[Q] Not quite sudden death - but still a major problem - AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III

So I recently installed CM 10.1.2 on my S3, and everything worked perfectly for a few days. Yesterday though, my phone started acting strangely (lag when turning screen off, registering phantom input, etc) and began rebooting every few minutes. At some point, it ran out of battery - and now I can no longer boot past the CM loading wheel screen.
I can't boot to recovery, and I don't think my phone is taking charge (from my computer or a wall outlet), and the farthest I can get is the loading wheel - sometimes it only gets as far as displaying the Samsung logo, or the Galaxy S3 screen with the android dude at the bottom.
I'm still covered under warranty, and would love to take it to the store for a replacement (I've had battery issues prior to this), but the fact that it can get to the CM loading wheel means that they might figure out that I've rooted and whatnot. But I can't get to recovery to flash a stock image, so...what can I do?

vortexface said:
So I recently installed CM 10.1.2 on my S3, and everything worked perfectly for a few days. Yesterday though, my phone started acting strangely (lag when turning screen off, registering phantom input, etc) and began rebooting every few minutes. At some point, it ran out of battery - and now I can no longer boot past the CM loading wheel screen.
I can't boot to recovery, and I don't think my phone is taking charge (from my computer or a wall outlet), and the farthest I can get is the loading wheel - sometimes it only gets as far as displaying the Samsung logo, or the Galaxy S3 screen with the android dude at the bottom.
I'm still covered under warranty, and would love to take it to the store for a replacement (I've had battery issues prior to this), but the fact that it can get to the CM loading wheel means that they might figure out that I've rooted and whatnot. But I can't get to recovery to flash a stock image, so...what can I do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your best shot is to either borrow someone's S3 battery or buy a battery pack. Use that to restore your phone back to stock (unroot) and then you can go to the store for replacement.

alltechinside said:
Your best shot is to either borrow someone's S3 battery or buy a battery pack. Use that to restore your phone back to stock (unroot) and then you can go to the store for replacement.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So turns out battery isn't the issue, I used a wall charger to get it to full charge. I can get it to the download mode confirmation screen, and can press volume up to confirm - but my phone reboots soon after that.
Recovery isn't really possible either, I can see the blue text in the upper right but my phone reboots after that as well.
My phone will often show an empty battery icon with a little refresh icon in the middle; does this indicate that it doesn't see the battery as charged (even though it is)?

vortexface said:
So turns out battery isn't the issue, I used a wall charger to get it to full charge. I can get it to the download mode confirmation screen, and can press volume up to confirm - but my phone reboots soon after that.
Recovery isn't really possible either, I can see the blue text in the upper right but my phone reboots after that as well.
My phone will often show an empty battery icon with a little refresh icon in the middle; does this indicate that it doesn't see the battery as charged (even though it is)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My phone started having the same problem yesterday and I tried my friends battery but it still doesn't work.

mtmodi said:
My phone started having the same problem yesterday and I tried my friends battery but it still doesn't work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I've been doing some research into the issue...
I've noticed that my phone automatically boots when I put the battery in, and that it'll do a quick vibrate when plugged in to a power source (outlet or computer) but won't turn on.
Apparently the phone isn't supposed to boot automatically when the battery is put in, and this could be the source of the random reboots - I think if I can get the rebooting under control, I'll be able to get into download mode and fix it all. But I'm not sure how to do that. Maybe the power button has gone bad, as it also doesn't usually respond when I try to use it to turn on.
If there is a problem with the power button, does anyone have any ideas on how to fix it?

vortexface said:
Yeah I've been doing some research into the issue...
I've noticed that my phone automatically boots when I put the battery in, and that it'll do a quick vibrate when plugged in to a power source (outlet or computer) but won't turn on.
Apparently the phone isn't supposed to boot automatically when the battery is put in, and this could be the source of the random reboots - I think if I can get the rebooting under control, I'll be able to get into download mode and fix it all. But I'm not sure how to do that. Maybe the power button has gone bad, as it also doesn't usually respond when I try to use it to turn on.
If there is a problem with the power button, does anyone have any ideas on how to fix it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine does the exact same thing where I have to pull the battery and when I put it back in it automatically starts up and when I go to download or recovery it turns off before I can do anything

Sounds like power button issue.
I was having the same issues (random reboots, boot loop, powering on when battery put in, reboots in download mode and recovery)
This is not an easy fix. I ended up pulling the power button out and just setting my screen to time out after 15 seconds. Sucks but it works now.
If I ever need to turn off or hard reboot, I stick a pin in the power button hole and push down on the button.
Really turning me off on purchasing future Samsung phones
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium

The power button is a common issue for these phones.

