Advice on how to flash s3 that wont enter download/recovery - Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Ok. This is the problem.
Is is possible to flash/reset a galaxy s3 that wont boot into recovery or download.
So NO odin!
Phone had an issue, factory reset, google account manager problem upon boot so cannot finish building image. No hardware damage.
Samsung authorised service centre thinks possible internal hdd error.
However irrespective the phone should still boot to "cmos/bios" considering it boots 1/2 - stops at the timezone and repeats google manager error on each 'next attempt'.
So NO boot issue, NO stuck in boot, recognised by 3.3 but recognised as healthy version - so no emergency option available. No combination of keys boots into option for odin
Etc etc
Any freak possibilities, electronic options - de-solder the chipset etc..
Idea people ideas

Tried using a USB jig to force the phone into download mode?
The only way to possibly flash the phone without Odin would be to use different hardware such as an Octopus Box.

A software issue shouldn't cause any problems with download mode or recovery and still be able to boot the os.. No recovery, no os as recovery is responsible for mounting the partitions..
Frp (factory reset protection) is a lockout from a suspected stolen phone. If you don't know the password to the account that was on the device when it was reset then you're locked out. You "might" find a workaround on YouTube but no guarantee.
No download mode = no flash, unless you have a chip programer ie jtag/nand flasher. The phone isn't worth the work.

Thanks
Yeah, phone wasnt stolen - unless my 85yr old grandfather has been rolling tourists in the street.
I realise it wasnt worth it - thanks for the answers. Thats the info i was chasing. I suppose i could channge the emcc if i get bored.
Consider it a samsung rubix cube.
Have a good week boys

Omasta81 said:
Yeah, phone wasnt stolen - unless my 85yr old grandfather has been rolling tourists in the street.
I realise it wasnt worth it - thanks for the answers. Thats the info i was chasing. I suppose i could channge the emcc if i get bored.
Consider it a samsung rubix cube.
Have a good week boys
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried with Samsung 300k Tool? Can put the phone into download mode

Related

[Q] Odin 3 download mode (don't know any other place to ask)

My gt-7500 froze during a gaming session, so i rebooted the thing. This made me get into odin 3 download modew without any intention to do so. Problem is, i cannot seem to get out of it, nor am i able to turn the device completely off anymore, it restarts itself, or dies when empty batteqry.
Samsung refuses to help me and is blaming me for trying to jailbreak the device, so i had to find out what that ment, and i ended up here. I do have quite abit of technocal skills, but i have no experience with this device, nor did i intend to until this happened.
Can someone please guide me in the right direction to get back to plain original samsung software?
The gt have some info where it's stuck, and here it is if it helps.
Reason: no kernel
Secure mode : secure
Check signature : check
Custom binary download: no (0 counts)
Current binary : samsung official
Waitting usb cable...
Outch
Seems like yours is an actual hardware failure and somehow the memory containing your kernel (the software that makes it tick) has died.
Just call them again, stress that you have not modified the device, and they can check that that's actually the fact.
I would not go rooting / flashing the device on my own if this happened just out of the blue, then clearly the hardware must be faulty.
Would tend to agree. If you are the original owner and have never attempted to root before then you certainly have a case against them refusing to service you. Who is to say it won't happen again if you were to reflash things onto it yourself.
Sounds like you could though as it is in download mode currently.
Sent from my SCH-I905 using Tapatalk
So there is no easy software i could use to attempt exiting the downloadmode, without attempting to modify anything?
If you hold down the volume down button while it restarts does it give you the option to boot into recovery mode?
No i do not get any option to go into anything else.
Hold down the power button until it restart itself
Sent from my GT-P7500 using XDA App
Im returning the ta. To the vendor tomorrow, and will keep you updated on my progress to proove tjis was not caused due to me doing something to void the warranty.
Kentimeter said:
My gt-7500 froze during a gaming session, so i rebooted the thing. This made me get into odin 3 download modew without any intention to do so. Problem is, i cannot seem to get out of it, nor am i able to turn the device completely off anymore, it restarts itself, or dies when empty batteqry.
Samsung refuses to help me and is blaming me for trying to jailbreak the device, so i had to find out what that ment, and i ended up here. I do have quite abit of technocal skills, but i have no experience with this device, nor did i intend to until this happened.
Can someone please guide me in the right direction to get back to plain original samsung software?
The gt have some info where it's stuck, and here it is if it helps.
Reason: no kernel
Secure mode : secure
Check signature : check
Custom binary download: no (0 counts)
Current binary : samsung official
Waitting usb cable...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good luck! When you get a new tab, come back to learn about what you've been missing (root + custom ROM). But, yeah, I agree that it's a hardware failure if nobody has ever rooted it. (BTW- download mode is just "download mode"; ODIN is just the name of a program everyone here uses to flash the tab when it's in download mode)
I didn't get a new tab, but they did however acknowledge that there was an hardware error, so they changed the mainboard.
I think they would get more positive reputation if they didn't blatantly go out and blame people of jailbreaking stuff before they even look at the problem.
But aslong as the tab is working after this, i'm happy
Today my Samsung galaxy R i9103 with original Hong Kong ROM turned into brick..
Rooted for 5 months.
And I have found a .bat on other forum to get into odin 3 download mode
Same as Kentimeter, Reason: No Kernal, and I don't have any other options after rebooting my phone. It just gets me to the same page.
What can I do besides taking it to Samsung to fix it? since I won't be in Hong Kong until 2 months later...
Sigh. This is disappointing.
I've been rooted for a long time. Essentially the same thing happened to me that did to OP. Froze randomly, rebooted, and bam. Download mode with no kernel.
So am I essentially screwed? This is beyond disappointing.. only had the tablet for a year...

