I have a Galaxy Ace that I upgraded to Gingerbread manually. It worked fine, to the point where I decided to flash ClockworkMod. I backed-up the ROM when the screen turned off (and the device too, apparently). Great, brick.
But I received it as a brick and recovered it once, so no big deal - I fired up ODIN, got all the firmware files ready, got the phone in the three-button (volume down + power + home) download mode, the OS detected the device (still no Download... label on the screen) but when I try to flash it, ODIN is stuck at "Setting up connection".
I've done a fair amount of research and so far I read that a CWM-induced brick is pretty much hopeless - the phone needs to be sent in to the service center. Also, it appears that in many cases JIG isn't of much help with the same conditions.
Any ideas on whether I can unbrick this phone?
If may ask, from where did u get the cwm?
Sent from your phone
Via ROM Manager.
And so, this is the answer.....
ROM MANAGER BRICK GALAXY ACE GT-S5830
That is obvious. As I said - I've read about similar situations. Too late to look back at it.
My question is - is there any chance of manual revival through existing tools?
Have you try this? http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1071970
Rom manager known to hard brick ace. As u already stated that u've tried jig and it doesnt works, so no, theres no other way except to send it for repair. Sorry for your lost.
Sent from your phone
@Teflon Yes, that is the first thing I tried. No go.
@an0 curious - it is not possible, even though the modem is supposedly detected? ODIN has the StartThread indicators, so I am guessing the phone is in some type of "download mode".
i dont know for sure what it does to make ace brick, maybe messed up bootloader, maybe messed up partition layout, but as for now theres no known way to recover ace from bricking with rom manager.
It's worth exploring though. There's always a logical reason for these things.
@ZeBond sorry to hear your phone is bricked, but if you do find a solution (or even a reason for why it did/does it) could you update this thread with it?
what i'm always thinking every time this type of thread appear, in all these time rom manager known to brick our device with many users experience it themself, no one bother to contact rom manager dev (its koush right?) and inform him about this?
from all the person in the world, he might know what could possibly go wrong to make such disaster.
I will update this thread if I find a solution. Contacting the dev sounds like a plausible idea, going to look into that now.
same situation here.. ill apreciate if you post the solution when you find it! thanks.
Use JTAG To revive it
Sent from my GT-S5830 using xda premium
jtag
Ty Farooq.. But that seems very technical.. I dont think i can do it easily. I found this service: http://mobiletechvideos.mybigcommerce.com/samsung-galaxy-ace-s5830-1/
Any experiences?
thnxs alot
Rom manager bricked my phone too..though i was at fault in flashing the wrong recovery..lmfao..but the service center fixed the phone without much ado..i guess they replaced the motherboard...
Sent from my SGA rocking CM7.2 by vo-1 + all-in-one script
Related
So I had previously rooted my SGSII, and decided to try installing CM7 on it. I used CWM Recovery and ran it off the SD card, and everything appeared to work fine. I think I had a bad/not fully functioning CWM or something, as it didn't list an option to backup anything (I'm guessing because I flashed the stock kernel after rooting?) Anyway, it will no longer boot. I can access download mode, but Odin fails everytime I try to flash anything back on there. When I try to boot my phone, I just get a "Firmware upgrade encountered an issue" error.
EDIT: I just tried again as I was writing this, after rebooting, reinstalling my drivers and rebooting my computer. I was able to get the Firmware to flash properly in Odin. Now I have my phone booting and getting stuck on the "Samsung Galaxy SII GT-I9100 splash screen... Doesn't seem to go any further than that though, unfortunately.
Any ideas what I can do? Is it possible that I need re-flash a bootloader or something ??
Any help would be supremely appreciated!
So I was just trying to re-install the Kernel, using the CF unsecured kernel, and it failed, but when I try to go into recovery mode, it looks as though it managed to install CWM Recovery. I have no idea what to do from here, and am sort of afraid to do anything for fear or bricking the phone completely...
I'm hoping someone out there knows how to fix this, I feel like such a tool
As long as you can get into download-mode, your phone isn't bricked.
If you switch from or to a TouchWiz-based ROM, you have to do a full-wipe in the recovery.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Go back to stock first via download mode via odin
Nah you're good. Similar thing happened to me at my first flashing attempt. Get your stock firmware from Intratech's thread, put the phone into download mode & flash the firmware via Odin.
Then maybe have another go at rooting the phone with the matching CFRoot kernel.
Porkchops said:
So I was just trying to re-install the Kernel, using the CF unsecured kernel, and it failed, but when I try to go into recovery mode, it looks as though it managed to install CWM Recovery. I have no idea what to do from here, and am sort of afraid to do anything for fear or bricking the phone completely...
I'm hoping someone out there knows how to fix this, I feel like such a tool
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, if you can still go in download mode it's no so difficult..this "small brick" it's on of "Android things to do" once in your SGS2 life
Hi guys. I'm in a worst situation. As my phone after a failed ODIN downgrade from Android 2.3.6 to one stock kernel is completelly dead - it doesn't boot anymore - not even managed to put it back into download mode or revert to fact defaults (no keys, no lights not even battery charging displayed when pluged in) - tryed the USB jig also. Nothing worked.
