[Q] All about hard brick - Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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

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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

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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.