Factory reset caused phone to not boot.

[Whodafux]

Was having some issues with my phone the other day, every time I would try to make an outbound call the phone would shut off, also prior to this happening the phone was beginning to have issues with the distance sensing as I would pull my phone away from my ear and the screen wouldnt pop up (frustrating when trying to hang up without leaving a voicemail ).

I figured I'd go ahead and try to factory reset the device after backing all of my data up. I tried to reset using the Reset & Backup option in settings and when the phone shut down to reboot it got hung up on the Samsung logo.

On boot - Samsung logo flashes -> Galaxy S3 logo appears -> Samsung Animation Plays -> At&t animation and audio play -> Samsung logo reappears with a pulsing blue glow behind it. This is where it is stuck as the logo just sits there with the blue glow fading in and out.

When resetting I tried to let this screen play out but after about 3-4 hours there was no progress. Holding the power button down at this point does shut the phone back off and I am able to charge and get accurate Battery Life %

Booting into safe mode doesn't work at all, upon trying to boot the phone only goes to the Galaxy S3 logo then goes black, then reboots.
Booting into recovery mode does the same thing however on the first flash of the samsung logo the phone displays "Booting Recovery" in the top left corner, still only makes it to Galaxy logo then reboots.

With all of the issues with androids around the net surfing for some working solutions is pretty difficult considering most of the booting problems occur later in the boot process and people are able to get into recovery/safe modes. I was able to download Odin to try to re-flash and even have the firmware for my phone from Sammobile, but my computer does not pick up the phone as a device when it is plugged in. Originally I figured that re-installing the firmware would solve the issue as it seems software related rather than hardware but I'm not really sure where to go from here. Any information on this matter would be greatly appreciated, the phone is only about 2-3 months old....

 

[GSDer]

You haven't mentioned whether you are able to boot into Download mode (oftentimes even though the phone won't boot into Recovery mode it will boot into Download mode).

If you are able to, you can try using the Kies software on your PC to reload the stock firmware. Here's an overview of what to do:
- if you don't already have the Kies software installed on your PC, download it (just search Google) and install it. The first time it runs it'll update itself to the latest version so make sure you run it once before proceeding.
- put your phone in Download mode: with the phone completely off, press and hold the Volume Down and Home and Power buttons simultaneously, and release them all when you see the Samsung splash screen
- connect the phone to your PC with the USB cable that came with the phone
-- if you've never had the phone connected to your Windows-based computer before, you'll see messages about installing drivers, etc - just wait until this is done (may take 5 or 10 minutes) [I don't know what happens if you have a Mac - it probably just works]
- in the Kies software, select the second item in the Tools menu and just follow the prompts to enter the model number (in CAPS) and IMEI/Serial Number (both found under the battery - it's ok to remove the battery at this point)
- the Kies software should start downloading the correct firmware for your phone from the Internet; once that's done (depending on your Internet connection speed) it'll begin downloading that to the phone (this probably takes 10 minutes or so)

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM 10.2 using Tapatalk 4

 

[Whodafux]

I was able to boot in download mode but the screen is hanging on "Downloading..." Windows loads the drivers fine and the device is found by both Kies and Odin. In Kies though the program never actually connects; just hangs on "Connecting" with the circle spinning til the notice "Device is not responding" shows.

This prompted me to use Odin to install the firmware found on sammobile.com for my particular model and the install showed to have completed just fine. Alas, no luck though, Odin was able to restart the phone but it got hung up at the pulsing Samsung logo again. :-\

 

[GSDer]

This prompted me to use Odin to install the firmware found on sammobile.com for my particular model and the install showed to have completed just fine.

I don't put much faith in Odin because it requires people to locate the correct firmware for their model/carrier/region on their own, and if it isn't exactly right then you end up with boot behavior like you describe. (Not trying to say you didn't grab the correct file, but there's a lot that can go wrong in the selection process.)

Did Kies prompt you for the model number and IMEI/Serial number, or didn't you get that far?

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM 10.2 using Tapatalk 4

 

[Whodafux]

Didn't get that far, it wouldn't connect to the phone.
-----
Edit: Well it took some jankey driver installs to get the phone to be recognized each time I plugged it in but I have the thing turned on.

Ended up finding this tutorial http://gs3.wonderhowto.com/how-to/r...sh-stock-roms-using-odin-for-windows-0142713/
on how to Root the GS3.

Need root on your Samsung Galaxy S3? Phone not getting the Jelly Bean update? Stuck on the Samsung screen? Phone bricked? Need to restore back to stock? Odin can help!

The phone was giving me connection issues after it rebooted the first time using Odin and was stuck in a reboot loop forcing me to take the battery out but after that I was able to get it back into download mode. Problem was the computer wasn't picking the phone up after that anymore so I attempted to un/re-plug with no avail. I noticed that the driver manager had failed on the install of a driver so I went and reinstalled the samsung USB drivers and viola driver manager picks up the phone, readies the drivers and Odin picks it up. Installed the Auto-Root file, phone reset and boot to recovery mode, hung on samsung screen for about 3 minutes then booted to the OS welcome setup!

Never got Kies to work in the downtime though, it would just constantly pend connecting and then shoot a could not connect error. I haven't tried with the phone working yet.

 

[Tim Augustine]

I am having the exact same symptom as described above. Did you ever get this solved?

 

[GSDer]

I am having the exact same symptom as described above.

Welcome to the forums!

Your phone is hanging at the white Samsung logo during boot?

Will it boot into Recovery mode or Download mode?
- you use Recovery mode to clear the system cache and to Factory Reset
- you use Download (aka Odin) mode (showing the Android guy) to load/reload firmware
- the key sequences to enter both modes are very similar, and they are timing dependent so it may take a few tries to get it working
-- Recovery = Volume Up + Home + Power
-- Download = Volume Down + Home + Power
- for either, you start with the phone completely off
- press and hold the required keys simultaneously, and release them all when you see the swirling logo (not the static white text)

Try Recovery mode first (use the Volume rockers to navigate; use the Power button to select) and if it boots into this mode just clear the cache and then restart. If the phone doesn't boot normally then try Download mode.

If Download mode works then it should be possible to reload the firmware - we just need to know the model number/carrier/firmware/region (if an International user).

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM -0.001 using Tapatalk