The question is: Will Samsung manage to repair and how much will it cost - an average ammount offcourse. Because I guess it's out of the question to be considered a warranty issue. I guess it will be visible somebody have done smth to the ROM by a software approach....
This is the short story because I would bore you to discuss all the things I have been through - it was only my faoult out of stupidity
HELP!
I don't see why Samsung wouldn't fix it ? As to how much they'll charge you, I think you'll find that will vary from country to country (labour costs being variable, etc). No, I don't think you'll be able to have it repaired under warranty.
You might want to look at having it JTAG repaired by someone other than Samsung. This will possibly be cheaper than having Samsung repair it. Do a search on here/Google.
alexdonc said:
The question is: Will Samsung manage to repair and how much will it cost - an average ammount offcourse. Because I guess it's out of the question to be considered a warranty issue. I guess it will be visible somebody have done smth to the ROM by a software approach....
HELP!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much. I have searched alot to actually understand - unfortunatelly for me it will cost... I saw on youtube a JTAG in action right now (cannot post the link yet). I understand now it is the only way. I'll keep you posted guys. Tomorrow I'll go to service.
I'm sorry it's going to cost Alex. A difficult thing to happen, I know
Here's a link for a JTAG repairer in the US who is also a member here, tho I see you've already found one. I'm sure doing it this way will be cheaper/probably faster than having Samsung do the repair as well.
alexdonc said:
Thank you very much. I have searched alot to actually understand - unfortunatelly for me it will cost... I saw on youtube a JTAG in action right now (cannot post the link yet). I understand now it is the only way. I'll keep you posted guys. Tomorrow I'll go to service.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thax. Funny thing is that this is exactly the thing I found - the same mobiletechvideos in US Now I allready have an ideea of how much should cost that. Hopefully I'll find a local GSM repair shop with the posibilitty to unbrick it cheep - or at least not much than 50USD - in local currency ofcource.
I'm still thinking if it is possible to use an ATMEL copy process - like in the old times for EEPROMS - I have done that in the past. In theory it might work but I will never do it - alredy scared about what happened to my beloved droid.
Thx again Mistah and have a gr8 day and a wonderfull new 2012!
Yeah I've seen a report or two on here from people who have used his service & have been happy. Must admit I found his page when thought I'd bricked my phone after my first flash attempt messed up. Yeah you might be able to get it done cheaper somewhere local, and that will mean less time without the phone for you without the phone in mail from you to the US & back again.
Let us know how you get on, your experience will be a good guide for people in future who have the same problems as you.
No probs man, happy to give you the little help I did. You too Alex Hope you have a great year & you get your phone back & working soon
alexdonc said:
Thax. Funny thing is that this is exactly the thing I found - the same mobiletechvideos in US Now I allready have an ideea of how much should cost that. Hopefully I'll find a local GSM repair shop with the posibilitty to unbrick it cheep - or at least not much than 50USD - in local currency ofcource.
I'm still thinking if it is possible to use an ATMEL copy process - like in the old times for EEPROMS - I have done that in the past. In theory it might work but I will never do it - alredy scared about what happened to my beloved droid.
Thx again Mistah and have a gr8 day and a wonderfull new 2012!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello again. Solved right now. The service didn't charged me at all - I was kind of lucky after all. Unfortunately there are still some issues I have from the start. I'll keep on digging - software related.
I bricked my phone with the ICS 4.0.4 firmware
Recovered using the PIT file
i9100_u1_02_20110310_emmc_EXT4-patched-standard
So the phone booted, and I lost 2 gb of internal sd space, as expected.
But why am I not able to copy anything to the internal SD card?? Copying to ext sd is ok.. If I connect to the pc to copy to int sd the phone freezes..
Sometimes it freeze while downloading apps or opening apps.. Why? Can also freeze if I open the camera app..
A brilliant xda member helped me recover the phone.. Thanks to XDA forum and its members..
Jst wanted to knw if anyone have encountered such a problem, and know the reason for the freeze
Pls help
Same her man,i have bricked my phone with 4.0.4 lq5 and full wipe with cwm recovery. Than i flashed ums bricked pit ext4 becouse standard pached pit wont bot rom. Now my phone is working but have freazes when instaling apps and games. Best working is on android 2.3.5 . I am waiting if ther any solutions for that problem . I have tried twice flashing pits to repair problem but then my phone is hardbricked and i have then go to repair shop and worked jtag,after jtag same thing phone only bots with ums bricked pit????
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app
vislavskid said:
Same her man,i have bricked my phone with 4.0.4 lq5 and full wipe with cwm recovery. Than i flashed ums bricked pit ext4 becouse standard pached pit wont bot rom. Now my phone is working but have freazes when instaling apps and games. Best working is on android 2.3.5 . I am waiting if ther any solutions for that problem . I have tried twice flashing pits to repair problem but then my phone is hardbricked and i have then go to repair shop and worked jtag,after jtag same thing phone only bots with ums bricked pit????
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to completely restore Stock Rom (doesnt matter if its Gb ir Ics) and get rid of any clues it has ever been tempered with. Then send it to Samsung for warrany repair.
Sent from my Galaxy S2 GT i9100
boki9999 said:
Try to completely restore Stock Rom (doesnt matter if its Gb ir Ics) and get rid of any clues it has ever been tempered with. Then send it to Samsung for warrany repair.
