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I've had my GS2 for a little while now and before i starting flashing roms and kernels i'd like to know what are the most common ways of soft and hard bricking the phone.
Being a noob i figure if i find out how its done i can make sure i dont make the same mistakes.
Thanks
Goooober said:
I've had my GS2 for a little while now and before i starting flashing roms and kernels i'd like to know what are the most common ways of soft and hard bricking the phone.
Being a noob i figure if i find out how its done i can make sure i dont make the same mistakes.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Simple its users not following the instructions usually they cannot be bothered to read and flash with ignorance rather than knowledge . Those who take time to read and understand do not have problems .
SGS2 brick is usually 99% recoverable .
jje
Yep,JJe is totally 100% right.I had never bought a Samsung device before(quite different to root and manage that HTCs after all),but after 2 days of heavy reading,I was already rooted and stuff.That's all you need.There was only one time that my phone seemed unrecoverable,but even then,it just needed flashing a stock rom with a factory reset.
Anyway,most common bricks,eh?Well,a damaged /efs partition will render your phone unusable as,well,a phone.That's why a backup is always recommended/required.Other stuff that'll brick your phone...Well,sometimes,if Kies is running in the background,it will block Odin and the latter will stop flashing and,if it happens in the right(or wrong) moment,your phone will get ****ed up,especially when flashing a bootloader.Also,flashing a .PIT file and repartitioning without knowing you need to do so will probably damage your phone badly.
If you manage to brick it,just make sure the damage is so bad that Samsung won't be able to detect root etc.
the most common would be, flashing something you shouldn't
could be a wrong rom, kernel, having no bootloaders
but if you read carefully the instructions you and your phone will survive
"being an idiot"
Soft bricking: bad rom or kernel flash, boot loops due to framework problems.
Hard bricks: flashing a bad pit, or rom from a different phone eg i9000.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
Not reading is THE way to brick your phone.
want to jump to the solution without taking the steps
Don't jump while flashing as that can brick it!! Always take the steps slowly it's safer! http://media.xda-developers.com/images/icons/icon10.gif
Hello
I am totally new to android, i just bought my s3 couple of days ago.
There are still some questions where i cant find the answers.
I just rooted my phone, odin, cwm, super SU no problem, i did a nandroid backup just in case. Backed up some apps with titanium backup.
I thought about backing up my efs. But i cant find the option in cwm.
Now i read something about bricking. And apparently there are soft and hardbricks. So softbricks are the bricks, which wouldnt let you start android but let you access the recovery mode right ?? And hard bricks are the bricks where the phone doesnt respond to anything.
I want to know what causes which brick. Is it true that the s3 has a separate partition only for the download mode, which makes it really hard to hardbrick since you cant mess with this partition? And why do some people still encounter hardbricks, when for example the flash custom roms ?
Shadowspsp said:
Hello
I am totally new to android, i just bought my s3 couple of days ago.
There are still some questions where i cant find the answers.
I just rooted my phone, odin, cwm, super SU no problem, i did a nandroid backup just in case. Backed up some apps with titanium backup.
I thought about backing up my efs.
But i cant find the option in cwm.
>>>>
Nitrality app on the market many custom roms do an auto backup of EFS .
Now i read something about bricking. And apparently there are soft and hardbricks. So softbricks are the bricks, which wouldnt let you start android but let you access the recovery mode right ?? And hard bricks are the bricks where the phone doesnt respond to anything.
I want to know what causes which brick. Is it true that the s3 has a separate partition only for the download mode, which makes it really hard to hardbrick since you cant mess with this partition? And why do some people still encounter hardbricks, when for example the flash custom roms ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Softbrick generally firmware or files conflict but more usual is not following the instructions . Mostly recoverable by recovery mode or download mode .
Hardbrick no recovery and no download mode often a NAND problem
Cause is mostly users totally ignoring the instructions and flashing the wrong firmware for the phone or messing with PIT files .
Custom rom it should be almost impossible to hard brick a phone by flashing one
However it becomes more common as more and more users want an instant fix and refuse to read the instructions and its beyond them to read the custom rom thread for known faults fixes etc .
jje
Shadowspsp said:
Hello
I am totally new to android, i just bought my s3 couple of days ago.
There are still some questions where i cant find the answers.
I just rooted my phone, odin, cwm, super SU no problem, i did a nandroid backup just in case. Backed up some apps with titanium backup.
I thought about backing up my efs. But i cant find the option in cwm.
