Verizon OTA Soft Bricked My Phone. I Need A Few Important Files That Didnt Transfer To The New Phone

[ocf2005]

I have spent about ten hours searching the internet for help over the last couple of days. I went to Best Buy Geek Squad and called a few other places for a quote and I've pretty much been told I am screwed.

A Verizon OTA update bricked my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge the other day. There's a saved audio file of the last voicemail I have from my grandpa before he passed away. It's not on the SD card & not in the cloud. I had to get a new phone (thanks Verizon ) so that's all been checked.

The S7 does nothing but loop to a black page. I can't turn on USB Debugging, so the laptop won't read the phone either. It doesn't restart in Safe mode or anything & that is the only menu you can get to.

Every place I've called says it's useless the files are gone. I can see from online forums I'm not the only one that's experienced this issue but no one has posted an update. At this point I could care less if the phone works again since I now have a replacement, however, the saved voicemail (which Verizon told me I could move so it would be protected Thanks again, Verizon), didn't save to my SD card, apparently it saved to the phone. My grandpa passed away just over a month ago, so the voicemail was just recently moved to the new location. That's the only file I really care about retrieving. And no, the file isn't in Google Drive or Verizon Cloud, all that has been checked. I've also gone through every file on the SD card with it plugged into my computer and while in the phone.

Thanks to anyone that can help.

 

[Mike Dee]

I'm afraid there's no solution. You can reinstall the firmware but that will wipe the phone..... sorry

 

[B. Diddy]

Sorry to hear about this. You could consider a forensic data recovery specialist, but these services can be very expensive (in the $1000 range). Wouldn't hurt to shop around and get an estimate. Good luck!

 

[Golfdriver97]

I have spent about ten hours searching the internet for help over the last couple of days. I went to Best Buy Geek Squad and called a few other places for a quote and I've pretty much been told I am screwed.

A Verizon OTA update bricked my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge the other day. There's a saved audio file of the last voicemail I have from my grandpa before he passed away. It's not on the SD card & not in the cloud. I had to get a new phone (thanks Verizon ������) so that's all been checked.

The S7 does nothing but loop to a black page. I can't turn on USB Debugging, so the laptop won't read the phone either. It doesn't restart in Safe mode or anything & that is the only menu you can get to.

Every place I've called says it's useless the files are gone. I can see from online forums I'm not the only one that's experienced this issue but no one has posted an update. At this point I could care less if the phone works again since I now have a replacement, however, the saved voicemail (which Verizon told me I could move so it would be protected Thanks again, Verizon), didn't save to my SD card, apparently it saved to the phone. My grandpa passed away just over a month ago, so the voicemail was just recently moved to the new location. That's the only file I really care about retrieving. And no, the file isn't in Google Drive or Verizon Cloud, all that has been checked. I've also gone through every file on the SD card with it plugged into my computer and while in the phone.

Thanks to anyone that can help.

If all that you need is a voicemail....have you tried seeing if Verizon can pull it up on their side and push it back to your new phone? Or some other way to send it to you, like a zip folder through email or something? The worst they can say is 'no we can't do that'.

 

[Mike Dee]

If all that you need is a voicemail....have you tried seeing if Verizon can pull it up on their side and push it back to your new phone? Or some other way to send it to you, like a zip folder through email or something? The worst they can say is 'no we can't do that'.

You're right, it doesn't hurt to ask, however I tried once with text messages and they wouldn't do it. You need a supena even to get your own information. I don't know if they treat voicemails differently.

 

[Rukbat]

There is a solution, if Verizon will do it for you (AT&T does). Verizon can get the update file and flash it (or if you can find the full ROM file and pull out the CSC files, that will do the same thing - the CSC is the user data, and theirs is blank, replacing yours - if you pull theirs out, your data won't get wiped). As long as you can boot to download mode, you're in fine shape.

 

[ocf2005]

B. Diddy

"Sorry to hear about this. You could consider a forensic data recovery specialist, but these services can be very expensive (in the $1000 range). Wouldn't hurt to shop around and get an estimate. Good luck!"



Yup, minimum was $700.

 

[ocf2005]

Golfdriver97

"If all that you need is a voicemail....have you tried seeing if Verizon can pull it up on their side and push it back to your new phone? Or some other way to send it to you, like a zip folder through email or something? The worst they can say is 'no we can't do that'."



When my Grandpa went to hospice, I asked Verizon how I could save the voicemail indefinitely & they suggested I save it to a file...and that's where I am now. Had I left it in voicemail, it looks like it would still be there, as all of the other saved voicemails transferred.