Sent from my Galaxy S2 GT i9100
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But i dont have warranity ???
How? The warranty is 2 years and the phone has been out about a year and half, maybe less.
Sent from my Galaxy S2 GT i9100
Well i have byed used phone and i dont have waranity. I am asking to any solutions for my problem not for waranity problems...
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app
saiyanajay said:
I bricked my phone with the ICS 4.0.4 firmware
Recovered using the PIT file
i9100_u1_02_20110310_emmc_EXT4-patched-standard
So the phone booted, and I lost 2 gb of internal sd space, as expected.
But why am I not able to copy anything to the internal SD card?? Copying to ext sd is ok.. If I connect to the pc to copy to int sd the phone freezes..
Sometimes it freeze while downloading apps or opening apps.. Why? Can also freeze if I open the camera app..
A brilliant xda member helped me recover the phone.. Thanks to XDA forum and its members..
Jst wanted to knw if anyone have encountered such a problem, and know the reason for the freeze
Pls help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how about factroy reset?
I have tried factory reset but same thing
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app
don't think anything can be done in all honesty
boki9999 said:
How? The warranty is 2 years and the phone has been out about a year and half, maybe less.
Sent from my Galaxy S2 GT i9100
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The warranty is for one year
So replacing the motherboard is the only solution I guess
How did you manage to boot the bricked phone and load the pit file? jtag? Thanks
saiyanajay said:
I bricked my phone with the ICS 4.0.4 firmware
Recovered using the PIT file
i9100_u1_02_20110310_emmc_EXT4-patched-standard
So the phone booted, and I lost 2 gb of internal sd space, as expected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Help us!
Before I recovery my Galaxy S2 from emmc brick, when i download an app or anything my phone freezy. I'm crazy . I found a forum which looks will help us. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1760107
Somebody who knows how to use this tutorial, please put step by step here or post a new tread.
Thanks for all anyway
Hello , I had the same problem , I searched a lot ,but It seems that the only solution is to replace the motherboard.
BUT:
I have tried many roms , I found that cm10 , cm10.1 is working very well , with no freeze . try cyanogenmod
Lol, everyone that soft bricks their devices thinks that it's eMMc's bug.
And I dunno why everybody loves to dance with pit files.
Monsters never scared me, pit files do.
gastonw said:
Lol, everyone that soft bricks their devices thinks that it's eMMc's bug.
And I dunno why everybody loves to dance with pit files.
Monsters never scared me, pit files do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah and everyone who simply cant get system partition to boot seem to think their device is "soft" bricked.
No such thing as a soft-brick. Your device is either bricked or it isnt, ie when you need to JTAG flash or motherboard replace. Anything less, ie when you can simply just re-flash a kernel or rom via download/recovery is not bricked in any way.
TheATHEiST said:
Yeah and everyone who simply cant get system partition to boot seem to think their device is "soft" bricked.
No such thing as a soft-brick. Your device is either bricked or it isnt, ie when you need to JTAG flash or motherboard replace. Anything less, ie when you can simply just re-flash a kernel or rom via download/recovery is not bricked in any way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think we had this conversation before....went something like...this:
Your statement:
Bricked Phone: useless phone.
Non Bricked Phone: working phone/system failure/whatever phone has got that can be reverted.
Unbrick: Something that is accomplished by a riff box jtag or mobo replacement.
Mine (and a whole lotta people):
Bricked phone / hard bricked phone: Dead man, dead.
Soft-bricked phone: system failure/whatever phone has got that can be reverted.
Unbrick: revert the system issues making it work properly, re partition, riff box jtag or mobo replacement or whatever that brings the phone back to life.
As you can see, we are talking about the same, we only brand it with different names.
Now, the thing is that we call it a brick because we can't use it, and judging by the device's wheight we call it a brick, it's got brick's uses only.
Same applies to Soft brick, that stands for Software bricks, an unusable software , that without of people wanting to help other people (here at xda and forums alike) would became either bricks or just a service center scam ( giving them the possibility to say "You must have dropped it, we changed the hardware and it costs $ 250").
Same happens with the unbrick concept. Tell me, as you are being "technical", how in gods name do you unbrick a brick? what, you apply some glue?
Exactly, makes no sense, that's why we call it a metaphor.
wouldn't you agree now?
No.
Bricked is when you need extra hardware to repair problem other then standard USB cable. ie new motherboard or riff box/jtag connection. If you can simply boot device and re-flash something by normal means there is nothing wrong with your device and PEBCAK, and is not "bricked".
"soft-brick" is just a term coined by n00bs who find it easier to use the term when they screw system up somehow and cant get partition to boot or have boot loop etc etc. Only reason its used allot is because we have many many n00bs on here and the term has simply stuck.
The term "bricked" is used far too loosely noways.
TheATHEiST said:
No.
Bricked is when you need extra hardware to repair problem other then standard USB cable. ie new motherboard or riff box/jtag connection. If you can simply boot device and re-flash something by normal means there is nothing wrong with your device and PEBCAK, and is not "bricked".
"soft-brick" is just a term coined by n00bs who find it easier to use the term when they screw system up somehow and cant get partition to boot or have boot loop etc etc. Only reason its used allot is because we have many many n00bs on here and the term has simply stuck.
