So i bricked my Samsung Galaxy S3. I believe it is hard bricked because there is absolutely no response from the phone. Can't boot into recover, download, or regular boot. The phone has at least 40% battery when I last saw it work.
I was attempting to roll back my android OS to see if I could extend my battery life but every time i tried using odin my download mode would give me "sv rev check fail" so i attempted to unlock the boot loader. I couldnt odin it so I flashed a custom rom to check if I could flash roms on my phone. The slimkat custom rom worked but when I tried to flash back to stock I would get the sv error. I saw that EZ-Unlock app would work so i tried it out. The app said it unlocked but when I restarted the phone to get into download mode, the phone seems to be bricked.
I have a usb jig but it doesnt seem to force my phone in to download mode and I am waiting on a micro SD card to try to un brick it. How can I use the micro card to un brick the Tmobile version of SG3?
Samsung Galaxy S3 SGH-T999
First of all the bootloader is NOT locked, so whatever that app does it was not mean for this device.. You should never attempt to downgrade firmware, it has been stated many times that there is high risk to hard brick when you try to bypass this restriction. The unbrick might work
Follow instructions in the debrick thread and hopefully it'll work.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk
NomNomMOn said:
I saw that EZ-Unlock app would work so i tried it out. The app said it unlocked but when I restarted the phone to get into download mode, the phone seems to be bricked
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Click to collapse
thats what i used on my first S3. bricked it like a............brick.lmfao.
gave it to some guy and i here now that he was able to revive it by some magical hoo-doo crap. well thats what i deserve for not reading reading and reading some more.
well , good for him is all i can say.! at least its gettin used ! :sly:
err on the side of kindness
Lol! I couldn't remember for sure if that's how it had happened on this thing, so I didn't want to say for certain that it was fixable. (Should a just asked you, but in my own defense, what's left of my mind these last few weeks is pretty much a scrambled mess!)
Anyway, I can 100% confirm that this type of brick is fixable. Using it as we speak/type!
And thanks to mrrocketdog for saving my a$$ with this thing! I may not have been around at all the last little while if not for him! (Might be back using my sad little MyTouch 3G Slide!)
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk
Related
Is bricking your device easy to happen? I'm scared of bricking my phone. Can the phone still brick when you do everything correctly?
Anything is possible.
I took chances on all my phones and never had a problem .
sent from the Dark §¡3€
MarsHD2 said:
Is bricking your device easy to happen? I'm scared of bricking my phone. Can the phone still brick when you do everything correctly?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you do everything correctly, most likely not. A lot of bricks occurs because of user error. Flashing the wrong Galaxy s2 ROM/recovery etc, on our devices... there are a total of 5 variants i think.. only two works with ours.. skyrocket and hercules (i727 and t989)
I haven't heard of any bricks that occurs for doing everything correctly.
I have read up on some rare cases where a phone just blacks out from normal use... from heating up... or just random stuff.. some of the users aren't even rooted. That is purely the fault of the hardware simply giving up.
It is very easy to Root our phone:
ODIN
Flash Recovery
Flash ROM or Superuser
you can even mess up on flashing the recovery but you can actually recover from it. You will get the message where it says "firmware update failed, please connect to kies and recover," this is easily recoverable.. You just go back to ODIN Mode and flash recovery again.
The only way you can BRICK the phone:
1. Flash a ROM that doesn't belong to our device.
2. Mess up on Flashing a Stock ROM (user fault) such as battery falling out.. battery dying.. cable falls out. cable is loose etc.. while in the middle of flashing.
I remember reading that people tried to flash a Modem that didn't belong to our device, but ODIN either prevented this from happening or you get the "firmware update failed..." message.
TL;DR: No it is fairly safe and the only chances of bricking is when flashing something that isn't for our phone.
1. Flash a ROM that doesn't belong to our device.
2. Mess up on Flashing a Stock ROM (user fault) such as battery falling out.. battery dying.. cable falls out. cable is loose etc.. while in the middle of flashing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I still don't see how those two things can mess up the phone? Can't you just use odin to reflash? You would think that they make the download portion of the phone non-writable so you can always use it with odin to reflash in any state. I must be missing something here. Does flashing a ROM mess with the "Download" partition also?
It is normally unwritable to prevent such problems. By using odin, you are bypassing the safety feature of the ROM area. By interrupting the process mid-way, you might not do not copy over all the 'necessary' files for the phone to function at it's lowest levels of operation. IE turn on when you tell it to. Flashing a rom doesn't mess with the user accessible partition.
Is using ClockWorkMod to flash any safer?
Catch-22.