 

[ocf2005]

There is a solution, if Verizon will do it for you (AT&T does). Verizon can get the update file and flash it (or if you can find the full ROM file and pull out the CSC files, that will do the same thing - the CSC is the user data, and theirs is blank, replacing yours - if you pull theirs out, your data won't get wiped). As long as you can boot to download mode, you're in fine shape.

Really?! I've been in the store and contacted them via social media & nothing has been said about this. Is there a specific number I need to call since it's not been brought to my attention before? Thank you! This gives me hope, especially since every place I've called says it's a lost cause, especially since USB Debugging can't be enabled.

Yes, I was able to get it into download mode last night. I didn't try anything, but it did say to push volume button up to proceed.

 

[mustang7757]

There is a solution, if Verizon will do it for you (AT&T does). Verizon can get the update file and flash it (or if you can find the full ROM file and pull out the CSC files, that will do the same thing - the CSC is the user data, and theirs is blank, replacing yours - if you pull theirs out, your data won't get wiped). As long as you can boot to download mode, you're in fine shape.

He wouldn't use CSC he use home CSC in its place , he would use Home CSC so it wont wipe data as regular CSC would factory reset.
Then load the the rest, Bl..Ap ..Cp
But that's if he could get in download mode and its 50/50 chance it could still wipe or make you do factory reset as strange things happened when you boot up andriod has stop stuff like that.

 

[mustang7757]

Really?! I've been in the store and contacted them via social media & nothing has been said about this. Is there a specific number I need to call since it's not been brought to my attention before? Thank you! This gives me hope, especially since every place I've called says it's a lost cause, especially since USB Debugging can't be enabled.

Yes, I was able to get it into download mode last night. I didn't try anything, but it did say to push volume button up to proceed.

For this to work through Odin you dont need developer debug on , just need get in download mode and Odin to see your device when plugged into the computer.

 

[Rukbat]

I've done it many times with Home CSC and with no CSC and the end result is the same. I haven't looked, but I suspect that Home CSC only contains a cache image file.

 

[mustang7757]

I've done it many times with Home CSC and with no CSC and the end result is the same. I haven't looked, but I suspect that Home CSC only contains a cache image file.

If you want to keep your data and settings home CSC is what you would place in CSC slot if you want to start fresh it would be just CSC. That's the way I've flashed my Samsung devices as you insert your sim will dictate your CSC for carrier specific and region area , so when you command Odin home CSC your asking it to keep previous data and settings compared just CSC which start fresh .

 

[ocf2005]

Awesome! Thanks! It will be a few weeks before I have more time to give any of this a try - just glad there's another option since it seemed like I had exhausted all the others.

 

[mustang7757]

Cool we here try help you , either Rukbat or Me

 

[Mike Dee]

Awesome! Thanks! It will be a few weeks before I have more time to give any of this a try - just glad there's another option since it seemed like I had exhausted all the others.

Good luck

 

[pkcable]

While I DO hope you can recover this file, I just wanted to share a little story with you. My sister died about 10 years ago. She had a Verizon cell phone and she had an outgoing message. "Hi this is Donna...…" I forget the exact message, BUT we kept paying for her phone for a couple years JUST so we could keep listening to that message. Eventually though we had to give up the line and we lost the message. Yea it was nice to keep hearing her voice, BUT it could not bring her back. HOWEVER we still have the memories of her 40 years with us (well I don't really remember the first couple as I was only a year older. ). You keep those memories in your heart. THOSE you will always have. You remember the laughs, you remember the tears, and most importantly you remember the love you had for them and the love they had for you. (BTW I'm in tears now as I type this - miss you Donna!) Never forget your grandpa!

 

[B. Diddy]

While I DO hope you can recover this file, I just wanted to share a little story with you. My sister died about 10 years ago. She had a Verizon cell phone and she had an outgoing message. "Hi this is Donna...…" I forget the exact message, BUT we kept paying for her phone for a couple years JUST so we could keep listening to that message. Eventually though we had to give up the line and we lost the message. Yea it was nice to keep hearing her voice, BUT it could not bring her back. HOWEVER we still have the memories of her 40 years with us (well I don't really remember the first couple as I was only a year older. ). You keep those memories in your heart. THOSE you will always have. You remember the laughs, you remember the tears, and most importantly you remember the love you had for them and the love they had for you. (BTW I'm in tears now as I type this - miss you Donna!) Never forget your grandpa!

That's probably the most important thing I've read on the forums for a long time.