The term "bricked" is used far too loosely noways.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I meantioned what you thought about that term in my previous post, here, let me get auto quoted:
gastonw said:
Your statement:
Bricked Phone: useless phone.
Non Bricked Phone: working phone/system failure/whatever phone has got that can be reverted.
Unbrick: Something that is accomplished by a riff box jtag or mobo replacement. HENCE THIRD PARTY INVOLVED
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+
I'm sticking with the Soft-Brick term, It's just so cool to use.
Guess I'm a noob then....hold on a sec...I am a noob, first flashed Dec, 19 2012.
So, nothing new here, oh yes, unbrick term is missing.
Let me know when you think of a non-loose answer for that.
I'd really like to see a brick become unbrick (explained with technicalities).
Lol, if we get thru this, the next thing we all gonna be arguing about is english language.
gastonw said:
Yeah, I meantioned what you thought about that term in my previous post, here, let me get auto quoted:
+
I'm sticking with the Soft-Brick term, It's just so cool to use.
Guess I'm a noob then....hold on a sec...I am a noob, first flashed Dec, 19 2012.
So, nothing new here, oh yes, unbrick term is missing.
Let me know when you think of a non-loose answer for that.
I'd really like to see a brick become unbrick (explained with technicalities).
Lol, if we get thru this, the next thing we all gonna be arguing about is english language.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The term "bricked" has always meant same on XDA, Its only these past few years when smartphones have become more popular with mainstream public and XDA has had a huge flood of n00bs screaming "hey I haz bricked me fone " that terms like "soft-bricked" has come into play because n00bs kept thinking their device was bricked when it was simply a bad flash or system had problems booting etc.
Bricked is when your phone cannot be used/flashed without extra hardware like when you corrupt your bootloader for example.
A "unbrick" would be when you use this extra hardware to resolve issue with your device.
TheATHEiST said:
The term "bricked" has always meant same on XDA, Its only these past few years when smartphones have become more popular with mainstream public and XDA has had a huge flood of n00bs screaming "hey I haz bricked me fone " that terms like "soft-bricked" has come into play because n00bs kept thinking their device was bricked when it was simply a bad flash or system had problems booting etc.
Bricked is when your phone cannot be used/flashed without extra hardware like when you corrupt your bootloader for example.
A "unbrick" would be when you use this extra hardware to resolve issue with your device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Following that reasoning PC should be consider considered extra hardware.
As I said before, we are talking about the same thing here, we only call it differently.
Hi!
I just had the weirdest experience with my sgsii
I have been using the unofficial vsync patched cm10 rom for this modelfor the last month or so.
I have been updating at least one per week but this week I decided to give my phone a break and not flash it... i am actually really busy at job.
Suddenly tonight, the phone looked like when you have a SOD... so i just pulled the battery.
Now, it does not pass from the first logo stage, just prior to start booting.
I cannot access cwm recovery either, but download mode seems to work-
Now the odd thng is that i am attempting to flash somethng to get the phone working but it gets stuck in the step "NAND Write start!".... it goes no furter than that...
I have chosen the options auto reboot and f.reset time.
a pda file, phone and csc file from the eaked jb rom.....
The system I am attempting to flash from is a windows 7 pro 64 bit.... and odin is Odin3 v1.85...
Please, tell me i didnt get a brick and there is a way tofix it... :crying:
EDIT: Desperated, i tried to flash latest jb leak again, and chose the pit file that comes with it, which re-partitions the phone...
After 20 minutes not responding, i pulld the battery out... now i cannot even enter download mode....nothing....nada....
Sounds like you bricked it, good job.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Forum Runner
GFXi0N said:
EDIT: Desperated, i tried to flash latest jb leak again, and chose the pit file that comes with it, which re-partitions the phone...
After 20 minutes not responding, i pulld the battery out... now i cannot even enter download mode....nothing....nada....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
too bad never repartition unless you make your own pit file with heimdall .. if you would've wait a couple hours I just pmed you.
and for other people instead of flashing samsung's bricksquadroms you can flash CM9 resurrection edition. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1419102
Make a pit file with heimdall of your own device. Don't trust pitfile that comes with a rom.
I re-partitioned my device and i got like 3GB intern memory back.
There's probably a way to get your device alive. it isn't the mmc cap bug so. search some threads on xda about brickbugs etc of galaxy phones and you'll find people who hardbricked and unbricked their device.
Probably usb jig could get you into download mode i'm not sure though. Or else jtag. Ask some people over there they will know it
I will try to revive it with jig.... i must find the thingy though.,..... if not.. i will send it to the service but i'm not sure i'm on warranty....
Being not patient made me f*ck it up bad....
Any clue on how to recover a phone after re-partitioning.... i really don't know where to start...
EDIT: JIG does not switch it on either... why did i have to re-partition?!??!?!?!?!?!
That was a dumb move....... any more ideas?
If you cant enter recovery or download mode you have no choice but to JTAG repair or mobo replacement.
Hard brick.... on its way to service
Wish me luck..
