Samsung Galaxy S3 will not turn on

**Kelly Kearns** · 01-18-2013, 11:18 PM

Originally Posted by meyerweb

People need to read more carefully. The article says this:

This statement would seem to indicate the update to fix the Exynos exploit is not the same as the 4.1.2 update.

The only thing this article says is limited to the international version is the Exynos exploit. Nowhere does it say the sudden death problem is limited to the international version. And as it says directly above, it's "unclear" whether the update solves the sudden death issue.

That is ONE of the 8 million articles on this issue, that many of us have been following. Context is really important.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747

**Kelly Kearns** · 01-19-2013, 12:16 AM

meyerweb, Gave you some time to look into all this, don't know if you did.

Couple of key things: Exynos chip - The US Version runs on Snapdragon.

The Sudden Death: "Samsung is beginning to roll out a security patch to UK Galaxy S3 phones, designed to clear up a bug in the S3's Exynos chip that could potentially see some phones being wiped or bricked by naughty hackers.

The sudden death bug, as it's known, was found by an XDA Developers user and gives hackers access to the RAM of phones including the Galaxy S2, S3 and Note. "RAM dump, kernel code injection and others could be possible via app installation from Play Store," user alephzain explains."

The Exynos vulnerability is the Sudden Death Syndrome. Now haven't followed the argument too much, but last I heard, that while the motherboard was basically being "fried" Samsung had determined it was not an actual faulty motherboard, but a software issue, a problem in Samsung's custom ROM and other ROMS based on it.

Samsung is beginning to roll out a security patch to UK Galaxy S3 phones, designed to clear up a bug in the S3's Exynos chip that could potentially see some phones being wiped or bricked by naughty hackers.

The sudden death bug, as it's known, was found by an XDA Developers user and gives hackers access to the RAM of phones including the Galaxy S2, S3 and Note. "RAM dump, kernel code injection and others could be possible via app installation from Play Store," user alephzain explains.

Samsung has pointed out that it only affects a very limited number of devices, but it could affect those running stock Android or custom ROMs after rooting the device.

The update is said to be available now as an over-the-air release or over Kies software but at the time of writing, my Galaxy S3 showed no available update, so it could be that certain models are receiving it before others. XDA explains how to download the update manually using Kies, but warns you do this at your own risk.

Having your phone potentially bricked by a remote hacker with a malicious mind is clearly quite a worrying issue, but it doesn't seem to have been a widespread one. Security holes are sadly quite a common occurrance, particularly in new software that may have had small issues overlooked. Thankfully, Samsung has acted to patch it up before too much damage has been done.

Have you been affected by the bug? Do you know anyone who has? Let me know in the comments below, or over on our rock-solid Facebook page.

Again, context is everything, not my job to go out searching for all the info on something if I give someone a piece of info. Next time if you don't see where something is coming from, instead of saying I need to read something a bit better, maybe asking a question might get your further. I don't just pull things out of the air. If I haven't heard of something, I say I haven't. If I'm not sure of something, I say I'm not sure. If I can't remember something, I say I can't remember it.

Just sayin'

**meyerweb** · 01-19-2013, 01:02 PM

Kelly, you're the one who made the statement, and then posted a link as support for that statement. If you're going to do that, at least post one that actually supports your point. Just sayin.

Your last post doesn't address the same issue, I don't think. This is still talking about the expoit.. I've not see any evidence that the bulk of phones which have succumbed to "sudden death" were attached by some malicious hacker. People set them down, and picked them up later to find them dead. I still think the exynos exploit and the rash of dead phones are two separate issues.

**Kelly Kearns** · 01-19-2013, 01:39 PM

Originally Posted by meyerweb

Kelly, you're the one who made the statement, and then posted a link as support for that statement. If you're going to do that, at least post one that actually supports your point. Just sayin.

Your last post doesn't address the same issue, I don't think. This is still talking about the expoit.. I've not see any evidence that the bulk of phones which have succumbed to "sudden death" were attached by some malicious hacker. People set them down, and picked them up later to find them dead. I still think the exynos exploit and the rash of dead phones are two separate issues.

Again, not my job to go researching and my last post does very well address it. Yes, I know about it charging overnight in most cases and then it is dead..got it. Yes, Samsung has looked into this and as they have been clear about:

Samsung is beginning to roll out a security patch to UK Galaxy S3 phones, designed to clear up a bug in the S3's Exynos chip that could potentially see some phones being wiped or bricked by naughty hackers.

The sudden death bug, as it's known, was found by an XDA Developers user and gives hackers access to the RAM of phones including the Galaxy S2, S3 and Note. "RAM dump, kernel code injection and others could be possible via app installation from Play Store," user alephzain explains.

