prompted windows to install the QHUSB_DL driver and it failed. WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED?!?
Is there anything I can do to unbrick it?
Do I have to JTAG/JIG or what? If so, can anyone direct me to it? (Last resort)
I'm on the MD4 bootloader and modem.
I really need to get this phone fixed before I go to basic on the 23rd of July.
Other info: Yes, I already went to the local Sprint store (not to get a replacement. That would be irresponsible of me considering my S3 is built by me from the MoBo on up) to get help on flashing it back to stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I take it that post I linked to in my thread didnt work then?
And FYI
http://mobiletechvideos.mybigcommerce.com/samsung-galaxy-s-iii-jtag-brick-repair/

What was the name of the file for Illusion ROM?
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

Notorious said:
What was the name of the file for Illusion ROM?
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FML, I made a noob mistake. Flashed a i9300 Illusion Rom. But I got it from the link on the page. It's Illusion i9300 4.2.2 07132013

billard412 said:
I take it that post I linked to in my thread didnt work then?
And FYI
http://mobiletechvideos.mybigcommerce.com/samsung-galaxy-s-iii-jtag-brick-repair/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. Looks like I'm going back to my ogEvo. Won't be able to use that service until after the Navy is done with me. FML. I still can't believe I made a noob mistake. -_____- I have never bricked a phone and this is ironic because i usually de-brick phones... not brick 'em.

Have you looked at this thread
[HOW TO] Unbrick your Sprint phone from flashing an International gsm boot imag

jdelano said:
Have you looked at this thread
[HOW TO] Unbrick your Sprint phone from flashing an International gsm boot imag
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I JUST FIXED IT! LOL. I'm in the middle of Barnes and noble and I just fixed it. I'll put down directions for a HOW TO for my method, but it involves having Linux.
HARD BRICK FIX W/O THE JTAG!
and I'll have to give credit. I finally figured out how to dd that file that was posted by (I don't have his username atm) but yeah! I got it to work. His method needs a little more instruction.

Just booted to DL mode

Yeah, if I may, please don't make a guide thread for that. It will only encourage people to flash international roms.
Sent from my S3 on Sense 5 (you jelly?)

glad to hear you got it working.

CNexus said:
Yeah, if I may, please don't make a guide thread for that. It will only encourage people to flash international roms.
Sent from my S3 on Sense 5 (you jelly?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, well, some people would like the convenience of not having to send their phone off and spending 60 dollars to get it fixed. And there are many ways to hard brick an S3 and I think that this would be a convenient way of fixing their phone.
Mine was a legit mistake. I'm a veteran flasher of ROMs and everyone does slip up.

deBricker said:
Yes, well, some people would like the convenience of not having to send their phone off and spending 60 dollars to get it fixed. And there are many ways to hard brick an S3 and I think that this would be a convenient way of fixing their phone.
Mine was a legit mistake. I'm a veteran flasher of ROMs and everyone does slip up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well if you do something like that, you should own up to it and pay the $60 bucks to get it fixed. International roms don't magically wind up on your flashing queue in recovery.
I obviously can't stop you from posting anything, but just keep that in mind.
Good day.

CNexus said:
Well if you do something like that, you should own up to it and pay the $60 bucks to get it fixed. International roms don't magically wind up on your flashing queue in recovery.
I obviously can't stop you from posting anything, but just keep that in mind.
Good day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, well. I can't exactly do that since I'm in the Navy and I'm going to be gone for the next two months. I prefer to find a method BEFORE paying the 60 dollars to unbrick. Dude, this to help everyone. YES I MADE A MISTAKE. We all do. I understand its frustrating. Even I get frustrated. But why should I pay 60 dollars to have someone else fix my phone when I can fix it myself? I'm not a noob at flashing.

