Audible clicking noise in download mode - Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I got my S2 only a few days ago from Vodafone UK and quickly flashed to the latest Checkrom to get rid of the stock bloatware. After suffering severe battery drain to do with wifi i have flashed back to the stock carrier firmware (BUKJ3).
I did this first by using CWM to clear davlik cache and a full wipe and then after enabling USB debugging mode i rebooted into downloaded mode. Upon entering download mode the phone began to make an audible clicking noise which i dont remember it ever doing when i first rooted the phone.
I went ahead and flash the firmware and all seems well but i wanted to see if the clicking noise might indicate a fault with the phone?
One other thing, if i wanted to return the phone back to Vodafone would i need to reset the binary counter thingy even though i'm back on stock firmware? The yellow triangle never bothered me so i never removed it or reset the count after installing Checkrom.
Thanks
[Edit] I've just loaded Kies and it says 'your device does not support software updating via kies'. This is somewhat concerning since i thought i had returned my phone out-of-the-box stock by flashing this firmware -> GT-I9100_VOD_I9100BUKJ3_I9100VODKI2_I9100BUKI1.tar.md5. When i very first got the phone Kies would state that its up to date. After runing *#1234# my settings are PDA: I9100BUKJ3 , PHONE: I9100BUKI1 and CSC: I9100VODKI2.

Re: the clicking thing, no idea. Haven't encountered/heard of that before.
Re: resetting the counter. Put it this way, if you don't, and you return the phone for warranty service you're pretty much paying for the repair out of your own pocket.
I.E the counter is proof you've been messing with the phone, which voids the warranty. What firmware you've currently got on the phone is irrelevant.
Might want to invest a few dollars in a jig just in case you do decide to send it in for a warranty repair.
Goooober said:
I got my S2 only a few days ago from Vodafone UK and quickly flashed to the latest Checkrom to get rid of the stock bloatware. After suffering severe battery drain to do with wifi i have flashed back to the stock carrier firmware (BUKJ3).
I did this first by using CWM to clear davlik cache and a full wipe and then after enabling USB debugging mode i rebooted into downloaded mode. Upon entering download mode the phone began to make an audible clicking noise which i dont remember it ever doing when i first rooted the phone.
I went ahead and flash the firmware and all seems well but i wanted to see if the clicking noise might indicate a fault with the phone?
One other thing, if i wanted to return the phone back to Vodafone would i need to reset the binary counter thingy even though i'm back on stock firmware? The yellow triangle never bothered me so i never removed it or reset the count after installing Checkrom.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

MistahBungle said:
Re: the clicking thing, no idea. Haven't encountered/heard of that before.
Re: resetting the counter. Put it this way, if you don't, and you return the phone for warranty service you're pretty much paying for the repair out of your own pocket.
I.E the counter is proof you've been messing with the phone, which voids the warranty. What firmware you've currently got on the phone is irrelevant.
Might want to invest a few dollars in a jig just in case you do decide to send it in for a warranty repair.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah i do have a Jig on the way. I've just encountered another problem as well. My internet speeds over wifi are appalling after flashing back to the stock firmware. 2200kbps down and 355kbps. The phone out of the box and on checkrom both performed as normal (about 10x what it is now). This stock vodafone firmware i downloaded here is clearly not what i had out-of the-box.

In that case, you might want to find out what firmware you had on the phone initially & flash that. As I'm not in the UK, I wouldn't have the foggiest.
At the end of the day, if you're returning it for a warranty repair, I wouldn't be surprised if they reflash whatever stock firmware they're currently using as part of the repair process (I've read many accounts of this happening).
Obviously once you start messing around with the phone, you potentially open a whole can (or many cans) of worms so far as how the phone performs goes. You could easily have just rooted the phone in the first instance to remove the bloatware, flashing a custom rom was not necessary in order to achieve this.
Goooober said:
Yeah i do have a Jig on the way. I've just encountered another problem as well. My internet speeds over wifi are appalling after flashing back to the stock firmware. 2200kbps down and 355kbps. The phone out of the box and on checkrom both performed as normal (about 10x what it is now). This stock vodafone firmware i downloaded here is clearly not what i had out-of the-box.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

MistahBungle said:
In that case, you might want to find out what firmware you had on the phone initially & flash that. As I'm not in the UK, I wouldn't have the foggiest.
At the end of the day, if you're returning it for a warranty repair, I wouldn't be surprised if they reflash whatever stock firmware they're currently using as part of the repair process (I've read many accounts of this happening).
Obviously once you start messing around with the phone, you potentially open a whole can (or many cans) of worms so far as how the phone performs goes. You could easily have just rooted the phone in the first instance to remove the bloatware, flashing a custom rom was not necessary in order to achieve this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought i had flash whatever firmware was on it originally. I downloaded the BUKJ3 UK Vodafone carrier firmware from the stock rom thread since my phone came with BUKJ3. The wifi performance is shocking tho.