They have found the Sudden Death is caused by the Exynos issue, it also has allowed apps to exploit this vulnerability. Which means it doesn't have to be a hacker hacking into your phone.

When someone is having the issue with Sudden Death, I'm expecting they know a bit about it. Then if I post something to them about it and they aren't really familiar with the Sudden Death, I expect questions. You aren't having this issue, you are just worried about critiquing me. I'm not a writer here, I'm not an adviser here, I'm not an educator here, I am a user. It is not my job to go educate someone on every aspect of something they ask about and assume they know nothing about it when they post a question. They post a question, there is more, fine, they post something else and then we can get deeper into it. What I find interesting is that you are not even the one with the issue, yet you are the one trying to tell me that I need to put out the info from beginning to end on this issue.

Nope, that's not how it works. People ask questions, you give them some info, if they don't understand or need more info, they post another question.

**jetrated** · 01-19-2013, 02:48 PM

My S3 just died. I am stuck on the boot screen. I have not installed 4.1.2.
:-(

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**Kelly Kearns** · 01-19-2013, 02:56 PM

Originally Posted by jetrated

My S3 just died. I am stuck on the boot screen. I have not installed 4.1.2.
:-(

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

Rooted or not?

I'm guessing it is stuck on the Samsung logo?

**jetrated** · 01-19-2013, 03:22 PM

Yes, stuck on the logo.
Not rooted, totally stock
Trying to get support from Samsung but getting a severe run around. They don't want to touch my phone cause I'm not in the US

**Kelly Kearns** · 01-19-2013, 03:31 PM

Originally Posted by jetrated

Yes, stuck on the logo.
Not rooted, totally stock
Trying to get support from Samsung but getting a severe run around. They don't want to touch my phone cause I'm not in the US

Hmmm...sounds like a totally different issue than Sudden Death, because with that, it's just completely dead. I've seen some stuff about this where rooted devices are concerned.

Quick search and I found this on a non-rooted device. Look through this and see if there is something that will work for you here.

If none of this work, you might want to start a thread with a good description in the thread title and then more will see it that might can help. I don't root at all, so not familiar with any of that and I have read about some issue here for non-rooted devices that the people that do a lot of rooting, know how to fix.

**proaccs** · 01-19-2013, 03:37 PM

Just registered after reading through all/most of the threads....Mine has just died not rooted i was using it loaded skype and it just hung had to remove battery and now stuck on logo..

After doing a bit of research would reloading firmware using odin be of any benefit? I cant get into factory reset i.e home power and vol up but i can get into custom firmware load so use odin and load original firmware?

**jetrated** · 01-19-2013, 03:51 PM

Thanks for the link Kelly!
I can't even get to recovery mode. Whatever I do I don't get past the Samsung logo....

**Kelly Kearns** · 01-19-2013, 04:00 PM

Originally Posted by proaccs

Just registered after reading through all/most of the threads....Mine has just died not rooted i was using it loaded skype and it just hung had to remove battery and now stuck on logo..

After doing a bit of research would reloading firmware using odin be of any benefit? I cant get into factory reset i.e home power and vol up but i can get into custom firmware load so use odin and load original firmware?

Originally Posted by jetrated

Thanks for the link Kelly!
I can't even get to recovery mode. Whatever I do I don't get past the Samsung logo....

I would suggest one of you start a thread and both of you post on it and those that are really familiar with fixing these kinds of issues will see the thread description and they will come in the thread and help you.

**Almeuit** · 01-19-2013, 04:11 PM

Originally Posted by jetrated

Thanks for the link Kelly!
I can't even get to recovery mode. Whatever I do I don't get past the Samsung logo....

Have you tried the good old battery pull? I'd suggest taking the battery out for 2 minutes then put it back in.. Then try and go into recovery. If not then I'd do what Kelly said.

Sent from my Sprint S3 using AC forums

**jetrated** · 01-19-2013, 04:19 PM

Battery pull didn't solve it either. Thanks for thinking along.

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**proaccs** · 01-19-2013, 04:20 PM

Yep tried everything it is looking like a trip to the store its foooooooked

**Kelly Kearns** · 01-19-2013, 04:21 PM

Originally Posted by proaccs

Just registered after reading through all/most of the threads....Mine has just died not rooted i was using it loaded skype and it just hung had to remove battery and now stuck on logo..

After doing a bit of research would reloading firmware using odin be of any benefit? I cant get into factory reset i.e home power and vol up but i can get into custom firmware load so use odin and load original firmware?