Related

[Q] Nexus won't turn on.

I have just received my new phone from the insurance company as my last one got stolen. At first it seemed fine, I put it on charge, reset the phone and logged into Google. After a few minutes I went to check on it and I cant get it to turn on (or maybe its turned on but the screen isn't).
What should I do? Is this a common thing? Thanks.
Did you pull the battery, reinsert it and hold the power button down for a few seconds?
Also, when you were charging with the phone off did you get the charging graphic on the screen?
hEaTLoE said:
Did you pull the battery, reinsert it and hold the power button down for a few seconds?
Also, when you were charging with the phone off did you get the charging graphic on the screen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply, i think i have fixed it now.
A better explanation of the problem I was having:
After a small amount of time the phone would freeze and very slowly the screen would fade to black, like the power to the screen had been taken away.
Even after pulling the battery, it wouldn't turn back on unless I waited without-battery for a while.
How i think i fixed it:
Waited a while with the battery out and turned back on, when i managed to turn it back on it had a half downloaded 4.0.4 update (could this have caused it?)
I kept trying to make it last long enough to download the whole update file, luckily it resumed from where it was last.
After installing the update it's been fine.
Sounds like a case of 4.0.2-itis.
4.0.4 is the wonder cure for all phone problems!

[Q] GS3 SPH-L710 won't turn on at all. Help!

I run a M.O.A.R. stock 4.2 rom on my Sprint GS3 SPH-L710 (that is out of warranty). Yesterday, I was scrolling through facebook when my phone spontaneously rebooted. It didn't lag, or slow, or start to not respond. I was scrolling through my feed, and suddenly it was going through the boot screens. Except it wasn't just a reboot, it went into a boot loop.
I let it reboot maybe four or five times before pulling the battery. After a few minutes, I started it up again and it was fine. It operated normally for the next couple of hours until I felt it vibrate in my pocket, and when I pulled it out I found it had went into a boot loop again. Once again, I pulled the battery.
But this time, the phone wouldn't power up. I couldn't get it to power up, go into recovery mode, download, anything. Every button combination I tried produced no response. I tried using a different battery, didn't work. I tried charging my phone for a few hours (even though my phone was >75% when this happened) and even the battery indicator screen didn't show when I pressed the home button.
I searched for possible fixes, but I couldn't find any post or thread that was similar enough to the situation I'm in. I'm 99% sure it's not Sudden Death Syndrome, and that's about all I've found.
Anyway, I need help. What can I do (if anything) to make my phone work again?
sircharlieg said:
I run a M.O.A.R. stock 4.2 rom on my Sprint GS3 SPH-L710 (that is out of warranty). Yesterday, I was scrolling through facebook when my phone spontaneously rebooted. It didn't lag, or slow, or start to not respond. I was scrolling through my feed, and suddenly it was going through the boot screens. Except it wasn't just a reboot, it went into a boot loop.
I let it reboot maybe four or five times before pulling the battery. After a few minutes, I started it up again and it was fine. It operated normally for the next couple of hours until I felt it vibrate in my pocket, and when I pulled it out I found it had went into a boot loop again. Once again, I pulled the battery.
But this time, the phone wouldn't power up. I couldn't get it to power up, go into recovery mode, download, anything. Every button combination I tried produced no response. I tried using a different battery, didn't work. I tried charging my phone for a few hours (even though my phone was >75% when this happened) and even the battery indicator screen didn't show when I pressed the home button.
I searched for possible fixes, but I couldn't find any post or thread that was similar enough to the situation I'm in. I'm 99% sure it's not Sudden Death Syndrome, and that's about all I've found.
Anyway, I need help. What can I do (if anything) to make my phone work again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like SDS, HERES a solution, or if your comfortable soldering, HERE
Follow this guide with the unbrick image pitched in the OP:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2369125
joeyhdownsouth said:
Sounds like SDS, HERES a solution, or if your comfortable soldering, HERE
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was my understanding about SDS (and please, by all means correct me if I'm wrong) that a) it only affected phones with firmware below 4.1.2 (and that 4.1.2 and 4.2 had a patch to fix SDS) and b) and it only affected international models, i.e. i9300.

[q] screen is glitchy after dropping!