deBricker said:
Yes, well. I can't exactly do that since I'm in the Navy and I'm going to be gone for the next two months. I prefer to find a method BEFORE paying the 60 dollars to unbrick. Dude, this to help everyone. YES I MADE A MISTAKE. We all do. I understand its frustrating. Even I get frustrated. But why should I pay 60 dollars to have someone else fix my phone when I can fix it myself? I'm not a noob at flashing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a fine line we walk... We here at XDA want to be helpful to "noobs," but we also want to express the importance of reading and critical thinking before acting.
This argument came up a month or two ago. There's an easy way to make the ROMs check the phone model prior to flashing. This would be a great way to prevent hard-bricks, as the installation will abort on the wrong device. The issue that arises is two-fold:
1) There are many Devs and not all will implement this device check.
2) People will start getting lazy with their flashing, as it seems "idiot proof."
We are actually seeing this with the newest CM10.1 releases. Despite it being clearly spelled out in installation threads (if they read the last 3-4 pages of the thread), a lot of people are trying to flash them without updating their bootloader. They then get the infamous system 7 error. I was answering threads one after the next with people asking the exact same question about the system 7 error. A simple 5-minute perusal of the forums (or even just the CM thread) would've yielded the results, but people don't want to put in the "hard work."
In the case of hard-bricks and your guide, I don't fully agree with CNexus (it happens from time-to-time, but he's a quality guy and dev). If it works a good percentage of the time, I think it's a valuable tool that can help a lot of people. That being said, one of the "good" things about a hard-brick is that people generally learn their lesson after one. I've seen people here on XDA that hard-bricked their device (due to carelessness), had to get it JTAG-ed, then came back to become advocates for reading the posts/directions thoroughly. It's amazing how $60 and losing your phone for a week will make people a lot more sober about flashing a Rom.
I don't doubt for a minute that having an "easy" fix for hard-bricks will reduce the impact of this lesson.
That being said, I also believe that having this guide is a good thing. My recommendation would be to rewrite the beginning of the guide to include a strong disclaimer about the dangers of flashing a Rom not meant for your device. I understand that you're trying to take the approach of "hey, we are all noobs at times, it's not that big of a deal," but I think it'll reinforce the lazy mentality of a good number of flashers.
Just my two cents. I'm glad you were able to fix your phone and to find a way to boot into download mode from the SD card so you can rewrite the bootloader partition from Odin.

Bricked?

So yesterday I was going to switch from PA to BeanStalk and ran into some problems, i restored back to PA.
Last night I went and downloaded LiquidSmooth I believe it is, went into recovery *cwm 6.0.2.7.* wiped data, cache, dalvik and formated system.. Installing the zip I ran into a status 7 error. I went to restore my nandroid from earlier in the day, my stable PA setup. No restore files could be found, internal, or external.
At this point I powered my phone off so take my micro sdcard out so I could download a rom through my laptop. While the rom was downloading I decided to go back to recovery to see if there was anything I was doing wrong there..I couldnt get to recovery. I couldnt get into download mode.. Plugging it in to the wall charger I wasnt even getting a charging light. I let it sit overnight on the charger and decided to start on it this morning..
Any button combo I do yields no result.. So I'm fearing this may be a toasted device.. If anyone has insight please let me know.. Much thanks..

plugging my phone into usb cable to laptop, driver goes to install: 'qhsusb_dload no driver found
looking this up in google just re-enforces my suspicions..

yeah dude your phone is now a doorstop. this happened to me once as a noob android "modder" as i was trying to install an rom made for the international version of the gs3 (i9300) onto my north american at&t gs3
(SGH-I747). luckily i was on warranty and got a new one for free. hopefully you are on warranty as well.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium

20twins10 said:
So yesterday I was going to switch from PA to BeanStalk and ran into some problems, i restored back to PA.
Last night I went and downloaded LiquidSmooth I believe it is, went into recovery *cwm 6.0.2.7.* wiped data, cache, dalvik and formated system.. Installing the zip I ran into a status 7 error. I went to restore my nandroid from earlier in the day, my stable PA setup. No restore files could be found, internal, or external.
At this point I powered my phone off so take my micro sdcard out so I could download a rom through my laptop. While the rom was downloading I decided to go back to recovery to see if there was anything I was doing wrong there..I couldnt get to recovery. I couldnt get into download mode.. Plugging it in to the wall charger I wasnt even getting a charging light. I let it sit overnight on the charger and decided to start on it this morning..
Any button combo I do yields no result.. So I'm fearing this may be a toasted device.. If anyone has insight please let me know.. Much thanks..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Beanstalk 4.3??? Cause team chopsticks are saying there's a bug that can brick a phone maybe. So they suggest everyone wait before building or flashing cm based 4.3 roms.
****edit**** sorry ignore. Misread the first bit. You were on Beanstalk, nandroided back to pa, then tried liquid smooth. I got it now. Hope you figure it out!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using xda app-developers app