Related

[Q] Phone stopped connecting to computer, any way to unroot?

So my charger recently came into contact with a liquid, and without knowing this, i plugged it into my phone and completely screwed up my phone. It no longer connects to the computer and the battery indicator stays at 100% all the time. So my first question is if there is any warranty with samsung, and if there is, how can i unroot my phone without hooking it up to the computer?
I think there's a very good chance mobile odin pro could be your answer.
First, make sure you're on a rom that is compatible with the stock kernel, then flash stock kernel. This will remove cwm. So if you're running an incompatible rom, like cm7, then flash the stock kernel, you'll be screwed.
Once you have the stock kernel flashed, then flash the pda.tar that is stock unrooted.
Should be 100% stock. For good measure boot into recovery (yes, stock recovery) and wipe the phone. If at any point your phone doesn't boot properly, boot into recovery and wipe the phone.
That should all be possible without using a computer. Hopefully your battery is still charging. DO NOT ATTEMPT WITH LOW BATTERY, it's just not worth it.
Sent from my páhhōniē
Looking for a little feed back on this process - can anyone confirm that this works?
Also, anyone that has gotten a warranty replacement - Did your replacement come with 2.34 or 2.36 - I thought I read that 2.36 was still UN-rootable at this point in time.
Basically - My phone seems to be charging OK, but it will not connect to a PC at all - three different PC's - three different usb cables - three different ROMs/kernels. I am well within my one year warranty (obviously) so I feel it would be a good idea to get the process going rather than it stop working to the point where it wont even take a charge.
Thanks you in advance for anyone's help.
dschreiber69 said:
Looking for a little feed back on this process - can anyone confirm that this works?
Also, anyone that has gotten a warranty replacement - Did your replacement come with 2.34 or 2.36 - I thought I read that 2.36 was still UN-rootable at this point in time.
Basically - My phone seems to be charging OK, but it will not connect to a PC at all - three different PC's - three different usb cables - three different ROMs/kernels. I am well within my one year warranty (obviously) so I feel it would be a good idea to get the process going rather than it stop working to the point where it wont even take a charge.
Thanks you in advance for anyone's help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should be able to return your phone to stock with Mobile Odin. I havn't personally tested it, but it's designed to flash full firmwares. If you use the lite version, you need to install the supplementary library (flash kernel) manually. You need to be rooted to use Mobile Odin. I would use the One-Click downloader from the prepare your phone to return to the store or for warranty repair thread. Mobile Odin will read from the one-click exe file. Once you run it, you will no longer be rooted. You should then do a wipe data/factory reset and maybe a reformat.
So far, I havn't seen anyone report that they received a phone with 2.3.6 loaded on it. I think we will hear about it fairly soon when it starts happening.
You can root 2.3.6 but not with every method. There is a uckk6 plus root available from Entropy512. But it's probably best to use 2.3.4 if you want to stay on stock, since with UCKK6 bthid doesn't work, and it has the wifi battery drain bug, as well as some other minor problems.
creepyncrawly said:
You should be able to return your phone to stock with Mobile Odin. I havn't personally tested it, but it's designed to flash full firmwares. If you use the lite version, you need to install the supplementary library (flash kernel) manually. You need to be rooted to use Mobile Odin. I would use the One-Click downloader from the prepare your phone to return to the store or for warranty repair thread. Mobile Odin will read from the one-click exe file. Once you run it, you will no longer be rooted. You should then do a wipe data/factory reset and maybe a reformat.
So far, I havn't seen anyone report that they received a phone with 2.3.6 loaded on it. I think we will hear about it fairly soon when it starts happening.
You can root 2.3.6 but not with every method. There is a uckk6 plus root available from Entropy512. But it's probably best to use 2.3.4 if you want to stay on stock, since with UCKK6 bthid doesn't work, and it has the wifi battery drain bug, as well as some other minor problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply....
Does odin read the .exe file wirelessly? Seeing as my usb port will not function do I use this file (StockKernel-PDA.tar) to reset the flash counter?
Thank you so much for your help!
dschreiber69 said:
Thanks for the reply....
Does odin read the .exe file wirelessly? Seeing as my usb port will not function do I use this file (StockKernel-PDA.tar) to reset the flash counter?
