ICS Stock + NO IMEI + Eternal Safe Mode - Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi, im havin issues with my phone for a month now, aparently it have some kind of damage on the logical main board so it dosn't get out of safe mode (cause the volume down isn't working) with anything but donwgrading it to ICS 4.0.4.
The only way i can get it out of safe mode was installing that version of android, but when i do so the phone loses the imei, when i flash again JB it recover the imei and have sucessful conection.
I tried this: install JB, back up the efs (with philz touch recovery and it creates a .tar file), then flashed again ICS and tried to custom backup with philz the .tar previously created with JB. ... It dons't work and this is driving me crazy
Please help, I know it sounds like a simple question and the answer seens to be, upgrade android version, but i canno't do that because of the safe mode problem, i can take use ICS as a solution instead of have a S3 with only messages and calls..
PD: is there any custom rom that disables safe mode from the code of the version itself?, i'm certain about the posibility of disable safe mode trough softwre but i think this may be done in the base band or the rom itself.
Please help me, the change of a logical mainboard is 7mil bs when the phone cost me 8mil bs and buy a replacement online isn't an option because whe have monetary exchange control and can't buy $$$ freely.

carlosdjr200 said:
Hi, im havin issues with my phone for a month now, aparently it have some kind of damage on the logical main board so it dosn't get out of safe mode (cause the volume down isn't working) with anything but donwgrading it to ICS 4.0.4.
The only way i can get it out of safe mode was installing that version of android, but when i do so the phone loses the imei, when i flash again JB it recover the imei and have sucessful conection.
I tried this: install JB, back up the efs (with philz touch recovery and it creates a .tar file), then flashed again ICS and tried to custom backup with philz the .tar previously created with JB. ... It dons't work and this is driving me crazy
Please help, I know it sounds like a simple question and the answer seens to be, upgrade android version, but i canno't do that because of the safe mode problem, i can take use ICS as a solution instead of have a S3 with only messages and calls..
PD: is there any custom rom that disables safe mode from the code of the version itself?, i'm certain about the posibility of disable safe mode trough softwre but i think this may be done in the base band or the rom itself.
Please help me, the change of a logical mainboard is 7mil bs when the phone cost me 8mil bs and buy a replacement online isn't an option because whe have monetary exchange control and can't buy $$$ freely.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Discussed in this sticky and terminal emulator commands and how to get out of safe mode... >> http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2393289 <<

sorry but that treadh don't mention safe mode anywhere, if you are refering to factory mode thath's a totally different thing.
is not my intention to be rude, but everyone thinks that we post here without read anything before, believe i have read a lot, i even get my phone to the technical support and he can't fix this.. i just don't want to have a 400$ brick
EDIT: so i can't use the efs back up of JB in ICS? ok so i'm sc...w ?? the only way of get out of "safe mode" is being on ICS ..

Mod Edit
Please refer to ,and post in the stickies in the General section.
Thread closed
malybru
Forum Moderator

Related

[Q] Bricked my phone?

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.

[Q] No-boot brick - any chance of revival?

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

Hard Bricked my phone.

