Bricked Phones

[Halifax]

Forgive me for asking this in a second place, but...

I rooted my phone (stock ROM) and I'm getting notifications for an OTA system update. I used NoBloat to remove bloatware apps (and backed them up individually, thanfully, since I didn't know to do a nandroid backup when I rooted), too. Do I have to unroot, restore the bloatware, or both before I accept the OTA update to avoid a soft-brick or any other issues? Also, I assume I'll have to re-root afterward, but will the same method I used to root last time work after this update?

 

[Skunkape60]

Forgive me for asking this in a second place, but...

I rooted my phone (stock ROM) and I'm getting notifications for an OTA system update. I used NoBloat to remove bloatware apps (and backed them up individually, thanfully, since I didn't know to do a nandroid backup when I rooted), too. Do I have to unroot, restore the bloatware, or both before I accept the OTA update to avoid a soft-brick or any other issues? Also, I assume I'll have to re-root afterward, but will the same method I used to root last time work after this update?

I replied to your first post...

 

[cyanogen-man]

hmmm if your still stock and have it backed up through titanium you should be able to restore them but be warned ota after root can compleatly remove root access and won't allow you to root if you flashed a custum recovery clockwork twrrp ... you need to just leave it be if your not back to stock as the ota is an update.zip and compiled for stock recovery/system image so if you have a custom recovery don't flash you will brick/soft brick do so at your own parrel

INSPIRE AOKP ICE COLD SANDWICH ROM

 

[Skunkape60]

Here is the easiest way to update if that's what you want to do.

Download these files to your phone.
LI3_update_FULL_Odex.zip
SprintGalaxyS3LI3Modem.zip

Save both the files to your external sdcard or internal sdcard
boot into Recovery
Make a nadroid backup
Wipe Cache
Wipe Dalvik
Flash LI3_update_FULL_Odex.zip
Flash SprintGalaxyS3LI3Modem.zip
Reboot
You should be good....

 

[Skunkape60]

hmmm if your still stock and have it backed up through titanium you should be able to restore them but be warned ota after root can compleatly remove root access and won't allow you to root if you flashed a custum recovery clockwork twrrp ... you need to just leave it be if your not back to stock as the ota is an update.zip and compiled for stock recovery/system image so if you have a custom recovery don't flash you will brick/soft brick do so at your own parrel

INSPIRE AOKP ICE COLD SANDWICH ROM

Again you come in here without a clue to what you are talking about. Last time you came in talking about CWM touch and warning how it would boot into recovery when ever you plugged it into the charger.

Do you know how many people have accepted the ota while on custom recovery and not bricked or soft bricked their phone? It is an excepted method to stop the ots from coming back on this phone. It is completely safe. Again you come into a forum for a phone you know nothing about and spread misinformation. All phones are not created equal. This method has been used for this device through every update and it NEVER bricked a Sprint GS3.

Edit. I just restored an old backup and received an ota upate notification (just like I knew it would) I told it to install. it booted into cwm and it gave me the choice to install an untrusted zip. i said yes and it started to flash and then failed. I rebooted my phone and I will not get that update notification again. Just like I knew it would.

 

[lomingchun]

I understand that this is a conversation that explains the difference between truly bricked phones and ones that failed to boot correctly but I'm wondering what the solution to a soft brick or a boot looped phone is?
I just rooted my Sprint s3 and I tried 3 different ROMs (CM10, ACS, Codename Android) and none of them resulted in a proper boot. I really want to avoid staying with stock. Can someone explain to me my options?

 

[Skunkape60]

I understand that this is a conversation that explains the difference between truly bricked phones and ones that failed to boot correctly but I'm wondering what the solution to a soft brick or a boot looped phone is?
I just rooted my Sprint s3 and I tried 3 different ROMs (CM10, ACS, Codename Android) and none of them resulted in a proper boot. I really want to avoid staying with stock. Can someone explain to me my options?

Common issues are:

1. bad download. You should never attempt to download a ROM on 3g data.

2. Poorly wiped (data left on the device) ROM Manager has also caused this.

When flashing a CM ROM, (in this order) wipe cache partition, wipe dalvik, wipe data / factory reset. If you are still having issues and you have cwm. Do all the steps above, then go to mounts and storage and format system, format data and format cache.