Thank you so much for your help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like you also need to do some more reading. The only thing that will reset the flash counter is a jig. See my guide on preparing the phone to return to the store for more detailed information.
Mobile Odin is programmed to read from tar files, from one-click downloader executable files, and also recognizes the individual components such as zImage, factoryfs.img, boot.bin, etc.
Download the file directly to your phone sdcard (internal or external will work) and then select it in Mobile Odin.
creepyncrawly said:
Sounds like you also need to do some more reading. The only thing that will reset the flash counter is a jig. See my guide on preparing the phone to return to the store for more detailed information.
Mobile Odin is programmed to read from tar files, from one-click downloader executable files, and also recognizes the individual components such as zImage, factoryfs.img, boot.bin, etc.
Download the file directly to your phone sdcard (internal or external will work) and then select it in Mobile Odin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe I misinterpreted this quote:
"In addition, he posted an Odin-flashable tar package for just the stock kernel, for those who want to do a ! removal. I have mirrored the file (I don't trust Dropbox for long-term hosting) at http://www.multiupload.com/MD7SMMNG24 - his original post is at http://forum.xda-developers.com/show...&postcount=174"
I guess I assumed when he said remove "!" he meant resetting the flash counter. I will re-read the post for a third time - maybe I missed something.
dschreiber69 said:
Maybe I misinterpreted this quote:
"In addition, he posted an Odin-flashable tar package for just the stock kernel, for those who want to do a ! removal. I have mirrored the file (I don't trust Dropbox for long-term hosting) at http://www.multiupload.com/MD7SMMNG24 - his original post is at http://forum.xda-developers.com/show...&postcount=174"
I guess I assumed when he said remove "!" he meant resetting the flash counter. I will re-read the post for a third time - maybe I missed something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flashing a stock kernel will remove the yellow warning triangle and I9100 logo from the initial boot screen. It will not however reset the flash counter. Only the jig will do that.
creepyncrawly said:
Flashing a stock kernel will remove the yellow warning triangle and I9100 logo from the initial boot screen. It will not however reset the flash counter. Only the jig will do that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So since my usb port does not work, I would not be able to use a JIG, I would be wasting my time cause they will see the tripped flash counter, right?
Sorry for beating this to death... rather than possibly mess my phone up even more I should just leave it and deal with it?
You will be unable to reset the flash counter. You will be able to remove the warning that occurs on bootup. You should flash back to stock UCKH7. There is little or not risk in doing so, because you will not be flashing bootloaders or anything else that could bork the phone. Mobile Odin refuses to flash those types of files, and anyway the package does not contain them.
I have never seen anyone report that they were refused warranty due to the flash counter. That doesn't mean it has never happened, of course, but it is somewhat of an indication that it might go by without being seen. On the other hand, several people have reported that they returned their phones to a store for exchange or warranty (first 30 days I think) and the phone was never even turned on. Some have said that they returned it with a custom rom installed, with the flash counter incremented, or even with the yellow warning triangle not removed. Even if someone does turn the phone on, as long as it boots up normally, it seems very unlikely that they would check the flash counter. This would be true for an AT&T service center as well as any store.
That being said, I don't know what will happen if you do the warranty over the phone and then return the phone via ups or fed ex. I think it is highly likely that you would be safe even there. But this is just my opinion. I don't think most of these employees really want to screw customers, and if the hardware is actually faulty, they should replace it regardless. The problem you have could not be from flashing custom software anyway.
If it was my phone, I think I would take it to an AT&T service center, even though the closest one to me is about a 2 hour round trip.
Right on. If you're going to listen to someone, listen to creepyncrawly's directions.
Sent from my páhhōniē
Well I may not be out of luck after all. Figuring I had nothing to loose... I removed my battery - took a Qtip and shaved it down - dipped it in some alcohol and rubbed it around inside the USB connector. I let it dry for about 20 minutes - fired it back up and BAM! Connected to my PC instantly!
I went ahead and ordered a JIG so that in the event that I do actually have to do an exchange I will have no worries.