[Q] blank screen in download mode

hi all
after an ota update i have only a black sreen when in download mode and also i have not anymore the screen whith the model name at boot. this is a small issue as the download mode still works and i have been able to install with no problems cmw recovery and the wonderfull megafirev3 rom but i would like to fix it. Is there any way to reinstall the bootloader avoiding to install a new rom with knox ?
thanks
Im sorry that i don't have a solution, but i just want to let you know that i have the exact same problem. it was that way after i got it back from display repairs. it's apparently not that uncommon amongst other Samsung devices as well...
brunte said:
Im sorry that i don't have a solution, but i just want to let you know that i have the exact same problem. it was that way after i got it back from display repairs. it's apparently not that uncommon amongst other Samsung devices as well...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you for your answer. the funny thing is that also for me it was after taking back my phone from samsung service which changed the display. but i think it's only a coincidence as immediately after i took the phone it worked then i installed the french stock firmware and after this an ota update and then the download mode page disappeared.
As I wrote before is not a big issue but I'm afraid could happen the same for the recovery page.
hopefully it will not... I managed to enter recovery but not download mode graphically after i got it back from repairs. After that i flashed CWM and that is working well with graphics also. Probably it all comes down to a quirky boot loader installed at the service place. I would expect the problem to disappear if I flashed a new firmware with KNOX boot loader, but I'm definitely not sure. Anyways I got myself a jig to make it easier to enter download mode since the timing gets a bit tricky without the graphical guidance

Verizon Note 2 MDM lockout...