Now i read something about bricking. And apparently there are soft and hardbricks. So softbricks are the bricks, which wouldnt let you start android but let you access the recovery mode right ?? And hard bricks are the bricks where the phone doesnt respond to anything.
I want to know what causes which brick. Is it true that the s3 has a separate partition only for the download mode, which makes it really hard to hardbrick since you cant mess with this partition? And why do some people still encounter hardbricks, when for example the flash custom roms ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mess around with my android phones a lot but never had a soft or hard brick. My old nexus one had a soft brick after repartitioning the internal memory. The only hard brick I heard of with the S3 was someone who flashed a wrong firmware on his us/canadian version of the S3 (flashed rom which was intended for the international version). Others than that you need to really try hard to hard-brick your phone I guess
Shadowspsp said:
Hello
I am totally new to android, i just bought my s3 couple of days ago.
There are still some questions where i cant find the answers.
I just rooted my phone, odin, cwm, super SU no problem, i did a nandroid backup just in case. Backed up some apps with titanium backup.
I thought about backing up my efs. But i cant find the option in cwm.
Now i read something about bricking. And apparently there are soft and hardbricks. So softbricks are the bricks, which wouldnt let you start android but let you access the recovery mode right ?? And hard bricks are the bricks where the phone doesnt respond to anything.
I want to know what causes which brick. Is it true that the s3 has a separate partition only for the download mode, which makes it really hard to hardbrick since you cant mess with this partition? And why do some people still encounter hardbricks, when for example the flash custom roms ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Install Rom Toolbox from Google Play to backup you EFS folder, it will make 2 files (1 .img and 1 .tar file). Store both files on to your pc for safekeeping.
JJEgan said:
Softbrick generally firmware or files conflict but more usual is not following the instructions . Mostly recoverable by recovery mode or download mode .
Hardbrick no recovery and no download mode often a NAND problem
Cause is mostly users totally ignoring the instructions and flashing the wrong firmware for the phone or messing with PIT files .
Custom rom it should be almost impossible to hard brick a phone by flashing one
However it becomes more common as more and more users want an instant fix and refuse to read the instructions and its beyond them to read the custom rom thread for known faults fixes etc .
jje
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks !
There is one thing i still dont really get, you said some users flash a wrong rom for their phone can cause a hardbrick.
This root method simply installs ClockworkMod Recovery to the recovery partition and installs Superuser zip file, very safe to do. *With Galaxy S2, recovery partition was part of the kernel and was a bit dangerous but with Galaxy S3, Samsung has made recovery parition separate from the kernel, making it much safer just like how Galaxy Nexus works
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So why does flashing a wrong rom cause a hardbrick, does installing a custom rom changes files in this separate partition? If the recovery partition is untouched, doesnt it mean you can always access recovery mode even if you flashed some junk onto your phone?
Shadowspsp said:
Thanks !
There is one thing i still dont really get, you said some users flash a wrong rom for their phone can cause a hardbrick.
So why does flashing a wrong rom cause a hardbrick, does installing a custom rom changes files in this separate partition? If the recovery partition is untouched, doesnt it mean you can always access recovery mode even if you flashed some junk onto your phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, if people flash the wrong PIT file it messes up the partitions on the phone and they are no longer accessible. That is called a hard brick. Can only be fixed in a service center. In post 4 is info about backup of the EFS folder.
Shadowspsp said:
Thanks !
There is one thing i still dont really get, you said some users flash a wrong rom for their phone can cause a hardbrick.
So why does flashing a wrong rom cause a hardbrick, does installing a custom rom changes files in this separate partition? If the recovery partition is untouched, doesnt it mean you can always access recovery mode even if you flashed some junk onto your phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wrong rom its usually flashing non SGS3 firmware or flashing SGS3 firmware on USA version.
Taking firmware from another forum and flashing it in error .
As said very very hard to hard brick this phone .
jje
Shadowspsp said:
I want to know what causes which brick
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only real type of brick is hardbrick. the expression soft brick was invented for situations where you cannot access recovery but are able to restore access to recovery with download mode, or some sort of trick.
If something goes wrong, you can end up with either type of brick. There is no way to predict what will happen if you give the phone a reason to brick, really. In general the main causes for bricking are:
1) Flashing stuff that is not right for your exact phone model
A mistake that has been made by a number of USA SGS3 users, who wanted a ROM made for the international model. Unfortunately the result was usually; Bricked, as in hard brick. To prevent this is is smart to familiarize yourself with the manufacturer version number (in our case GT-i9300 or GT-i9300T) with all phones you ever want to flash anything on, and check if the code corresponds.
