S3 will not turn on!

[kgilbertsen]

I've had my S3 since it was released, and have never had a problem, until a couple days ago. When I would try to go into Google Voice to see a text, the screen would just go black. I'd have to hit the 'home' button to get out - the 'back' or 'menu' presses would do nothing.
Then, the next morning, the phone would not turn on. I then tried the power, volume up, home button press and got into recovery. I cleared the cache, with no luck - the phone still would not turn on. I then went back into recovery and did a factory reset, also without any luck.
Is my phone toast?? It is unrooted, no mods - a purely stock phone.
Thanks for any help.
Ken

(I did a search for 'S3 will not turn on' and got nothing)

 

[Golfdriver97]

I've had my S3 since it was released, and have never had a problem, until a couple days ago. When I would try to go into Google Voice to see a text, the screen would just go black. I'd have to hit the 'home' button to get out - the 'back' or 'menu' presses would do nothing.
Then, the next morning, the phone would not turn on. I then tried the power, volume up, home button press and got into recovery. I cleared the cache, with no luck - the phone still would not turn on. I then went back into recovery and did a factory reset, also without any luck.
Is my phone toast?? It is unrooted, no mods - a purely stock phone.
Thanks for any help.
Ken

(I did a search for 'S3 will not turn on' and got nothing)

It might be toast. There may be a hardware issue that is causing this.

 

[kgilbertsen]

I am currently doing a live chat with Samsung. They are having me return it to them so they can repair it. Still chatting with them now...

 

[Golfdriver97]

I am currently doing a live chat with Samsung. They are having me return it to them so they can repair it. Still chatting with them now...

At least they are offering to help. Hope everything works out.

 

[kgilbertsen]

They said they will repair it Under Warranty as long as they determine there was no externally caused damage. Nice. The only down side is that it's my business phone, and I'll be without it while it's in getting fixed. Anyone know if I can have Sprint activate one of my old phones for the short time (hopefully) it takes to get the S3 back?

 

[Golfdriver97]

They said they will repair it Under Warranty as long as they determine there was no externally caused damage. Nice. The only down side is that it's my business phone, and I'll be without it while it's in getting fixed. Anyone know if I can have Sprint activate one of my old phones for the short time (hopefully) it takes to get the S3 back?

Yes just call sprint and tell them you want to switch phones

Sent from a Slim 4.3 S3

 

[kgilbertsen]

Yes just call sprint and tell them you want to switch phones

Thanks. I called the local Sprint store, who offered to take care of it. Or, like you said, it can be done via phone with Sprint. Or, I can do it myself by signing in to my Sprint account online. Thanks again.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Thanks. I called the local Sprint store, who offered to take care of it. Or, like you said, it can be done via phone with Sprint. Or, I can do it myself by signing in to my Sprint account online. Thanks again.

No sweat. Hope to see you around.

Sent from a Slim 4.3 S3

 

[kgilbertsen]

Here's the current status of my S3 -

Samsung tells me they had to order a part for the phone, and they don't know when it will arrive! NO ETA. They don't offer loaners - 'we only deal in large quantities of phones, and only between us and the carriers'. I also talked with Sprint (both on the phone and the local corporate store) and they both say that they'd do a loaner IF I had given them the phone for repair. So, I'm stuck using my wife's old Rant, that no longer holds a charge and basically SUCKS. I'm tempted to just get the S4, even though I'm not up for the upgrade price with the S3. Anyone have suggestions??

 

[kgilbertsen]

I decided I'd give eBay a try, and ordered an old Samsung Epic 4G. I've never bought a phone that way before, but will find out in a couple days if it was the right thing to do...

 

[kgilbertsen]

UPDATE: (for those that may have the same issue...)

The Samsung site shows that the phone 'has left the technician' today, and that the 'PBA' component was replaced. I called Samsung, and they told me that component is the motherboard. Unit now needs to be tested, and should ship back to me tomorrow via UPS. So, the wait turned out to be not as bad as it appeared it was going to be.
I also just received the Epic 4G today that I bought on eBay - so it turns out I probably could have survived until Monday/Tuesday of next week using the old Rant. BUT, now I've got the Epic to use as a back up if I need one down the road... What a PITA

 

[kgilbertsen]

Well, I received the 'repaired' S3 from Samsung yesterday. It would not activate - kept saying the ID was invalid. Called Sprint, they couldn't get it activated, said to bring it to a Sprint store. Sprint store said it shows as a Virgin Mobile ID number, and they couldn't activate it either. SO, back to Samsung it went - they assure me it will be compatible with the Sprint network when I get it back. I have never heard of anything like this before - How does this happen?!
So, I'll see in a week or so if Samsung is able to fix this problem. If not, I'm not sure what my options might be...

 

[kgilbertsen]

The saga continues...

Got the phone back from Samsung (it's been to them 2 times now). Long story short - it STILL shows as a Virgin Mobile phone when Sprint tries to activate it. The phone has now been sent back to Samsung, for the 3rd time. I'm not at all confident that they'll be able to correct their screw up. Time will tell.