S3 stuck on "firmware upgrade enountered" screen?

**Vince McClammy** · 01-05-2013, 10:33 AM

long story made short, but i picked up a phone a few weeks ago (used) that worked for about 4 hours. got it home, activated and played with it for a few minutes. went to bed and the next morning nothing. I assumed the battery had gone dead. spent all day on the charger and still nothing. I took it to the verizon store thinking the battery may have been zapped or something weird. they hooked it up to a machine and the battery screen showed up. You could go into download mode or into reboot mode but nothing else. He messed with it for a few minutes then rebooted it. it goes through all the boot screens up until the home page should show and then it turns off. He mentioned that it had something called Cyanogenmod on it and that he couldn't help me any more than that. I have tried to contact the seller because when he sold it to me he assured me it was 100% stock and worked fine. No response from seller and now he has disconnected his phone (me thinks i got the shaft). Read around and saw that with Odin I could reinstall the stock software (i guess that is what it is called) so I followed the directions. At first the phone would go to the Samsung screen and just hang there (for as long as I would leave it). Now it has a picture of a phone, a yellow triangle and a computer screen with the words "Firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery mode in Kies & try again."

I downloaded Kies but it will not recognize the phone. When I unplug the phone it quits looking for it but when I plug it back in Kies seems to recognize that something is there but will not connect.

Do I have a new paperweight or is there someone out there that can help? I am not opposed to sending it off to get it working, i just want someone reputable!

**Vince McClammy** · 01-05-2013, 11:29 AM

are there any companies out there that i could send it to?

**droidrider** · 01-05-2013, 11:55 AM

Try this. Follow everything to the letter.

If this doesn't work do some digging around on those forums.

**mike340t** · 01-05-2013, 12:21 PM

Do not use the firmware you downloaded either. Download the firmware again. Run Odin as Admin!!

**Vince McClammy** · 01-05-2013, 12:30 PM

thanks, i will give that a shot

**Vince McClammy** · 01-05-2013, 12:37 PM

Originally Posted by mike340t

Do not use the firmware you downloaded either. Download the firmware again. Run Odin as Admin!!

i dont see ADMIN as an option

**tooter123** · 01-05-2013, 12:46 PM

Instead of double clicking on ODIN, Right click on ODIN and select "Run As Administrator"

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Android Central Forums

**Vince McClammy** · 01-05-2013, 01:17 PM

step one and 2 are good. the link to the root66.tar is wrong now so i am trying to track that file down now

**tooter123** · 01-05-2013, 01:24 PM

Originally Posted by Vince McClammy

step one and 2 are good. the link to the root66.tar is wrong now so i am trying to track that file down now

Here are some you can use;

The one dated 30-11-2012 is the one that was pushed out through OTA.

**mike340t** · 01-05-2013, 01:39 PM

If done correctly you should recover from the soft brick. Let us know how it goes!

**Vince McClammy** · 01-05-2013, 09:23 PM

it was all going great until i installed the root66 file and it got to the reboot part. the phone shut off as it should but now I cannot get it to go into "stock recovery" it gets to the samsung screen and shuts off. I can still get into the download mode though. i have tried several times but cannot get it to go to the recovery setting.... argggghhhhhhh

**tooter123** · 01-05-2013, 09:29 PM

Use one of the files I linked earlier.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Android Central Forums

**Vince McClammy** · 01-05-2013, 09:32 PM

i did. i am going to start over and see if maybe i did something wrong.

**tooter123** · 01-05-2013, 09:43 PM

Which one did you download?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Android Central Forums

**Vince McClammy** · 01-05-2013, 09:48 PM

COMBINATION_I535VRBLK3_I535VZWBLK3_381038_REV09_user_low_ship.tar.md5

**tooter123** · 01-05-2013, 10:00 PM

Originally Posted by Vince McClammy

COMBINATION_I535VRBLK3_I535VZWBLK3_381038_REV09_user_low_ship.tar.md5

That one should work just fine. When you bring up ODIN and click on "PDA" and select that file. Make sure " Auto Reboot " is checked, " F. Reset Time " is checked and " Nand Erase All " is checked.

Start the flash process and wait for it to say " PASS " in the box and disconnect your phone. Don't flash any other files and your phone should be working.

**Vince McClammy** · 01-05-2013, 10:01 PM

do i need to download a different one? i noticed just now that the one i got was jellybean and the ones further down are icecream sandwich (who names this crap). any difference that i would need to be aware of?

**tooter123** · 01-05-2013, 10:14 PM

Originally Posted by Vince McClammy

do i need to download a different one? i noticed just now that the one i got was jellybean and the ones further down are icecream sandwich (who names this crap). any difference that i would need to be aware of?

There are differences in those (to many to list), just use the one you downloaded it's the latest one.

**Vince McClammy** · 01-06-2013, 09:11 AM

i started over and reloaded everything a second time and still no luck. it is doing things it has no done previously, but it still will not go into the stock recovery mode. it starts to work and goes to a screen with Samsung a lock and the words custom under it, then stops and goes back to a charging screen (a grey battery that then turns green). I left it on the charger all last night and the red light turned green, which had not been happening previously. One time last night it acted like it was booting and went to a 4g screen with rainbow colors and just hung there for about 3 minutes but shut off. it will still go to download mode just fine and stay there for as long as I leave it.

i was searching and someone suggested water damage (i realized the little square sticker is removed on the phone and battery now). I am confused as to why the download mode would work like it does if it were water damage though..

would a new mainboard help me? I see them for sale online. The cheapest ones say "bad esn", is that going to effect me if i got one or is that a different part? sorry i am now to this stuff. thanks again for all the help so far

**Vince McClammy** · 01-06-2013, 09:31 AM

and it also wont do anything if it is not plugged in. nothing at all

**Vince McClammy** · 01-06-2013, 10:48 PM

nothing?

**tooter123** · 01-07-2013, 07:46 PM

You did this guide to the T?

When you flash the first 2 files in ODIN, confirm that only " F. Reset Time " is checked and no others. Also, make sure you only flash them in the " PDA " section.

**Vince McClammy** · 01-07-2013, 09:00 PM

i did it to a t...

**Vince McClammy** · 01-08-2013, 09:13 PM

i got it to boot up once today. it got to the main screen and even allowed me to start setting up broadband and my personal info but then shut off. I spoke to Samsung today and I guess i am going to send it back to them to try to work on it. i don't know what else to do with it, i cant find parts for it and i cant get the verizon store to work on it because i wasn't the original purchaser