So i'm helping a buddy out that was having an issue with several Note 2's that were purchased from a company that restricted their employees access to a lot of things on the phone. My friend handed a couple off to me. The first one was not passcode locked and it was a breeze (Basically just enabled USB Debugging). It is up and running. The other ones are passcode locked and when you try to go into wipe the data/factory reset from recovery it says "MDM does not allow factory reset". The Note 2 I'm having issues with in particular has a locked bootloader on KitKat 4.4.2 through Verizon.
I've spent almost literally every waking moment trying to find a way around this issue. I may have compounded it though. I discovered ODIN, flashed the stock firmware in the hopes that it would clear the phone. It did not (password was still in place). I then decided to flash the stock firmware with the .Pit file for an SCH-I605 and made sure re-partition was checked as well as erase nand. After the process completed successfully and the phone rebooted it will no longer boot beyond the Verizon screen. I still have access to recovery and download mode but in recovery its throwing out a bunch of command lines such as E:failed to mount /data etc. I've tried to reflash the stock firmware with and without the .pit file to no avail.
In the mean time I've tried to unlock the bootloader, attempted auto root, and install custom recoveries to see if I could some how get around the MDM issue. I've also attempted to install or flash from ADB and its still the same deal.
Anyway I'm tired, kind of exhausted, and not really sure what avenues I have left. That's where I'm hoping some of you guys come in. If you have any questions for me let me know and I'll try to shed some more light on it for you. Data DOES NOT matter to me so if you can think of anyway I can get this thing completely wiped out it so I can start from scratch it would be greatly appreciated, Thanks.
Is it just one phone with this problem or several? The mounting issues are becoming more common around here, and seem to be internal memory failure.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/note-2-verizon/help/stuck-boot-file-exists-t3286946
Droid_Nut said:
Is it just one phone with this problem or several? The mounting issues are becoming more common around here, and seem to be internal memory failure.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/note-2-verizon/help/stuck-boot-file-exists-t3286946
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well tonight I'll be getting my hands on a couple other test SCH-i605 phones that are in the same situation (Password locked and no ability to wipe from recovery) and I'll put them through the paces to see if I wind up with the same issue and get back with you on it.
The basic issue with this phone is just after trying that repartition with the pit file it doesn't want to boot beyond the verizon logo anymore and thats when it started throwing those errors in recovery. It could be a coincidence I guess.
I've been messing with Heimdall today to see if I could get a custom recovery flashed that way but the phone fails protocol initialization. The only thing I can get to flash to this phone is 4.4.2 and the i605 pit file through ODIN. Nothing else will budge.
I guess the question I really need answered, is there another way to wipe data/factory reset without the option in the stock Samsung recovery and no access beyond the lock screen?
What I have to work with is ODIN mode and whatever is in recovery that is not wipe data/factory reset.
So I did get my hands on a couple other phones with passcode locks that have the MDM lockout within the stock recovery that still fails to flash anything in Odin except the stock 4.4.2 firmware. So I can eliminate the idea its hardware. I have 4 phones here 3 of which have the same issue and the 4th I was lucky enough to not have a passcode. Quick fix to get MDM removed that way.
Again any ideas that are slightly more outside the box would be appreciated. Thanks.
Edit: If this helps the phone that is working that I manage to clean all of that stuff off of also throws the same error in ODIN with or without USB debugging so it leads me to believe there is something I'm actually missing... Time to go read more.
Well, sound like it is more than coincidence. Maybe you should contact Samsung and see if they can help?
Yeah I might do that. I'd just hope they have a one size fits all solution because I have about 600 to 1000 phones to tackle... Hahaha.