Friend Galaxy S II needs assistance, SIM

Hey all, I come from SGS4G forums, I know my way of flashing and whatnot with that device. However, a friend of mine owns a SGSII and has a weird issue that I hope you guys can help me fix.
The thing is, the device no longer recognizes the SIM card, or any other sim card. She already tried it on another device and the SIM is working fine. Also, the IMEI got corrupted.
I asked her what she was doing or what did she do with the phone. She told me that she was playing the sims and the battery died. So she plugged it in, waited a few minutes and then she turned it on.
After booting up, the phone didn't recognize the SIM card anymore.
As for ROM installed, she never replaced original ROM, nor ever tried to root the phone. This is what her device status states:
Baseband version: unknown
Kernel: [email protected]#2.
Build gingerbread.uhkg7
I really don't know how to proceed in this case. If it was my SGS4G, I would try to flash another modem using odin, but I don't know how it's done with this sgs2. So I ask the experts here to help me a bit.
Thanks in advance!
ps: i have no access to the device, my friend lives in a town far, far away.
I guess she didn't have efs backup, there are guide to recover imei I think it was in general thread, if those guides don't work, her pretty much final chance is to contact xda member called odia, he can restore imei's
Sent from my sgs2 running cm9 using xda app
If the phone is running stock firmware, why would you risk voiding the warranty by messing around with it ? If you stuff it up, your friend will either end up with a $500 paperweight, or she'll end up paying to have it repaired.
In other words, tell her to send the phone in for warranty repair/replacement. It's a no brainer.
MistahBungle said:
If the phone is running stock firmware, why would you risk voiding the warranty by messing around with it ? If you stuff it up, your friend will either end up with a $500 paperweight, or she'll end up paying to have it repaired.
In other words, tell her to send the phone in for warranty repair/replacement. It's a no brainer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was just asking if there was an "easy" way to fix this, like, flashing some other rom. If that didn't work we would just rollback to stock.
Anyway, looks like we're going to go with the warranty card this time.
I'm still open for suggestion though, I can't believe this device would damage itself just by running out of battery when playing a game.
And yeah, no efs backup I'm afraid.
There isn't easy fix for this
Sent from my sgs2 running cm9 using xda app
It's not a matter of an easy fix. There's never an easy fix for borked EFS details. You risk stuffing the phone up & voiding the warranty in the process, which means if your friend wants it fixed, she ends up paying whatever it costs on top of what she's forked out for the phone.
Use the warranty, she pays nothing.
Think about it.
Edit to add - Also bear in mind you're going to be telling her what to do with the phone given you don't have access to it yourself. If she misunderstands something you tell her to do, kaput.
mikeflash said:
I was just asking if there was an "easy" way to fix this, like, flashing some other rom. If that didn't work we would just rollback to stock.
Anyway, looks like we're going to go with the warranty card this time.
I'm still open for suggestion though, I can't believe this device would damage itself just by running out of battery when playing a game.
And yeah, no efs backup I'm afraid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could try first a factory reset
Then flash stock firmware both have been known to occasionally fix IMEI .
Did for me once .
jje
JJEgan said:
You could try first a factory reset
Then flash stock firmware both have been known to occasionally fix IMEI .
Did for me once .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The first thing I suggested my friend was to do a factory reset. However, it didn't make any difference. In fact, I thing she came across with an error message saying something about not being able to mount efs files or something like that (she wasn't very clear, but she did mention EFS).
I would definitely try to odin (or kies) another stock ROM but since it isn't my phone and my friend isn't too tech savvy either then I think it's better to send it back for warranty.
Thank you all