kj2112 said:
Beanstalk 4.3??? Cause team chopsticks are saying there's a bug that can brick a phone maybe. So they suggest everyone wait before building or flashing cm based 4.3 roms.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BeanStalk 4.3 was yesterday morning. I had a hard time getting it to boot back up after wiping cache n dalvik. It was really unresponsive, holding buttons and releasing took forever to yield a result. So there was alot of battery pulling and buttons. I got pissed and just said **** it and left it alone and it booted up, I booted to recovery and switch back the Paranoid Android. There was a small handful of people in the thread all kinda saying the same thing, long delays and unresponsive..
My PA setup was stable, I've had it on for months.. I was in a flash kinda mood so I decided to try a different rom, something not 4.3 based.. So I downloaded the LiquidSmooth rom but it error'd during installing.. I wasnt able to restore, And when I shut it down it just seems I couldnt get it back up to do anything..
It could be a combination of events.. Just a minor bump in the road.. Not the first phone I had brick..
Eh.. Guess I get a new phone..

20twins10 said:
BeanStalk 4.3 was yesterday morning. I had a hard time getting it to boot back up after wiping cache n dalvik. It was really unresponsive, holding buttons and releasing took forever to yield a result. So there was alot of battery pulling and buttons. I got pissed and just said **** it and left it alone and it booted up, I booted to recovery and switch back the Paranoid Android. There was a small handful of people in the thread all kinda saying the same thing, long delays and unresponsive..
My PA setup was stable, I've had it on for months.. I was in a flash kinda mood so I decided to try a different rom, something not 4.3 based.. So I downloaded the LiquidSmooth rom but it error'd during installing.. I wasnt able to restore, And when I shut it down it just seems I couldnt get it back up to do anything..
It could be a combination of events.. Just a minor bump in the road.. Not the first phone I had brick..
Eh.. Guess I get a new phone..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Insurance wont cover it, TMobile is shipping one out under warranty protection.. Do they go back into the phones that are sent back and look at them or what??

Nah your good all they do is connect it to there program and restore it they have capabilities we dont lol
sent from my t mobile S4

20twins10 said:
So yesterday I was going to switch from PA to BeanStalk and ran into some problems, i restored back to PA.
Last night I went and downloaded LiquidSmooth I believe it is, went into recovery *cwm 6.0.2.7.* wiped data, cache, dalvik and formated system.. Installing the zip I ran into a status 7 error. I went to restore my nandroid from earlier in the day, my stable PA setup. No restore files could be found, internal, or external.
At this point I powered my phone off so take my micro sdcard out so I could download a rom through my laptop. While the rom was downloading I decided to go back to recovery to see if there was anything I was doing wrong there..I couldnt get to recovery. I couldnt get into download mode.. Plugging it in to the wall charger I wasnt even getting a charging light. I let it sit overnight on the charger and decided to start on it this morning..
Any button combo I do yields no result.. So I'm fearing this may be a toasted device.. If anyone has insight please let me know.. Much thanks..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah dude that's a brick...sucks but no T-Mobile doesn't look into the device just basically do a higher form of JTAG an completely wipe the hardware to start over, or if it's real bad they just junk for parts and build somebody else a "refurbished" phone, there system makes the best dev look like a noob lol
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using xda premium