When you are flashing the ROM and gapps flash the ROM 1st. Then flash the gapps right after. Do not boot in between the flashes.

If you are still having issues it may just be a bad ROM.

The last resort would be to get another version of cwm. While i don't normally suggest ROM manager, it does do a decent job updating recoveries.

 

[davieboy1982]

hey everybody im new to this sight and basically need some desprate help im not a modder flasher or rooter savvy dont know how to go about it putting my phone right as ive heard if the phone goes into recovery mode it may be recoverable well here is what has happened basically i had my galaxy s3 since day released on icecream sandwhich the phone was fine didnt have any troubles with its peformance than i got an over the air update on my phone and updated it to jellybean 4.1 than began my problems my phone would randomly freeze lock up and random reboot for no reason what so ever this went on a week or just over than i went to bed woke up the phone was stuck on the boot screen so thought thats weird took battery out as ya do tryed again and would come on do samsung galaxy logo then do the circle animation than samsung logo and flashing with the led light on and wouldnt go any further than that tryed to repair it through samsung kies but everytime i put my model number in and my serial to dowload the software it downloaded put my phone into recovery mode how kies told me and pressed up or down cant member which one but when it tryed to install it kept saying it couldnt find my phone so i tried this process with different computers and different usb ports as thats what samsung kies told me to do now nothing was working so my only option was to take it back to phones for you i waited over 2 weeks still nothing than i went in there and asked about my phone and they told me it was being held beacuse they couldnt get hold of me i said why they holding it? and an repairs engineer has said that ive rooted the device and broken thewarentee i seriously and honesty have not tampered with the phone now phones for you wont give me another phone as they believe them and not me obviously now im going ofcom and trading standards and writen a formal complaint as i believe they have said this in order to not relace my handset theres loads of complaints about phones 4 u doing similar things anyway they sent my phone back to me and its in worse shape than i sent it in now it doesnt boot and do the animation at all just get the gti9300 logo at the start but it does still go in recovery now finally been trying all day and it wasnt doing it but now its going into recovery mode but nothing else but a samsung repair enginner said it was beyond economical repair is this true? they were level 1 2 3 enginneer could anybody help me with my situation thankyou for reading

 

[Skunkape60]

hey everybody im new to this sight and basically need some desprate help im not a modder flasher or rooter savvy dont know how to go about it putting my phone right as ive heard if the phone goes into recovery mode it may be recoverable well here is what has happened basically i had my galaxy s3 since day released on icecream sandwhich the phone was fine didnt have any troubles with its peformance than i got an over the air update on my phone and updated it to jellybean 4.1 than began my problems my phone would randomly freeze lock up and random reboot for no reason what so ever this went on a week or just over than i went to bed woke up the phone was stuck on the boot screen so thought thats weird took battery out as ya do tryed again and would come on do samsung galaxy logo then do the circle animation than samsung logo and flashing with the led light on and wouldnt go any further than that tryed to repair it through samsung kies but everytime i put my model number in and my serial to dowload the software it downloaded put my phone into recovery mode how kies told me and pressed up or down cant member which one but when it tryed to install it kept saying it couldnt find my phone so i tried this process with different computers and different usb ports as thats what samsung kies told me to do now nothing was working so my only option was to take it back to phones for you i waited over 2 weeks still nothing than i went in there and asked about my phone and they told me it was being held beacuse they couldnt get hold of me i said why they holding it? and an repairs engineer has said that ive rooted the device and broken thewarentee i seriously and honesty have not tampered with the phone now phones for you wont give me another phone as they believe them and not me obviously now im going ofcom and trading standards and writen a formal complaint as i believe they have said this in order to not relace my handset theres loads of complaints about phones 4 u doing similar things anyway they sent my phone back to me and its in worse shape than i sent it in now it doesnt boot and do the animation at all just get the gti9300 logo at the start but it does still go in recovery now finally been trying all day and it wasnt doing it but now its going into recovery mode but nothing else but a samsung repair enginner said it was beyond economical repair is this true? they were level 1 2 3 enginneer could anybody help me with my situation thankyou for reading

You are lucky I read this... This was one of the most difficult posts I have ever read. No breaks, no periods just a jumble of words. please do better next time as I now have a headache.