It's the same **** in every model range. Flash something for another version and you're in trouble.
2) Corrupted downloads
Sometimes http file transfer doesn't get the files you want to flash across error-free. Usually, this will only give weird errors, for instance a bootloop. Sometimes you may end up with softbrick. If you have a really bad day; Brick. To prevent this it is very important to look for the MD5 checksum of each file, and check if the file is still exactly the same at your end. There is a free app in the market that allows you to do this while booted in android, so you can easily check it right after any download is finished.
3) Powerloss while flashing
Again, usually you can revert to working order with download mode. Still it is very risky. To minimise the chance for this to happen, make sure you only start flashing with your battery at least about half full, and have the battery installed complete with cover, etc. Some people use 30% as the limit. It depends a bit on the size of the ROM you want to backup and/or flash. Backing up and flashing one of those nice 700MB samsung roms might eat into your battery quite a bit.
There may be more reasons but these are afaik the 3 main ones. All easily preventable.
Flashing ROMs for years and found it safe to do so.
Until last week...
there is another hardbrick which I actually experienced on my second device, a Galaxy S2:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1756242
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/hard-brick-bug-on-galaxy-s-ii-and-note-leaked-ics-kernels/
Unsafe kernels/libraries on newer ICS-Roms are obviously able to destroy the system partitions, including the bootmanager, so a hardwarechange is necessary to revive the phone.
Until now, no information available, if our S3 is immune against this one. Several other devices are affected!
Hi Guys,
I have been scouring the boards and the internet on a solution to this problem.
GF had the phone and put it to charge.
Picked it up sometime later and it was off.
Turned it back on and it was stuck in a bootloop.
Phone was using Stock Firmware and was unrooted. It was running Jelly Bean 4.1.2. The EXACT firmware eludes me.
Phone is able to go into Download mode and recovery mode.
I have included a picture of what recovery mode looks like. [pic]
I tried flashing via ODIN. I tried different firmwares. All of them stopped at Boot.bin
I tried Kernel flash via PDA and it stopped at "NAND Write Start!" and just stayed there.
I tried flashing a bootloader and the progress bar appeared (only time it ever appeared) but it stopped after a little budge and did not move again. Not even after 30 mins. [pic]
Is there anything else I can do? I followed all the tips from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1449771 and I'm still here. Any insight would be appreciated. Thank you.
Hopper8's "Odin troubleshooting' thread. Find it, try the stuff in it. All of it. Not just try a few things & then post here saying 'I tried everything' when you didn't. The only thing that will happen if you do that is you'll still have a busted phone. And you need to try the stuff in that thread repeatedly. Over and over. As many times as you need to.
That's the only way you're fixing it (the alternative involves paying a Samsung service centre a considerable amount of money to fix it). There are no easy/simple fixes in these situations.
Im pretty sure I was in exactly the same situation a while back.Youll need to look back at my posts as Ive forgotten exactly how I fixed it.
It did involve GB and pit files via odin as nothing would flash by recovery.
Im on 2.3.5 as that was about the only thing that would flash properly and make the phone boot.I initially thought I had a bootloader problem as ICS/JB wouldnt load.
I spent 5 hours on that,and cant recall if it was the pit or the special 2.3.5 rom/or both that fixed it.
theunderling said:
Im pretty sure I was in exactly the same situation a while back.Youll need to look back at my posts as Ive forgotten exactly how I fixed it.
It did involve GB and pit files via odin as nothing would flash by recovery.
Im on 2.3.5 as that was about the only thing that would flash properly and make the phone boot.I initially thought I had a bootloader problem as ICS/JB wouldnt load.
I spent 5 hours on that,and cant recall if it was the pit or the special 2.3.5 rom/or both that fixed it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I'll search your posts.
I think I posted a pic with similar errors to yours,so look and compare them.Theres not much info floating around about our/your problem.Pit files are only meant to be a last resort option,and I was in that category.
I also think that most/all things I flashed with odin passed,but phone would not boot,which led me to flash 2.3.5 combined with pit file.
I can't find your posts.....
Im only commenting because Im pretty sure its nothing to do with odin,I feel my phone and maybe yours has a hardware problem.I done a search before and only saw 1 situation like mines on another website.
For me,there was something major wrong for my phone not to accept ics/jb stock firmwares.
I have posted a pic before with the errors,and commented what I done to get the phone working.
I also dont think anyone on here can help,as it was the worst thing to fix Ive ever came across,and its not been mentioned on here.
