[Q] SGS3 Bricked?! (unrooted) after OTA update - Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi there guys...I've stumbled onto a problem that I can't fix myself, hence some of your help/expertise is required.
Here's what has happened sofar...
Yesterday a family member of mine lost her phone and asked me for my old SGS3 which was lying around the house.
So after factory resetting the device I gave the phone to her...but then the device got an OTA update...but after update, when the device went to reboot itself, the droid laid dead with a red triangle.
Note: the device was not rooted and was running Touchwiz etc...
Upon reboot, the device got stuck at the Samsung Galaxy SIII - GT-I9300 logo
Then she brought the device back to me and after some searching the web, it seemed that the diagnosis was that the software/firmware may have gotten corrupted.
I followed the TUT (link: here) using ODIN 3.10 , I flashed the International version of 4.3 on my device.
I got the I9300XXUGNJ2_I9300MSTGNJ1_MST file from Sammobile and it worked like a charm...all is well, so I thought.
Today when she turned the phone on in the morning, (she turns it off at night)...the device got stuck at the same place.
But now, even the TUT with ODIN isn't helping...now the whole thing is stuck at SetupConnection.
I have tried the cable, updating the samsung usb drivers, switching the USB ports (not using any USB hub),
making sure that I run the program in admin mode and that there's no ext card connected to the device...but to no avail.
When I hard reset the device I get the following error while the droid lays dead
Code:
E: failed to mount /cache (No such file or directory)
...etc...
Wiping the data/factory reset etc isn't helping either...as it still gives me similar E: failed error.
Rebooting the system gets me back to the stuck Samsung Galaxy SIII - GT-I9300 logo.
Plugging the device with the USB cable to the computer doesn't get me to the ext sd card etc either.
Any ideas?? Help is greatly appreciated.

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*UPDATE*
After persisting to follow the TUT mentioned above, finally it went through ODIN and was shown as "PASS"
But when the device reboots after that, the "E: failed to mount error" persists...and I'm back to square one.

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contactmsd said:
*UPDATE*
After persisting to follow the TUT mentioned above, finally it went through ODIN and was shown as "PASS"
But when the device reboots after that, the "E: failed to mount error" persists...and I'm back to square one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like partitions maybe corrupt try the resuce firmware here >> http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=30087735&postcount=6 << follow instructions exactly as it containes a pit file there are two versions and i think the pit file is in the 4.1.2 version.If this does not work then i think it would probably be a service repair.

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tallman43 said:
Sounds like partitions maybe corrupt try the resuce firmware here >> http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=30087735&postcount=6 << follow instructions exactly as it containes a pit file there are two versions and i think the pit file is in the 4.1.2 version.If this does not work then i think it would probably be a service repair.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK...
First try..gave me the following error in ODIN.
Code:
<ID:0/003> Added!!
<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..
<OSM> Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..
<OSM> Please wait..
<OSM> BOOTLOADER_I9300XXEMG4_1314436_REV00_user_low_ship.tar.md5 is valid.
<OSM> CODE_I9300XXEMG4_1314436_REV00_user_low_ship.tar.md5 is valid.
<OSM> MODEM_I9300XXEMG4_1314436_REV00_user_low_ship.tar.md5 is valid.
<OSM> CSC_I9300OXAEMG4_KOR_FACTORY_user_low_ship.tar.md5 is valid.
<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..
<OSM> Leave CS..
<ID:0/003> Odin v.3 engine (ID:3)..
<ID:0/003> File analysis..
<ID:0/003> SetupConnection..
<ID:0/003> Initialzation..
<ID:0/003> Set PIT file..
<ID:0/003> DO NOT TURN OFF TARGET!!
<ID:0/003> Get PIT for mapping..
<ID:0/003> Complete(Write) operation failed.
<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 0 / failed 1)
Then I tried again, after changing the port.
This time I got the following error.
Code:
<ID:0/007> Added!!
<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..
<OSM> Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..
<OSM> Please wait..
<OSM> BOOTLOADER_I9300XXEMG4_1314436_REV00_user_low_ship.tar.md5 is valid.
<OSM> CODE_I9300XXEMG4_1314436_REV00_user_low_ship.tar.md5 is valid.
<OSM> MODEM_I9300XXEMG4_1314436_REV00_user_low_ship.tar.md5 is valid.
<OSM> CSC_I9300OXAEMG4_KOR_FACTORY_user_low_ship.tar.md5 is valid.
<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..
<OSM> Leave CS..
<ID:0/007> Odin v.3 engine (ID:7)..
<ID:0/007> File analysis..
<ID:0/007> SetupConnection..
<ID:0/007> Initialzation..
<ID:0/007> Set PIT file..
<ID:0/007> DO NOT TURN OFF TARGET!!
<ID:0/007> Get PIT for mapping..
<ID:0/007> Firmware update start..
<ID:0/007> sboot.bin
<ID:0/007> NAND Write Start!!
<ID:0/007> tz.img
<ID:0/007> param.bin
<ID:0/007> sboot.bin
<ID:0/007> param.bin
<ID:0/007> tz.img
<ID:0/007> boot.img
<ID:0/007> recovery.img
<ID:0/007> system.img
<ID:0/007> Complete(Write) operation failed.
<ID:0/007> Added!!
<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 0 / failed 1)
*Sigh*

