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I've had my GS2 for a little while now and before i starting flashing roms and kernels i'd like to know what are the most common ways of soft and hard bricking the phone.
Being a noob i figure if i find out how its done i can make sure i dont make the same mistakes.
Thanks
Goooober said:
I've had my GS2 for a little while now and before i starting flashing roms and kernels i'd like to know what are the most common ways of soft and hard bricking the phone.
Being a noob i figure if i find out how its done i can make sure i dont make the same mistakes.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Simple its users not following the instructions usually they cannot be bothered to read and flash with ignorance rather than knowledge . Those who take time to read and understand do not have problems .
SGS2 brick is usually 99% recoverable .
jje
Yep,JJe is totally 100% right.I had never bought a Samsung device before(quite different to root and manage that HTCs after all),but after 2 days of heavy reading,I was already rooted and stuff.That's all you need.There was only one time that my phone seemed unrecoverable,but even then,it just needed flashing a stock rom with a factory reset.
Anyway,most common bricks,eh?Well,a damaged /efs partition will render your phone unusable as,well,a phone.That's why a backup is always recommended/required.Other stuff that'll brick your phone...Well,sometimes,if Kies is running in the background,it will block Odin and the latter will stop flashing and,if it happens in the right(or wrong) moment,your phone will get ****ed up,especially when flashing a bootloader.Also,flashing a .PIT file and repartitioning without knowing you need to do so will probably damage your phone badly.
If you manage to brick it,just make sure the damage is so bad that Samsung won't be able to detect root etc.
the most common would be, flashing something you shouldn't
could be a wrong rom, kernel, having no bootloaders
but if you read carefully the instructions you and your phone will survive
"being an idiot"
Soft bricking: bad rom or kernel flash, boot loops due to framework problems.
Hard bricks: flashing a bad pit, or rom from a different phone eg i9000.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
Not reading is THE way to brick your phone.
want to jump to the solution without taking the steps
Don't jump while flashing as that can brick it!! Always take the steps slowly it's safer! http://media.xda-developers.com/images/icons/icon10.gif
Hello everybody,
I use the Cyanogenmod Nightlys on my SGS3. Because I wanted to do a reset, I formatted Cache, System, data, and preload. I deleted all the files from the Internal SD. I thought I could restart my phone and have my Cyanogenmod. But nothing work.
I hope you can help me...
Put your phone in downlaod mode and reflash a Stock rom with odin.
the2rrell said:
Put your phone in downlaod mode and reflash a Stock rom with odin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This.
You cannot format everything and delete everything and expect there to still be something..
Thank you for the very fast help. I asked because I didn't want to do anything that fully brick my S3. Sorry for my bad enlish.
My advice is to stay out of rooting and falshing custom roms if your knowledge of the device is in such a poor level you don't know to use odin to go stock..
johku12 said:
My advice is to stay out of rooting and falshing custom roms if your knowledge of the device is in such a poor level you don't know to use odin to go stock..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't know that either and I've flashed tons of custom ROMs successfully. This website is surely for people to learn as well as for developers to discuss things with each other; no need to tell somebody to quit rooting just because they made a mistake.
That is a kinda strange statement.
Odin/Heimdall is the only way to root the S3. You expect him to gain knowledge of the rooting/flashing procedure without actually doing it?
I didn't want to do anything that fully brick my S3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's really hard to hard-brick your phone so that it won't even go to download mode anymore. Flashing custom Roms -and especially CM9- won't cause this.
However you WILL need an efs backup, since that part of your phone could easily get lost and is not possible/very hard to recover.
Hello
I am totally new to android, i just bought my s3 couple of days ago.
There are still some questions where i cant find the answers.
I just rooted my phone, odin, cwm, super SU no problem, i did a nandroid backup just in case. Backed up some apps with titanium backup.
I thought about backing up my efs. But i cant find the option in cwm.
Now i read something about bricking. And apparently there are soft and hardbricks. So softbricks are the bricks, which wouldnt let you start android but let you access the recovery mode right ?? And hard bricks are the bricks where the phone doesnt respond to anything.