soupysoup said:
Yeah dude that's a brick...sucks but no T-Mobile doesn't look into the device just basically do a higher form of JTAG an completely wipe the hardware to start over, or if it's real bad they just junk for parts and build somebody else a "refurbished" phone, there system makes the best dev look like a noob lol
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got a laugh out of that, but I'm sure its true. With the amount of phones on the market, I'd love to know the percentage they take back in and replace.. It's gotta be astounding.. It's a small thorn in my side for a day and a half, but my phone should be here before noon. I just gotta go and find my rootkit folder and get it all ready
This is the 2nd phone I've wound up bricking. I didnt get my first true smart phone till October 3yrs ago. HTC droid incredible.. that phone was seriously tuffer then nails.. It was dropped so many times, i just stopped caring if it fell cause i knew it would be ok.. Went down a flight of wood steps into my basement during a call and didnt blink.. I wound up melting the back cover to the battery once, my daughters * i have twins* were destroying something and I had torch on looking for something. I wound up putting the phone down on a towel w/ torch on facedown.. I got busy cleaning what they messed up and by the time I remembered my phone I went to get it and it shut down as I picked it up.. It was extremely hot and around the LED you could see a ripple from where it melted. I pulled everything apart, let it cool off for like 10minutes and it booted right back up.. It bricked way later on, I was way more flash happy back then, then I am now. I'm pickier now, back then I was just trying anything..
This sII was bought in October of last year. But it's seen its number or battery pulls and restores.. Tomorrow we will follow up the same..

20twins10 said:
I got a laugh out of that, but I'm sure its true. With the amount of phones on the market, I'd love to know the percentage they take back in and replace.. It's gotta be astounding.. It's a small thorn in my side for a day and a half, but my phone should be here before noon. I just gotta go and find my rootkit folder and get it all ready
This is the 2nd phone I've wound up bricking. I didnt get my first true smart phone till October 3yrs ago. HTC droid incredible.. that phone was seriously tuffer then nails.. It was dropped so many times, i just stopped caring if it fell cause i knew it would be ok.. Went down a flight of wood steps into my basement during a call and didnt blink.. I wound up melting the back cover to the battery once, my daughters * i have twins* were destroying something and I had torch on looking for something. I wound up putting the phone down on a towel w/ torch on facedown.. I got busy cleaning what they messed up and by the time I remembered my phone I went to get it and it shut down as I picked it up.. It was extremely hot and around the LED you could see a ripple from where it melted. I pulled everything apart, let it cool off for like 10minutes and it booted right back up.. It bricked way later on, I was way more flash happy back then, then I am now. I'm pickier now, back then I was just trying anything..
This sII was bought in October of last year. But it's seen its number or battery pulls and restores.. Tomorrow we will follow up the same..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah we've all bricked a device lol, I had a Samsung galaxy precedent that I beat to sh*t, threw, dropped, whatever n it always booted, still to this day actually lol its sitting in a draw somewhere, my daughter plays games on it lol, but yes honestly the amount of s2s that have been refurbished is astounding my buddy is a tech for T-Mobile which is how I know all this but they hardly ever even send u back the same device when u send for repair, just junk it for a new refurb, wipe and restore the broken one and someone else gets it lol, there tough and almost unbrickable but almost is the key word, how u bricked urs though is strange, I've never had it happen like that before, good luck with the new one and switch to twrp, much better recovery for all the new roms out there
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using xda premium

I got this phone under the "free" section of craigslist.(lucky me)
this phone was perfect, no cracked screen, no scratches, just a bump in the side. The only major problem was that this phone was hard bricked.
What I did was that I went to ebay, and found a random seller with decent reviews for JTAG service. The whole thing cost about 40 dollars. (since I got the phone free, I would only lose $40 if this was a scam)
This dude was really nice! I got my GS2 back within a week completely fixed. with stock touchwiz loaded and prerooted alerady

new phone arrived a few hours ago. been running some errands and such.. now to root this one.. tmobile picked the tab up on this one..

so i threw cwm recovery on via odin, flashed my superuser zip. it failed a couple times, 3rd time it took.. booted up and titanium couldnt get access.. in the su update fixer its also failing at "gaining root access"..
any idea's?

S3 SDS?

I've read a lot about SDS and there seems to be no general consensus on the symptoms of it. Some people say they can enter recovery/dl/etc but the phone crashes all the time. Others say that their phone doesn't turn on at all and won't charge.
Here is my issue with my S3.
I just recently installed 4.3 pacman rom. I got everything set up and everything was going great. I tried to flash ACID MOD 7.0/DevilKernel, and they both failed, so I rebooted back into the system and the phone just shut off.
If I take the battery out and hook it up to a charger, the LED will light up. However, if I plug it in with the battery already inside of it, the LED does not turn on. Also, if I hook up the phone to my computer, it'll make a sound like it is trying to mount the device, but it'll make a stutter sound like it failed. It doesn't do this automatically, it only does it if I try to enter recovery/download mode/or turn the phone on.
I'm not sure if the phone is completely dead, or bricked, or what is going on? Or if anyone has any other suggestions - other than changing the battery, which I did do, lol.