Devce status: MODIFIED

hi guys!
i recently flashed uk stock lfb rom over my orange stock rom, i rooted my s3 using chainfire cf-root 6.4 and i used triangle away to reset the counter.
everything went smooth, counter shows 0, but in settings/about device/status/ device status is now MODIFIED and not NORMAL as it used to be.
even if the counter is reset to 0, isn't this an obious proof for servicing companies that phone has been modified and loosin warranty? is any way to go back to normal? i searched the forum and i didn't find a solution.
thank you!
flash stock rom and your phone will show that normal status again. samsung will never know what you did to the poor phone. double check that you don't have supersu or superuser app or else something bad might happen
stfudude said:
flash stock rom and your phone will show that normal status again. samsung will never know what you did to the poor phone. double check that you don't have supersu or superuser app or else something bad might happen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i already tried that, but a lot of apps didn't start corect, phone became very unstable and unusable. i even couldn't check if the status went back to normal. could it be because the original version seems to be an earlier release compared to lfb release?
i flashed stock rom, ALE8 to be exact, a few days ago, after having a few problems with wanam 1.9. the status changed to normal after flashing. i use desktop odin to flash. after flashing wanam 2.0 the status changed to modified. tried triangle away, but the status still doesn't change to normal even though flash counter has been succesfully reset.
The full steps are: (in that order)
- Triangle Away
- Flash Stock ROM
- Flash correct CSC / Modem (optional, not required)
- Factory-reset the phone
Reset the flashcounter, update rom and after boot do a facory reset.
flash stock rom, wipe everything, doesn't mean that the phone back to normal. for example, i always set my line to wcdma only. after flash any rom, reset everything, that setting still wcdma only. the only way to have absolutely format, is change csc code. it's truly format back to stock. but, be warning, you will lose everything, backup 1st.
so the trick is factory reset? good to know! i will not try it btw, because i need a working phone for this 2 months. OP, is your question answered now?
I don't know yet
I have to try that first, but i can't do IT right now. I hope that after flashing my original orange rom the phone will be stabile enough to perform a factory reset.
Thank you guys for your suggestion.
noris08 said:
hi guys!
i recently flashed uk stock lfb rom over my orange stock rom, i rooted my s3 using chainfire cf-root 6.4 and i used triangle away to reset the counter.
everything went smooth, counter shows 0, but in settings/about device/status/ device status is now MODIFIED and not NORMAL as it used to be.
even if the counter is reset to 0, isn't this an obious proof for servicing companies that phone has been modified and loosin warranty? is any way to go back to normal? i searched the forum and i didn't find a solution.
thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey dude. I'd just stick with it
even if you should have to send it in, they'll pretty much only look at the counter (If possible) and if that is not possible, then they'll JTAG it; meaning that EVERY tiny piece of information on that phone is gonna be wiped... Just make sure you don't send it in, just because of a small SIM failure. (Because that's caused by bad radios/basebands). Only send it in, if it's proper bricked, and they'll not no a thing (I've done this loads of times, they haven't noticed a thing to date )
yep, factory reset did the trick.
as i said, after flashing original orange rom over lfb rom the phone became unstable.
i booted into mini cwm that came original with the phone and there is an option to do a factory reset, et voila, no more modified status.
thank you guys!
No problem hit thanks button )
I have a brand new s3 from orange which has not been rooted or anything and the device status shows as modified. i have used the Samsung GS3 Int ToolKit and odin to flash an unsecure boot image so i could back up my phone which i still havent yet as i need to root and install busy box. i have not rooted the phone or changed the rom so why does it say device status modified. I did a factory reset but it still shows as modified.
I will be flashing the rom once i know how to backup the orange rom and data. I want to remove the modified status incase i want to return the phone to orange so they can give me an unbranded phone in the first place.
daflex86 said:
I have a brand new s3 from orange which has not been rooted or anything and the device status shows as modified. i have used the Samsung GS3 Int ToolKit and odin to flash an unsecure boot image so i could back up my phone which i still havent yet as i need to root and install busy box. i have not rooted the phone or changed the rom so why does it say device status modified. I did a factory reset but it still shows as modified.
I will be flashing the rom once i know how to backup the orange rom and data. I want to remove the modified status incase i want to return the phone to orange so they can give me an unbranded phone in the first place.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you flashed an insecure kernel, you did modify the state of the device. Are you saying that it showed as modified out of the box?
same problem
I have never rooted my device, never intended to either. However my device status appears as modified. While I personally feel there arent many glitches in my phone (s3), I'm worried i wont be able to upgrade to jellybean when the update comes out.
Any help?
Which firmware/ROM are you using? Are you rooted?
I'm asking this cause if you bought it second-hand the previous owner could have modified it.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
would having this status affect OTA updates?
Yep, it generally means the phone is running a custom rom/recovery and is rooted. OTA updates only work on non rooted stock recovery roms... However this doesn't mean you can't update through ODIN...
ultramag69 said:
Yep, it generally means the phone is running a custom rom/recovery and is rooted. OTA updates only work on non rooted stock recovery roms... However this doesn't mean you can't update through ODIN...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think so. As long as you're on an official ROM it doesn't matter if you're rooted or not.
donalgodon said:
If you flashed an insecure kernel, you did modify the state of the device. Are you saying that it showed as modified out of the box?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I realised that later on and was just about to re-edit the post. Im sure it didn't say modified when out of the box. Orange won't replace the mobile as they say all their phones are branded and the replacement would be branded anyway. Im gonna flash with unbranded software as i dont want orange bloatware. Just need to know how to back up this useless orange rom and then i can flash!
---------- Post added at 08:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:59 PM ----------
Lunchbox115 said:
I don't think so. As long as you're on an official ROM it doesn't matter if you're rooted or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep as long as i've read you can download as long as your on official ROM. You might lose your root but you can just re-root again.

[Q] 2.3.6 cant update to 4.0.4 because of flash counter?