Two days ago, my T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S3 dropped out of my coat pocket as i was running for the bus. I picked it up and saw the screen was cracked along the top left and bottom left hand side. Everything was working for the past two days and i figured i'll just wait till Christmas to get a new phone. This morning i took my phone off the charger and turned it on. The Samsung logo flashed, and then the boot animation for Slimrom (the custom rom i'm currently running on) flashed for about a second but then the screen went black. I did a battery pull but the weird thing is whenever i put my battery back in, even without touching the power button, it boots up by itself but then the screen goes black again. I can access TWRP and download mode but they both go black after a few seconds as well. I was able to successfully turn on my phone and have it fully function for about 15 minutes after putting it back on the charger, but it quickly blacked out again. It also keeps randomly booting up by itself which is weird. Im guessing this is a problem with the screen itself, but could it be a software issue because the device keeps booting up by itself? If it is the screen, will i have to buy a new one or is it not worth it? I've also tried using a different battery and i have the same issue so it can't be that. Any help is appreciated!
Sounds like an issue with the power button, it probably got stuck somehow either when you dropped it, or after you dropped it. Do a simple search for power button and you will find ways to fix it!
Holy crap i didn't even think of that! It makes total sense since every time i even tap my power button, even for just a second, it turns on. I've read around that clearing the cache or a factory reset could work. Is this true?
Unlikely, unless it's a software issue but it's always a possibility. Slam the phone against something to try to get the power button back into place, or open it up and try to see if you can fix it yourself, or replace it
The problem seems to be gone. I haven't had any issues for two days now. All i did was press the power button really hard multiple times. Thanks for you help man!

[Q] SM-T700 Froze, Powered off - Soft bricked?

