How can I unbrick my Verizon Galaxy S3 SCH-I535?

[RKnack]

My aunt gave me her Verizon Samsung Galaxy S3 SCH-I535 a couple weeks ago. It was running Android 4.4.3 "kitkat" when I got it, but I wanted to upgrade it to Android 5.1 "lollipop". I found out that the Verizon phones have a locked bootloader, so I tried to get around it by using Safestrap. I THOUGHT I had backed up my system, but I can't find the files anywhere. WHen I tried to install Andoid 5.1.1, I got a bunch of mount errors, and now my phone sticks on the initial "Galaxy S3" screen when I boot up, and my computer does not recognize the phone. Kies also does not recognize the phone. I CAN boot into Odin mode, and if I have Odin up and running Odin recognizes the phone, but when I try to load any edition of ANdroid I get a "FAILED" message from Odin. Is there any way I can restore my phone to at least where it was when I got it?

 

[srkmagnus]

My aunt gave me her Verizon Samsung Galaxy S3 SCH-I535 a couple weeks ago. It was running Android 4.4.3 "kitkat" when I got it, but I wanted to upgrade it to Android 5.1 "lollipop". I found out that the Verizon phones have a locked bootloader, so I tried to get around it by using Safestrap. I THOUGHT I had backed up my system, but I can't find the files anywhere. WHen I tried to install Andoid 5.1.1, I got a bunch of mount errors, and now my phone sticks on the initial "Galaxy S3" screen when I boot up, and my computer does not recognize the phone. Kies also does not recognize the phone. I CAN boot into Odin mode, and if I have Odin up and running Odin recognizes the phone, but when I try to load any edition of ANdroid I get a "FAILED" message from Odin. Is there any way I can restore my phone to at least where it was when I got it?

Welcome to Android Central!

If you are able to access Download mode you should be able to use Odin to restore it. If you are having problems, uninstall Odin and drivers then re-install everything. Also try another USB port when connecting the device and see if that works. Let us know how it goes.

 

[RKnack]

Okay, now I can't even get into Odin mode on the phone. It sat for several days and the battery drained. Now, when I plug it into a charger, a picture of a battery briefly shows up on the screen and the red LED comes on for a short period, but then all goes dark again. Oh, and the phone vibrates periodically as well if I unplug the battery then plug it back in.

 

[mxmoleski]

I got my phone (S3 SCH-I535, KitKat 4.4.2) into pretty much the same state, although I was fortunate that I didn't run my battery down. I have the impression that it was still charging even in when the error message was "Firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please use Software Repair Assistant & try again." The power key stopped fuctioning, but I could power off by removing the battery and then use the power key to try, try again.

When the battery was out, the USB cable kept the phone powered up.

The important point is that in this state, the phone is in Odin (download) mode. It is ready to get rehabilitated. The same is true with the earlier state I triggered: "System software not authorized by Verizon Wireless has been found on your phone. Please turn off your phone and go to the nearest Verizon Wireless store for help."

I fooled around with Odin for a long time before admitting defeat there. Then I started using Kies. It did not recognize the phone, but one of the options was to do an emergency repair, starting by naming the model. Once I realized the correct model ID (SCH-"I" as in "eye"-535, not "1" as in one"-535), things got well quickly. Kies put KitKat back where it belonged.

I hate Kies. But it saved me from my mistakes, so I guess I have to give credit where credit is due.