Sounds bricked. What model is you s3 btw? And can you post links to everything you've flashed?
SDS doesn't affect our S3's, it was only the international model that had this issue, and I believe it was only on the original firmware.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 4

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2015525
latest nightly
+ 4.3 gapps. it booted fine from gapps.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=38599629&postcount=1005
acid mod v7
2802 + 2805 for sammy devices
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2240832
devil kernel
prior to flashing pac i installed 2.6.3 twrp because the 2.5.x i was on did not work. i booted in, flashed pac, got everything set up. after restoring the apps and whatnot, i went back to twrp to install acid + devil kernel. they both failed, so i just rebooted from there and it never turned back on. i just assumed the battery was dead, charged my bat in my external charger, and yeah, never turned on since then.
any way to do this without jtag? i'm not at home right now to do something like that and am out of the country, so im a bit unsure how hard it'd be to get those supplies.
i was able to go to a samsung a/s place, but they would only send back to america. i don't think it is worth paying 200+ when this phone is probably only worth 400 or so out of the box, brand new, maybe even less.
i just assumed it was SDS because the symptoms seemed spot on, but it was really weird. i've never had any issues like this flashing roms and it wont' even go to the boot logo. if i plug it in, it makes it seem like it is trying to mount, but there are no vibrations or anything like that on the phone.
thanks for all the help doc, like always.

Thanks for providing the links! Makes it so much easier to help when we don't have to search for everything!
I'm afraid you have bricked your device. I don't know about the Acid mods compatibility with our device, so it may be part of the problem, but that kernel is for the international S3 (I9300/9305). (I'm assuming you have the T999 btw). Never flash anything for the international models, you're nearly guaranteed to brick the phone!
But there's hope! Verify your model number by looking under the battery. Then check out KAsp3rd's unbrick thread in the development section. It should be towards the top.
Give that a shot and say a prayer! It won't fix all bricks, it depends on what was overwritten, but there's a good chance it'll fix yours!
In the future, it's best to stay out of the international models forum altogether! The devices are very different and you take a huge risk when using anything you find there!
Good luck!
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 4

Thanks Doc. I don't think it'll be fixed unless someone in that thread wants to try to flash that devil kernel and see if they can unbrick it w/o jtag. I followed those instructions to a T, and no dice. Although, I can't really tell if my battery is charged right now. I don't have my external charger on me. I will try again tomorrow, but I really doubt it at this point.

Really? Maybe give it another try with a different SD if possible. I saw the posts there and there's no reason I can see that it wouldn't fix when aboot got overwritten.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 4

DocHoliday77 said:
Really? Maybe give it another try with a different SD if possible. I saw the posts there and there's no reason I can see that it wouldn't fix when aboot got overwritten.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, it is really weird.
After some toying with it I figured out that it only tries to mount the device when connected to the computer IF and only IF my phone is connected to the computer with no battery. It didn't do this before, which is odd. Even if I take out the SD card it still does this now. Before it would fail to make any sound, and now it tries to install the driver. But then it says it fails to install the driver for it, which is the bricked one, the SUBS DWLND or whatever.
I tried following Kasp3rd's advice to hold the button down longer, and I held it down for a whole five minutes with no luck.
I will try another SD when I get the chance, right now I only have a 64gb with no avail to back it up. The SD card is super old though, you are right Doc. It is from my OG droid, but really I haven't had a need for SD cards since I was on an iPhone after my droid and since the S3 is mine, but i'm not using it, I never really bought a nice SD card for it.
I'm going to run to the store in a bit to get one though and hopefully that will make a difference?

May have missed the part about it being 64GB before. Could be the age, but also those 64's have given lots of folks some problems in the past. Seems the S3 can be a bit finicky with those.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 4