Hi,
I'm new to the Samsung world, X-Iphoner an i got a i9100 S2 as a replacement.
I am really having hard times buying paid apps in the market, as usual, my country is not supported by android market, had to install a custom rom, rooted & super used both found apps in Market (Market Enablers) ... I choose US as the country, open Market, accept the new terms, but..
Whenever I click on Buy app, I get an error the item does not exist.
I tried to downgrade market, I get past this error but to another one, after choosing my credit card, I instantly get an Authorization error...There is nothing wrong with my google account nor my credit card,
I still believe it is related to the method of Market Enabler....
I am using custom ROM Wanam on 2.3.5
Are there any successful methods for passing this?
fearz said:
Hi,
I'm new to the Samsung world, X-Iphoner an i got a i9100 S2 as a replacement.
I am really having hard times buying paid apps in the market, as usual, my country is not supported by android market, had to install a custom rom, rooted & super used both found apps in Market (Market Enablers) ... I choose US as the country, open Market, accept the new terms, but..
Whenever I click on Buy app, I get an error the item does not exist.
I tried to downgrade market, I get past this error but to another one, after choosing my credit card, I instantly get an Authorization error...There is nothing wrong with my google account nor my credit card,
I still believe it is related to the method of Market Enabler....
I am using custom ROM Wanam on 2.3.5
Are there any successful methods for passing this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just a suggestion:
Have you already tried to clear app data?
In Settings menu => Applications => Manage applications => All => Market (or whatever) => Clear data.
If that does not help, try to wipe cache partition (and Dalvik cache) in recovery mode (Volume UP + Home + Power).
Then reboot the phone.
You may have to un-install and re-install the Market app again.
If that all does not help, you may have to do a factory reset.
Good luck !
It_ler said:
Just a suggestion:
Have you already tried to clear app data?
In Settings menu => Applications => Manage applications => All => Market (or whatever) => Clear data.
If that does not help, try to wipe cache partition (and Dalvik cache) in recovery mode (Volume UP + Home + Power).
Then reboot the phone.
You may have to un-install and re-install the Market app again.
If that all does not help, you may have to do a factory reset.
Good luck !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think it has anything to do with the resetting the device, as i already did that (with wipe) dozen times...same error..
i've got the same issue.
I posted here, but no reply yet...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=19985598&postcount=9976
fixed it by updating to market 3.3.12 from 3.3.11
link here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1353686&highlight=market
Use the right market enabler after clearing cache for the market app in settings-->applications. There are two on the market, one was updated the last century, the other at the end of November.
Related
I have used Titanium Backup Pro to Fix market link for few apps which I manually installed on my SGS2. Now Android Market shows that updates are available for these apps.
But when I try to update it with an error message.
Is it possible to update such apps?
If not, can I remove these apps from android market's installed app list?
Thanks
t4ure4n said:
I have used Titanium Backup Pro to Fix market link for few apps which I manually installed on my SGS2. Now Android Market shows that updates are available for these apps.
But when I try to update it with an error message.
Is it possible to update such apps?
If not, can I remove these apps from android market's installed app list?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After fixing market links, the update should work.
Have you tried to clear app cache (in Settings menu => Applications => Manage applications => ... (find your apps) => Clear cache) and/or app data (in Settings menu => Applications => Manage applications => ... (find your apps) => Clear data)?
Maybe it helps.
If not, then try to wipe cache partition in recovery mode (Volume UP + Home + Power, and hold the keys pressed until recovery menu appears => Choose to wipe cache partition, then reboot the phone).
If that does not help either, Titanium Backup has the feature to detach/un-link the app from the Market.
Just start Titanium Backup and click on the tab for backup&restore, then long click on your app and choose the detach/un-link from Market action.
(It may have another name in your language, as I am using German.)
Good luck !
Backup data for affected apps, uninstall them, reinstall from Market, restore data.
note if you have NOT BOUGHT some of these PAID apps from the market you will NOT be able to update them through the market in the normal way ....remember bought apps are linked to your Gmail acct ETC
Hi,
I am new to the forum and new to rooting/flashing mods as well. I have the AT&T version of the Galaxy S2. I just recently rooted and flashed the most recent CM9 nightly on my phone and everything worked great except a, what i hope to be, minor issue. When I first rebooted my phone after the flash, everything looked great but It was apparent my GAPPS zip had not installed correctly as I couldn't see my e-mail or the Play Store (obviously I'm needing to recover things). I re-flashed GAPPS, rebooted, and I saw the Play Store and my e-mail. My problem is when I opened the Play Store, it got stuck on the sign-in. It eventually signed in, I guess (my account has a check by it if I select "manage accounts"). SO, i'm signed in but nothing is loading. I cannot do any searches or retrieve apps. Baiscally, I can't use the Play Store. My phone works fine, otherwise, and it seems the rom flashed cleanly. I followed every instruction very carefully. Please help! I need to retrieve my backup from Titanium and use the market. Don't even have my wi-fi at this point! Thank you in advance if someone can respond quickly.