The conundrum here is that for the MDM company to release the lock on the phone I have to be able to get beyond the lock screen for the phone to process the request. To get beyond the lock screen I need the psswords that the previous company allowed their employees to put on the phones that for some odd reason they didn't have remove.
Anyway if I get this figured out i'll let you guys know how I got it. Thanks for the suggestion.
((deleted))

[Bricked] Bootloop and Factory reset freeze problem

Hello to whom may come upon this,
I flashed the v20-g8 engineer-laf file on my lg g8 att lg820UMi. I cannot personally boot back into my phone, nor even go into factory hard reset. When I boot into factory hard reset mode it does carry me to the finalized, "Do you wanna really reset all personal data etc...". But it just freezes after I press yes, and does not do nothing. I was trying to bootloader unlock my phone, but it was the wrong file or wrong format. It freezes in DL mode initially booting into DL mode and I can't access fastboot. Check s/n and imei does and factory reset yes, but continuing to actually factory reset and pressing the final yes; it hangs. So I do not know what to do. Rather there is an hardware fix to this internally or to just throw this phone in the trash. the digitizer on the phone is cracked, but the oled panel is still intact. Maybe someone could buy it for the microphone pieces and frame, but the motherboard on this phone is ****ed. I guess the boot.img is corrupted or whatever the bios to booting is dis-logged. Can anyone help? I wish it would just run the factory reset program fully then my system could restore itself, but we all know that the lg g8x att version does not have an kdz to be flashed plus the computer cant pick it up or communicate with the phone because it freezes in DL mode. Please help. I actually sort of love my phone(s). First time ever bricking an phone and usually an way out the hole but its like lg forced my in a ditch. Bad thing is I actually advertised this phone pretty well. LG cough...cough...do better or stop making phones for att because ATT is pretty stuck up because there towers and routers do the talk these days then their software. Ugh... Wasted my stimulus money
:crying::angel::crying::highfive:
Shryvone21 said:
Hello to whom may come upon this,
I flashed the v20-g8 engineer-laf file on my lg g8 att lg820UMi. I cannot personally boot back into my phone, nor even go into factory hard reset. When I boot into factory hard reset mode it does carry me to the finalized, "Do you wanna really reset all personal data etc...". But it just freezes after I press yes, and does not do nothing. I was trying to bootloader unlock my phone, but it was the wrong file or wrong format. It freezes in DL mode initially booting into DL mode and I can't access fastboot. Check s/n and imei does and factory reset yes, but continuing to actually factory reset and pressing the final yes; it hangs. So I do not know what to do. Rather there is an hardware fix to this internally or to just throw this phone in the trash. the digitizer on the phone is cracked, but the oled panel is still intact. Maybe someone could buy it for the microphone pieces and frame, but the motherboard on this phone is ****ed. I guess the boot.img is corrupted or whatever the bios to booting is dis-logged. Can anyone help? I wish it would just run the factory reset program fully then my system could restore itself, but we all know that the lg g8x att version does not have an kdz to be flashed plus the computer cant pick it up or communicate with the phone because it freezes in DL mode. Please help. I actually sort of love my phone(s). First time ever bricking an phone and usually an way out the hole but its like lg forced my in a ditch. Bad thing is I actually advertised this phone pretty well. LG cough...cough...do better or stop making phones for att because ATT is pretty stuck up because there towers and routers do the talk these days then their software. Ugh... Wasted my stimulus money
:crying::angel::crying::highfive:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bro enter edl and restore your stock file,i mean restore the stock file of which you loaded (backup fiile)
[email protected] said:
bro enter edl and restore your stock file,i mean restore the stock file of which you loaded (backup fiile)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't enter into dl mode at all...my phone is fuccked....
Did you come to any kind of solution? im in a very similar situation.