I want to know what causes which brick. Is it true that the s3 has a separate partition only for the download mode, which makes it really hard to hardbrick since you cant mess with this partition? And why do some people still encounter hardbricks, when for example the flash custom roms ?
Shadowspsp said:
Hello
I am totally new to android, i just bought my s3 couple of days ago.
There are still some questions where i cant find the answers.
I just rooted my phone, odin, cwm, super SU no problem, i did a nandroid backup just in case. Backed up some apps with titanium backup.
I thought about backing up my efs.
But i cant find the option in cwm.
>>>>
Nitrality app on the market many custom roms do an auto backup of EFS .
Now i read something about bricking. And apparently there are soft and hardbricks. So softbricks are the bricks, which wouldnt let you start android but let you access the recovery mode right ?? And hard bricks are the bricks where the phone doesnt respond to anything.
I want to know what causes which brick. Is it true that the s3 has a separate partition only for the download mode, which makes it really hard to hardbrick since you cant mess with this partition? And why do some people still encounter hardbricks, when for example the flash custom roms ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Softbrick generally firmware or files conflict but more usual is not following the instructions . Mostly recoverable by recovery mode or download mode .
Hardbrick no recovery and no download mode often a NAND problem
Cause is mostly users totally ignoring the instructions and flashing the wrong firmware for the phone or messing with PIT files .
Custom rom it should be almost impossible to hard brick a phone by flashing one
However it becomes more common as more and more users want an instant fix and refuse to read the instructions and its beyond them to read the custom rom thread for known faults fixes etc .
jje
Shadowspsp said:
Hello
I am totally new to android, i just bought my s3 couple of days ago.
There are still some questions where i cant find the answers.
I just rooted my phone, odin, cwm, super SU no problem, i did a nandroid backup just in case. Backed up some apps with titanium backup.
I thought about backing up my efs. But i cant find the option in cwm.
Now i read something about bricking. And apparently there are soft and hardbricks. So softbricks are the bricks, which wouldnt let you start android but let you access the recovery mode right ?? And hard bricks are the bricks where the phone doesnt respond to anything.
I want to know what causes which brick. Is it true that the s3 has a separate partition only for the download mode, which makes it really hard to hardbrick since you cant mess with this partition? And why do some people still encounter hardbricks, when for example the flash custom roms ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mess around with my android phones a lot but never had a soft or hard brick. My old nexus one had a soft brick after repartitioning the internal memory. The only hard brick I heard of with the S3 was someone who flashed a wrong firmware on his us/canadian version of the S3 (flashed rom which was intended for the international version). Others than that you need to really try hard to hard-brick your phone I guess
Shadowspsp said:
Hello
I am totally new to android, i just bought my s3 couple of days ago.
There are still some questions where i cant find the answers.
I just rooted my phone, odin, cwm, super SU no problem, i did a nandroid backup just in case. Backed up some apps with titanium backup.
I thought about backing up my efs. But i cant find the option in cwm.
Now i read something about bricking. And apparently there are soft and hardbricks. So softbricks are the bricks, which wouldnt let you start android but let you access the recovery mode right ?? And hard bricks are the bricks where the phone doesnt respond to anything.
I want to know what causes which brick. Is it true that the s3 has a separate partition only for the download mode, which makes it really hard to hardbrick since you cant mess with this partition? And why do some people still encounter hardbricks, when for example the flash custom roms ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Install Rom Toolbox from Google Play to backup you EFS folder, it will make 2 files (1 .img and 1 .tar file). Store both files on to your pc for safekeeping.
JJEgan said:
Softbrick generally firmware or files conflict but more usual is not following the instructions . Mostly recoverable by recovery mode or download mode .
Hardbrick no recovery and no download mode often a NAND problem
Cause is mostly users totally ignoring the instructions and flashing the wrong firmware for the phone or messing with PIT files .
