Unbrick a hard bricked Samsung Galaxy SIII Sprint/ Virgin Mobile

[greenshortskid]

Hello, (This method will probably work with any sph-l710 samsung galaxy s III)
Sorry if this thread already exists I spent numerous hours trying to find it. I am new to android and recently learned how to un-brick my hard bricked Samsung Galaxy S III. I bricked my phone by installing a kernel not meant for my device (I know rookie mistake). Through many of these forums and YouTube I was able to figure out how to easily un-brick my device. I am new to this so everything I am posting is all I know.
This post will only cover how to un-brick a hard bricked phone using windows...but if you follow this YouTube link for virgin mobile you can un-brick your soft bricked Samsung Galaxy S III: Stock Galaxy S3 Virgin Mobile Rom - YouTube

This is the video I used to unbrick my phone so if you don't understand my instructions this is the video you should watch
most of my links I got from the video too:
Unbrick HARD BRICKED Galaxy S 3 on Verizon (i535, CDMA) - YouTube

you cannot use the debrick image however in the video so I provided my own here (Link 1):
debrick_sph_l710

Here is the .tar file to restore your Virgin Mobile phone to factory settings (Link 2):
https://mega.co.nz/#!LtIxUYDa!P6gOGWCJczy1AgQaa0q-nzgY7Qhgme-p1F3UVEeUwsA

Here is the link to the Odin version you need:
Download: Odin3v185.zip | DownloadAndroidFiles

Here is the download link to Win32DiskImager:
Download Win32 Disk Imager from SourceForge.net

I got the image from this forum and converted it to a .img file.

This forum contains the method for Sprint users, however if you are uncomfortable doing the Linux coding you can use the image above and this process
you just have to find a .tar file from sprint to flash.
[GUIDE]Unbrick a Hard Bricked SPRINT Galaxy S3 (Without JTAG) - xda-developers

Here is the link to the exact type of microSD card you need to buy depending on your storage:
Amazon.com: SanDisk Ultra 16 GB MicroSDHC Class 10 UHS-1 Memory Card with Adapter (SDSDQU-016G-AFFP-A): Electronics

What you have to do:
1. First buy a microSD card the same size as your internal memory and it needs to be a class 10 (Very important, idk why)...If you use someone else's this will wipe the card.
2. Next download the sprint debrick image above, the .tar (for virgin mobile users), and the Win32DiskImager from the links above
3. Plug the microSD card into an adapter and plug the adapter into the computer.
4.Open Win32Disklmager and click the blue folder looking icon near the upper right.
5. Find the downloaded .img file and open it (Link 1).
6. Choose your microSD card from the drop down box on the left and click the write button.
7. After the file is written to the card, remove the microSD card and insert it in the externalSD card slot in your S III.
8. For this step the verizon video says you can just power up the phone. I put the phone straight into download mode.
9. Open Odin, click the PDA button, make sure the F. reset time and the auto reboot options are checked and find the virgin mobile .tar file and flash it (Link 2) This will take about 8-10 minutes to flash.
10.You should be back to factory settings.

If anything is wrong I can try to help...but like I said I am very new to this and learned how to do this about an hour ago.

 

[greenshortskid]

If I left anything out let me know

 

[schmalz2]

This is the only thing that recovered my VM sph-l710 samsung Galaxy S3. Thank you for sharing this!

 

[Nick McElrea]

Is this legit because I just bricked my phone by following a mod's advice in a forum?

 

[UJ95x]

Is this legit because I just bricked my phone by following a mod's advice in a forum?

I'd trust the devs at xda over most mods. Was it someone from this site?

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Nai Che]

Re: Unbrick a hard bricked Samsung Galaxy S3 Sprint/ Virgin Mobile

Followed your instructions and Odin fails at aboot.mbn (VM)

Explanation: I was trying to reset device back to original firmware (from before 4.3), and deleted everything from sd card through CWM.

Now that it failed this firmware upgrade, whenever I reset device it goes into "Firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery mode in Kies and try again." I can't get it back in CWM recovery mode.

Any ideas?

 

[jeelliott1]

Re: Unbrick a hard bricked Samsung Galaxy S3 Sprint/ Virgin Mobile

Jeetx

Phone did nothing. Still black screen.

 

[Donovan Brite]

Re: Unbrick a hard bricked Samsung Galaxy S3 Sprint/ Virgin Mobile

This is the only thing that recovered my VM sph-l710 samsung Galaxy S3. Thank you for sharing this!

Were you hardbricked or softbricked? I just wanna know before I buy this sd card

 

[joel castro]

Hi Greenshortjkid I am having a problem on my s3 from Bell SGH-I747m and it is hard brick is it possible to do this on it or get some help from you?

