Samsung s3 sudden of death?! Recovery mode messed up?!

[sarmentox]

Hi guys!
So Im gonna shortly explain whats happening to my phone, and you all can take your conclusions about what the problem could be.
My s3 was working fine until a few hours ago, when me friend called me. When he hung up, my phone was frozen already. No response at all... I held the power button to perform a 'reset', but it is frozen now on the first splash screen. Tried removing battery, everything.
After a few searches and few topics (http://forums.androidcentral.com/sa...alaxy-s3-frozen-start-screen-help-please.html), got a conclusion that I am another victim of the SUDDEN DEATH SYNDROME that have been affecting many users on UK.
However... I dont think I really qualify into this category, since I can turn my phone on, and get into the Recovery mode.
Now thats the funny part. My recovery mode seems very messed up.
There are many lines of code saying
'E: failed to mount/
E: cant mount/
E:Cant open'
etc etc


Someone give me some instructions on what to do please!
Cheers

 

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

If I'm right, it's caused by a failed flash module.

If so, your phone is now a brick and you can't recover it.

 

[sarmentox]

Well I did some more research... Im trying now an emergency firmware upgrade using Kies... hope it works :X

 

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

You can send it in to Samsung for repair.

As far as I know, that's the only official way to fix it.

 

[GSDer]

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

 

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

Thanks for the tips.

 

[sarmentox]

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

Trying it now...
I have Tried once before but it failed... so im trying again and its taking longer than before. Hope it works!
-------
edit: it is frozen on 0% after downloading and decompressing/decrypting the firmware... has been more than 10minutes... should i be worried about???

 

[sarmentox]

Finally got a message:
"FIRMWARE EMERGENCY RECOVERY STOPPED DUE TO GALAXY S3 ERROR. IF THE PROBLEM PERSISTS, PLEASE CONTACT THE SAMSUNG SERVICE CENTRE"
What should i do?!
Should I try one more time?

 

[GSDer]

Well it won't hurt anything to try again, but it doesn't sound promising. I've done this several times to my phone just to get the process down and have never encountered an error. Of course, your phone was having problems reading from memory so something may be messed up.

You could try using Odin to load a ROM (stock; rooted; or a 3rd party ROM) but that's a bit more involved, and you HAVE TO BE SURE you select the correct file for your model/carrier. I don't want to try that route since it can lead to a totally unusable device.

So I'd suggest just contacting your carrier or Samsung to see if you can get a warranty replacement (if I'm not mistaken the warranty on the International version is two years). Sorry.

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

 

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

I seriously have no idea what's up with the flash modules for the S3 and Note 2.

 

[sarmentox]

Just updating you guys:
-I brought my phone into Vodafone yesterday. The guy tried to fix my phone by using ODIN, but it didnt work for some reason, and he doesnt know what could be the reasons for that. Unfortunately i cant send it to Samsung because i have a cracked screen. =/ he believes that something very nasty happened to the flash.
-My phone is at the moment in some repair shop, where the guy guaranteed me that he can fix it by Tuesday.
Lets just wait now and see what happens.

 

[ITCHYisVegeta]

Finally got a message:
"FIRMWARE EMERGENCY RECOVERY STOPPED DUE TO GALAXY S3 ERROR. IF THE PROBLEM PERSISTS, PLEASE CONTACT THE SAMSUNG SERVICE CENTRE"
What should i do?!
Should I try one more time?

I got the same problem. I try to do a factory restore using Kies, and I get the same message. My phone did an autoupdate to Android 4.3, screwed everything up, and softbricked when I tried to use Odin to downgrade, using some tutorials online. I can get to the Downloading mode screen, but that's about it.

 

[GSDer]

and softbricked when I tried to use Odin to downgrade, using some tutorials online.

I don't know what tutorials you were looking at, but according to the folks on XDA it's not possible to downgrade once the phone has 4.3 on it.

You can try checking http://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/ to see if they've released 4.3 firmware for your model/carrier, and perhaps you can use Odin to reload that and get the phone running again.

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

 

[adilnota5]

actually, I was able to downgrade my ATT SGH-i317 (galaxy note 2) from 4.3 to 4.1.1. I then proceeded to do an update after a while to go back to 4.3 and I did this over the att servers, NOT through odin or anything. The update downloaded and installed, but after it rebooted after installation, the screen does not go past "samsung galaxy note II"....I tried odin and kies to fix it but nothing is working. Anyone found a fix to this???

 

[Fedaa2014]

What can I do if my laptop (windows 8.1) is not recognizing the phone when it is connected via the USB cable.
I have installed drives but still Kies is not able connect to the phone