Questions about Factory resetting phone

[jontalk]

My phone has yet to receive the OTA update and continually gets the 'communication failed' notice. And I also noticed yesterday that the phone wouldn't receive 4G data even though it showed 5 bars of signal strength. Once I restarted it, it received the data fine and continues to now. The other thing I notice when I restart the phone is a bunch of apps will update that hadn't before.

So I"m thinking that doing a factory restore might help, but am not sure. I know that when you do this, you basically have to set the phone up again as new. Do I lose my photos on the SD card, wallpapers from apps in galleries too? I really don't want to do the reset since the phone basically works well, battery life is good and its stable for the most part.. These aren't huge issues by any means but I'm concerned it might get worse. I also want to be able to get the 4.1 update when released. Thanks.

 

[smooth4lyfe]

Did u try getting a new SIM card? A new SIM card would re register the IMEI number in their system and could possibly push the update to you

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 Boyyyyyy!

 

[jontalk]

Smoothe... Yep got the new SIM and it didn't do anything.

Both Samsung and AT&T have said that pushing the update doesn't always work either. Obviously they've attempted with my phone and no go. I'm not convinced that doing a factory reset will do the trick either, though I may resort to it anyway. Hope you guys in MD are staying above water there.. Pretty ugly storm.

 

[smooth4lyfe]

Smoothe... Yep got the new SIM and it didn't do anything.

Both Samsung and AT&T have said that pushing the update doesn't always work either. Obviously they've attempted with my phone and no go. I'm not convinced that doing a factory reset will do the trick either, though I may resort to it anyway. Hope you guys in MD are staying above water there.. Pretty ugly storm.

Well if you do factory reset, you SD card will not be erased, you could even take it out before you facotry reset to be extra careful. You should save all your photos on your SD Card or Google Drive or Dropbox so you can put them back on. all your apps will erase but they should automatically be downloaded back on your phone

And yes we are getting hit pretty hard, but the worst is yet to come until about midnight, and I'm pretty sure we will lose power

 

[dmmarck]

Well if you do factory reset, you SD card will not be erased, you could even take it out before you facotry reset to be extra careful. You should save all your photos on your SD Card or Google Drive or Dropbox so you can put them back on. all your apps will erase but they should automatically be downloaded back on your phone

And yes we are getting hit pretty hard, but the worst is yet to come until about midnight, and I'm pretty sure we will lose power

Stay safe. I moved out of MD to Manassas, VA, and I'm fairing no better lol

And with regards to a factory reset, it only wipes (in theory) the /data and /cache partitions, so like smooth said, your SDcard should be unaffected. As always, however, if you have doubts--make a backup!

 

[pobs123]

My phone has yet to receive the OTA update and continually gets the 'communication failed' notice. And I also noticed yesterday that the phone wouldn't receive 4G data even though it showed 5 bars of signal strength. Once I restarted it, it received the data fine and continues to now. The other thing I notice when I restart the phone is a bunch of apps will update that hadn't before.

So I"m thinking that doing a factory restore might help, but am not sure. I know that when you do this, you basically have to set the phone up again as new. Do I lose my photos on the SD card, wallpapers from apps in galleries too? I really don't want to do the reset since the phone basically works well, battery life is good and its stable for the most part.. These aren't huge issues by any means but I'm concerned it might get worse. I also want to be able to get the 4.1 update when released. Thanks.

I had the same problem with T-Mobile's version of the phone (SGH-T999). I had trouble tickets opened with T-Mobile, even had a T-Mobile engineer check the switches near my location. I did not fix it.

T-Mobile had me try a factory reset - and it did not help. I got an RMA to return it to my eBay seller. But I decided to try to use ODIN to re-write the latest version of the firmware for T-Mobile, SGH-T999 - (it was newer version of 4.0.4). Lo and behold, it fixed the communications error.

My advice is to download the latest factory firmware for the AT&T version of the phone, and write it with ODIN and see if it fixes your problem.