Make sure phone is off.
Press volume up, power button and home button simultaneously. As soon as you see the word Samsung appear on your screen release all 3 buttons and wait.
using the volume up and down button select factory reset.
once selected, press power button to start the action. You may or may not have to verify your choice but I don't remember.
When it is complete, restart your phone if it doesn't restart for you.

 

[Markster1]

I quit reading after what should have been the end of the first paragraph.

The Nottinator

 

[Luther97]

i bricked my samsung galaxy ace would it help if i send it to the samsung service centre?

 

[Weezil420]

Read the posts! Wow! I'm amazed at some of the posters on these forums. Thanks Skunkape, you are a Very patient individual! To all others, please read thru the posts before you put some crap up like "I bricked my phone. Should I send it in?" .What you should do, is get your phone. Walk out to your driveway. Place said phone under the back tire of your car, and back over it. After these steps are complete, go immediately to Wal-Mart and buy a StraightTalk flip phone with a $20 time card...sheesh! Hope this helps you...

 

[Sunshine1701]

Hello - I have been using Samsung Galaxy S3 (stock, not rooted) since June 2012. I started having performance issues after upgrading to Jelly Bean last month. The phone was very slow and the apps would take forever to open. I cleared app data, but to no avail. After reading tons of articles on android forums, I finally decided to factory reset my phone hoping to resolve the performance issue. I did the factory reset at 2:30 PM on 13-Dec by selecting the Factory Reset option available in Settings. Once the phone rebooted, I restored all my apps and contacts, and the phone seemed to be fine. When I went to bed at 10 PM, the phone was working fine, with 35% battery left. I got up next morning to see that the phone was switched off. I thought that the battery had drained over night and plugged it to charge. Boom, the phone just wouldn't charge or switch on. I tried removing the battery and putting it back on. No luck. When I pressed volume up, home and power buttons simultaneously, nothing happens even after 30 to 40 seconds. It's just a black screen with no signs of life. Now, is my phone bricked? Is there any possibility of recovering it? Appreciate some advice from the experts in this forum.

 

[Skunkape60]

Hello - I have been using Samsung Galaxy S3 (stock, not rooted) since June 2012. I started having performance issues after upgrading to Jelly Bean last month. The phone was very slow and the apps would take forever to open. I cleared app data, but to no avail. After reading tons of articles on android forums, I finally decided to factory reset my phone hoping to resolve the performance issue. I did the factory reset at 2:30 PM on 13-Dec by selecting the Factory Reset option available in Settings. Once the phone rebooted, I restored all my apps and contacts, and the phone seemed to be fine. When I went to bed at 10 PM, the phone was working fine, with 35% battery left. I got up next morning to see that the phone was switched off. I thought that the battery had drained over night and plugged it to charge. Boom, the phone just wouldn't charge or switch on. I tried removing the battery and putting it back on. No luck. When I pressed volume up, home and power buttons simultaneously, nothing happens even after 30 to 40 seconds. It's just a black screen with no signs of life. Now, is my phone bricked? Is there any possibility of recovering it? Appreciate some advice from the experts in this forum.

Try volume down power and home and tell me what happens.

 

[badbrad17]

Great thread.

Sent from my SGH-T989D using Android Central Forums

 

[meyerweb#CB]

Again you come in here without a clue to what you are talking about. Last time you came in talking about CWM touch and warning how it would boot into recovery when ever you plugged it into the charger.

Do you know how many people have accepted the ota while on custom recovery and not bricked or soft bricked their phone? It is an excepted method to stop the ots from coming back on this phone. It is completely safe. Again you come into a forum for a phone you know nothing about and spread misinformation. All phones are not created equal. This method has been used for this device through every update and it NEVER bricked a Sprint GS3.

Edit. I just restored an old backup and received an ota upate notification (just like I knew it would) I told it to install. it booted into cwm and it gave me the choice to install an untrusted zip. i said yes and it started to flash and then failed. I rebooted my phone and I will not get that update notification again. Just like I knew it would.

