[Q] Bricked but is it hard or soft bricked? - AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III

I turned on my rooted Virgin Mobile Galaxy S 3 when it got stuck on the Samsung logo. The logo is animated but the phone will not progress past it. The phone is unable to boot into recovery or download mode; when I try to do so, the phone behaves as if I tried to simply turn it on normally. Samsung Kies is unable to connect to my phone but it does notice when I connect the phone to my computer. Odin also knows when the phone is connected. This occurred after using Odin for something I downloaded from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1739426.

asodiu said:
I was messing around with my rooted Virgin Mobile Galaxy S 3 when it got stuck on the Samsung logo. The logo is animated but the phone will not progress past it. The phone is unable to boot into recovery or download mode; when I try to do so, the phone behaves as if I tried to simply turn it on normally. Samsung Kies is unable to connect to my phone but it does notice when I connect the phone to my computer. Odin also knows when the phone is connected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are actually at the forum for the i747M/U variants of the SG3. To see if we can help you, however, you would need to provide more info ... You said you were doing stuff with your phone? Were you trying to flash a firmware or something? If so, what were you flashing and at what stage did your phone get stuck in the bootloop?
It's not a hard brick if your phone still makes some attempt at starting.

Larry2999 said:
You are actually at the forum for the i747M/U variants of the SG3. To see if we can help you, however, you would need to provide more info ... You said you were doing stuff with your phone? Were you trying to flash a firmware or something? If so, what were you flashing and at what stage did your phone get stuck in the bootloop?
It's not a hard brick if your phone still makes some attempt at starting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was flashing a download found in the link I have given (the newest Bell one). My phone had progressed past the first sign of the Samsung logo, past the screen saying "Samsung GALAXY S III" and past the animation with the sound before getting stuck on the next Samsung logo.

After flashing, did you boot to recovery and wipe data and cache?

audit13 said:
After flashing, did you boot to recovery and wipe data and cache?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I have said, I am unable to boot to recovery or boot to download mode. I did not wipe data and cache.

Actually, after removing my battery for approximately forty minutes, I was able to boot into download mode. When I attempted to boot into recovery mode after turning on the phone normally (which resulted in the phone being unable to progress past the Samsung logo), I was once again only able to turn on the phone normally and get stuck on the logo.

asodiu said:
Actually, after removing my battery for approximately forty minutes, I was able to boot into download mode. When I attempted to boot into recovery mode after turning on the phone normally (which resulted in the phone being unable to progress past the Samsung logo), I was once again only able to turn on the phone normally and get stuck on the logo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I recommend getting your hands on the Android SDK and using adb to boot into download and recovery modes. I got a water damaged d2att from friend a few months ago and the old volume down key doesn't work and using the command prompt and adb, you can get it to boot to whichever mode you want.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

asodiu said:
I was flashing a download found in the link I have given (the newest Bell one). My phone had progressed past the first sign of the Samsung logo, past the screen saying "Samsung GALAXY S III" and past the animation with the sound before getting stuck on the next Samsung logo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Virgin Mobile is a 'virtual' mobile network operator but ports mainly on the Sprint CDMA network. Unless your phone specifically had Bell firmware or was porting on Bell, flashing the Bell version would be wrong and could, nay would, cause a brick. Thankfully, though it appears to be only a soft brick and may be recoverable by re-flashing compatible firmware. Unlike Sprint and Virgin which are CDMA networks, Bell is GSM so I'd very much doubt that the firmware you were trying to flash was compatible with your phone. The fact that your phone is still trying to boot suggests that the bootloader is still intact but the system itself has been compromised. Can you remember what Android version your phone was on the last time it functioned normally? If so, I would suggest you visit Sammobile.com or androidfilehost.com and find the same version (or higher) for your phone and then flash to return to stock or near stock. You can always re-root afterwards or flash a custom ROM when your phone is back to working normally.
Since you can get into download mode, you can flash custom recovery in case the stock file you find is a zip file to be flashed via recovery. You should be able to get into recovery mode if you try the button combo again after you have flashed custom recovery via Odin. Otherwise, if it's a *.tar file, just flash directly with Odin.