I'm running stock JB with siyah kernel on my SGS3 GT-I9300. I wanted to try out a rom from CyanogenMod but when I was flashing it through CWM, my phone froze!! Now, it's not powering on. It's not going to download mode or recovery mode. I'm scared now. I flashed the right file, I know that. But somehow, it didn't work. Any ideas?
Also, I wanna know, that if I take it to Samsung Care, will they be able to make out that my phone was rooted before? Because device status was modified & flash counter was around 12 before I hard-bricked (atleast that's what I think) my phone.
Please help me out.
P.S. I'm new here. So, move my thread to any category which you think is suitable for it. I thought it should be in this category, so I posted here.
saurabh_goyal93 said:
I'm running stock JB with siyah kernel on my SGS3 GT-I9300. I wanted to try out a rom from CyanogenMod but when I was flashing it through CWM, my phone froze!! Now, it's not powering on. It's not going to download mode or recovery mode. I'm scared now. I flashed the right file, I know that. But somehow, it didn't work. Any ideas?
Also, I wanna know, that if I take it to Samsung Care, will they be able to make out that my phone was rooted before? Because device status was modified & flash counter was around 12 before I hard-bricked (atleast that's what I think) my phone.
Please help me out.
P.S. I'm new here. So, move my thread to any category which you think is suitable for it. I thought it should be in this category, so I posted here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That`s weird, did it just froze during the flashing? I can`t imagine how that could hardbrick your phone since Cyanogenmod doesn`t touch the bootloader. At least download mode should work. BTW what version of Siyah Kernel did you use?
Yeah if you can`t even access download mode then there is probably nothing you can do. You can try a USB Jig but if that`s not working too then take it to a Samsung Service Center and play dumb. Say the phone just wouldn`t come on. And if they can`t access download mode then I highly doubt that they can see if your phone is rooted.
Thanks a lot
Scarface1991 said:
That`s weird, did it just froze during the flashing? I can`t imagine how that could hardbrick your phone since Cyanogenmod doesn`t touch the bootloader. At least download mode should work. BTW what version of Siyah Kernel did you use?
Yeah if you can`t even access download mode then there is probably nothing you can do. You can try a USB Jig but if that`s not working too then take it to a Samsung Service Center and play dumb. Say the phone just wouldn`t come on. And if they can`t access download mode then I highly doubt that they can see if your phone is rooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot for your answer. I'm an experienced flasher and I flash roms on daily basis that's why I'm also very shocked at this.
I have a USB jig from the days when I used to have Samsung Galaxy S2, but it's not working with my S3.
Anyways,I'll take my phone to Samsung Care only I guess. :crying:
P.S. Even after changing the motherboard or something, they won't know? Cuz otherwise I'm out 40000 rupees!! (I live in India)
EDIT: I was using Siyah kernel v1.8.9.
If Samsung get it to boot then its no warranty but probable that they will put it down to SDS and just change the motherboard .
jje
saurabh_goyal93 said:
Thanks a lot for your answer. I'm an experienced flasher and I flash roms on daily basis that's why I'm also very shocked at this.
I have a USB jig from the days when I used to have Samsung Galaxy S2, but it's not working with my S3.
Anyways,I'll take my phone to Samsung Care only I guess. :crying:
P.S. Even after changing the motherboard or something, they won't know? Cuz otherwise I'm out 40000 rupees!! (I live in India)
EDIT: I was using Siyah kernel v1.8.9.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok that`s really weird. I suppose it`s just some hardware failure then. Of course that it happened while you flashed a ROM is very unfortunate.
If they change the whole mainboard then all information that was on the old mainboard will be gone. There is no way after they change the mainboard that they will see if you were rooted or not.

