GT-P5110: "Firmware upgrade encountered an issue..."

[radflagg]

My mother gave up trying to fix her old Galaxy and has already bought a new one. She informed me that if I get the old device to work I can keep it! Bad news is I think she might be right about it being dead. Here are the symptoms:

Model: Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (GT-P5110)

Press or hold power button: no response
Hold power button and volume up or down: no response

Connect to Windows laptop: USB icon flashes occasionally in the systray, but device does not appear as a drive in Explorer. Quickly right-clicking on the icon before it disappears results in a Windows dialog box stating "The last USB device that you connected to this computer malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it". Usually the Galaxy does not respond during this time, but sometimes connecting to the laptop results in it displaying the following message: "Firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery mode in Kies and try again." Holding the power button causes the message to disappear for a few seconds before returning; message remains on screen when USB cable is unplugged; thereafter holding the power button causes the Galaxy to turn off. I've tried installing Kies, but connecting the device via USB while the application is running simply causes a "Connecting..." message to appear. Eventually an error message appears stating "Device not responding. To resolve the issue, reboot the device.". During this time the Galaxy displays the usual "Firmware upgrade encountered an issue..." message. Connecting via wireless seems an extremely complicated process that involves disabling pretty much every network security measure, so I'm only willing to try that if people really think it's a good idea.

Connect to charger: No response until I hold the power button, then the "Firmware upgrade encountered an issue..." message appears. Similar to connecting to the laptop in that the message remains on screen even after disconnecting the USB lead. I can't tell if the Galaxy is charging at this time or how much battery life is remaining.

Thanks in advance for any help!

PS: I have multiple Samsung chargers, but only one USB lead that fits the Galaxy.

 

[radflagg]

Update: Downloaded Odin and the latest firmware for the Tab 2, loaded the firmware into Odin but got the following:

<ID:0/005> Added!!
<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..
<OSM> Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..
<OSM> Please wait..
<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..
<OSM> Leave CS..
<ID:0/005> Odin engine v(ID:3.1203)..
<ID:0/005> File analysis..
<ID:0/005> SetupConnection..
<ID:0/005> Complete(Write) operation failed.
<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 0 / failed 1)

Once again, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[radflagg]

Have tried leaving the Galaxy connected to the charger (I won't say charging since there's no way to tell if it's charging or not) overnight.

Is there anything else that I can try?

 

[radflagg]

*bump*

Will someone please respond, even if it's to confirm that there's no hope?

 

[dude12xy]

*bump*

Will someone please respond, even if it's to confirm that there's no hope?

Take of back cover (can be tricky first time)
Disconnect cable to battery and connect again.
Now you can start charging battery.

And you have to do this every time you drain it completely.