Originally Posted by jetrated

Thanks for the link Kelly!
I can't even get to recovery mode. Whatever I do I don't get past the Samsung logo....

Originally Posted by jetrated

Battery pull didn't solve it either. Thanks for thinking along.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

Now this is bugging me...I'm about to catch up on a couple of things, might try and do some searching on this issue online since it is now officially bugging me...

**proaccs** · 01-19-2013, 04:29 PM

well im just waiting for the official firmware to download and im gonna try flashing using odin if that fails well god knows

**Kelly Kearns** · 01-19-2013, 04:38 PM

Originally Posted by proaccs

Just registered after reading through all/most of the threads....Mine has just died not rooted i was using it loaded skype and it just hung had to remove battery and now stuck on logo..

After doing a bit of research would reloading firmware using odin be of any benefit? I cant get into factory reset i.e home power and vol up but i can get into custom firmware load so use odin and load original firmware?

Originally Posted by jetrated

Thanks for the link Kelly!
I can't even get to recovery mode. Whatever I do I don't get past the Samsung logo....

Originally Posted by proaccs

well im just waiting for the official firmware to download and im gonna try flashing using odin if that fails well god knows

Just from what I'm reading, the Odin and flash seems to work, but..also, seems like this would be honored by Samsung if there is a Samsung store or your carrier replacing it.

Also, one thing I saw was to remove the SD card if you have it, then try to turn it back on.

**Kelly Kearns** · 01-19-2013, 04:49 PM

While this thread is about Gingerbread and someone trying to root their phone, just scanning this, I see there is possibly some kind of help using Kies. Might want to read this thread, check out one of the links about restoring using Kies that is at the beginning of this thread.

Also something I didn't think about, if y'all have "tech" stores where you are that will reflash your phone, might be a very good idea to do also.

Here's the thread I just saw, if you read through, you might find you can do the same thing with Kies and the S3:

**jetrated** · 01-19-2013, 04:53 PM

I talked to Samsung support but no joy. They won't help me because the country where I live does not show up on their country list. I bought the phone in the USA and wasted an hour on the phone with USA support.

I am curious to see if flash would work.

One thing seems to be sure, Samsung is not going to replace anything for me at this point in time.

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**jetrated** · 01-19-2013, 04:56 PM

I forgot to mention, I tried to hook up the phone to KIES but without results. Options are becoming less

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**Kelly Kearns** · 01-19-2013, 04:56 PM

Originally Posted by proaccs

Just registered after reading through all/most of the threads....Mine has just died not rooted i was using it loaded skype and it just hung had to remove battery and now stuck on logo..

After doing a bit of research would reloading firmware using odin be of any benefit? I cant get into factory reset i.e home power and vol up but i can get into custom firmware load so use odin and load original firmware?

Originally Posted by jetrated

Thanks for the link Kelly!
I can't even get to recovery mode. Whatever I do I don't get past the Samsung logo....

Originally Posted by jetrated

I talked to Samsung support but no joy. They won't help me because the country where I live does not show up on their country list. I bought the phone in the USA and wasted an hour on the phone with USA support.

I am curious to see if flash would work.

One thing seems to be sure, Samsung is not going to replace anything for me at this point in time.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

Where did you buy the phone in the US?

**Kelly Kearns** · 01-19-2013, 04:59 PM

Just another bit of info, this is the Samsung page for your area, don't know if it will help.

And their Facebook page:

And your Samsung Support Contacts, including phone support and live chat link support.

**jetrated** · 01-19-2013, 05:12 PM

Yup. Bought in the US through Amazon. Tried to contact the vendor no reply yet. Keeping my fingers crossed

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**jetrated** · 01-19-2013, 05:14 PM

My country is not on any of the lists. But I have not tried their Facebook page yet. That is a great idea. Thanks!

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**Kelly Kearns** · 01-19-2013, 05:18 PM

Originally Posted by proaccs

Just registered after reading through all/most of the threads....Mine has just died not rooted i was using it loaded skype and it just hung had to remove battery and now stuck on logo..

After doing a bit of research would reloading firmware using odin be of any benefit? I cant get into factory reset i.e home power and vol up but i can get into custom firmware load so use odin and load original firmware?

Originally Posted by jetrated

Thanks for the link Kelly!
I can't even get to recovery mode. Whatever I do I don't get past the Samsung logo....

Originally Posted by jetrated

My country is not on any of the lists. But I have not tried their Facebook page yet. That is a great idea. Thanks!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

Might need that live chat support, cause they say "Caribbean" on the Samsung website. Also, Amazon is generally very good with returns, etc.