Larry2999 said:
Virgin Mobile is a 'virtual' mobile network operator but ports mainly on the Sprint CDMA network. Unless your phone specifically had Bell firmware or was porting on Bell, flashing the Bell version would be wrong and could, nay would, cause a brick. Thankfully, though it appears to be only a soft brick and may be recoverable by re-flashing compatible firmware. Unlike Sprint and Virgin which are CDMA networks, Bell is GSM so I'd very much doubt that the firmware you were trying to flash was compatible with your phone. The fact that your phone is still trying to boot suggests that the bootloader is still intact but the system itself has been compromised. Can you remember what Android version your phone was on the last time it functioned normally? If so, I would suggest you visit Sammobile.com or androidfilehost.com and find the same version (or higher) for your phone and then flash to return to stock or near stock. You can always re-root afterwards or flash a custom ROM when your phone is back to working normally.
Since you can get into download mode, you can flash custom recovery in case the stock file you find is a zip file to be flashed via recovery. You should be able to get into recovery mode if you try the button combo again after you have flashed custom recovery via Odin. Otherwise, if it's a *.tar file, just flash directly with Odin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have successfully managed to flash stock filmware on my phone and now it is working fine. The post which I got the file that I attempted to flash stated that the Bell version would work with the Virgin Mobile phones. My Galaxy S 3 was running Android 4.3.

asodiu said:
I have successfully managed to flash stock filmware on my phone and now it is working fine. The post which I got the file that I attempted to flash stated that the Bell version would work with the Virgin Mobile phones. My Galaxy S 3 was running Android 4.3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to know it's working fine now. Unless the firmware for the 2 phone models have identical build numbers, I'd be surprised the post suggested that cross-flashing may be OK.

Related

[Q] Just got this phone, it was rooted, flashed recovery to TWRP and now it wont boot

It had clockwork mod on it, so I downloaded TWRP from their site and flashed it via clockwork mod and now the boot image get's all crazy and flickers and then black screens. I can still get into download mode so I guess it's odin for me. It's the GT-N7100 model. What version of Odin and which image do I use? I'm in the USA using T-Mobile. Thanks.
Use the right one for your phone, N7100. Try flash it with odin. If it still in bootloop, flash cf-auto root through odin, usually it will boot after auto root process done. Hope this help...
stonedead said:
Use the right one for your phone, N7100. Try flash it with odin. If it still in bootloop, flash cf-auto root through odin, usually it will boot after auto root process done. Hope this help...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I meant what country's firmware, mostly, since I didn't see anything for the U.S and I don't have any info about this phone other than that it's the gt-n7100. Anyway, I got past that bootloop, I used some UK firmware, kinda bootlooping between some o2 splash screen and a samsung logo now. I can get into recovery though.
Ok, I'm not boot looping anymore, just did a factory reset in the stock recovery and it worked.
Now I have another issue - I put my sim in, and it starts up and I have HSPA+. Then it drops to 3g after like 30 seconds, and in the initial setup I can't connect to any services to set up my accounts - it just flat out doesnt work. Then I get into the system after skipping all that and I have no data at all, and when I make phone calls it just hangs at dialing. What do I do? Thanks.

