I have a unique situation with my Samsung S3 (SCH-i535). Verizon forced a OTA update that failed. The phone powers up but hangs at the 4G LTE expanding color rings and vibrates once in a while until the battery goes dead or pull it out.
The obvious solution is to brick-it ? except that there are
about 2000 pictures from a recent global travel vacation that would be lost.
The phone boots up in recovery mode (vol+ & home & power) and I get the following menu:
Android Recovery system <3e>
Volume up/down to move highlight
Power button to select.
reboot system now
apply update from external storage
wipe data/factory reset
wipe cache partition
apply update from cache
I should also note that Windows 7 using a USB 3.0 port recognizes the phone but doesn't allow access to any files when booted in recovery mode. The device doesn't show up in Windows Explorer but does in Devices and Printers and can be ejected.
When powered up normally, Windows 7 attempts to install the drivers but then fail after about 60 seconds. Again, the device doesn't show up in Windows Explorer but does in Devices and Printers but with an error and can be ejected.
And the charger/charging works.
My speculation is that the hardware is fine and the OS is corrupted.
So my thinking at this point is to attempt to apply the update that Verizon attempted with its failed forced OTA download using the second option ? ?apply update from external storage?. I would expect that all personal data on the phone should remain intact and short of a real hardware failure ? the phone should reboot and I should then have access to the pictures.
The rabbit to pull out of the hat of course is to get the update from Verizon (left to be seen).
1. What is contained in the OTA update? Is it the ?ROM?? Is it a complete image or just the changes? Do I need to wait for Verizon or is there a web site that I can down load an image?
2. What is the memory map of the S3? How is it partitioned? It is 16GB model. So I would suspect that there would be 16GB of ?user? space where pictures etc would be stored that is separate from the system ?ROM? and RAM space(?) - which I think from what I have read is a separate ?partition? approx 12GB(?).
3. What is the ?cache? in the above menu? Is that part of the 16GB user space or part of the system space? Is that the memory space that is used to download and store the OTA update until it is conformed complete before actually being applied?
4. If I ?wipe the cache? as in option 3, are my pictures/user data etc intact?
5. If I update using something like ODIN, I would expect the user space to be left intact(?). Or is it always wiped?
6. Does anybody have any experience using the second option in the menu noted above to perform an update form external storage (SDcard?) ? What did you put on the SD card?
7. What format should the file that I put on the SD card be in? From looking on the web, it looks like the android system recovery program prefers a zip file(?).
8. Should Verizon be unable to provide the code, any idea where I can get an image that will preserve the pictures that are in the phone when I update the OS?
9. I see references in discussions of internal SD storage and external SD storage. Is there an there an SD card hiding somewhere inside the device that though dissection could be removed?
Any help is appreciated!
Thanks!
Rhys
The obvious solution is to brick-it ? except that there are
about 2000 pictures from a recent global travel vacation that would be lost.
The phone boots up in recovery mode (vol+ & home & power) and I get the following menu:
Android Recovery system <3e>
Volume up/down to move highlight
Power button to select.
reboot system now
apply update from external storage
wipe data/factory reset
wipe cache partition
apply update from cache
I should also note that Windows 7 using a USB 3.0 port recognizes the phone but doesn't allow access to any files when booted in recovery mode. The device doesn't show up in Windows Explorer but does in Devices and Printers and can be ejected.
When powered up normally, Windows 7 attempts to install the drivers but then fail after about 60 seconds. Again, the device doesn't show up in Windows Explorer but does in Devices and Printers but with an error and can be ejected.
And the charger/charging works.
My speculation is that the hardware is fine and the OS is corrupted.
So my thinking at this point is to attempt to apply the update that Verizon attempted with its failed forced OTA download using the second option ? ?apply update from external storage?. I would expect that all personal data on the phone should remain intact and short of a real hardware failure ? the phone should reboot and I should then have access to the pictures.
The rabbit to pull out of the hat of course is to get the update from Verizon (left to be seen).
1. What is contained in the OTA update? Is it the ?ROM?? Is it a complete image or just the changes? Do I need to wait for Verizon or is there a web site that I can down load an image?
2. What is the memory map of the S3? How is it partitioned? It is 16GB model. So I would suspect that there would be 16GB of ?user? space where pictures etc would be stored that is separate from the system ?ROM? and RAM space(?) - which I think from what I have read is a separate ?partition? approx 12GB(?).
3. What is the ?cache? in the above menu? Is that part of the 16GB user space or part of the system space? Is that the memory space that is used to download and store the OTA update until it is conformed complete before actually being applied?
4. If I ?wipe the cache? as in option 3, are my pictures/user data etc intact?
5. If I update using something like ODIN, I would expect the user space to be left intact(?). Or is it always wiped?
6. Does anybody have any experience using the second option in the menu noted above to perform an update form external storage (SDcard?) ? What did you put on the SD card?
7. What format should the file that I put on the SD card be in? From looking on the web, it looks like the android system recovery program prefers a zip file(?).
8. Should Verizon be unable to provide the code, any idea where I can get an image that will preserve the pictures that are in the phone when I update the OS?
9. I see references in discussions of internal SD storage and external SD storage. Is there an there an SD card hiding somewhere inside the device that though dissection could be removed?
Any help is appreciated!
Thanks!
Rhys