I'm currently rooted on stock 2.3.6. I'm trying to sell the phone today and the guy wants me to update to ICS. I just have one problem... Whenever I flash back to stock everything, Kies keeps giving me the error that I'm not eligible. I assume it's because I tripped the flash counter going back to stock. How can I avoid this? Can I use Kies with a custom recovery installed to flash the flash counter wipe, and then it'll just remove the recovery?
Edit - Trying with a custom recovery and it said I was eligible.
I am no expert on here but lurk these forums, but I think I'll throw my 2 cents in here. I received a warranty replacement from ATT in the mail after the manager of the ATT repair center told his lackey to allow my warranty exchange. You see, I had mine rooted (on 2.3.6) and loaded with a custom rom (ICS 4.0.4) and the lackey could see the counter incremented and all. He gave me the script of not being able to warranty it due to the rooting but the manager could see that I knew what I was doing and that the issue (no sim error) was a hardware issue so he said he'd take the hit if it came back due to the flash counter. He had the lackey try to reflash it with official rom with their samsung tools just incase the sim issue could be fixed with a flash, but no cigar. All that did was leave me with an official ICS rom that was unrooted with a counter showing 1. A couple days later the replacement came in and I transferred all my info to the new phone.
Now just to be on the safe side, even though the manager of the corporate repair center ok'd it, I decided to return the defective Gnote back to stock unrooted condition with it's counter reset.
What I did was,
Flash the GB stock unrooted rom 2.3.6 using odin.
Then flashed CWM using odin.
Copied the ATT stock recovery zip and the flash counter reset zip to the internal memory. Reason being is that you will flash the counter reset with the custom CWM and then flash the stock recovery after to replace the CWM with the stock ATT recovery.
Afterwards I checked in download mode and the flash count was :no which means I'm in the clear and the underneath it said Samsung Official.
I haven't used kies, but I do know that using odin was painless. I'd suggest browse these forums for a while until you feel comfortable enough and then take care of the problem without Kies. Could be done in less than an hour after hitting a few links in the stickies of these forums.
DinoSoup said:
I'm currently rooted on stock 2.3.6. I'm trying to sell the phone today and the guy wants me to update to ICS. I just have one problem... Whenever I flash back to stock everything, Kies keeps giving me the error that I'm not eligible. I assume it's because I tripped the flash counter going back to stock. How can I avoid this? Can I use Kies with a custom recovery installed to flash the flash counter wipe, and then it'll just remove the recovery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its got nothing to do with the flash counter. Unless your phone is completely stock, Kies rejects it.
rangercaptain said:
Its got nothing to do with the flash counter. Unless your phone is completely stock, Kies rejects it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It actually was the flash counter. I wiped the counter and then tried, rooted and with a custom recovery, and it worked. Stock with a 1 on the flash counter and nothing.

