HELP! Bricked my phone :( - Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hello.
I've flashed the latest Siyah kernel (4.1.5) on my stock GingerBread 2.3.4, using Mobile Odin, not knowing that this version of the kernel is not compatible with Gingerbread, and ended up bricking my phone.
Now when i turn the phone on, I get the usual "Samsung Galaxy S II - GT-I9100" initial screen, then the eye logo of Siyah kernel, but after that the screen goes black and android does not boot.
I've tried Vol Down + Home + Power button combination a few times, even after removing the battery, but it looks like there's no way to even get into recovery mode, because the screen remains black. :crying:
Will I have to buy another phone, or is there any chance to save it?
Pleeeeease help me, I'm desperate!!

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SOLVED
I finally maneged, I don't know how, to get into recovery mode, and I could flash back the stock firmware using Odin. PHEW!!!
My apologies for having opened this thread.

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Recovery is both volume and power not home and power
Sent from Team Pirate's Transmitter Thingy

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In fact!
The post I read which was saying that it was that 3 keys combo must have been wrong...
btw... I'm so happy I could recover the mistake! I have also successfully re-routed my device with the old good doomlord exploit.
What I wanted to do was to install the latest stock ICS and have it rooted without triangle and counter issues, keeping a nandroid backup of my current rooted GB 2.3.4 in case I won't digest the well known ICS appetite for battery. I have rooted my phone using doomlord exploit, therefore currently I have no triangle and my counter is 0. Also, I've read that a full wipe of the phone is highly recommended before upgrading to ICS.
So my plan was:
To make a backup of all the apps, contacts, SMS'es, etc, using a few free apps available on the market, since I've read somewhere that, I don't know why, Titanium Backup can't be used in this case.
To install Siyah kernel in order to get CWM, with which I would have made a nandroid backup of the phone (but here I made the mistake of flashing the wrong kernel version).
To Download latest stock ICS ROM, and flash it using Mobile Odin, which would allow me to make a full wipe and inject the root permissions into ICS without triangle/conter issues.
To reinstall all the apps and reconfigure the phone using the backup made at point 1.
Do you think that the procedure should work, provided that I use Siyah kernel 2.6.14 (which is the latest compatible with GingerBread) at point 2?
Or perhaps it would be better to simply use Odin for PC, root ICS using CF-root, flash back ICS stock kernel (which would remove the triangle but leave the root permissions set), and then use triangle away to reset the counter? (but is triangle away actually capable of resetting counter, or all it does is removing the triangle?)

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Since you are in Venice, I assume that you have the GT-I9100 or similar model. If so, you are in the wrong forum. This forum is for the AT&T SGH-I777 model, (US carrier) version. You should go to the I9100 forum to ask your question. And when you do, please post in Q&A, not the general forum. I asked a moderator to move this for you.

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creepyncrawly said:
Since you are in Venice, I assume that you have the GT-I9100 or similar model. If so, you are in the wrong forum. This forum is for the AT&T SGH-I777 model, (US carrier) version. You should go to the I9100 forum to ask your question. And when you do, please post in Q&A, not the general forum. I asked a moderator to move this for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oops you're right!! Sorry today I just don't seem to be able to do anything right.. My apologies once again.

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Moved to proper thread

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JuniorGG said:
In fact!
The post I read which was saying that it was that 3 keys combo must have been wrong...
btw... I'm so happy I could recover the mistake! I have also successfully re-routed my device with the old good doomlord exploit.
What I wanted to do was to install the latest stock ICS and have it rooted without triangle and counter issues, keeping a nandroid backup of my current rooted GB 2.3.4 in case I won't digest the well known ICS appetite for battery. I have rooted my phone using doomlord exploit, therefore currently I have no triangle and my counter is 0. Also, I've read that a full wipe of the phone is highly recommended before upgrading to ICS.
So my plan was:
To make a backup of all the apps, contacts, SMS'es, etc, using a few free apps available on the market, since I've read somewhere that, I don't know why, Titanium Backup can't be used in this case.
To install Siyah kernel in order to get CWM, with which I would have made a nandroid backup of the phone (but here I made the mistake of flashing the wrong kernel version).
To Download latest stock ICS ROM, and flash it using Mobile Odin, which would allow me to make a full wipe and inject the root permissions into ICS without triangle/conter issues.
To reinstall all the apps and reconfigure the phone using the backup made at point 1.
Do you think that the procedure should work, provided that I use Siyah kernel 2.6.14 (which is the latest compatible with GingerBread) at point 2?
Or perhaps it would be better to simply use Odin for PC, root ICS using CF-root, flash back ICS stock kernel (which would remove the triangle but leave the root permissions set), and then use triangle away to reset the counter? (but is triangle away actually capable of resetting counter, or all it does is removing the triangle?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flashing a stock ROM will not cause Yellow Triangle or increase your binary counter.
So you can follow below steps after you get all required backups using apps:
- Flash 4.0.3 stock ROM using PC Odin.
- Root using the method mentioned in http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1501719 if you are concerned with Yellow Triangle and binary counter.
- Flash latest Siyah. Use Mobile Odin if you are concerned with Yellow Triangle.
- Flash any custom ICS or JB ROM.
Just follow first two points if you only need stock ICS with root. Factory reset is not mandatory but recommended so there are no issues later.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

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Thank you acekay. Now it's late but I will check the thread you linked. It looks promising!
Btw I think I must pay attention not to flash custom kernels or use CWM if I upgrade to stock 4.0.4, since I have the buggy eMMC and so would risk to brick the phone, wouldn't I? In such case I would try upgrading to 4.0.3, just to be safe.
GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

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JuniorGG said:
Thank you acekay. Now it's late but I will check the thread you linked. It looks promising!
Btw I think I must pay attention not to flash custom kernels or use CWM if I upgrade to stock 4.0.4, since I have the buggy eMMC and so would risk to brick the phone, wouldn't I? In such case I would try upgrading to 4.0.3, just to be safe.
GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep. 4.0.4 and CWM recovery is risky. 4.0.3 should be fine.
All the best.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

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JuniorGG said:
Thank you acekay. Now it's late but I will check the thread you linked. It looks promising!
Btw I think I must pay attention not to flash custom kernels or use CWM if I upgrade to stock 4.0.4, since I have the buggy eMMC and so would risk to brick the phone, wouldn't I? In such case I would try upgrading to 4.0.3, just to be safe.
GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you flash custom kernel after upgrading to ICS 4.0.4, you are 100% safe!
the emmc bug itself is on the stock 4.0.4 kernel not the firmware as a whole

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Jokesy said:
If you flash custom kernel after upgrading to ICS 4.0.4, you are 100% safe!
the emmc bug itself is on the stock 4.0.4 kernel not the firmware as a whole
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok. So the only thing to take care of is not to have both the stock kernel of 4.0.4 and CWM installed at the same time. All the rest is safe. Thank you for having made that clear.
GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2