-Kevin / elevation
Post in Q/A subforum next time.
Try Settings -> Applications -> Google Play Store -> click both clear cache and clear data. If that doesn't work you could always try reflashing.
Now it's having trouble upgrading from "market" to "Play Store". When I go to settings > apps > running, it appears and disappears and I cannot edit anything in it =\. I just re-flashed and I did so without wiping data, is this correct? Should I move this to the sub-forum, or can you just help me out?
I would think a reflash without wipe should be okay, but who knows. I would say close the app manually, try clearing data and cache again, launch once, sign in when prompted and let it load the home page. Then exit the app and don't touch the app for a few mins. I've found that letting it settle by not touching it for a few mins as it tries to update will allow it to update correctly, you'll see the icon change to the play store. Again, if that doesn't work, then do a full wipe and flash again.
P.S. I'm no expert on this subject, just suggesting things to try.
I just downloaded the Saurom Rom and flashed it (full wipe) and the Att fix and flashed it.
I keep getting "could not download due to an error (492)" when I try to download things from the market.... can anybody help on what the problem is and how to rectify it?
Make a backup in case and wipe 2x and flash again. Worked for me.
Sent from my SGH-I717R using XDA
_ Go in Settings / applications / Manage applications , choose 'all ' tab
Then clear all data and cache of both Google play store nad google services Framework
_ Reboot into recovery and wipe cache and wipe Dalvik - Cache . ( no need to factory reset )
manchoi44 said:
_ Go in Settings / applications / Manage applications , choose 'all ' tab
Then clear all data and cache of both Google play store nad google services Framework
_ Reboot into recovery and wipe cache and wipe Dalvik - Cache . ( no need to factory reset )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this easy solution to the problem.
manchoi44 said:
_ Go in Settings / applications / Manage applications , choose 'all ' tab
Then clear all data and cache of both Google play store nad google services Framework
_ Reboot into recovery and wipe cache and wipe Dalvik - Cache . ( no need to factory reset )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you! This fixed the same issue I was having! :good:
manchoi44 said:
_ Go in Settings / applications / Manage applications , choose 'all ' tab
Then clear all data and cache of both Google play store nad google services Framework
_ Reboot into recovery and wipe cache and wipe Dalvik - Cache . ( no need to factory reset )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much! This helped me alot! I tried everything and got almost crazy!
Hi guys. I tried but it didn´t work for me.
This issue has been driving me mad as I didn´t only tried this method but a couple more of them forums elsewhere.
Everything started when I tried a CM9 on my galaxy mini and went back to CM7 due to the awful performance of CM9 on this device. Not to mention that having installed S2E is a must in such a small device, and I suspected that problems may come from here, because the party started just when I Install the S2E app.
Note that the partitions, which I suspected were triggering this issue, were "suppousedly" properly formatted: Main one as FAT32, EXT one as EXT4 (In order to allow S2E mounting it as such within its settings)
After installing this app, everything goes nice and smooth until I reboot the device again. So the steps I followed before the crash were:
1- Install S2E
2- Reboot to save changes and start using the ext partition
3- Once there I can install every single app I need.
4- On reboot the 492 error is there I can´t install apps anymore (Not even backups)
5- Then, I follow this guide which worked for many:
Originally Posted by manchoi44 View Post
_ Go in Settings / applications / Manage applications , choose 'all ' tab
Then clear all data and cache of both Google play store nad google services Framework
_ Reboot into recovery and wipe cache and wipe Dalvik - Cache . ( no need to factory reset )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
6- Once rebooted, I go back to googleplay and try to update/install an App and this time the 492 error is solved indeed, not there anymore! (yipeee ) but what I get instead is a partial reboot and the aplication cant install either .
So after following this guide, I´m still stuck in the same step: "Just can´t install any app" (Not even previuosly backed up apps)
I tried this as well as seen in forums elsewhere:
1- Settings>Manage Aplications>All
2- Delete Google PlayStore and Google Framework Services data+cache
3- Reboot in recovery mode
4- Wipe cache partition and Dalvik cache (No need to factory reset)
It gave me same results.