Hey guys,
Appreciate it if you could spare me some advice on how to proceed.
So I was watching a twitch stream and all of the sudden tablet froze, and the audio froze as well causing a large super high pitch noise, I hard-reset the tablet but instead of resetting it just turned off, I started to browse the forums and found that a combination of (POWER + VOL UP & DOWN + HOME) would reset the tablet,now what this did for me is turn the tablet on but it was stuck in SD CARD Mode, back again to the forums, read that letting it discharge fully and then it will be able to be charged and turned on, that worked tablet was back doing some various tasks no video again and then boom freezes again same symptoms except this time I couldn't get it to go to SD CARD Mode its very finicky after trying at various times in the day I finally got it to work, same process except this time as soon as it turned on I went into recovery factory reset it to stock, worked a bit longer this time only installed chrome, and it froze again (don't think it was chrome) , rinse repeat and I flashed the latest firmware with ODIN worked fine, I've gotten to the home screen ran through the "factory new" set up and it turned off of me again.
I plugged it in let it charge, came up with battery icon 5% 10% ect, then I left it for a while, I came back and I cant even get it to show the battery percentage(tap power) let alone turn on.
I'm fairly sure that eventually I can get it turn back on but from there I don't know what to do.
TL;DR - Tablet Froze, Hard Reset, Froze again - Rinse Repeat, ODIN to latest STOCK firmware, tablet worked for 5 min before turning off again (plugged in), present situation
Any ideas as what to be causing the freezing and how I could remedy it?
Also sometimes when it froze it turned itself off without me hard resetting it.
Thanks its been driving me insane,
Please do not hesitate to ask me to clarify or provide more information so I can help you help me.
Maybe youve got the loose battery connector problem?
ashyx said:
Maybe youve got the loose battery connector problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What would you suggest I do, submit it to warranty ? Will they disregard the fact that knox has been tripped if its a hardware issue ?
sunb3ar said:
What would you suggest I do, submit it to warranty ? Will they disregard the fact that knox has been tripped if its a hardware issue ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the loose battery connector problem, but the symptoms do not sound the same as mine. I could get mine to boot up, but the screen would flicker and a few white lines would appear before it would reboot itself. I actually started a ticket with Samsung and got the packaging label but, upon further reading, realized that I was pretty much SOL after tripping knox, and didn't want to risk the chance of getting charged for just sending it in. If it is indeed the loose battery connector, you should be able to remove the back cover yourself and fiddle with it. Ultimately, mine needed re-soldering, and I was able to find a local electronic repair shop to do it for me for cheap.
Good luck!
UPDATE: I've managed to get into SDCARD MODE yet again, except discharging seems to get out of it, but once I plug it back in it doesn't come up charging it just black screen, until I hold some buttons and arrive back at sdcard mode. Good times.
Trying various things to get it to boot..
EDIT: Appreciate the insight Squez, I want to exhaust all the other options before opening it myself, if Knox didn't void the warranty to some degree, opening it up should put the final nail in the coffin.
EDIT2: Good news, sort of, tablet isn't dead! after numerous attempts with charge SDCARD mode, discharge, It finally start to charge properly and I managed to get it to boot, worked for a few hours then I left it to charge, and went to sleep, woke up and wont turn on again, but I am in SDCARD Mode again but need wait for it to discharge from presumably 100% ....
[What do you mean Sd card mode? DOWNLOAD mode?
Also no need to let the battery drain.
Just press VOLUME DOWN(not volume up) and POWER together then hold until it restarts.
This is a hard reset and will ALWAYS work unless the device is hard bricked. It is the equivalent of a battery pull.
I continually see here and there incorrect information regarding key combinations, even in so called guides, this forum is even guilty!
Here is what works on the 10.5lte, as far as I'm aware its the same for all versions, indeed pretty much any Samsung device.
HARD RESET:
VOLUME DOWN - POWER.
Hold until the device restarts.
DOWNLOAD MODE:
HOME - VOLUME DOWN - POWER.
Hold until the device boots.
RECOVERY MODE:
HOME - VOLUME UP - POWER.
Hold until the device boots.
ashyx said:
[What do you mean Sd card mode? DOWNLOAD mode?
Also no need to let the battery drain.
Just press VOLUME DOWN(not volume up) and POWER together then hold until it restarts.
This is a hard reset and will ALWAYS work unless the device is hard bricked. It is the equivalent of a battery pull.
I continually see here and there incorrect information regarding key combinations, even in so called guides, this forum is even guilty!
Here is what works on the 10.5lte, as far as I'm aware its the same for all versions, indeed pretty much any Samsung device.
HARD RESET:
VOLUME DOWN - POWER.
Hold until the device restarts.
DOWNLOAD MODE:
HOME - VOLUME DOWN - POWER.
Hold until the device boots.
RECOVERY MODE:
HOME - VOLUME UP - POWER.
Hold until the device boots.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I should of posted a photo earlier but here is one I found on google of same screen: (check attachments)
Except UP KEY and DOWN KEY don't do anything, its just this screen, if you attempt to hard reset ect, it will just reload this screen, hence the discharge, then plug it back in and hope it begins to charge "battery icon appears". I have gotten it to boot like this a few times.
sunb3ar said:
I should of posted a photo earlier but here is one I found on google of same screen: (check attachments)
Except UP KEY and DOWN KEY don't do anything, its just this screen, if you attempt to hard reset ect, it will just reload this screen, hence the discharge, then plug it back in and hope it begins to charge "battery icon appears". I have gotten it to boot like this a few times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wtf
How did you get to that mode? Looks like its trying to flash from the sd card. Ive seen safe mode but not that.
see here: http://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/10127092-post62.html
ashyx said:
Wtf
How did you get to that mode? Looks like its trying to flash from the sd card. Ive seen safe mode but not that.
see here: #
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah its strange as.
I'll have a look at that, thanks.
EDIT: It just finished discharging and now I am on the battery screen.. Usually once it charges here I can get it to boot, what I'm curious is what on earth keeps causing it to freeze up, because in download mode and twrp (gone since i flashed stock via odin) it wouldn't freeze at all, only have issues with it once its booted or charging. I installed a logcat earlier hopefully that should shed some light on the situation,
EDIT2: Well another very interesting thing, the official Samsung charger wont charge it, only works if I plug it into pc or use a non-official charger, strange thing is nothing is wrong with the samsung charger or cable since I can charge my phone fully from it. These have to be some of the strangest symptoms.
EDIT3: Only works through USB port on PC for now, non official charger comes with red X on battery once booted. I assume you can work around this once rooted but that's for another time..
EDIT4: Charge through pc to around 2-3%, boot device, plug into official samsung wall charger and it begins to charge properly.
EDIT5: Hooray back to step one, trying get into SDCARD Mode, same thing happened left it overnight and it wont turn on or charge anymore.
ashyx said:
Wtf
How did you get to that mode? Looks like its trying to flash from the sd card. Ive seen safe mode but not that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i am pretty sure the HOME - VOLUME DOWN - POWER. puts the 10.5 into the sdcard mode.
my tablet is doing very similar to sunb3ar findings.
have had it come back to me once from sdcardmode.. (let if go flat and starting charging then it would start via normal buttons)
it crashed not long after that. it got stuck in sdcard mode again, but this time none of the drain flat, put on charge has worked.. just blank..
fyi- we try to put it in RECOVERY MODE, but it does not work when in this crashed / sdcard mode state
i even disconnected the battery and then plugged back on charge.. nothing..
today i tested the battery volts, 2.8v , for a 3.8v i thought that was ok. i attached my RC lipo multi charger set to 1amp 3.7volt charge, direct to the - + on the battery- got it up to 3.5v, plugged back in, put the charger on- the sdcard mode (most life it has shown in a week).
still not coming up with 'battery' display to say its 'turn-off and being charged'. just the sdcardmode might disappear and return..
i am currently adding mode charge to battery... will try to HARD RESET next.. since i have not tried that combo yet..
HARD RESET:
VOLUME DOWN - POWER.
Hold until the device restarts.
edit: i took it off 'direct' charge, battery at 3.7volts.. then plugged in normal charger, i got a 'battery symbol' but it had the lightening bolt, not a %.. so i unplugged and reconnected to my direct charge to give the battery more volts. i am surprised that the unit seems to think a battery with 3.8volt as it specs seems to not be like with volts not much lower than 3.8.. could be time for a new battery if we can get this thing to restart