Its up to you what you want to flash,but my moneys on a frankenstein GB rom c/w pit.Only try it at your own risk,or wait until someone else has alternative advice.
theunderling said:
Im only commenting because Im pretty sure its nothing to do with odin,I feel my phone and maybe yours has a hardware problem.I done a search before and only saw 1 situation like mines on another website.
For me,there was something major wrong for my phone not to accept ics/jb stock firmwares.
I have posted a pic before with the errors,and commented what I done to get the phone working.
I also dont think anyone on here can help,as it was the worst thing to fix Ive ever came across,and its not been mentioned on here.
Its up to you what you want to flash,but my moneys on a frankenstein GB rom c/w pit.Only try it at your own risk,or wait until someone else has alternative advice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I flashed the pit file.... and nothing happened. It just stopped there at "DO NOT TURN OFF TARGET!!!" I eventually closed ODIN but the phone still behaves the same way. If the EPROM is damaged, it won't have a partition to partition right? Any other suggestions?
I tried to flash CF root. Just to try anything. If hung up after kernel flash. Not it says I have a custom binary. Count 1. I don't know if that is relevant but... it shows something.
levi_jm said:
I tried to flash CF root. Just to try anything. If hung up after kernel flash. Not it says I have a custom binary. Count 1. I don't know if that is relevant but... it shows something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Youll need to ignore half of my previous advice(about odin),and follow Mistahbungles advice.......as my memory is playing tricks on me.Also,it was the other way around in my case.....ICS/JB flashed ok,it was GB that wouldnt(but doesnt matter here).
You have a damaged partition table,so that hopefully will be fixed by flashing .pit using Odin.If you cant get Odin to work,you could try a friends pc,or see if a local shop has Odin working.
Apologies to you both for my memory.........lol
theunderling said:
Youll need to ignore half of my previous advice(about odin),and follow Mistahbungles advice.......as my memory is playing tricks on me.Also,it was the other way around in my case.....ICS/JB flashed ok,it was GB that wouldnt(but doesnt matter here).
You have a damaged partition table,so that hopefully will be fixed by flashing .pit using Odin.If you cant get Odin to work,you could try a friends pc,or see if a local shop has Odin working.
Apologies to you both for my memory.........lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did try his advice and with 6 different versions of odins on two different laptops with 6 usb ports between them. I don't think ODIN is the problem. I think the problem is a corrupted NAND. It is so corrupt that it did not accept a .PIT flash. It didn't hard brick the phone. It did nothing to it. I am unsure what else to do.
Well maybe I was right all along about odin,but that doesnt help anything.
I cant remember if I could do anything via recovery,but I do remember that several things I tried just kept giving that page of errors.
Youll just need to google each error and see what it throws up.Stuff thats said ranges from removing sd card to replace recovery(but by odin which you cant do).
Hey folks, just a minor problem on my device and hoping someone would help. I have the i9100t and installed the i9100t Israel jb rom. Installed speedmod kernal no issues but when I reboot the device it keeps coming up with a yellow triangle every time it starts up so I download triangle away but says "could not locate magic loader" not supported or something. Is there another program or something to get rid of this triangle cause it's kinda annoying, cheers.
It's really not safe to mess with the bootloader. You'll see this triangle during boot only, and for your own safety, don't touch this. (If any given app breaks your bootloader, you CANNOT recover this device. Download mode won't work. Here's a big, red warning in the first post about this.)
Dragoon Aethis said:
It's really not safe to mess with the bootloader. You'll see this triangle during boot only, and for your own safety, don't touch this. (If any given app breaks your bootloader, you CANNOT recover this device. Download mode won't work. Here's a big, red warning in the first post about this.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay thanks for the precaution. But I didn't mess with the bootloader, I just flashed speedrom kernel then the triangle appeared. I can live with it cause I only see it when the phone boots up but would be nice if I could get rid of it. Triangle away doesn't work cause I use the i9100t rom so was just wondering if there was an alternative.
The I9100T rom shouldn't be a reason for TA not working, there's nothing special in the rom that would prevent it from working; apart from very slight difference in power output of radio, the I9100 & I9100T are exactly the same phone, and the only difference firmware-wise (slight) is the modems (I had a I9100T on Voda for 2 yrs).