If you want to use the ClockWorkMod app to flash, you will need to grant it superuser permissions. How do you get superuser? You need to be rooted by installing ClockWorkMod.. odin is pretty safe. Make sure to have a half-way charged battery (at least), and click the pda button.
True but how about subsequent flashes
Look bro its hard to brick these samsung but its not impossible trust me i know from experience, my first ever phone i rooted and played with was the galaxy s 4g and lets just say i bricked the **** out of it. think of it like this you flash a rom for a phone that is not yours this phone has a physical keyboard and the only way that phone can get into download mode is a combination of keys on the keyboard (this is just hypothetical) and the only way to get odin to recognize device is to be in DL mode...How can you be in DL with a phone that doesnt have physical keyboard but requires use of it to get into DL mode.
I've never bricked. Been in a bootloop, but just had to wipe and flash again
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
jdubb1106 said:
Look bro its hard to brick these samsung but its not impossible trust me i know from experience, my first ever phone i rooted and played with was the galaxy s 4g and lets just say i bricked the **** out of it. think of it like this you flash a rom for a phone that is not yours this phone has a physical keyboard and the only way that phone can get into download mode is a combination of keys on the keyboard (this is just hypothetical) and the only way to get odin to recognize device is to be in DL mode...How can you be in DL with a phone that doesnt have physical keyboard but requires use of it to get into DL mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get a jig?
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App
jig didnt work on my sgs4g. And all that example was purely hypothetical, just using as example so op understands what people are trying to say.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
jordanishere said:
Get a jig?
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried to flash a kernel and a rom for the i9100 on mine using cwm. Flash went through just fine, went to reboot.... Nuthin. Not even a jig brought it back. Just be sure of what you're flashing and you'll be good. I've been flashing roms since the razr v3, and this is my first brick.
Sent from my Nexus One using Tapatalk
zak rabbit said:
I tried to flash a kernel and a rom for the i9100 on mine using cwm. Flash went through just fine, went to reboot.... Nuthin. Not even a jig brought it back. Just be sure of what you're flashing and you'll be good. I've been flashing roms since the razr v3, and this is my first brick.
Sent from my Nexus One using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its tough with all the diff varients. doesnt help that they all have the exact same name too.
Props for not being one of the whiners who blames their brick on xda. hope you get a new t989.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App
Just to throw this in there - if your phone does ANYTHING when you try to turn it on (soft keys light up/some sort of response from the screen), or plug it in, it is a soft brick in which you should be able to recover the phone. Many times it takes multiple tries (due to picky button combos) but it will come back. Coming from the Vibrant 3g, I can tell you from experience that you know when you have a hard brick because the phone does not respond AT ALL. It doesn't do anything when it's plugged in or when buttons are pressed. The ONLY time I've legitimately bricked a sgs was when I flashed a rom on a low battery not knowing that the phone does not charge in recovery. The battery died during reboot and the phone would not respond to anything. This is a true hard brick.
Also i'm not sure if this has been said but I would never flash anything without art least 50% battery life
The galaxy is pretty cool because of how easy it is to unbrick. All you have to do it load the stock kernel from Odin and plug up the USB, mount the sd, and place the ROM onto the sd and unmount then flash it. In the case that you install a bad ROM, if it's just the kernel then just load the stock kernel with Odin then use the one you want.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
iwasblown said:
The galaxy is pretty cool because of how easy it is to unbrick. All you have to do it load the stock kernel from Odin and plug up the USB, mount the sd, and place the ROM onto the sd and unmount then flash it. In the case that you install a bad ROM, if it's just the kernel then just load the stock kernel with Odin then use the one you want.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that was very confusing, but I'm not sure if you really know what a true hard brick is, which is really hard to unbrick and need to do the jtag stuff.
what you addressed is a softbrick (i don't even consider this a brick because the phone turns on), which is flashing an incomplete rom or kernel that is for our device, however if it was another device's than it might lead to a hardbrick.
Teo032 said:
that was very confusing, but I'm not sure if you really know what a true hard brick is, which is really hard to unbrick and need to do the jtag stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A true hard brick cannot be unbricked. With a true hard brick the phone won't turn on and therefore, you cannot use Odin. Jtag also won't work if the phone does not turn on/the hardware buttons don't work.
Heres one for you all. Just got my GS3. Rooted it..bla bla..bla. Was running on stock rom of course and decided to try out one of the cm10 nightlies. Did my back up..bla bla bla and new rom would not flash. tried another and got the same thing. I was reading around and came across someone asking another guy if he had unlocked his bootloader because the same thing was happening to him.. The guy provided the .apk to unlock bootloader so I figured Id try it. Unlocked fine. Went to Rom Manager and booted into recovery.