Device soft bricked - cannot enter recovery because of faulty Vol+ button

Hey XDA!
I somehow soft-bricked my Galaxy S3 by restoring a backup. Since the vol+ button is broken (I have taken off the back plastic panel of the phone, so I can trigger the vol+ by inserting a pin to where the button should press the connector thingy, but it's not a constant input) I cannot access recovery, however I can get into download mode. I have tried flashing several stock ROMs via Odin, but the phone just bootloops on the Samsung logo.
I have also tried googleing "how to unbrick galaxy s3", but they either didn't work, or the files didn't exist anymore.
Any of you have any idea on how I could get this phone back to life?
Thanks in advance
Make sure the firmware matches the device. Flash the firmware twice with a factory reset in-between.
Beamed in by telepathy.
shivadow said:
Make sure the firmware matches the device. Flash the firmware twice with a factory reset in-between.
Beamed in by telepathy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wish I could.
The .tar files I have downloaded are specifically for the GT-I9300, unfortunately I cannot wipe all data with Odin (and I still can't access recovery)
Check the sticker in the battery compartment. It may hold some useful information.
Flashing random firmware is a bad idea. You need to find out something about it, like where it originated or what carrier it was on. Then obtain the firmware, then flash it twice back to back. The first flash only reflashes system/data/cache. The rest are done on the second flash.
If you flash a firmware for eg t-mobile and the phone is locked to eg O2 then it won't boot. You get the bootloop. It'll boot "if" you get the right firmware for it.
I think contacting YOUR carrier could help too as they have access to information that you can't see. There is a possibility that they might know where it's imei originally came from.
Beamed in by telepathy.
shivadow said:
Check the sticker in the battery compartment. It may hold some useful information.
Flashing random firmware is a bad idea. You need to find out something about it, like where it originated or what carrier it was on. Then obtain the firmware, then flash it twice back to back. The first flash only reflashes system/data/cache. The rest are done on the second flash.
If you flash a firmware for eg t-mobile and the phone is locked to eg O2 then it won't boot. You get the bootloop. It'll boot "if" you get the right firmware for it.
I think contacting YOUR carrier could help too as they have access to information that you can't see. There is a possibility that they might know where it's imei originally came from.
Beamed in by telepathy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tried flashing the same .tar a few times in a row, got them from this site, and I have clicked on the right one according to my carrier (Telekom HU), but the firmware didn't match the description on the website, so I suppose it'd take way too long to guess and try all the firmwares.
I have taken the phone to a local repair shop, they are going to fix the volume buttons, so hopefully I'll be able to boot into recovery when it gets done.
Thanks for your help though!
"if the device still works at all". There is a strong chance that it is bricked from flashing the wrong firmware. The phone store will tell you when you pick it up as they must test their work.
Beamed in by telepathy.
shivadow said:
"if the device still works at all". There is a strong chance that it is bricked from flashing the wrong firmware. The phone store will tell you when you pick it up as they must test their work.
Beamed in by telepathy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mean, they can always just tell/show me that they are able to boot into recovery/download mode without any problems, and just end the conversation there.
I asked them if they could unbrick the device, and/or fix the button, they straight ignored my request for unbricking, and told me that they can replace the buttons.
The cost of the time to repair the device isn't worth the value of the device. That's why they ignored the unbrick request. You'll be paying more than the device is worth.
Beamed in by telepathy.
shivadow said:
The cost of the time to repair the device isn't worth the value of the device. That's why they ignored the unbrick request. You'll be paying more than the device is worth.
Beamed in by telepathy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it was my device, I probably wouldn't have taken it to get it repaired, but since it belongs to a friend of mine, who can't afford a new phone right now, he wanted to get it repaired.
It's gonna cost 10k HUF, a second hand S3 is about 25-35k, so yeah, it's way too expensive, but doesn't cover the price of the whole phone itself.
That sucks. I hate the fact that in some countries poverty is so prevailant that they can't even afford a basic amenity or an "essential piece of basic technology for the 21st century". I find it appaling and credits to you for looking after someone in need!. People have been sainted for less.
Beamed in by telepathy.
shivadow said:
That sucks. I hate the fact that in some countries poverty is so prevailant that they can't even afford a basic amenity or an "essential piece of basic technology for the 21st century". I find it appaling and credits to you for looking after someone in need!. People have been sainted for less.
Beamed in by telepathy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah well, the replacement part is going to be like half of what's connected to the mobo (all side buttons, camera panel, etc), which I probably got scammed with, cuz after looking into it, I found a replacement part just for the volume buttons. It's too late to change my mind, since the repair shop have already ordered the parts.
Appreciate your help, have a nice one!
Are you sure?. Here in the UK you can still cancel regardless, even if the parts have been fitted. They just have to undo the work and charge the time it took to do so. No other charges may apply. If we find the same deal elsewhere for a cheaper price they must match that price or better it. It could be worth checking if your country offers similar consumer protection.
Anyway, hopefully the button is the only thing wrong with it and you sort it out with ease.. Fingers crossed!.
Beamed in by telepathy.
shivadow said:
Are you sure?. Here in the UK you can still cancel regardless, even if the parts have been fitted. They just have to undo the work and charge the time it took to do so. No other charges may apply. If we find the same deal elsewhere for a cheaper price they must match that price or better it. It could be worth checking if your country offers similar consumer protection.
Anyway, hopefully the button is the only thing wrong with it and you sort it out with ease.. Fingers crossed!.
Beamed in by telepathy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, knowing my country, if I told them I found a better deal, they would probably screw the device up more
It's not that big of a deal, the replacement part with only the volume buttons seemed way too cheap to work (imo), although I got really surprised when they told me how much it's going to cost. Oh well.
I'm hoping that it's going to work after the repair, I flashed two different ROMs thru Odin, and they had their own pre-boot logo (eg. Telekom), they all just bootlooped, and since download mode is working, I'm positive I'll be able to get into recovery.
I'm quite confident that it's a case of finding the correct firmware and is why it's necessary to figure out where the phone came from. Do you want to risk flashing a btu firmware?. Btu is essentially the unlocked debranded i9300 international. I'm not 100% sure which countries had access to the btu version. For definite it was available in the EU but if you are outside that continent you'd have to research. I can give you a gdrive link to get it, saves using those links that take forever to download.