Mobo replacement it is, this incident will at least teach you to be patient, I explained you my problem in PM, I waited for 1 week for USB jig to arrive from eBay then flashed stock ROM. I trust the f/w it came with the most.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app
Sh4Dy said:
Mobo replacement it is, this incident will at least teach you to be patient, I explained you my problem in PM, I waited for 1 week for USB jig to arrive from eBay then flashed stock ROM. I trust the f/w it came with the most.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
USB JIG didn't work at all..... I have one and it was not able to boot the phone ....
Isn't this kind of brick fixable with Jtag?
Sent from my GT-I9100
Ok, before I repartitioned, making the problem worse, I was experiencing some kind of R/W problem..... there was something odd with the nand because I was able to boot in download mode, but not in recovery (CWM) mode....
Then, when I plugged the phone to the computer, Odin was able to recognize the phone.
I followed some thread around XDA to flash 4.1.2 leak from sammy and when I hit the "Start" button in Odin, it would not pass from the first stages, revealing that R/W or I/O problem.... the internal nand was, somehow broken.... it didn't read or write properly.... so, even If i could find a workaround, I would have lost some internal storage (some posts talk about around 3 Gb or something similar as lost space in these cases).... that is IF i had been able to fix it..... but then, that's what warranty is for..... so I gave it a last (dumb) try..... including the pit file, which attempted a format, which ended messing (i would say the f. word) everything up.
The good side is that unable to even boot, at least i lost the blue loading bar the vsync patched cm10 mod has in the first bootup screen.... which could have revealed to sammy that I was tempering with unofficial roms....
Lesson learned: Be patient people: But also, don't think this could not happen to you: The phone was perfectly working the last time I saw it... and I even was making some phone calls and browsing the internet.... I mean... it gave no prior symptoms or warnings... I t just died..... I guess I have to be glad I'm not one of those people whose phone gets caught up on fire on their pockets for malfunctioning.....
Now waiting for it to come back revived from samsung..... I have hope
hope it will be able to recover
Great: After losing the phone and past almost three months, samsung says the phone has been manipulated and the warranty is voided....
I wasn't able to flash back an original firmware prior to sending it to the tech service.....
What do you recommend me to do?
I guess paying for the repair would be quite expensive....
GFXi0N said:
Great: After losing the phone and past almost three months, samsung says the phone has been manipulated and the warranty is voided....
I wasn't able to flash back an original firmware prior to sending it to the tech service.....
What do you recommend me to do?
I guess paying for the repair would be quite expensive....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well what is it you expect us to say, some secret magic word that will fix it for free?
The choice is pay for it to be fixed or dont.
So no magic word or secret passphrase so they will upgrade my device to a SGSIV for free?
Damn.....
I'm asking for advice, since I'm convinced the brick was not caused by flashing anything.....
Does anyone have any experience with this in the past to know more or less how expensive bill could I be facing for the repair?
GFXi0N said:
So no magic word or secret passphrase so they will upgrade my device to a SGSIV for free?
Damn.....
I'm asking for advice, since I'm convinced the brick was not caused by flashing anything.....
Does anyone have any experience with this in the past to know more or less how expensive bill could I be facing for the repair?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude, it WAS caused by flashing something.
Initially your device wasn't "bricked" and was likely a kernel issue and possibly a dirty usb data connection.
The point when it was bricked was when you tried flashing the pit file, had bad connection and you then pulling battery. This f**ked your nand chip up and only way to fix it is to replace motherboard.
You will need to either purchase a mobo replacement and replace it yourself or pay somebody to purchase/replace it for you. Probably looking at around £100.
When bricks happen, you really need to BRICK it before claiming warranty.
I've got a couple of guys here that own a PhD in bricking.
Brick is the new flash.
Sent from the little guy
Jig wasn't working
Flashing anyting.. even just a recovery wasn't working
FLashing official didnt work
Flashing CM didnt work either
Tested different cables and different ports
It was f*cked up already... anyway: 4 samsung devices owned: 3 gave problems of hardware..... that cannot be a coincidence...
Repartitioning erased my tracks, if anything... because the 3 key combo for recovery was working until then..... but either way they managed to access the memory somehow, I guess.....
GFXi0N said:
anyway: 4 samsung devices owned: 3 gave problems of hardware..... that cannot be a coincidence....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe a PEBCAK?
GFXi0N said:
Jig wasn't working
Flashing anyting.. even just a recovery wasn't working
FLashing official didnt work
Flashing CM didnt work either
Tested different cables and different ports
It was f*cked up already... anyway: 4 samsung devices owned: 3 gave problems of hardware..... that cannot be a coincidence...
Repartitioning erased my tracks, if anything... because the 3 key combo for recovery was working until then..... but either way they managed to access the memory somehow, I guess.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't blame the phone, blame the user.
Yeah, sure... anyway... thanks for the help... I hope some day you need it and someone will come not trying to mocking you..... anyway... this is the trend around here lately...
Happy trolling
I recently hard bricked my phone after flashing CyanogenMod 10. I know that CyanogenMod doesn't even touch the bootloader but somehow I ended up with a very expensive paperweight. But luckily Samsung Care replaced the motherboard in my phone and now my phone is good as new. But that doesn't mean that I'm gonna refrain from flashing or rooting. I've been rooting since 2 years now & this is the first time I've ever hard bricked the phone. But this experience really did scare me. So, to avoid it, in future, I wanna know all about hard brick. So please answer my following questions:
1) What exactly is hard brick?