 

[jontalk]

Pobs.. thanks for the tips, though I'm relatively a new Android user (iPhone for 4 years previous), so am not familiar with the process you mention. Does this require rooting the phone, which from what I know voids the warranty. The phone works just fine in all respects, but I definitely want to be able to get the 4.1 or 4.2 update when released. I even get great battery life under normal use, so I don't want to upset that either. Regardless, please let me know how to install the latest firmware from ATT and the ODIN procedure you mention.

 

[clealsgirl]

I haven't been able to get the update, either I switched from iPhone back on July 31st and I switched my son to the Galaxy S3 a month or two later. He woke one morning to the update. I've gotten a new SIM, too, I've reset the phone. All to no avail. I'm so scared I'm going to be in trouble when Jelly Bean is finally released.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

 

[pobs123]

As long as you use the AT&T stock firmware, it does not void the warranty.

I will try to locate the latest version of the AT&T firmware for their Galaxy S3, and step-by-step instructions. I will post more details when I get home from work tonight.

 

[pobs123]

I found the steps - but have not found the 82 MB image yet for I747UCALH9 (I747UCLH9)

Step 1: Download and Install Necessary Drivers
Drivers from Samsung's Site OR Mirror

Step 2: Download and Install Odin 3.0.7

Step 3: On your Galaxy S3 got to Settings/Developer Options/USB Debugging -> check the box next to USB debugging -> say OK to security warning

Step 4: Turn your phone off

Step 5. Press Volume Down + Home (Center Button) + Power until the phone boots up to Warning screen

Step 6. Press Volume up once to enter download mode

Step 7. Open Odin3.07 by running as administrator and make sure all check boxes on in the Option section are unchecked except for Auto Reboot

Step 8. Plug your phone in to the USB cable and wait for the phone to be recognized by ODIN... When the phone is recognized the first rectangle under the Odin3 logo will turn yellow and show a com port

Step 9. Click on the PDA button and select your .tar file (This is the 82 MB file that I have not found yet - but some sites are blocked at work - Maybe others can add a link to it)

Step 10. make sure no other boxes other than Auto-Reboot are checked and hit Start.

Step 11. Wait for the process to complete

 

[jontalk]

Pobs.. thanks.. If I understand correctly this is a process to install the update? What exactly is ODIN. I noticed when I click on the link a download of a zip file shows up on Chrome (browser). Step 1 you refer to installing the USB drivers on my PC, correct? Step 3 you're saying to enable USB Debugging? I believe it's already enabled. As to the rest of the process it seems relatively simple, however, if for some reason the directions aren't followed exactly, will this brick my phone? As I mentioned at the outset, the only reason I was contemplating a factory reset was JUST to see if it would resolve getting the failed communication message when I do the software update process. Otherwise, my phone works great, ALL apps update as they should, etc. The only thing not working properly it seems is the ATT software update.

 

[jontalk]

I'm presuming your phone works fine in all respects including app updates without any problems too? From pure logic, it would seem that the ATT software update app loaded on the phone is where the problem lies and since it's built into Touch Wiz, there's no way to remove and replace it which sucks. Have been thinking of just getting a warranty replacement from ATT, but the phone is a refurb rather than new.. Right now, I'm good with it, but like you, I want to be able to update to JB when it's released. Hopefully it will be available both OTA as well as through Kies, which seems to work fine with my phone

I haven't been able to get the update, either I switched from iPhone back on July 31st and I switched my son to the Galaxy S3 a month or two later. He woke one morning to the update. I've gotten a new SIM, too, I've reset the phone. All to no avail. I'm so scared I'm going to be in trouble when Jelly Bean is finally released.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

 

[pobs123]

ODIN is similar to Kies, in that it is software the write the firmware to the phone via USB cable. The ODIN software is contained in the zip file.

If you are not comfortable with it - then, AT&T replacement could be your best option. In my case, it wasn't an option for me because I was mid-contract and so I bought my phone on eBay.