Custom rom it should be almost impossible to hard brick a phone by flashing one
However it becomes more common as more and more users want an instant fix and refuse to read the instructions and its beyond them to read the custom rom thread for known faults fixes etc .
jje
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks !
There is one thing i still dont really get, you said some users flash a wrong rom for their phone can cause a hardbrick.
This root method simply installs ClockworkMod Recovery to the recovery partition and installs Superuser zip file, very safe to do. *With Galaxy S2, recovery partition was part of the kernel and was a bit dangerous but with Galaxy S3, Samsung has made recovery parition separate from the kernel, making it much safer just like how Galaxy Nexus works
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So why does flashing a wrong rom cause a hardbrick, does installing a custom rom changes files in this separate partition? If the recovery partition is untouched, doesnt it mean you can always access recovery mode even if you flashed some junk onto your phone?
Shadowspsp said:
Thanks !
There is one thing i still dont really get, you said some users flash a wrong rom for their phone can cause a hardbrick.
So why does flashing a wrong rom cause a hardbrick, does installing a custom rom changes files in this separate partition? If the recovery partition is untouched, doesnt it mean you can always access recovery mode even if you flashed some junk onto your phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, if people flash the wrong PIT file it messes up the partitions on the phone and they are no longer accessible. That is called a hard brick. Can only be fixed in a service center. In post 4 is info about backup of the EFS folder.
Shadowspsp said:
Thanks !
There is one thing i still dont really get, you said some users flash a wrong rom for their phone can cause a hardbrick.
So why does flashing a wrong rom cause a hardbrick, does installing a custom rom changes files in this separate partition? If the recovery partition is untouched, doesnt it mean you can always access recovery mode even if you flashed some junk onto your phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wrong rom its usually flashing non SGS3 firmware or flashing SGS3 firmware on USA version.
Taking firmware from another forum and flashing it in error .
As said very very hard to hard brick this phone .
jje
Shadowspsp said:
I want to know what causes which brick
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only real type of brick is hardbrick. the expression soft brick was invented for situations where you cannot access recovery but are able to restore access to recovery with download mode, or some sort of trick.
If something goes wrong, you can end up with either type of brick. There is no way to predict what will happen if you give the phone a reason to brick, really. In general the main causes for bricking are:
1) Flashing stuff that is not right for your exact phone model
A mistake that has been made by a number of USA SGS3 users, who wanted a ROM made for the international model. Unfortunately the result was usually; Bricked, as in hard brick. To prevent this is is smart to familiarize yourself with the manufacturer version number (in our case GT-i9300 or GT-i9300T) with all phones you ever want to flash anything on, and check if the code corresponds.
It's the same **** in every model range. Flash something for another version and you're in trouble.
2) Corrupted downloads
Sometimes http file transfer doesn't get the files you want to flash across error-free. Usually, this will only give weird errors, for instance a bootloop. Sometimes you may end up with softbrick. If you have a really bad day; Brick. To prevent this it is very important to look for the MD5 checksum of each file, and check if the file is still exactly the same at your end. There is a free app in the market that allows you to do this while booted in android, so you can easily check it right after any download is finished.
3) Powerloss while flashing
Again, usually you can revert to working order with download mode. Still it is very risky. To minimise the chance for this to happen, make sure you only start flashing with your battery at least about half full, and have the battery installed complete with cover, etc. Some people use 30% as the limit. It depends a bit on the size of the ROM you want to backup and/or flash. Backing up and flashing one of those nice 700MB samsung roms might eat into your battery quite a bit.
There may be more reasons but these are afaik the 3 main ones. All easily preventable.
Flashing ROMs for years and found it safe to do so.
Until last week...
there is another hardbrick which I actually experienced on my second device, a Galaxy S2:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1756242
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/hard-brick-bug-on-galaxy-s-ii-and-note-leaked-ics-kernels/
Unsafe kernels/libraries on newer ICS-Roms are obviously able to destroy the system partitions, including the bootmanager, so a hardwarechange is necessary to revive the phone.
Until now, no information available, if our S3 is immune against this one. Several other devices are affected!