Haaaalp! Another victim of the OTA update screwing my phone after debloat...possible to recover some files via recovery or download mode?

Hello all...hoping to get some assistance with this thing. Long story short, debloated it due to horrid battery life and high heat. Everything was great until about a week ago when my settings app go renamed somehow. Tried fixing it but couldn't find the com.android.settings file with the correct signature for my phone (AT&T, US Model, unlocked, not rooted).
It's been working fine except no settings...so I backed up the usual stuff and had plans to do a factory reset this weekend. A few hours ago I picked it up and it went all wonky on me. Upon boot, it comes up to the lock screen and then the screen just starts turning on/off. I'm unable to bring up the passcode screen...but, am able to bring up the power menu by holding the power button. But, can't power down or get into safe mode that way. After about 5 seconds of doing this, it reboots. Rinse and repeat. Safe mode via buttons starts, but, does the same thing.
I am able to get into both recovery mode and download mode though. I can view logs/etc.
Normally, I'd just ***** and moan, then do the factory reset, However, I made one huge oversight when I backed up my data earlier this week and forgot to backup my notes. There's about a dozen of them, pages and pages long with all the medical details regarding my sons illness that I've been tracking for years. It's a nightmare dealing with different Dr's all the time so I've logged it all on the phone. Unfortunately, the best app I've found for it doesn't do cloud storage and keeps them saved as local txt files on the device.
Is there any hope I can somehow pull the files using recovery/download mode or utilize the logs to determine the errors and fix it enough to be able to get them? I'm fairly tech savvy and have ADB installed. I'm super ADD though and my head is just spinning trying to sort through all the possible posts regarding trying to do this...many being for older phones.
Absolute worst case, is there a legitimate service that would be able to do it?
Any help recovering my son's medical notes would be really really appreciated.
RiBBiTeDD said:
Hello all...hoping to get some assistance with this thing. Long story short, debloated it due to horrid battery life and high heat. Everything was great until about a week ago when my settings app go renamed somehow. Tried fixing it but couldn't find the com.android.settings file with the correct signature for my phone (AT&T, US Model, unlocked, not rooted).
It's been working fine except no settings...so I backed up the usual stuff and had plans to do a factory reset this weekend. A few hours ago I picked it up and it went all wonky on me. Upon boot, it comes up to the lock screen and then the screen just starts turning on/off. I'm unable to bring up the passcode screen...but, am able to bring up the power menu by holding the power button. But, can't power down or get into safe mode that way. After about 5 seconds of doing this, it reboots. Rinse and repeat. Safe mode via buttons starts, but, does the same thing.
I am able to get into both recovery mode and download mode though. I can view logs/etc.
Normally, I'd just ***** and moan, then do the factory reset, However, I made one huge oversight when I backed up my data earlier this week and forgot to backup my notes. There's about a dozen of them, pages and pages long with all the medical details regarding my sons illness that I've been tracking for years. It's a nightmare dealing with different Dr's all the time so I've logged it all on the phone. Unfortunately, the best app I've found for it doesn't do cloud storage and keeps them saved as local txt files on the device.
Is there any hope I can somehow pull the files using recovery/download mode or utilize the logs to determine the errors and fix it enough to be able to get them? I'm fairly tech savvy and have ADB installed. I'm super ADD though and my head is just spinning trying to sort through all the possible posts regarding trying to do this...many being for older phones.
Absolute worst case, is there a legitimate service that would be able to do it?
Any help recovering my son's medical notes would be really really appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Man, i'm so sorry to hear that :/
Sience you have access to recovery, did you try to wipe only cache partition and hit repair apps(also in recovery)?
I'm also using debloated device and i dont have any problems with it
nocio said:
Man, i'm so sorry to hear that :/
Sience you have access to recovery, did you try to wipe only cache partition and hit repair apps(also in recovery)?
I'm also using debloated device and i dont have any problems with it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah...that's the first thing I tried after safe mode failed. :\
There's quite a few folks reporting similar issues since the last OTA update a couple weeks ago.
Usually I delay until I get a chance to restore then allow it...this one didn't even give me a chance. I was using my phone when it popped up. No option to remind me later. When I tried to exit it counted down from 10, rebooted and installed.
RiBBiTeDD said:
Yeah...that's the first thing I tried after safe mode failed. :\
There's quite a few folks reporting similar issues since the last OTA update a couple weeks ago.
Usually I delay until I get a chance to restore then allow it...this one didn't even give me a chance. I was using my phone when it popped up. No option to remind me later. When I tried to exit it counted down from 10, rebooted and installed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have one idea, it may seem unusual but it may work.
Try to remove sim card and than boot device
nocio said:
I have one idea, it may seem unusual but it may work.
Try to remove sim card and than boot device
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the idea. But, yeah, tried that to already...cleared cache and repaired apps afterwards too. Tried it with cable, tried a 2.0 cable too.
No dice.
The app repair works just fine and then it does the same thing when lock screen tries to appear.
RiBBiTeDD said:
Thanks for the idea. But, yeah, tried that to already...cleared cache and repaired apps afterwards too. Tried it with cable, tried a 2.0 cable too.
No dice.
The app repair works just fine and then it does the same thing when lock screen tries to appear.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only thing that came to my mind is to download latest firmware for your device than flash it via odin
EDIT: but be carefull with that. Odin have box to untick factory reset but i didnt do that a loooooooooong time so i dont know if something is changed
nocio said:
Only thing that came to my mind is to download latest firmware for your device than flash it via odin
EDIT: but be carefull with that. Odin have box to untick factory reset but i didnt do that a loooooooooong time so i dont know if something is changed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I figured that'd be my last shot at it... I've read the horror stories of tripping Knox even with factory firmware.
Was just really hoping there was some way to yank the stuff using recovery or download modes.
RiBBiTeDD said:
Yeah, I figured that'd be my last shot at it... I've read the horror stories of tripping Knox even with factory firmware.
Was just really hoping there was some way to yank the stuff using recovery or download modes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that you can't trip Knox only when you flash official firmware over unlocked bootloader and custom ROM, but I'm not so sure.
Last time I did that is when I had Samsung Galaxy S2 and flashing official firmware over official firmware and that didn't trip the Knox counter
Does flashing genuine firmware trip knox?
Hi It's been a while since I bothered flashing firmware so I am not upto date with how things work now. My questions are I am currently on 02s version of firmware and would like to go samsungs version so I can take part in things like the one...
forum.xda-developers.com
Here you can see that flashing official firmware over official firmware(i'm guessing that you are not rooted) won't trip knox counter
nocio said:
Does flashing genuine firmware trip knox?
Hi It's been a while since I bothered flashing firmware so I am not upto date with how things work now. My questions are I am currently on 02s version of firmware and would like to go samsungs version so I can take part in things like the one...
forum.xda-developers.com
Here you can see that flashing official firmware over official firmware(i'm guessing that you are not rooted) won't trip knox counter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome! Thank you!
I was able to get the files...for others in the same boat, here's a link to what worked for me:
Help finding correct firmware and installing for AT&T SM-G991U.
Hello all...I'm a fellow victim of the OTA updates screwing us debloaters currently stuck in a boot-loop. I'm trying to recover my the past several years text notes containing all the medical details for my son's illness. Details on that can be...
forum.xda-developers.com

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