Thats the last time my phone has been on. I cant get to anything. I can plug it into computer and hold power, vol, home buttons down for download mode and recovery but nothing. The computer will beep like its acknowledging it but still doesn't do anything. PLEASE HELP. This is my first Samsung and Ive always been able to get to recovery or bootloader to fastboot but this has me completely shut out. Im desperate. Thanks.
EDIT: remember, I never got to flash a new rom. All I did was use that unlocker.apk(not sure of the name) to unlock then booted into recovery from rom manager. Using that unlocker i believe is what did it. Like I said, im new to samsung, besides rooting some s2's for people at work and never had to unlock bootloader on their S2's
Unlocker.apk? Maybe it's a good thing I don't know what that is? But I would guess that may be part of your issue .
How did you get root?
Did you use this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=28019751 ???
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
Unlocker.Apk? Never heard of that and the at&t gs3 doesn't even have a locked bootloader. What user gave you that? If you can get into download mode.. (power off phone ..hold volume down + power button + home button) then flash back to stock.
I see that you CAN get into recovery? Since you made a backup ...why not just use it?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
Assuming you're running the AT&T version, your bootloader was never locked. So, running an app to unlock your bootloader (which would be for a different phone), seems like a sure-fire ticket to brick town.
Seeing as how you can't boot into recovery or download mode at the moment, I would imagine your only recourse would be to try a USB jig to get into download mode to try to flash back to stock. Else, if the jig doesn't get you into download mode you'll either have to seek out JTAG service, try to get a replacement via warranty (make up some story), or enjoy your new paperweight and buy a new phone.
Good luck.
defnow said:
Unlocker.Apk? Never heard of that and the at&t gs3 doesn't even have a locked bootloader. What user gave you that? If you can get into download mode.. (power off phone ..hold volume down + power button + home button) then flash back to stock.
I see that you CAN get into recovery? Since you made a backup ...why not just use it?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too have never heard of this apk. It sounds malicious. He should return to stock. One time after rebooting my phone the Rom would never boot; the screen was black. I even tried restoring a backup but that yielded the same results. Get into Odin and flash a stock package from the dev thread.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
If you need JTAG this guy who posted this thread evidently had good luck. Check it out.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=30942252
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
Have you tried...
There really aren't enough details in your initial post to properly speculate on what is happening or happened with your phone, but...
I found that the easiest way to enter Recovery and Download mode is when the phone is not connected via USB.
Have you tried entering Download mode while the phone is not plugged in via USB?
Unlocker.apk meant for the Verizon s3?
Yeah..
Congratulations on your shiny new paperweight!
JTag is your only hope.
Goodluck!
Ok, so I searched high and low and saw nothing about anyone who couldn't get there GS3 to boot at all . . .
So My rogers I747M was succesfully rooted with Odin root not trip. And then i flashed It with the generic rooted jelly bean ROM. Successful again everything seemed fine. So i was confident in shooting for CM10(even though ive had troubles in the past) And i put the zip. in the sd and booted into CWM recovery and did a factory reset, cache and dalvik. Went to install CM10 from sd and it gave me error 7. so i reboot device and loaded into the stock rooted jellybean again to try and put another fill in the SD. Tried booting into recovery again. Now nothing at all, I have tried pulling the battery, even for hours. And then button combos..Nothing. Leaving cord in with battery out,button combos,battery in...Nothing
I'm afraid of the worst ATM, i had the unbrickable Captivate before this with my JIG and all, I'd did this to that phone, but the JIG saved me.
So the phone doesn't boot and you can't enter recovery?
The error 7 was cause by you not having the latest version of cwm.
Now for the brick part: try pulling out the battery, put it back and do the button com to enter recovery , old it for like ten seconds. Then plug it to your computer to see if Odin dectects it.
Once you tried it give me some feedback and I will check for further help. But if you are sure you didn't flash a wrong ROM for your device or a wrong kernel. The error 7 shouldn't have bricked your phone
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
liltitiz said:
So the phone doesn't boot and you can't enter recovery?
The error 7 was cause by you not having the latest version of cwm.
Now for the brick part: try pulling out the battery, put it back and do the button com to enter recovery , old it for like ten seconds. Then plug it to your computer to see if Odin dectects it.