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Emmc chip is corrupt/damaged. Try reading the dead boot restore thread in general forum, but doubtful if worth repairing.

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^^above, I was using the 4.1.2 firmware which I got from the thread that @tallman43 mentioned.
But as you can see I got the errors shown above.
Then I tried the same using the 4.3 firmware also from that thread but it had no *.pit file.
In that thread on page 41 though, @k-semler added the *.pit file that he used.
But that resulted in ODIN getting stuck at the .pit thing.
After renaming that *.pit file to mx.pit it worked...
Code:
<ID:0/004> Added!!
<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..
<OSM> Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..
<OSM> Please wait..
<OSM> BOOTLOADER_I9300XXUGMJ9_1902166_REV00_user_low_ship.tar.md5 is valid.
<OSM> CODE_I9300XXUGMJ9_1902166_REV00_user_low_ship.tar.md5 is valid.
<OSM> MODEM_I9300XXUGMJ9_1902166_REV00_user_low_ship.tar.md5 is valid.
<OSM> CSC_I9300OXAGMJ9_1902166_REV00_user_low_ship.tar.md5 is valid.
<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..
<OSM> Leave CS..
<ID:0/004> Odin v.3 engine (ID:4)..
<ID:0/004> File analysis..
<ID:0/004> SetupConnection..
<ID:0/004> Initialzation..
<ID:0/004> Set PIT file..
<ID:0/004> DO NOT TURN OFF TARGET!!
<ID:0/004> Get PIT for mapping..
<ID:0/004> Firmware update start..
<ID:0/004> sboot.bin
<ID:0/004> NAND Write Start!!
<ID:0/004> param.bin
<ID:0/004> tz.img
<ID:0/004> boot.img
<ID:0/004> recovery.img
<ID:0/004> system.img
<ID:0/004> modem.bin
<ID:0/004> Transmission Complete..
<ID:0/004> Now Writing.. Please wait about 2 minutes
<ID:0/004> Receive Response from boot-loader
<ID:0/004> cache.img
<ID:0/004> hidden.img
<ID:0/004> RQT_CLOSE !!
<ID:0/004> RES OK !!
<ID:0/004> Completed..
<ID:0/004> Added!!
<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 1 / failed 0)
BUT after rebooting, the issue remains though.
I'm still stuck at the Samsung Galaxy SIII - GT-I9300 logo

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Factory reset in recovery, check for mounting errors.

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boomboomer said:
Factory reset in recovery, check for mounting errors.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
E: failed to mount /cache (No such file or directory) etc...list goes on...