[Q] Help Phone not starting up !!! Urgent

Hello Guys,
I own a Galaxy S2 I9100G.. 2 months ago i flashed it and installed custom Rom of cyanogen mod version 10.1.3-RC2-i9100g ...
Last night i was browsing the internet when suddenly it got stuck and i had remove the battery to restart. But the problem is that it didnt restart.
I can only go in to download mode. But cant seem to flash via odin it fails atfer nand write. And i am not able to find the files for my mobile..as many files here were on hotfile server and it seems to have been closed.
Please help me regarding this matter how should i proceed?? how do i get it to start ??
Last resort would be to go the service center but i would like to try to fix it before.. And warranty also expired a while back ..
I get complete ( write) operation fail after nand write..
do u think my hardware has blown up or something ?? or is it just sofware problem ?
I am using odin V 3.04 .. On odin version 1.85 it usually doeant go on after nand write and stays on it ..
Please help me here .. I really would like to fix my phone : (
Can't you go to Recovery using Volume Up+Home+Power ? the symptoms you are telling are kinda dangerous. At what stage the Odin flashing fails? if its at the factoryfs, than i am afraid you are facing a super brick here.
Look for firmware on AndroidFirmwares.net or Samsung-Updates.com, you don't need to use the exact same firmware that was originally on the phone, any firmware for your carrier will do (make sure it's I9100G though) & if you're going to go back to a custom rom as soon as you get your phone working normally again, any firmware from any carrier will do.
Search for Hopper8's 'Odin troubleshooting' thread, though some of the stuff he mentions is I9100 specific (advice to flash specific files) a lot of the other stuff is generic I9100x stuff which you should try if you find you can't get a successful Odin flash.
But if it keeps failing at NAND write having tried a lot of different I9100G stock firmwares, the NAND might be cactus, which means you need a motherboard replacement. But I'd try a lot of stock roms before I conceded that if I were in your situation. Often these things can be fixed by persevering.
@alvinasnow Nope i cant go into recovery mode.. If i could it would have been very easy after then.. Only download mode opens up.. And i tried different things flashing bootloader, kernel, firmware, pit,csc , everything fails at nand writing .. So is there a way out of this ??
@MistahBungle I was afraid that might be the answer motherboard replacement.. I tried different firmwares and even flashing via different Methods but its always the same.. i will go to the sites you mentioned to try more firmwares..
But i think my only option would be to go to a samsung service center i guess :-/ ?? they would be able to fix it right ???
ZiadNasir said:
@alvinasnow Nope i cant go into recovery mode.. If i could it would have been very easy after then.. Only download mode opens up.. And i tried different things flashing bootloader, kernel, firmware, pit,csc , everything fails at nand writing .. So is there a way out of this ??
@MistahBungle I was afraid that might be the answer motherboard replacement.. I tried different firmwares and even flashing via different Methods but its always the same.. i will go to the sites you mentioned to try more firmwares..
But i think my only option would be to go to a samsung service center i guess :-/ ?? they would be able to fix it right ???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, but it's cheaper, faster and very easy to do it yourself
Inviato dal mio GT-I9100
Yep. Sourcing a 2nd hand motherboard online somewhere & either replacing yourself or paying a local mobile repair shop (non Samsung service centre) to replace will be much cheaper than paying a service centre to put a new board in.
So Basically there is no way to save my internal memory data :-/ ????
Changing the motherboard i guess would mean all gone with not a single hope of recovery.. OR i get to keep my data after the change ??
If you didn't back your data up, no. I guess you could contact companies who recover data from dead hard drives & maybe they can help, but that's a real longshot & will be very expensive if it's possible.
I did one back up 50-55 days ago when i went to custom rom .. so i will be losing pretty much only data in last month or so .. not much ..
But i still dont understand why the motherboard needs to be changed ?? i mean the download mode opens and everything .. odin fails to write ..
So nand failure basically means motherboard got screwed??
Are there other flashing softwares better then odin ??
I will have to actually wait till tomorrow to see what does samsung has to say in this regard as its off today ..So thought one last fight lol ..
And one more thing the battery is draining really fast and pretty much heating up in minutes when i put it on charge ..
And when i remove the charger .. the charging battery logo does not disappear i have to remove battery for it to disappear.. and the logo also stays when i remove the battery while the charger is still connected ..so have to remove the charger to make it go away .. basically cut all power for the logo to go away ..
As I said in my first post to this thread, you might as well keep trying/flashing firmwares, but you claimed to have already done a lot of that. What you're describing is symptomatic of the NAND being corrupted. It's too time consuming for service centres to replace just the NAND (removing/re-soldering components like that is fiddly), so they simply replace the whole board (and charge you a lot to do it).
OK...That extra information you supplied in your last post might give you an easier/cheaper fix. What you've just described sounds a lot like the USB board/port is on its way out. Replacing this yourself is cheap & easy to do (you just have to wait for the part to be delivered once you order it online); there's a guide in the General section which has all the info you need (search for replace USB charger board). Do that, then see if you can get a successful Odin flash. If you can, happy days. If you can't, then you replace the motherboard one way or another (or get a new phone).
This may or may not fix your problem; it may be a case of the NAND corrupted and the USB board needing replacing, but you're only going to know if you replace the board first.
You may fol a link in my signature for revival of ur phone.
From the OP: 'I can only go in to download mode'.
alvinasnow said:
You may fol a link in my signature for revival of ur phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MistahBungle said:
From the OP: 'I can only go in to download mode'.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
flash stock
^^^^^
Did you not read the OP/rest of the thread as well ? He tried to do that on a number of occasions, but something was tripping him up.
Initially it seemed fairly obvious it was likely NAND corruption, though in the OP's last post to this thread, the things he mentioned suggested a faulty USB board may have been stopping him getting a successful Odin flash.
So it was suggested he replace that given how cheap it is to do, and to try flashing stock again. That was a week ago, and depending on where in the world the OP is, he may well be still waiting for the part to arrive.
Actually i got confused bcoz he again told he can boot in download mode then his mother board cant b faulty its the usb port maybe
Sent from my C6502 using xda app-developers app