[Q] AT&T Galaxy SIII (SGH-I747) will not boot past Samsung logo

I have been using the i747z ROMs for quite some time and after trying a bunch of other ROMs I always reverted back to theirs. So when their 3.0 version came out with Android 4.3 I installed it, using ClockWorkMod recovery. Right after it installed, CWM displayed a message about the boot loader and to fix it. So I went ahead and did that (Don't really remember what the message was) What I know is that I lost root. Also the phone could not connect to the mobile network, only on Wifi. So this morning, I factory reset the phone again, and attempted to root the phone with Odin with CF-Auto-Root-d2att-d2uc-samsungsghi747 (which I had used when I first rooted the phone). Now the phone doesn't boot past the 2nd samsung logo, it starts out with the Samsung logo with the blue circle around it, then the AT&T Rethink Possible and then the plain white Samsung logo. Also, the LED has a slow blue flicker.
I can get the phone into download mode and I have used Odin to attempt to load the stock firmware and the stock bootloader. But after restarting the phone I can't get past the same screen described above.
I am pretty sure this is not related to the i747z v3.0 ROM but rather something a miss with the order in which things need to start in Android. I have done some reading on that but I am not sure what I need to do to correct this soft brick situation. ( I have googled "soft brick" as well)
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
mozphoto said:
I have been using the i747z ROMs for quite some time and after trying a bunch of other ROMs I always reverted back to theirs. So when their 3.0 version came out with Android 4.3 I installed it, using ClockWorkMod recovery. Right after it installed, CWM displayed a message about the boot loader and to fix it. So I went ahead and did that (Don't really remember what the message was) What I know is that I lost root. Also the phone could not connect to the mobile network, only on Wifi. So this morning, I factory reset the phone again, and attempted to root the phone with Odin with CF-Auto-Root-d2att-d2uc-samsungsghi747 (which I had used when I first rooted the phone). Now the phone doesn't boot past the 2nd samsung logo, it starts out with the Samsung logo with the blue circle around it, then the AT&T Rethink Possible and then the plain white Samsung logo. Also, the LED has a slow blue flicker.
I can get the phone into download mode and I have used Odin to attempt to load the stock firmware and the stock bootloader. But after restarting the phone I can't get past the same screen described above.
I am pretty sure this is not related to the i747z v3.0 ROM but rather something a miss with the order in which things need to start in Android. I have done some reading on that but I am not sure what I need to do to correct this soft brick situation. ( I have googled "soft brick" as well)
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After flashing through odin did you format data?If not try it.
Go into recovery and wipe data.
**SOLVED**
Thanks xXFl4sh, I had tried that.
Solved!
Alright where do I start? How about RTFM Some how I had missed the part about flashing a bootloader and a modem after the ROM. Not recalling having to do that before, I skipped right over it. Once the recovery CWM 6.0.3.1 was finally loaded, getting the flashing the ROM, the bootloader and the modem was easy as usual.
The key was having to use Odin to install a recovery in .tar or .tar.md5 format since I could not access a Recovery Mode on the GS3, as well as a rooted stock image (I used root66_ATT_I747UCDLK3.tar.md5 which is a rooted Android 4.1.1 for AT&T) For the recovery, I couldnt' find a .tar or .tar.md5 for ClockWorkMod (did find a utility to convert it, but didn't want to introduce another variable into the mix) so I used one from Team Win Recovery (v2.6.3.0) and with that I loaded the CWM recovery. Once all of that was in place, I proceed to factory reset, clear data, cache, system and then flash the new ROM, bootloader and modem.
In all of this I learned quite a bit about the whole process and how to narrow down possible resolutions. I still see the "Rom may flash stock recovery on boot" message after flashing either a ROM, bootloader or modem, but just backing out without answering Yes or No seems to work. Also (and this may be related, I don't see the option to restart in recovery from shutdown menu). Don't really know what that's all about for now, and honestly don't want to mess around (at least for a while)
I know the steps are general, but I hope this can help some else if they get their devices in a soft brick situation. As for the i747z v3 ROM with 4.3, I really like it, everything works (Wifi,Blutooth,tethering) and the battery seems good as well.
Thanks!

[Q] Help! Note 2 bootloop, no recovery

Hey, so my note 2 (sgh-i317m variant) running 4.3 is stuck on the samsung screen and I cannot boot into recovery (it just stays at the samsung screen). What I believe caused this is the fact that I originally had it rooted, but flashed back to stock via odin to update to 4.3. Then I proceeded to re root it via odin and the cf auto root, however I forgot to factory reset before doing this. Now its stuck on the samsung screen and I cannot even get it into recovery mode. I can get it into download mode but whenever I try reflashing the stock rom (I have two different ones) neither of them work and Odin just displays "fail". I really dont know what else to do, hoping someone will know, thanks in advance.
Friend, try Google for KIES3. After installation under the Menu bar..look into something recoveries..
There you'll need to enter your model and serial no.
Boot your hp to DOWNLOAD MODE and plug to your usb. Then let KIES do its work.
Hope it helps
53N53L355 said:
Friend, try Google for KIES3. After installation under the Menu bar..look into something recoveries..
There you'll need to enter your model and serial no.
Boot your hp to DOWNLOAD MODE and plug to your usb. Then let KIES do its work.
Hope it helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That didnt work
Mbrar15 said:
Hey, so my note 2 (sgh-i317m variant) running 4.3 is stuck on the samsung screen and I cannot boot into recovery (it just stays at the samsung screen). What I believe caused this is the fact that I originally had it rooted, but flashed back to stock via odin to update to 4.3. Then I proceeded to re root it via odin and the cf auto root, however I forgot to factory reset before doing this. Now its stuck on the samsung screen and I cannot even get it into recovery mode. I can get it into download mode but whenever I try reflashing the stock rom (I have two different ones) neither of them work and Odin just displays "fail". I really dont know what else to do, hoping someone will know, thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
POST the complete ODIN log here.
...
Mbrar15 said:
Hey, so my note 2 (sgh-i317m variant) running 4.3 is stuck on the samsung screen and I cannot boot into recovery (it just stays at the samsung screen). What I believe caused this is the fact that I originally had it rooted, but flashed back to stock via odin to update to 4.3. Then I proceeded to re root it via odin and the cf auto root, however I forgot to factory reset before doing this. Now its stuck on the samsung screen and I cannot even get it into recovery mode. I can get it into download mode but whenever I try reflashing the stock rom (I have two different ones) neither of them work and Odin just displays "fail". I really dont know what else to do, hoping someone will know, thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you end up figuring it out?