VS985 bootloop, not recognizing battery?

Like title says, my VS985 is looping in random ways and sometimes doesn't recognize that the battery is in the phone. Here is an overview:
- While off the charger, it is unresponsive, no buttons work.
- Recovery button combo does not work. I cannot get into recovery at all.
- While plugged in, it shows the battery screen, then reboots into a loop, has a long vibration
- Plug in + power button is a short vibration, I see the LG screen then it reboots to the above loop
- Plug into PC + up button shows the download mode screen then reboots to above loop
- At random times it will display the gray screen as if I plugged it in with no battery
Am I screwed? Wanted to sell this thing but I doubt it now. It was rooted running an older Euphoria build
tpayne2345 said:
Like title says, my VS985 is looping in random ways and sometimes doesn't recognize that the battery is in the phone. Here is an overview:
- While off the charger, it is unresponsive, no buttons work.
- Recovery button combo does not work. I cannot get into recovery at all.
- While plugged in, it shows the battery screen, then reboots into a loop, has a long vibration
- Plug in + power button is a short vibration, I see the LG screen then it reboots to the above loop
- Plug into PC + up button shows the download mode screen then reboots to above loop
- At random times it will display the gray screen as if I plugged it in with no battery
Am I screwed? Wanted to sell this thing but I doubt it now. It was rooted running an older Euphoria build
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it still do the same thing with a new working battery?
itsbighead said:
Does it still do the same thing with a new working battery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not going to buy a new one to attempt it since this isn't even my main device.. However, I left it plugged up in it's battery loop all night and this morning it had booted successfully and the battery was at 100%
I unplugged and powered it off, it's still unresponsive. No buttons work at all. I plugged it back into the charger and it starts the same loop again...........
tpayne2345 said:
Not going to buy a new one to attempt it since this isn't even my main device.. However, I left it plugged up in it's battery loop all night and this morning it had booted successfully and the battery was at 100%
I unplugged and powered it off, it's still unresponsive. No buttons work at all. I plugged it back into the charger and it starts the same loop again...........
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly the same behaviour with my d855. The last few months were just random reboots here and there, occasionally needing a battery pull. These days it was turning off randomly during use but never while plugged in...now it doesn't even boot while plugged in. Your description matches my experience perfectly.
I've seen quite a few reports of this behaviour, all happening recently...what is going on?
3dawg said:
Exactly the same behaviour with my d855. The last few months were just random reboots here and there, occasionally needing a battery pull. These days it was turning off randomly during use but never while plugged in...now it doesn't even boot while plugged in. Your description matches my experience perfectly.
I've seen quite a few reports of this behaviour, all happening recently...what is going on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure how to explain it, I don't think it's the battery since it will sometimes boot up correctly. I ordered a new power button flex cable off of ebay when I made this topic, when it gets here I'll post again with the results.
@3dawg the brand new power flex cable solved my problems, which was that the old power button became faulty and was rebooting the phone before it could start anything
after installing the new flex cable, I was able to charge the phone (it was completely dead from rebooting) and now I'm able to use it again
tpayne2345 said:
@3dawg the brand new power flex cable solved my problems, which was that the old power button became faulty and was rebooting the phone before it could start anything
after installing the new flex cable, I was able to charge the phone (it was completely dead from rebooting) and now I'm able to use it again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is interesting because replacing the battery on mine also completely fixed my problem. Thanks for letting me know!

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