[Q] S3 I9300 Stuck on safe mode

Hi friends, after a lot of research and web searching i'm totally out of ideas and options
The problem: My S3 I9300 reboot in safe mode every time, is has been doing it since the past sunday. Another tip is that the volume buton down seems not work but only in CM Recovery or in the running software itselfs, it work correctly in donwload mode since i can reboot by presin the buton down. Another interesting fact is thath when I reboot the phone it start the led until it comes the Galaxy S 3 Logo (by presing the button down it power downs the led).
The posible solutions:
Reboot
Reboot after take the battery for a few minutes
Reboot after take the battery out for hours
Flash Custom Cyanogenmod
Flash back stock s3 Jelly Bean (various ROM)
Try to press volume up, volume down, menu capacitive, back capacitive keys and nothing.
Take it to technical service (every one say it was software, but want to charge me a lot of money, talking about an hardware box "especially for flash samsungs")
I have done all the things that I expose before and possible anothers that I don't remember right now, and nothing works, it continuos rebooting into safe mode.
I have too read a lot on google and here and any of the posted solutions works for me.
Do anyone know how to solve this?
Really need help, thanks you all before hand!
Read the sticky thread efs 'know this stuff', safe mode is usually related to efs corruption.
efs + safe mode
Thanks for the answer, I checked the post about efs, and i dons't mention Safe mode anywhere, but mentions factory mode, i'm thinking that maybe replacing the efs with te back up that i did that will solve the problem, but in safe mode you can't use any app like root explorer or similiar, and my back up is a mere copy of the folder efs, not tar not zip not md5. any helpfull guide about this?
PD: im reading on internet and searching thanks!
hardware failure
Hi, I take the phone to repair services, they said to me it's the logical main board that has a fail and that is causing the phone to go in Safe Mode every reboot, the cost of repair it is almost the price of the s3 new so i need another solution.
I believe that the bootloader is resposable for sending the phone on safe mode, is anyway known to disable it?
Another possible solution is use some part of the ICS software since when i flash an ICS ROM it let me use the phone and don't send me to safe mode the problem is that it loses the IMEI and can't restore the efs folder because of the version change (i read here that JB have a different efs format thatn ICS)
Anyone ?
STICKYS
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2344125
UNDERSTAND FIRST
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2362743
Network IMEI EFS
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2393289
Downgrade and network problems .EFS v1 and EFS V2
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2531221
JJEgan said:
STICKYS
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2344125
UNDERSTAND FIRST
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2362743
Network IMEI EFS
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2393289
Downgrade and network problems .EFS v1 and EFS V2
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2531221
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks you very much!! The last link worked for me, I patch the EMG4 modem with an Stock ICS ROM and it worked just fine
S3 I9300 Stuck on safe mode
I am having the same problem on my s3 on os 4.3.
Can u plz guide in detail how u recovered??
Help badly needed
Don't resurrect long dead threads, read the threads linked instead.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

Categories

Resources