[Q] ATT SGH-I313 Note 2 bricked/soft brick issues

So I have an Att Note 2, which is bricked or soft bricked. I am a very rookie Android guy when it comes to modifying or hacking. I did root my Note 2 with Cyanogenmod. However, I missed S Note and the use of my S Pen so I researched a bit to get back to stock with the use of Odin and stock roms found on the net. I was successful, and actually amazed it worked. Long story short, a few days after that, an OTA update hit my phone, didn't even think about it and began the download. The phone downloaded the update, and rebooted to complete the install. The problem is, during reboot, the phone got stuck on the "Samsung Galaxy Note II" screen. I researched a bit online, and everyone said get to recovery mode and do a few things. Problem is, I can't get into recovery mode, I can only get the screen described above, and the download screen, THAT IS ALL. Looked a bit more online and attempted to flash various stock roms with Odin. Some were successful, Odin passed, and the phone would get stuck on the Note II screen again, and would not boot into recovery mode, same issue with only being able to access download mode. The unsuccessful flash attempts got me to screen informing me that Kies needs to be used to update my firmware. Kies showed a recovery code, which was downloaded, but unsuccessful. It would download all the way, but at the end of install, it would fail. Funny thing is it would work enough to get me back to the ability to get into download mode. I just want my Note 2 working again. Is there any way to wipe my phone completely clean, and start over? Or is there any way to even re-root it, or flash any sort of rom on there, just so I can use the damn thing? I need some help by you pros out there ! Please!
titostats said:
So I have an Att Note 2, which is bricked or soft bricked. I am a very rookie Android guy when it comes to modifying or hacking. I did root my Note 2 with Cyanogenmod. However, I missed S Note and the use of my S Pen so I researched a bit to get back to stock with the use of Odin and stock roms found on the net. I was successful, and actually amazed it worked. Long story short, a few days after that, an OTA update hit my phone, didn't even think about it and began the download. The phone downloaded the update, and rebooted to complete the install. The problem is, during reboot, the phone got stuck on the "Samsung Galaxy Note II" screen. I researched a bit online, and everyone said get to recovery mode and do a few things. Problem is, I can't get into recovery mode, I can only get the screen described above, and the download screen, THAT IS ALL. Looked a bit more online and attempted to flash various stock roms with Odin. Some were successful, Odin passed, and the phone would get stuck on the Note II screen again, and would not boot into recovery mode, same issue with only being able to access download mode. The unsuccessful flash attempts got me to screen informing me that Kies needs to be used to update my firmware. Kies showed a recovery code, which was downloaded, but unsuccessful. It would download all the way, but at the end of install, it would fail. Funny thing is it would work enough to get me back to the ability to get into download mode. I just want my Note 2 working again. Is there any way to wipe my phone completely clean, and start over? Or is there any way to even re-root it, or flash any sort of rom on there, just so I can use the damn thing? I need some help by you pros out there ! Please!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download the latest kies from the samsung website.. and then open tools and then firmware update and initialization.. pull out the battery and type the model number and serial number kies asks.. follow the instructions.. your phone will be fine..
Sent from my GT-N7100
titostats said:
So I have an Att Note 2, which is bricked or soft bricked. I am a very rookie Android guy when it comes to modifying or hacking. I did root my Note 2 with Cyanogenmod. However, I missed S Note and the use of my S Pen so I researched a bit to get back to stock with the use of Odin and stock roms found on the net. I was successful, and actually amazed it worked. Long story short, a few days after that, an OTA update hit my phone, didn't even think about it and began the download. The phone downloaded the update, and rebooted to complete the install. The problem is, during reboot, the phone got stuck on the "Samsung Galaxy Note II" screen. I researched a bit online, and everyone said get to recovery mode and do a few things. Problem is, I can't get into recovery mode, I can only get the screen described above, and the download screen, THAT IS ALL. Looked a bit more online and attempted to flash various stock roms with Odin. Some were successful, Odin passed, and the phone would get stuck on the Note II screen again, and would not boot into recovery mode, same issue with only being able to access download mode. The unsuccessful flash attempts got me to screen informing me that Kies needs to be used to update my firmware. Kies showed a recovery code, which was downloaded, but unsuccessful. It would download all the way, but at the end of install, it would fail. Funny thing is it would work enough to get me back to the ability to get into download mode. I just want my Note 2 working again. Is there any way to wipe my phone completely clean, and start over? Or is there any way to even re-root it, or flash any sort of rom on there, just so I can use the damn thing? I need some help by you pros out there ! Please!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try flashing a recovery for ur device with Odin, not a ROM, just flash twrp recovery with Odin, after u flash the recovery u will be able to access recovery and flash a stock ROM through twrp. I think what happened to u is when u flashed the update it tried to right over the unlocked bootloader which caused the soft brick, try flashing the recovery for ur device and if that doesn't work try the above posters way...
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