Beamed in by telepathy.
shivadow said:
I'm quite confident that it's a case of finding the correct firmware and is why it's necessary to figure out where the phone came from. Do you want to risk flashing a btu firmware?. Btu is essentially the unlocked debranded i9300 international. I'm not 100% sure which countries had access to the btu version. For definite it was available in the EU but if you are outside that continent you'd have to research. I can give you a gdrive link to get it, saves using those links that take forever to download.
Beamed in by telepathy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm 100% sure that the device was purchased in a Telekom store in Hungary, but flashing the firmware according to that didn't work either.
Also, when I first modded this device (the vol+ button wasn't working at that time either), I made a mistake and wiped the internal storage without having an OS installed, so I flashed some random Spanish ROM via Odin, and it worked.
TL;DR: Had official CM 4.4.4 running on the phone, classmate asked me to upgrade it, so I made a backup, flashed 7.x.x RR, but the contacts were gone, so I tried to restore the backup of the 4.4.4 CM, and I got stuck at the pre-boot logo, where it says 'Galaxy S3 GT-i9300'
It would be nice if you could link me to that firmware, even though I don't have the device on me, anything could happen
Lada333 said:
Hey XDA!
I somehow soft-bricked my Galaxy S3 by restoring a backup. Since the vol+ button is broken (I have taken off the back plastic panel of the phone, so I can trigger the vol+ by inserting a pin to where the button should press the connector thingy, but it's not a constant input) I cannot access recovery, however I can get into download mode. I have tried flashing several stock ROMs via Odin, but the phone just bootloops on the Samsung logo.
I have also tried googleing "how to unbrick galaxy s3", but they either didn't work, or the files didn't exist anymore.
Any of you have any idea on how I could get this phone back to life?
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bootloap after flashing stock rom is common, the fix is to boot into stock recovery and perform a factory reset then reboot, i noticed that your volume up isn't working so you can't boot into recovery, but i can't advice anything but fixing it, moving around the main issue might bring more and worse issues.
Regards Migo
Lada333 said:
I'm 100% sure that the device was purchased in a Telekom store in Hungary, but flashing the firmware according to that didn't work either.
Also, when I first modded this device (the vol+ button wasn't working at that time either), I made a mistake and wiped the internal storage without having an OS installed, so I flashed some random Spanish ROM via Odin, and it worked.
TL;DR: Had official CM 4.4.4 running on the phone, classmate asked me to upgrade it, so I made a backup, flashed 7.x.x RR, but the contacts were gone, so I tried to restore the backup of the 4.4.4 CM, and I got stuck at the pre-boot logo, where it says 'Galaxy S3 GT-i9300'
It would be nice if you could link me to that firmware, even though I don't have the device on me, anything could happen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh right gotcha!. I think I know what could have happened. When you upgraded to either 4.4.4 OR (and most likely) 7, did you have to install another bootloader to the device?. If so, there's ya problem!.
Failing that it's going to be a compatibility issue of the 2 OS's. This is why devs stress that you must flash back to stock when changing firmware or roms as there can be remnants of the old OS that will cause problems. All roms and firmwares etc are 'compared to stock' so in some instances they need remnants of the stock firmware to be there..
What worries me though is that having to flash a Spanish firmware to it to get it working. Was it originally Spanish moved to Hungary or has it been worked on before.. The plot thickens..
Anyway, here's that link for the btu firmware https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4vTiHTBB629OVlvY0pkcXN4ak0/view?usp=drivesdk
As I said, you may get very unexpected results flashing that if your phone is carrier locked or if the phone has ever been unlocked by "galaxsim unlocker". If it's unlocked by carrier or nvdata then this is basically samsungs own, carrier debloated, stock firmware for the I9300 international. Do not attempt to flash this to a 9305 as you will "doorstop" the device.
Beamed in by telepathy.
MigoMujahid said:
Bootloap after flashing stock rom is common, the fix is to boot into stock recovery and perform a factory reset then reboot, i noticed that your volume up isn't working so you can't boot into recovery, but i can't advice anything but fixing it, moving around the main issue might bring more and worse issues.
Regards Migo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, that was my plan, but since I wasn't able to hold a constant vol+ input, I wasn't able to get into recovery, and I couldn't find any way to wipe the internal storage, or boot into recovery thru Odin (I also tried to get to the recovery via adb, but it wasn't enabled, so that didn't work either).
shivadow said:
Ahh right gotcha!. I think I know what could have happened. When you upgraded to either 4.4.4 OR (and most likely) 7, did you have to install another bootloader to the device?. If so, there's ya problem!.
Failing that it's going to be a compatibility issue of the 2 OS's. This is why devs stress that you must flash back to stock when changing firmware or roms as there can be remnants of the old OS that will cause problems. All roms and firmwares etc are 'compared to stock' so in some instances they need remnants of the stock firmware to be there..
What worries me though is that having to flash a Spanish firmware to it to get it working. Was it originally Spanish moved to Hungary or has it been worked on before.. The plot thickens..
Anyway, here's that link for the btu firmware https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4vTiHTBB629OVlvY0pkcXN4ak0/view?usp=drivesdk
As I said, you may get very unexpected results flashing that if your phone is carrier locked or if the phone has ever been unlocked by "galaxsim unlocker". If it's unlocked by carrier or nvdata then this is basically samsungs own, carrier debloated, stock firmware for the I9300 international. Do not attempt to flash this to a 9305 as you will "doorstop" the device.
Beamed in by telepathy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't remember reading about flashing a different bootloader, nor actually doing so. What I did was as simple as copying over the RR and GApps zips, wiping all the necessary partitions, and flashing.
Having a Spanish ROM flashed was completely random back then, I went to some random site (can't remember its name anymore) where I could get .tar files, and downloaded the first one, which turned out to be Spanish. All I needed it for was to be able to boot, download Flashify from Play Store, and boot into recovery from there.
The phone was most definitely purchased in Hungary, first hand at a Telekom (perhaps Telenor, but then it would've had to be carrier unlocked, since my friend was using a Telekom SIM in it).
I'll save the btu firmware for last, as long as I can get into recovery, I suppose I won't be needing it. I guess it is carrier locked, but galaxsim unlocker has never been used on it.
Alright so, I just went to pick up the device, flashed TWRP, wiped everything, and installed RR successfully, thanks for all your help @shivadow, appreciate it!

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