Once you tried it give me some feedback and I will check for further help. But if you are sure you didn't flash a wrong ROM for your device or a wrong kernel. The error 7 shouldn't have bricked your phone
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Still No luck, whenever i try to plug it in the computer, it just gives me three quick "DUH_DUH_DUH"s as is to tell me the computer failed to recognize. I'm afraid i may have to take it back to rogers, it's not two weeks old yet so perhaps ill get away with defective, i wonder if they deem that sort of thing in store or at the depot. Because i know they wont get it too boot there, so if they did it in store perhaps ill just get an exchange
Yeah go ahead with the replacement they will not check into it. Worst case scenario, they will fix it and send it back to you
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
And luckily i woke up early this morning with confidence that I could spill some crazy story that made it sound like it overheated and died, and now I've got a new one, best be careful with this, i think im going to stay away from CM10, its killed 2 phones of mine lol, I believe any answer i will get will say that it was a user error thanks anyway !!!
So I recently rooted my phone with this tutorial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkkcCCjeUpI
Everything went great and I was rooted. So next I decided I wanted to flash a rom. So I decided this one:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1817345
I looked over it and followed its instructions. So I flashed it. I also flashed the google apps.
This is where the problems started. I rebooted my phone, and It never would show the boot logo. I kept pulling the battery and it would not start. I thought the battery might be dead so I charged it, and still nothing. I noticed when I plug it into my computer and it makes the little connection noise. (Like my computer is reconising the device) But still nothing on the screen. I tried to connect it to odin and it does not show the device.
So I have looked all over the internet (including these forums) and have found no help. Sounds like I might have bricked my device.
So my last question, If I did indeed brick my device will this fix it? (I mean will it atleast get it into download mode?)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Samsung...369526?pt=PDA_Accessories&hash=item3a77c2f8b6
Please let me know if you have any ideas.
Thanks, Griffsbrown
Boot into recovery and restore the nandroid you made before you flashed.
Man sure sounds like most the people having problems are cause they are rooted/modded. Hope its a simple fix for you. GL.
You flashed a rom for a different phone, its dead pretty much. research jtag I read its about 60-100$ read more in the future.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
You flashed a ROM for a different phone. That is why you can not boot. Are you able to get into download mode? from the power off state, press and hold the volume down and home bottons and the power button. This should bring you into download mode. IF you can get there then you should be able to recover.
always be careful when flashing roms if you can get into download mode like the above poster said then your lucky and can odin a root66 and you will be back to before you installed the wrong ROM.
If you cant ........... your bricked my friend time to learn a lot more about jtag (which is a lot more difficult than odin READ READ READ
The only thing is people have been installing ATT roms for some reason their phones are not bricking but unless the dev says it works i wont try it.
ONLY USE ROMS FOR YOUR PHONE im really new and one of the first things to know.
Bricked! Search for mobile tech videos jtag fix.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
it seems that my friend has bricked his phone by installing a verizon boot loader in a at&t gs3 i tried going into recovery and download but nothing the phone wont boot or anything seems to be dead.
question is is there any way to fix it I tried many methods but all failed ):
Why would he install a verizon bootloader? He might have to get a jtag service to fix it. Bummer
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda premium
undecided323 said:
it seems that my friend has bricked his phone by installing a verizon boot loader in a at&t gs3 i tried going into recovery and download but nothing the phone wont boot or anything seems to be dead.
question is is there any way to fix it I tried many methods but all failed ):
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Jtag once i was having same issue with my brothers phone tried tiresly but no go
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda premium
1) Charge battery & phone for an hour.
2) Pull battery for five minutes
3) Put battery back in
4) Press and hold VolumeDown+Power+Home
If that doesn't get you ANY display at all, not even a splash screen, then it's a "hard brick" and he'll need to send his phone out for "JTAG" repair. They are available on eBay for ~$50.
If you do get display, then come back and let us know for the next step (odin).
Some people think the phone is bootloader Locked. When they see that verizon version has bootloader unlock, they flash that.
I almost made that mistake, but I read and re-read everything for a week before even downloading stuff to try
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda app-developers app
Is it possible for a usb jig to fix my problem?
undecided323 said:
Is it possible for a usb jig to fix my problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HIGHLY doubtful at the moment. Have you tried the above listed options?
Deoxlar said:
Some people think the phone is bootloader Locked. When they see that verizon version has bootloader unlock, they flash that.
I almost made that mistake, but I read and re-read everything for a week before even downloading stuff to try
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Deoxlea...... WHAT.... HOW DARE YOU..... You mean you READ stickies? What are you trying to do. Set a good example?
My only option for the phone to start working is a jtag or a usb jig. I I ordered a usb jig and will report back if it fixes my phone
I have a jig from my old captivate that has worked both times I've tried to get into download.