[Q] [Help] Galaxy nexus rebooting continuously

Hi
My GNex (Unlocked GSM variant) is rebooting continuously. I'm on Resurrection Remix rom (not blaming the rom, just mentioning it), TWRP: 2.8.5.0
The phone boots up, shows the lock screen and reboots within 10 seconds. This is happening continuously....
I booted into Recovery and did a restore(of existing nandroid)/wiped/repaired/re-partitioned but nothing works, it'd just say successful but the ROM/Data doesnt change at all.
Tried flashing via ODIN, but it fails after transmitting system.img to the device. Tried using pit also. Used different cables/USB ports/machines just to be sure.
Once after the phone booted up, I somehow managed to disable the Wifi (in 10 seconds that the phone was ON)and it got disconnected. And after the auto-reboot the wifi somehow was still ON.
I assume that the memory blocks have gone to read-only mode.
Similar thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/general/xda-assist/galaxy-nexus-restarting-continuously-t3046586
I'm posting it here for visibility. Please help
Regards,
sasuketobi
Have you tried installing the latest factory image from Google?
If not, just download it (I cannot post links now, because I have less than 10 posts, but you can google it by yourself - galaxy nexus factory image)
For GSM maguro, use yakju or takju with Google Wallet support.
Extract zip somewhere to your PC, connect your Nexus with your PC in bootloader mode and run flash-all.bat.
After this, you will have fully working 4.3 stock Android.
Then you should try again flashing recovery, custom rom and kernel.
LamarrCZ said:
Have you tried installing the latest factory image from Google?
If not, just download it (I cannot post links now, because I have less than 10 posts, but you can google it by yourself - galaxy nexus factory image)
For GSM maguro, use yakju or takju with Google Wallet support.
Extract zip somewhere to your PC, connect your Nexus with your PC in bootloader mode and run flash-all.bat.
After this, you will have fully working 4.3 stock Android.
Then you should try again flashing recovery, custom rom and kernel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I've tried this and also using the flashboot commands separately but with no luck. Thanks for your suggestion though.
sasuketobi said:
Hi
My GNex (Unlocked GSM variant) is rebooting continuously. I'm on Resurrection Remix rom (not blaming the rom, just mentioning it), TWRP: 2.8.5.0
The phone boots up, shows the lock screen and reboots within 10 seconds. This is happening continuously....
I booted into Recovery and did a restore(of existing nandroid)/wiped/repaired/re-partitioned but nothing works, it'd just say successful but the ROM/Data doesnt change at all.
Tried flashing via ODIN, but it fails after transmitting system.img to the device. Tried using pit also. Used different cables/USB ports/machines just to be sure.
Once after the phone booted up, I somehow managed to disable the Wifi (in 10 seconds that the phone was ON)and it got disconnected. And after the auto-reboot the wifi somehow was still ON.
I assume that the memory blocks have gone to read-only mode.
Similar thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/general/xda-assist/galaxy-nexus-restarting-continuously-t3046586
I'm posting it here for visibility. Please help
Regards,
sasuketobi
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If every attempt to revive your phone fails, then I'm afraid that you will have to replace the motherboard in your phone
Wish39 said:
If every attempt to revive your phone fails, then I'm afraid that you will have to replace the motherboard in your phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I've been thinking the same. Tried everything that I can and it's still in the same state.
Hi,
today my Galaxy Nexus started doing the same things you described. All trys to factory reset the phone or to flash a new rom were worthless. Did you get a solution for the Problem or did you change the motherboard?
Thank you for your help
Jochen
Even my keeps on rebooting continuously.. did any one find any solution...Please help..Thanks in anticipation of your cooperation..
same here, if anyone could help I would appreciate

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