SkunkApe: First, thank you for the time and effort you put in here.

Second, can you answer a question for me. I have a Sprint S3 which came with JB 4.1. I plan to root while I'm off on the holiday break, but keep the stock ROM. What, if anything, will I need to do differently when the 4.2 upgrade is available?

Thanks again.

 

[Skunkape60]

SkunkApe: First, thank you for the time and effort you put in here.

Second, can you answer a question for me. I have a Sprint S3 which came with JB 4.1. I plan to root while I'm off on the holiday break, but keep the stock ROM. What, if anything, will I need to do differently when the 4.2 upgrade is available?

Thanks again.

Really you won't have any issues. During the update to 4.1, I had probably 3 different ways for rooted members to update within hours of the update being released. Worrying about updates is only an excuse not to root.

If you want to root do it. If you don't want to root there is nothing wrong with that either. Just don't use updates as an excuse.

 

[meyerweb#CB]

Thanks Skunkape. I'm not worried, nor looking for excuses not to root. Just wondering what the impact is. My Evo 4G, was rooted, but there were no major updates after I rooted so I just didn't bother with them.

 

[saimike]

n00b to android...I think I soft-bricked my GS3 - GT-I9300 by violating one of your cardinal rules about crossing roms. I trusted (wrongfully) KIES to detect my phone, and not push the wrong rom. I had originally used AOKP and CWM to modify my phone and was mostly happy, but a few tweaks were bothering me, so when the offical JB 4.1.2 was released, I tried to use KIES.

Now I'm stuck in a loop. I can get into Download mode on the phone, then launch ODIN (Odin3 v3.07) and then push PDA CF-Root-SGS3-v6.2.tar. THis will push the CWM recoverf 5.5.0.4 CF v 1.4 to the phone and wait for the SD card to mount. It fails constantly at an "Invalid SD Card Marker" runs through the rest of the loop and then reboots. Goes back to the samsung splash screen with the device trying to connect to the PC via USB, which inevitably fails (Win7Pro). (The device will sit at the samsung splash screen for hours.) I have tried using the SD card that I've had in the phone forever, a newly formatted SD card and NO sd card at all...to no avail. I've also tried swapping USB ports on the PC.

I can eventually get KIES to reconnect and try to do the "Firmware Download" which is how I got into this loop to begin with.

Technically - I didn't brick my phone becuase I can get into download mode and force a download.
Practicaly - it's bricked because I'm not smart enough to get out of this loop.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[Skunkape60]

n00b to android...I think I soft-bricked my GS3 - GT-I9300 by violating one of your cardinal rules about crossing roms. I trusted (wrongfully) KIES to detect my phone, and not push the wrong rom. I had originally used AOKP and CWM to modify my phone and was mostly happy, but a few tweaks were bothering me, so when the offical JB 4.1.2 was released, I tried to use KIES.

Now I'm stuck in a loop. I can get into Download mode on the phone, then launch ODIN (Odin3 v3.07) and then push PDA CF-Root-SGS3-v6.2.tar. THis will push the CWM recoverf 5.5.0.4 CF v 1.4 to the phone and wait for the SD card to mount. It fails constantly at an "Invalid SD Card Marker" runs through the rest of the loop and then reboots. Goes back to the samsung splash screen with the device trying to connect to the PC via USB, which inevitably fails (Win7Pro). (The device will sit at the samsung splash screen for hours.) I have tried using the SD card that I've had in the phone forever, a newly formatted SD card and NO sd card at all...to no avail. I've also tried swapping USB ports on the PC.

I can eventually get KIES to reconnect and try to do the "Firmware Download" which is how I got into this loop to begin with.

Technically - I didn't brick my phone becuase I can get into download mode and force a download.
Practicaly - it's bricked because I'm not smart enough to get out of this loop.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

I know nothing about your phone in particular. But I know that many times when you return to stock with the Sprint phone after returning to stock out will get stuck on the Samsung screen until you go into recovery and do a factory reset.

If I were you I would give that a try. Let us know your outcome.

If that doesn't work also try looking in the 9300 forums. If all else fails pm me I know someone who may be able to help but I am not sure if he's done anything with the 9300.