2) Possible ways in which one could end up with a hard bricked phone? (Mainly SGS3)
3) Possible ways of recovery from hard brick?
Thanks a lot in advance. I want this thread to be a complete source of information to anyone who is new to flashing & needs DO's & DONT's of flashing properly.
saurabh_goyal93 said:
I recently hard bricked my phone after flashing CyanogenMod 10. I know that CyanogenMod doesn't even touch the bootloader but somehow I ended up with a very expensive paperweight. But luckily Samsung Care replaced the motherboard in my phone and now my phone is good as new. But that doesn't mean that I'm gonna refrain from flashing or rooting. I've been rooting since 2 years now & this is the first time I've ever hard bricked the phone. But this experience really did scare me. So, to avoid it, in future, I wanna know all about hard brick. So please answer my following questions:
1) What exactly is hard brick?
2) Possible ways in which one could end up with a hard bricked phone? (Mainly SGS3)
3) Possible ways of recovery from hard brick?
Thanks a lot in advance. I want this thread to be a complete source of information to anyone who is new to flashing & needs DO's & DONT's of flashing properly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1: You hardbricked your phone if you can't power it on at all. That means no Recovery and no Download mode. No lifesign at all.
A softbrick on the other hand is the situation that your phone powers up but stucks at a certain point and you can`t boot it up to the OS. However Recovery and/or Download Mode is still accessible, so you can flash a ROM, which usually solves the problem.
2: If you screw up the Bootloader. How can you screw up the bootloader? If you flash the bootloader through Odin there is always the chance that during the flash process your OS crashes or you by accident disconnect the USB cable. Although I heard cases where people hardbricked their phones during flashing a ROM through CWM (like in your case). This however doesn't make sense because like you already said most ROMs don't touch the Bootloader, so even if something happens during the flashing process, you should still be able to get at least to Download Mode. So with cases like that I assume that it is a hardware failure of some sort.
3: If you screwed up the bootloader then you can bring your phone back to life by using JTag. There are people who do this for a little money, so if you don't have warranty anymore, this is the way to go because it's a lot cheaper than replacing the mainboard.
Thanks a lot
Thanks for such an informative reply. Really appreciate it.
Scarface1991 said:
1: You hardbricked your phone if you can't power it on at all. That means no Recovery and no Download mode. No lifesign at all.
A softbrick on the other hand is the situation that your phone powers up but stucks at a certain point and you can`t boot it up to the OS. However Recovery and/or Download Mode is still accessible, so you can flash a ROM, which usually solves the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know the symptoms. But what exactly is a hard brick? Hardware is burned out? Software isn't able to communicate with hardware? Like, what happens exactly inside the phone?
Scarface1991 said:
2: If you screw up the Bootloader. How can you screw up the bootloader? If you flash the bootloader through Odin there is always the chance that during the flash process your OS crashes or you by accident disconnect the USB cable. Although I heard cases where people hardbricked their phones during flashing a ROM through CWM (like in your case). This however doesn't make sense because like you already said most ROMs don't touch the Bootloader, so even if something happens during the flashing process, you should still be able to get at least to Download Mode. So with cases like that I assume that it is a hardware failure of some sort.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How can one screw up during bootloader update/flash? The process takes like 5 seconds!!
Plus Samsung Galaxy S3 GT-I9300 doesn't allow flashing of any other device's bootloader.(Yeah yeah, I was about to flash GT-I9305's bootloader on mine by mistake!) Odin stops automatically during flashing. I don't know whether it is a security feature by phone or odin but whatever it is, it ROCKS!
saurabh_goyal93 said:
Thanks for such an informative reply. Really appreciate it.
I know the symptoms. But what exactly is a hard brick? Hardware is burned out? Software isn't able to communicate with hardware? Like, what happens exactly inside the phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Bootloader is the first thing that is loaded when you power up your phone. If you screw up the bootloader your phone won`t boot up at all. This is caused by the user of the phone, that`s why people say: "Your hardbricked your device".
If your hardware fails to function properly because of whatever reason then it`s not a hardbrick but simply a hardware failure. It is in most cases not caused by the user (except if someone would be dumb enough to overclock CPU/GPU to a ridiculous high level)
How can one screw up during bootloader update/flash? The process takes like 5 seconds!!
Plus Samsung Galaxy S3 GT-I9300 doesn't allow flashing of any other device's bootloader.(Yeah yeah, I was about to flash GT-I9305's bootloader on mine by mistake!) Odin stops automatically during flashing. I don't know whether it is a security feature by phone or odin but whatever it is, it ROCKS!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look at the XDA Q&A Threads. There are several cases a day where people have problems flashing something on their phones because Odin fails for some reason. That`s why I would use Odin only when it`s really necessary. When I had my first Smartphone (Samsung Wave) I flashed a lot of stuff on it and one time the flash tool just reported an error and that`s it (bootloader was screwed). I don't know why it failed until this day. So flash a bootloader only if it`s absolutely necessary because this is the most dangerous thing that you can do to your device.
I hard bricked my phone by rushing to install a new ROM before i had to leave for work. Later when I retraced my steps I realized that I made a stupid and critical mistake. I installed a ROM for a Galaxy S2 onto my Galaxy S3.