Hello all,
I had the eMMC bug on my galaxy s2, even by being careful and reading a lot of guides before, I didn't read about the bug until it was too late...
It is currently being repaired by a samsung repair center... thanks again to all the persons who gave me support and advice during this sad episode !
Obviously, I don't want to brick it again...
I have read a lot more since, but to be on the safe side, can you confirm or correct the following ?
When I receive it, if it is on 4.0.4 official, I should NOT attempt any wipe or format.
if I want to flash CM9.1, first thing I have to do is:
install "Siyah S2-v5.0.1"
and then, I can do all the wipes/format in the world I want from CWM, correct ?
also, what is the best way to flash Syah from a stock rom ? Odin or temp CWM ?
can you give me the pros and cons of each solutions ? Is there any other solution ?
Before bricking my s2, I did a nandroid backup.
if I restore my nandroid backup from temp CWM, will it trigger the emmc bug again while restoring it ?
What is your advice, should I flash Siyah S2-v5.0.1 then restore from Siyah CWM my nandroid backup ?
My nandroid backup was done when I had stock 4.0.4 and from CWM temp.
Lastly, is it perfectly safe to flash from Odin GB --> ICS and ICS --> GB ? I have read you can hardbrick your phone going from ICS to GB... not sure how though...
Thank you guys
Hey sorry for this bad news...
So because next steps...
1) restoring nandroid
If u want to go ahead and not use the 4.0.4 any longer, just leave it, to be sure...
2) next steps
Personally I would say u can choose between two options:
- Flash another firmware + root + flashing ahead....
- flash the named Siyah + flash another Rom (with full wipe)
3) how
Because u will have a stock phone back, at least I'm sure about this , u can do the first option with searching a firmware on: http://www.sammobile.com/firmware/?page=3
Download and flash this via odin (I think u know how u do this)
If u choose the second way, it's quite the same thing but u won't flash the firmware, because u use the .tar u find from the kernel on http://d-h.st/Bcf
So hope this brings u further, buddy
CHEERS
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
megosu said:
Hello all,
I had the eMMC bug on my galaxy s2, even by being careful and reading a lot of guides before, I didn't read about the bug until it was too late...
It is currently being repaired by a samsung repair center... thanks again to all the persons who gave me support and advice during this sad episode !
Obviously, I don't want to brick it again...
I have read a lot more since, but to be on the safe side, can you confirm or correct the following ?
When I receive it, if it is on 4.0.4 official, I should NOT attempt any wipe or format.
if I want to flash CM9.1, first thing I have to do is:
install "Siyah S2-v5.0.1"
and then, I can do all the wipes/format in the world I want from CWM, correct ?
also, what is the best way to flash Syah from a stock rom ? Odin or temp CWM ?
can you give me the pros and cons of each solutions ? Is there any other solution ?
Before bricking my s2, I did a nandroid backup.
if I restore my nandroid backup from temp CWM, will it trigger the emmc bug again while restoring it ?
What is your advice, should I flash Siyah S2-v5.0.1 then restore from Siyah CWM my nandroid backup ?
My nandroid backup was done when I had stock 4.0.4 and from CWM temp.
Lastly, is it perfectly safe to flash from Odin GB --> ICS and ICS --> GB ? I have read you can hardbrick your phone going from ICS to GB... not sure how though...
Thank you guys
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it is 4.0.4, flash that kernel you mentioned, it's a safe one.
Then, all you have to do is whatever it is that you wanna do with it.
You are now very experienced with odin, DL mode and Recovery mode, you kept on trying to get your old SII back to the living (I was there, I saw you tried).
With your new device you have the chance to start clean, from scratch, forget about that nandroid back up, keep reading here on XDA and I ASURE you, you'll do 5 times better than the past.
BTW: you weren't affected by the brick bug, your device was kinda faulty after all. Brick bugged devices wouldt let you go into DL mode.
I strongly recommend you read the Stickies. The questions you've asked have been answered hundreds of times on here before. And that you've asked them is indicative of not knowing 'the basics'.