Have you asked in the TA thread on here ? (Search for it). Also, a few other ways you might be able to attack this, and bear in mind there is risk of turning your phone into a paperweight involved here (And frankly, for the sake of a warning triangle at boot, why risk it ? I mean, who honestly sits there staring at their phone as it boots ?):-
*You should be able to find the 'old' bootloader if you search for it, if you flash it, you'll be able to reset the flash counter & get rid of the triangle with a jig. However, this may render your current rom unbootable (bootloop), which you'd need to fix by flashing the 'new' bootloader (again, easily found by searching) and flashing a bootloader is the most risky flash you can do.
Not so much because the actual flashing of the bootloader is risky as such, there's no more risk so far as the flash itself is concerned. It's just that if the flash goes bad (which is a very small risk with every single flash), you won't be recovering it. It's not like flashing a wrong kernel that ends up in a bootloop which you fix by flashing the right kernel or a stock rom & you live happily ever after.
It will be a service centre or bin job.
*Maybe try flashing the 3 part stock rom linked to in Hopper8's 'Odin troubleshooting' thread stickied in General (this will wipe your phone), then flash a JB a stock rom for your carrier & try TA again ? May not make any difference, but if it means that much to you...
Again, given the hassles to do this, you seriously need to ask yourself is it worth it just to get rid of something you see for two seconds when the phone boots & is purely cosmetic. And also bear in mind using TA is not without risk, though 'complications' arising from its use are rather rare, they're not completely unheard of. My take on using TA has always been (across several devices) 'Try it once, if it works smoothly first time all good, if there's any drama whatsoever, don't risk it a second time, etc'.
MistahBungle said:
The I9100T rom shouldn't be a reason for TA not working, there's nothing special in the rom that would prevent it from working; apart from very slight difference in power output of radio, the I9100 & I9100T are exactly the same phone, and the only difference firmware-wise (slight) is the modems (I had a I9100T on Voda for 2 yrs).
Have you asked in the TA thread on here ? (Search for it). Also, a few other ways you might be able to attack this, and bear in mind there is risk of turning your phone into a paperweight involved here (And frankly, for the sake of a warning triangle at boot, why risk it ? I mean, who honestly sits there staring at their phone as it boots ?):-
*You should be able to find the 'old' bootloader if you search for it, if you flash it, you'll be able to reset the flash counter & get rid of the triangle with a jig. However, this may render your current rom unbootable (bootloop), which you'd need to fix by flashing the 'new' bootloader (again, easily found by searching) and flashing a bootloader is the most risky flash you can do.
Not so much because the actual flashing of the bootloader is risky as such, there's no more risk so far as the flash itself is concerned. It's just that if the flash goes bad (which is a very small risk with every single flash), you won't be recovering it. It's not like flashing a wrong kernel that ends up in a bootloop which you fix by flashing the right kernel or a stock rom & you live happily ever after.
It will be a service centre or bin job.
*Maybe try flashing the 3 part stock rom linked to in Hopper8's 'Odin troubleshooting' thread stickied in General (this will wipe your phone), then flash a JB a stock rom for your carrier & try TA again ? May not make any difference, but if it means that much to you...
Again, given the hassles to do this, you seriously need to ask yourself is it worth it just to get rid of something you see for two seconds when the phone boots & is purely cosmetic. And also bear in mind using TA is not without risk, though 'complications' arising from its use are rather rare, they're not completely unheard of. My take on using TA has always been (across several devices) 'Try it once, if it works smoothly first time all good, if there's any drama whatsoever, don't risk it a second time, etc'.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's very odd, mine was originally either Telstra or voda so it shouldn't make a difference. It's probably the updated firmware which isn't supported as yet by triangle away. Probably isn't worth the hassle by downgrading the firmware or downgrading the bootloader, which poses a minor risk of hard bricking.It's only for a second each boot and it isn't really too bothersome.
I have always been interested in playing around and modding my devices but I have never touched android because I have been scared about bricking my device and ruining a perfectly good piece of hardware. I thought I would make a post here and find out some things about android and rom development.
I have a nexus 7 2012 that I don't use a whole lot and I would love to play around with it and find out how everything works. I know how to install roms but I have never made my own. All the guides I see say stick to the instructions or you will brick your device. I did some research and found that most of the time people say bricked they mean soft bricked which can be fixed by booting into recovery mode and reflashing a stock rom. But I have also seen that you can hard brick your device and it can never be fixed.
What I wanted to know is how do I develop my own rom in a safe way that will not hard brick my nexus 7? What are the risks involved with flashing an untested rom? What is the recovery mode and is it possible to damage it while flashing a rom to the device?
I dont really mind my tablet being in an unusable state as long as I can recover it later by reflashing it.
I have just found that I can fix anything by reflashing with fastboot even if the recovery is gone.