[BasPilot]

I can't believe what happened... There I was, Saturday Night... Just kicking it with my wife in bed getting ready to sleep... plugged my phone in and BANG... Dead. The screen was on when I put the plug in. After, the instant after, the screen went blank, never to turn on again. I tried it all folks... I tried every button combination available, I tried battery in, battery out plugged in, I evven tried battery out NOT plugged in (you know, why not?) I held buttons for hours (minutes). I eventually was too tired and fell asleep on Saturday night... Sunday I called VZW, but it wouldn't go out until Monday... Today is Tuesday and Christmas... Won't get it until WEDNESDAY!!! No phone for Christmas?! OUCH, talk about painful for an addict like me.

Well, it's on it's way here tomorrow. I guess what sucks is I can't go in and wipe my phone before it goes back to the factory. I hope there's nothing too bad on there! HA.

I just thought you all would understand my pain... Poor phone... Launch day phone... Poor SGS III... My favorite... my baby... RIP - and let's hope for a GREAT replacement!

[avs1121]

Samsung has admitted that their main boards are blowing up. They don't know why yet, but the kicker is they are replacing dead phone with replacements that still have the same board in it that's killing the phones. They also said the phones are blowing within 3-4 months. Hope you get one that doesn't kick the bucket in a few months.

Good Luck.

Bubba's Rezound

[chadrob30]

Sounds familiar...

[LegalAmerican]

Sounds familiar...

No he isn't talking about your iPhone.

But that sucks dude! I guess the good news is that they are willing to replace the device. If they give you another one that has the same problem with the faulty board, I would assume that would be grounds to request something like the Note 2 unless they replace the corrupt electronics with the correct fix. I am praying I don't have this same problem because this S3 has been the best phone i've owned. I absolutely love it and do not want to experience the dead plague that some have mentioned.

Everything else with this phone works so flawlessly that it's a shame to have such a crucial defect. I still wonder if it was a bad batch or what because the sample size of people experiencing this problem is well within the margin or error on a mass-produced product.

[BasPilot]

Samsung has admitted that their main boards are blowing up. They don't know why yet, but the kicker is they are replacing dead phone with replacements that still have the same board in it that's killing the phones. They also said the phones are blowing within 3-4 months. Hope you get one that doesn't kick the bucket in a few months.

Good Luck.

Bubba's Rezound

I didn't know this. I was actually trying to stay away from the information and the posting wars that come along with what ever phone I pick (read, every phone), and to be sure I don't find out a better phone is coming that I know I will want. I have learned that I can't stay up to date AND have any money left.

But Thanks a ton for the information. I will be paying attention to that topic though. If I do need to swap out types, I will. I do love this phone a TON though.

[BasPilot]

No he isn't talking about your iPhone.

But that sucks dude! I guess the good news is that they are willing to replace the device. If they give you another one that has the same problem with the faulty board, I would assume that would be grounds to request something like the Note 2 unless they replace the corrupt electronics with the correct fix. I am praying I don't have this same problem because this S3 has been the best phone i've owned. I absolutely love it and do not want to experience the dead plague that some have mentioned.

Everything else with this phone works so flawlessly that it's a shame to have such a crucial defect. I still wonder if it was a bad batch or what because the sample size of people experiencing this problem is well within the margin or error on a mass-produced product.

I will not say I am not a fan of the Note 2. I will be honest, S Pen looks like it might have to be a requirement for me. Not sure if that will HAVE to be on a tablet or if it will be a phone. That's something I will be thinking about as time approaches the next device.


The replacement is here. It felt like FOREVER. Man, I think I'd rather not pee and hold it for 4 days instead of losing my phone for that long. How did I make the first 22 years of my life until I got my first phone... or was it 21? No, 20... dang it.. whatever... 12 years ago, how about that? Anyway, Really happy. The screen is smooth, inside is spotless and not all scratched up. Either it's new or the referb of someone who took care of their device. The buttons are all excellently installed. I'm happy. Always nervous about getting a replacement that the buttons might be a loose as a 6 year old's teeth...

Ah, updates, installs, settings... can my night get any better than this?!

[Rodawg71]

Good to hear ya got your phone... Yeah, kinda of disheartening to read/hear/see folks S3's going t*ts up after 3-6 mos.

sent from a Galaxy S3 near you

[chadrob30]

No he isn't talking about your iPhone.

And nor was I. You win Troll Of The Year!

[LegalAmerican]

And nor was I. You win Troll Of The Year!

No trolling, just arguing counterpoint on your trashing of the S3. You hate it and share your opinion, I love it and share mine. Welcome to the internet.

[Paul627g]

Lets keep things on topic folks. No need to get personal here.


Please continue with a reasonable discussion.

[NotJustAPhone]

I just thought you all would understand my pain... Poor phone... Launch day phone... Poor SGS III... My favorite... my baby... RIP - and let's hope for a GREAT replacement!