Surveys show people who read them have a 84% less chance of bricking their phone than people who don't (almost everyone who visits here & jumps into doing stuff with their phone without understanding the basics/how the phone & its firmware actually works first).
I have read the stickies... thank you for that
according to your survey, one who reads the stickies still has 16% of chance to brick his device, this is why I want to be extra sure and asked for advice about specific questions, not a lecture :/
It might be obvious for you, but not for everybody, so when somebody asks a question that seems silly for you, helping the guy by answering is more helpful than telling him to read stickies, and it helps also others who come across this thread not being 100% sure of what they understood from reading stickies.
in my case, I have read on the forum the following and I would appreciate some help to confirm if I gathered the correct information.
As I said previously, it might be obvious for you but it can help me and others NOT to brick their phone !
When I receive it, if it is on 4.0.4 official, I should NOT attempt any wipe or format.
if I want to flash CM9.1, first thing I have to do is:
install "Siyah S2-v5.0.1"
and then, I can do all the wipes/format in the world I want from CWM, correct ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also think I know the answer about this:
also, what is the best way to flash Syah from a stock rom ? Odin or temp CWM ?
can you give me the pros and cons of each solutions ? Is there any other solution ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it is safer to flash through Odin as the temp CWM has the emmc bug. But Odin will change my binary counter and add the yellow triangle...
hence why I asked your advice
I haven't found the answer in the stickies about this one... maybe you know if it is safe to restore a nandroid backup ?:
Before bricking my s2, I did a nandroid backup.
if I restore my nandroid backup from temp CWM, will it trigger the emmc bug again while restoring it ?
What is your advice, should I flash Siyah S2-v5.0.1 then restore from Siyah CWM my nandroid backup ?
My nandroid backup was done when I had stock 4.0.4 and from CWM temp.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and lastly,
is it perfectly safe to flash from Odin GB --> ICS and ICS --> GB ? I have read you can hardbrick your phone going from ICS to GB... not sure how though...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same here, didn't find it in the stickies... and I saw different answers across the forum so it is hard to get conclusions out of it.
again, sorry if it is too easy for you or if you feel like it has been said somewhere else, but your answers can make the difference for people and avoid a brick.
And it doesn't hurt to repeat a correct information, it just confirm it and make it more noticeable.
Thanks for your help,
MistahBungle said:
I strongly recommend you read the Stickies. The questions you've asked have been answered hundreds of times on here before. And that you've asked them is indicative of not knowing 'the basics'.
Surveys show people who read them have a 84% less chance of bricking their phone than people who don't (almost everyone who visits here & jumps into doing stuff with their phone without understanding the basics/how the phone & its firmware actually works first).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
easy now, you can ask whatever you want as long as you read/search first.
If you did, then it's all good, just because you are trying very hard to not messing up with your device.
I don't know what to put here...any ideas?
anyone to confirm if I got it right ?
I'm lost here; how are you doing with your new device anyways?
still at the repair cente, it is going to take ages
but at least I have time to "prepare", if somebody can answer to my questions of course
megosu said:
still at the repair cente, it is going to take ages
but at least I have time to "prepare", if somebody can answer to my questions of course
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thought they gave you a new one.
what was the question again?
Well, basically all questions from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=36480894&postcount=5
At least the first one:
Quote:
When I receive it, if it is on 4.0.4 official, I should NOT attempt any wipe or format.
if I want to flash CM9.1, first thing I have to do is:
install "Siyah S2-v5.0.1"
and then, I can do all the wipes/format in the world I want from CWM, correct ?
I'll try and help you out with a noob-friendly solution.
Remember emmc brickbug affects ONLY AND ONLY devices running 4.0.4 STOCK kernel. if you're running anything else, then u're safe.
if your new device comes with 4.0.4 stock, then the ONLY thing you need to do to be safe is flash a safe kernel (siyah is a valid option) through ODIN.
once u've done that, you will get root+permanent CWM.
Now all you need to do is start flashing, making backups or whatever you please !