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I got some suggestions trying installing Philz Touch Recovery...
So here's what I did...
1. I flashed Philz Touch Recovery using ODIN
It was a pass...and I was able to boot into Philz Recovery.
2. Then I tried installing a Custom ROM (PA) through SD Card.
At first I was getting an error, after checking it seemed that I couldn't access the SD Card.
Then I got myself a new SD card, formatted it to fat32 and transferred the zip files onto it.
3. Installing the Custom ROM (PA)
At first I was getting a Status 7 error.
After editing the updater-script as shown on xda forums..the error went away.
BUT now the installation just aborts and I get the following on my screen.
Code:
Installing: /storage/sdcard1/pa_i9300-4,41-20140705.zip
E: Can't mount /cache/recovery/last_install
E: failed to open last_install: File exists
Finding update package...
Opening update package...
Installing update...
Installation aborted.
press any key to continue.
Note: I also tried with different ROMs (CM11) but same result as above.
Why can't it mount the /cache folder? Could it be a chmod issue??
The error in full from my first post is the following...
Code:
E: Can't mount /cache/recovery/command
E: Can't mount /cache/recovery/log
E: Can't open /cache/recovery/log
E: Can't mount /cache/recovery/last_log
E: Can't open /cache/recovery/last_log
E: Can't mount /cache/recovery/last_install
E: Can't open /cache/recovery/last_install
If it's corrupted then why is it listing only that folder and not other folders as well?
Help is really needed and is greatly appreciated guys/gals.

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[SOLVED]
I finally got it working...my issue has been resolved.
For those who are interested, this is how I fixed the problem.
I went and got myself:
- stock *.pit file for the SGS3 GT-I9300 16GB variant.
- stock bootloader for SGS3 GT-I9300
- stock Firmware from my Region (Single File variant)
Step 1
Flash the stock *.pit file using ODIN with the following settings ticked on:
- auto reboot
- re-partition
- f.reset time
- Nand erase all
Note: IF for some reason it doesn't work, re-try and it should pass (I myself had to try 3 times).
Step 2
Flash Philz Touch Recovery using ODIN with the following settings ticked on:
- auto reboot
- f.reset time
Note: IF for some reason it doesn't work, re-try and it should pass.
Step 3
Take a Mirco SD card (format if needed, make sure you format it in fat32). Transfer the stock bootloader zip (no need to extract the .zip file) on it and insert the card in your phone.
Step 4
Press Vol.Up+Power+Menu button and keep pressing it until you see the Samsung Galaxy SIII GT-I9300 logo, then release the buttons and the Philz Recovery will boot.
Install the bootloader zip using the "Install from sdcard" option in Philz Touch Recovery.
Step 5
Reboot to recovery and wipe cache and factory reset.
Go to download screen (ODIN MODE).
Step 6
Flash the stock firmware using ODIN with only the following settings ticked on:
- auto reboot
-f.reset time
Note: IF for some reason it doesn't work, re-try and it should pass (I myself had to try 2 times).
Step 7
If all of this is done...then go to Recovery mode (you'll notice that it's no longer the Philz Touch Recovery. No problem, in the current Recovery mode:
- wipe cache
- factory reset
and reboot the device.
This should resolve the problem and your device will work once again.

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No cellular due to wrong/fake imei
^^The above did fix my previous problem but I did encounter a new one.
I had a wrong/fake IMEI ("0049..."), which caused that I had no cell reception and couldn't use the phone to call or send/receive sms etc...
I googled a lot and I tried some of the TUT on the web, but nothing helped.
Until I found a thread on the xda that said one could try to flash a newer stock ROM (don't know the exact thread).
So I went ahead and checked the version I was on...luckily it was 4.0.4
I then downloaded a newer stock ROM 4.3 for my region.
And flashed that using ODIN...
and voila...when I checked the IMEI code again, it was back to the original one.

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Files that I used to resolve my issues.
I've been asked which .pit file or which ROM etc...did I use to resolve my problem.
So here it is...but do keep in mind, these files may have worked for me but I can't guarantee that they'll work for you too.
Note: therefor use these at your own risk...I'm not responsible for any problems that you may encounter.
Philz Touch Recovery:
I got the "philz_touch_6.12.8-i9300.tar.md5" file from: here
Stock ROM:
I got the stock ROM (single file) "I9300XXUGNJ2_I9300PHNGNJ1_PHN.zip" from: here
That's the: GT-I9300 Netherlands 2014 November 4.3 I9300XXUGNJ2 I9300PHNGNJ1
The stock *.pit file and the stock bootloader that I used, are attached to this post.
The exact steps that I took are in this post: here
Note: Don't forget to backup your EFS, search on xda for how to do that etc...
Best of luck...