The installation appeared to be going smoothly. When it was complete I pressed the "reboot now" button. My phone turned off and never turned back on.
Now the phone has no signs of life. No Power, No Recovery, No download mode, No drivers when I plug it into a computer USB port. The computer does recognize that some kind of USB device is connected to it though. Which is what makes me believe that the phone is not dead and must be repairable.
I've done research and it appears that there are 3 options. (Please let me know if there are more)
Option #1: Pay someone to perform a JTAG repair service.
Option #2: Attempt to boot into recovery using a JIG.
Option #3: Play dumb and return my phone under warranty.
Questions
Option #1: is there a kit you can buy to perform this JTAG repair yourself? I will be more careful in the future but I don't want to be helpless if this ever happens again.
Option #2: I find conflicting advice here. Will this help my phone? eBay sellers warn that a JIG will not help a phone boot into download mode if it doesn't even power on at all. Has anyone attempted this with a phone in the same condition as mine? if so, what was the outcome?
Option #3: The easy way out . But also the defeated unhonest route I would rather avoid. It seems that most people reporting a phone in this condition never explain how they fixed their phone. What do they do?
My phone is still under warranty. Will they be able to detect that I caused the malfunction if I tell a lie that this just happened one day after charging the phone over night?
What do people do when their warranty has expired?
Please let me know how you handled this?
I hope this at least helps someone prevent what I did. Take your time!
I look forward to any advice
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda app-developers app
fullycompletely said:
I
This is I9300 forum if you do not have I9300 this is the wrong forum and any advice may not apply to your phone .
You say >>>>>
SGH-I747M
Option #1: Pay someone to perform a JTAG repair service.
That may work but it depends upon the actual problem .
Option #2: Attempt to boot into recovery using a JIG.
Dirt Cheapo always worth a try .
Option #3: Play dumb and return my phone under warranty.
It will be either rejected for warranty or repaired .
Questions
Option #1: is there a kit you can buy to perform this JTAG repair yourself?
YES use GOOGLE search .
I will be more careful in the future but I don't want to be helpless if this ever happens again.
But JTAG is no magic solution .
helpless is a simple fact of reading the faqs and guides after its broken .
Option #2: I find conflicting advice here. Will this help my phone? eBay sellers warn that a JIG will not help a phone boot into download mode if it doesn't even power on at all. Has anyone attempted this with a phone in the same condition as mine? if so, what was the outcome?
READ the JTag thread .
My phone is still under warranty. Will they be able to detect that I caused the malfunction if I tell a lie that this just happened one day after charging the phone over night?
What do people do when their warranty has expired?
Phone is not old enough for no warranty but warranty refused then you pay .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
fullycompletely said:
I hard bricked my phone by rushing to install a new ROM before i had to leave for work. Later when I retraced my steps I realized that I made a stupid and critical mistake. I installed a ROM for a Galaxy S2 onto my Galaxy S3.
The installation appeared to be going smoothly. When it was complete I pressed the "reboot now" button. My phone turned off and never turned back on.
Now the phone has no signs of life. No Power, No Recovery, No download mode, No drivers when I plug it into a computer USB port. The computer does recognize that some kind of USB device is connected to it though. Which is what makes me believe that the phone is not dead and must be repairable.
I've done research and it appears that there are 3 options. (Please let me know if there are more)
Option #1: Pay someone to perform a JTAG repair service.
Option #2: Attempt to boot into recovery using a JIG.
Option #3: Play dumb and return my phone under warranty.
Questions
Option #1: is there a kit you can buy to perform this JTAG repair yourself? I will be more careful in the future but I don't want to be helpless if this ever happens again.
Option #2: I find conflicting advice here. Will this help my phone? eBay sellers warn that a JIG will not help a phone boot into download mode if it doesn't even power on at all. Has anyone attempted this with a phone in the same condition as mine? if so, what was the outcome?
Option #3: The easy way out . But also the defeated unhonest route I would rather avoid. It seems that most people reporting a phone in this condition never explain how they fixed their phone. What do they do?
My phone is still under warranty. Will they be able to detect that I caused the malfunction if I tell a lie that this just happened one day after charging the phone over night?
What do people do when their warranty has expired?
Please let me know how you handled this?
I hope this at least helps someone prevent what I did. Take your time!
I look forward to any advice
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try a USB Jig. only a few £ off ebay etc.
Hey guys !
Well...
Yesterday, I decided to flash a new ROM on my aunt's SII...
It wasn't the first time I did this : my own phones have all been flashed, I know how it works !
But... I got a problem ! While I was wiping the data/cache, the phone got stuck on this step. Then, shut down. And now, it doesn't boot anymore. Screen stays black. I did everything I found on the web : tried to boot on recovery and on download mode, tried to press the buttons to get into these modes and inserting the battery while pressing, tried to connect it on USB (not even detected)...
After some researches, I found out that it was a eMMC problem...
Anyway, in a nutshell, my phone is hard bricked. What can I do ?
Thanks.
rohecla said:
Hey guys !
Well...
Yesterday, I decided to flash a new ROM on my aunt's SII...
It wasn't the first time I did this : my own phones have all been flashed, I know how it works !