 

[nvan7891]

Re: Unbrick a hard bricked Samsung Galaxy S3 Sprint/ Virgin Mobile

I'd trust the devs at xda over most mods. Was it someone from this site?

This man knows things.

Anyone done this with a 32gb sprint? Ive been trying for a bit, with a lower class 16gb card, a lower class 32, and a class 10 scandisk 62gb. Haven't had any luck yet. I'm going to order a class 10 32gb card from amazon to try. Never hurts to have more good sd cards, anyway. What im curious about is if the debrick image will work for the 32gb, since I believe they were made with 16gb phones, by dd'ing the first 100mb or whatever. This copies the partition table at the very beginning of the memory, so it would be the partition table from a 16gb phone. The only difference between the 16gb and the 32gb is the size of the data partiton, but I'm not sure if it only checks the size of the card to the internal memory, or the actual partition structure.

I've also read that, after copying the disk image to the sdcard, loading it up with:

parted /dev/sdX print

and selecting "ok" to using the main or backup table (whichever it says is not corrupt, I forget which), and to ignore the fact that it doesn't use all the space. Not sure if it would be better to have it adjust it to use the remainging space for a 32gb phone and card, but I know it also asks this when you put the image on a 16gb card.

So if anyones got experience with 32gb phones, or has a 32gb debrick image let me know. I have a couple working 16gb sprint s3's, but my 32gb one I'm trying to fix had the sb2 boot partition (mmcblk0p3) overwritten with an efs image. The international s3 partition table was accidentally pulled up and used .

 

[rishrsoni]

Re: Unbrick a hard bricked Samsung Galaxy S3 Sprint/ Virgin Mobile

Can anybody upload us cellular s3 4.3 debrick image please ??

 

[David Neighbors]

Holy crap! It actually worked!!!!! Thank you so much!!!

 

[David Neighbors]

If I left anything out let me know

Am I able to take my sd card out now..? or does it have to stay with that .img on it?

 

[Russenlund]

hard bricked s3. followed everything in this guide, now odin says setup connection. what else is there to get the phone to reboot? do i need to flash anything else?

 

[Rukbat]

A Samsung Jig (you can get them for about $2 on eBay) will put any bricked S-series phone into download mode.

 

[Russenlund]

A Samsung Jig (you can get them for about $2 on eBay) will put any bricked S-series phone into download mode.

I did that. I made my own, had the 300k reading on pins four and five and nothing. when I plug the phone in WITHOUT the battery, I get the red LED. put the battery back in light goes off. I took it to the sprint store and they said it was water damaged. everything was running fine a couple days ago. wicked sensations v5.0 had been running for a few days. I wanted to partition my sd card, so I backed up everything formatted and partitioned. re-flashed WSv5 installed links2sd and for whatever reason I needed to reboot. so I used the pull down menu hit the reboot button checked recovery, hit reboot and nothing since. I had 75% battery when I did so. Im at a loss. I know it wasn't water so they just didn't want to mess with it.

 

[Russenlund]

I did that. I made my own, had the 300k reading on pins four and five and nothing. when I plug the phone in WITHOUT the battery, I get the red LED. put the battery back in light goes off. I took it to the sprint store and they said it was water damaged. everything was running fine a couple days ago. wicked sensations v5.0 had been running for a few days. I wanted to partition my sd card, so I backed up everything formatted and partitioned. re-flashed WSv5 installed links2sd and for whatever reason I needed to reboot. so I used the pull down menu hit the reboot button checked recovery, hit reboot and nothing since. I had 75% battery when I did so. Im at a loss. I know it wasn't water so they just didn't want to mess with it.

Took it to another sprint store, the usb port was corroded beyond repair.

 

[chillytpc]

Hi all.. I ended up hard-bricking my Samsung Galaxy s3 (sprint l710).. i read countless forums and attempted different options and nothing has worked for me. Here is a little on how i ended up with this brick. My phone has been rooted for some time now and I am no pro but am familiar with the methods that i took to root it. I just ended up making a fatal error when I was multitasking. I had flashed md4 with count reset (stock rom) then said yes to keeping root when I was exiting cwm. I wasn't even trying to put to stock just had chose that zip by accident. All i really meant to do was run triangle away. So now my phone won't turn on or do anything. No charge light when plugged in except if i remove battery. My question is.. Is jtag my only option left? ( i rly dont want to send it away) I have followed this post steps exactly as stated and nothing happens. ty in advance if anyone responds

 

[cajrichmond]

I have the same problem my sprint s3 wont do anything unless my battery is out and plug it into usb and red light comes on. Have the right image and sd card and still nothing please help me. Thanks

 

[chillytpc]

This is what i was told by top poster UJ95x "If you can't boot into download or recovery mode, the JTAG is probably the only alternative to sending it back for repair :-\ " so jtag it will be