Hope things work out with your replacement.

[BasPilot]

Yeah, it's great... thanks... For everyone out there who has had their phone a while, I send this warning:

Before it kicked the bucket, for about a week prior, the battery was FLYING down every day. It was 2, maybe 2.5 hours to drain from 100 to 10 or 5%. I didn't even use it much on those days. It drained like I was pouring it out. So if you start seeing this, get ready for the death.

[Metups]

I can't believe what happened... There I was, Saturday Night... Just kicking it with my wife in bed getting ready to sleep... plugged my phone in and BANG... Dead.
...

Well, I'm not surprised. You really shouldn't be kicking your GS3, in bed or out of bed.

[rolo99]

Yeah, it's great... thanks... For everyone out there who has had their phone a while, I send this warning:

Before it kicked the bucket, for about a week prior, the battery was FLYING down every day. It was 2, maybe 2.5 hours to drain from 100 to 10 or 5%. I didn't even use it much on those days. It drained like I was pouring it out. So if you start seeing this, get ready for the death.

Interesting. My husband's S3 was going from the charger to nearly dead in 3 hours, until he got the JB update. Now it lasts all day, like it did when he first got it.

However, I do need to point out that it still doesn't last as long as my Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD does. I came from the HTC Thunderbolt, with a notoriously sucky battery. He came from the iphone 4, with a notoriously good battery. It was like we'd swapped batteries for a bit.

[BasPilot]

Oh ha ha... (golf clap)

[nickf126]

I wanted to revive this thread because I had a similar problem last night.
I was checking some email on my phone, and I noticed that I could not raise the ringer volume. I pulled the battery to reset things. When I tried turning it on, it would not turn on. I tried combinations of power up and down and home button, with no results. I plugged it it, no noise, no red charging light.
I called Verizon and went through the same steps to try to boot to recovery, no dice. They then send me a new phone which should come on Wednesday due to the New Year.
This morning I decided to give it a try and it powered up with no problem. I just dont get it.
So here are my questions-
First, should I keep this phone because I have it set up just the way that I like it, or swap it with the one that Verizon is sending (which is probably refurbished)?
What could have made my phone totally unresponsive until this morning.
Thanks for any input, and have a happy new year.

[sfrrr]

Hard to call. If you knew the replacement was new, the decision would be easy.

But a refurb?

FWIW, my GS3 has done that to me twice. Once, I just left it overnight, as you did. The second time, after pulling and resetting the battery, I held down the power button for what-felt-like a half hour, but probably was 10 minutes at the most. Then, I gave up and released the power button and, about 30 seconds later, it booted up as if nothing had happened.

You've got a difficult decision there. Good luck.

Sent from my unrooted 32 GB Polish Samsung Galaxy GT I9300 running 4.1.2.

[nickf126]

If it is a new one, I'll keep that one. If it is a refurb, I will send that one back. Thanks.

[nj1266]

Let me add another SGS3 to the list of phones that just died. Just like the OP, it was plugged in and then it died. Nothing would revive it. Took it to Verizon store and they will send another one. This is the 2nd unit that had problems. The first unit had phone connectivity/call quality issues. I think this refurbished one was close to its 150 day failure date and then it failed with us. The Verizon store rep claimed that this is the first he has seen this. Yeah, right. I told him it is all over the forums, but he did not believe me. Whatever!!! I hope the third unit will be a good unit. This is getting really annoying.

[droidrider]

This is somewhat disheartening to hear. I just picked up my new gs3 4 days ago, and now I'm thinking I should go back to Verizon and get the Note2 before my 14 days expire.
I already have a Nexus-7 so I don't really need a phablet.

[Th3Ston3]

Id do it. my phone just up and died 30 mins ago. im on my way out the door and down to verizon... I have no means of communication.

This is somewhat disheartening to hear. I just picked up my new gs3 4 days ago, and now I'm thinking I should go back to Verizon and get the Note2 before my 14 days expire.
I already have a Nexus-7 so I don't really need a phablet.

- - - Updated - - -

Id do it. my phone just up and died 30 mins ago. im on my way out the door and down to verizon... I have no means of communication.

This is somewhat disheartening to hear. I just picked up my new gs3 4 days ago, and now I'm thinking I should go back to Verizon and get the Note2 before my 14 days expire.
I already have a Nexus-7 so I don't really need a phablet.

[BasPilot]

This is a bit frustrating to hear more stories of this. I was hoping I did something stupid or something like that. Not being the only one this happened to makes me much sad.

Well, let's hope that they changed something. My hardware version of the phone I got as a replacement was .1 greater than the one I got on launch day... I'm not willing to pull my battery because I"m lazy... Okay, I'll pull it, stop bugging me....

I changed my mind... the model number is the same, it's the number below the model number, which I'm thinking now might be the build date. 12.07 was my old one and 12.08 is this one... I may have typed a lot here to say absolutely nothing. Have a great day.