Hope I shed some light on your issue pal.
Hugs.
Thank you,
So I got it right, I'll flash siyah first.
thanks again for taking the time to help.
Take care
Hello guys! I don't ever get the need to post in a thread or comments, but this time I'm entangled in some pretty confusing stuff, I'd like help with please.
I bought a used GS3 GT-I9300 and tried to install a custom rom on it. One thing lead to another, a problem after every problem and now I'm at a dead end :\
Last time I was able to boot into a ROM, was via restoring through nandroid backup. But the IMEI had become "unknown". I searched it around to find that this was a problem with the EFS folder. Luckily I had a backup of the efs part before hand! But I can't even utilize the backup! -_-
The Problem is, whatever I flash via odin (no matter which stock rom), I end up stuck at the "Samsung Galaxy SIII" screen. I have a backup of the efs, but if I go through philz recovery, it's not able to find my backup. I've tried every guide at there, and been searching about a whole day and now I give and ask for help from you guys with experience. What am I supposed to do, to get to a point where I can use my phone? Really sad after attempting so many things. NEED ASAP HELP PLEASE! :'( Thanks in advance.
hammadfozi said:
Hello guys! I don't ever get the need to post in a thread or comments, but this time I'm entangled in some pretty confusing stuff, I'd like help with please.
I bought a used GS3 GT-I9300 and tried to install a custom rom on it. One thing lead to another, a problem after every problem and now I'm at a dead end :\
Last time I was able to boot into a ROM, was via restoring through nandroid backup. But the IMEI had become "unknown". I searched it around to find that this was a problem with the EFS folder. Luckily I had a backup of the efs part before hand! But I can't even utilize the backup! -_-
The Problem is, whatever I flash via odin (no matter which stock rom), I end up stuck at the "Samsung Galaxy SIII" screen. I have a backup of the efs, but if I go through philz recovery, it's not able to find my backup. I've tried every guide at there, and been searching about a whole day and now I give and ask for help from you guys with experience. What am I supposed to do, to get to a point where I can use my phone? Really sad after attempting so many things. NEED ASAP HELP PLEASE! :'( Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Start with the simple things first... Do you boot into recovery after flashing with odin and factory reset this is the most common thing that people don't do and this solves most bootloop issues.
Sorry if you have tried that but you really need to give a small brief list of eactly what you have tried to do because saying (quote) "attempting so many things" does not help us to narrow down what is wrong otherwise people will be suggesting things you have already tried.
Question makes no sense, if you can't find the backup in philz then you aren't using it correctly or the backup is in another format. You'll need to understand the basics before you go any further.
Search for people who've extracted the efs backup on their pc then copied all the files across, follow their example.
tallman43 said:
Start with the simple things first... Do you boot into recovery after flashing with odin and factory reset this is the most common thing that people don't do and this solves most bootloop issues.
Sorry if you have tried that but you really need to give a small brief list of eactly what you have tried to do because saying (quote) "attempting so many things" does not help us to narrow down what is wrong otherwise people will be suggesting things you have already tried.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks mate. Well I've done that. Separately tried clearing cache alone and rebooting (didn't work). Then also tried factory reset (via TWRP) that didn't work either. Then I tried factory reset + clearing cache which didn't work too. No matter what stock rom I flash via odin, or a custom ROM via recovery, My phone does not proceed ahead from the "Galaxy S III 3G" Logo.
boomboomer said:
Question makes no sense, if you can't find the backup in philz then you aren't using it correctly or the backup is in another format. You'll need to understand the basics before you go any further.
Search for people who've extracted the efs backup on their pc then copied all the files across, follow their example.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you maybe give me the link for that please? I didn't even intend to backup efs, this is something which luckily happened accidentally haha.
In hope for seeing if I made a efs backup, I searched the internal storage + SD card of my phone and narrowed it down to 3 rar files:
1. efs_01Jan2012-0001.tar.gz (52KB)
2. efsbackup.tar (5.05MB)
3. efsbackup.tar.gz (62KB)