But... I got a problem ! While I was wiping the data/cache, the phone got stuck on this step. Then, shut down. And now, it doesn't boot anymore. Screen stays black. I did everything I found on the web : tried to boot on recovery and on download mode, tried to press the buttons to get into these modes and inserting the battery while pressing, tried to connect it on USB (not even detected)...
After some researches, I found out that it was a eMMC problem...
Anyway, in a nutshell, my phone is hard bricked. What can I do ?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what stock firmware version was the Phone when u did the wipe from recovery (if it was on ICS 4.0.4 then ur phone will be bricked because of the kernel of ICS4.0.4 being plagued with the 'EMMMC' brick bug and only a JTAG or a MB replacement is the solution for it) .
JTAG won't work; motherboard replacement or bin.
I think it was 4.0.4...
Motherboard replacement is the only thing I can do ?
Mate.... Samsung KNOWS this is a problem.......I'd try for warranty repair/replacement.....if the phone is less than two years old, you have a good chance......
Just remember to 'act dumb' at the service center..... Tell them you were trying to use kies to update from ICS and the phone died...... If it is the emmc brickbug, there's NO WAY they can check what os was on ur phone or whether you'd rooted or modified it in any way.....right now it's an unrecoverable (expensive) paperweight........
This might be my S2, or it might be my W...but it's definitely CM
Yeah, I saw this is a quite common problem... But often, it's just a soft brick. In my case, it's a hard brick...
And warranty expired two months ago...
Well, it's unlikely to succeed, but you could try emailing Samsung explaining your situation regarding expired warranty and going on to explain that updating with kies is a 'normal' procedure and that it's that 'normal' Samsung provided procedure plus the 'unstable' OS version (having read on the internet about 4.0.4 brickbug) that have killed a phone that would otherwise be working today. Stress the point that the ICS firmware AND kies were both supplied by Samsung for official (end user) use on Samsung devices......see what they say.....can't hurt right?
This might be my S2, or it might be my W...but it's definitely CM
Yeah, they're going to honour an expired warranty. That happens all the time
Mb....I *did* say right at the start that it probably wouldn't work..... But what has he got to lose?
Lol.....they *might* be suffering from an excess of Xmas and new year goodwill.......
This might be my S2, or it might be my W...but it's definitely CM
I have twice super bricked my two SGS-2s.... EMMC bug is one hell of a pain in ass. You have to let go some SD card space, but u can revive you phone using the URL in my signature. I revived both my phones losing about a GB space in one and a couple GBs in other. Good Luck
alvinasnow said:
but u can revive you phone using the URL in my signature
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
People have said he needs a new motherboard.Do you know something they dont?.
S4 victim
The problem is that I can't flash anything ! The phone simply doesn't turn on ! No recovery mode, no download mode, nothing ! It doesn't even charge !
Yes try this link from alvinasnow
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1667886
So far as I know if you only connect your phone normally if it os charging then it already has some kind of connection with the pc I believe its adb.
But since you dont have warranty you can give it a shot to save money so just give it a try and read carefully. I was surprised when I got this phone, that samsung would make a big mistake like that its a just shame.
Edit: i dont know or you need jtag or riff and I will not test it cause I dont have a superbrick phone with mmc cap erase.
But just open device manager on the pc and connect the phone and see if there is a new device connected.
In my opinion my previous phone has one of the best options to make it unbrickable
It was nvflash but it sucked.nvidia wouldnt release sources.
Gooodluck with your phone
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
Which part of this phone needs a motherboard replacement are you lot having trouble comprehending ?
OK...For all the slow kids who keep posting to this thread (including the OP); this phone needs a new motherboard. No threads promising magical fixes are going to work, there is no other way to fix this.
Is this clear now or do I have to make another post in bolded caps to make it really clear ?
There is a SLIGHT chance that if a JTAG recovery house can boot a kernel via JTAG (I do not know if RIFFBox can do this or not), they can use the solution that the Kindle Fire community used. (This was a recent discovery 2-3 months ago)
The problem is, I have attempted to provide information on this solution to these JTAG houses with no response. I don't know if they can boot a modified kernel via JTAG or not.
Currently:
All Exynos4 devices that are Superbricked are unrecoverable, as Samsung refuses to provide any way to boot these from USB, and anyone who could develop a solution hasn't responded (since most dead devices are long gone at this point...)
All Qualcomm-based Samsungs that are Superbricked are hosed too
Kindle Fires that are Superbricked are recoverable as of 2-3 months ago thanks to some discoveries by Oranav that were used by Hashcode to develop a recovery solution. This solution can't be used on Samsung Exynos4 devices as it depends on the ability to boot the device from USB.
And folks...... @Entropy512 needs to be listened to.......he is the dev who has done the most research into this issue and (somebody cmiiw) was the one who discovered the "emmc cap erase" command was the culprit. I think he also wrote the original (much copied) 'got brickbug' app which tells you if your phone is affected or not. If what he says doesn't work, then as @MistahBungle says, the ONLY OTHER OPTION is a new motherboard........
This might be my S2, or it might be my W...but it's definitely CM
Well...
I think I'm just going to call the insurance, and see what they can do ! Even if my warranty is now void, they may replace the phone !
Thank you all !