Flashing a different Cyanogen or going back to Factory Values didn´t fix this error either.
I even bricked the phone 3 times trying to flash to factory values... or whatever I was doing as frustration drove me mad.
So, I finally switched to a different SD card, flashed to a new CM7, installed S2E and so on and everything is working fine as it should now.
Veredict: Stop beating around the bush; Error 492 means you have damaged your SD card (At least on my case) and in spite it still is usable to some degree, it has become useless to work along S2E as this soft should require something from the SD that still remains a mistery to me, after hours an hours trying to fix this Error 492 issue.
Buy a new SD card and start over.
Hope this helps others having same issue.
Regards
:victory:
mulenguezt said:
Hi guys. I tried but it didn´t work for me.
This issue has been driving me mad as I didn´t only tried this method but a couple more of them forums elsewhere.
Everything started when I tried a CM9 on my galaxy mini and went back to CM7 due to the awful performance of CM9 on this device. Not to mention that having installed S2E is a must in such a small device, and I suspected that problems may come from here, because the party started just when I Install the S2E app.
Note that the partitions, which I suspected were triggering this issue, were "suppousedly" properly formatted: Main one as FAT32, EXT one as EXT4 (In order to allow S2E mounting it as such within its settings)
After installing this app, everything goes nice and smooth until I reboot the device again. So the steps I followed before the crash were:
1- Install S2E
2- Reboot to save changes and start using the ext partition
3- Once there I can install every single app I need.
4- On reboot the 492 error is there I can´t install apps anymore (Not even backups)
5- Then, I follow this guide which worked for many:
6- Once rebooted, I go back to googleplay and try to update/install an App and this time the 492 error is solved indeed, not there anymore! (yipeee ) but what I get instead is a partial reboot and the aplication cant install either .
So after following this guide, I´m still stuck in the same step: "Just can´t install any app" (Not even previuosly backed up apps)
I tried this as well as seen in forums elsewhere:
1- Settings>Manage Aplications>All
2- Delete Google PlayStore and Google Framework Services data+cache
3- Reboot in recovery mode
4- Wipe cache partition and Dalvik cache (No need to factory reset)
It gave me same results.
Flashing a different Cyanogen or going back to Factory Values didn´t fix this error either.
I even bricked the phone 3 times trying to flash to factory values... or whatever I was doing as frustration drove me mad.
So, I finally switched to a different SD card, flashed to a new CM7, installed S2E and so on and everything is working fine as it should now.
Veredict: Stop beating around the bush; Error 492 means you have damaged your SD card (At least on my case) and in spite it still is usable to some degree, it has become useless to work along S2E as this soft should require something from the SD that still remains a mistery to me, after hours an hours trying to fix this Error 492 issue.
Buy a new SD card and start over.
Hope this helps others having same issue.
Regards
:victory:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Format old SD card...(complete format Via PC and card adapter) to FAT32, then try it in the phone again ....492 error will likely be gone....g
thats solved my problem too
thanks
thanx alot bro
manchoi44 said:
_ Go in Settings / applications / Manage applications , choose 'all ' tab
Then clear all data and cache of both Google play store nad google services Framework
_ Reboot into recovery and wipe cache and wipe Dalvik - Cache . ( no need to factory reset )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so true worked on my metro pcs mega
Help Me!
manchoi44 said:
_ Go in Settings / applications / Manage applications , choose 'all ' tab
Then clear all data and cache of both Google play store nad google services Framework
_ Reboot into recovery and wipe cache and wipe Dalvik - Cache . ( no need to factory reset )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok i have the same problem and i did the clear data and cache thing for google play store and framework but what i dont get is how
to reboot into recovery and wipe cache and wipe Dalvik - Cache . Please help i dont know how to do this.
Entity 303 said:
Ok i have the same problem and i did the clear data and cache thing for google play store and framework but what i dont get is how
to reboot into recovery and wipe cache and wipe Dalvik - Cache . Please help i dont know how to do this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hold vol +/- buttons with power button.
Once you see Samsung logo.....let go of power button only
Recover should come up
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I527 using XDA Free mobile app
Thanks
manchoi44 said:
_ Go in Settings / applications / Manage applications , choose 'all ' tab
Then clear all data and cache of both Google play store nad google services Framework
_ Reboot into recovery and wipe cache and wipe Dalvik - Cache . ( no need to factory reset )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks man it worked !!!
Not Working for me But Thanks..
manchoi44 said:
_ Go in Settings / applications / Manage applications , choose 'all ' tab
Then clear all data and cache of both Google play store nad google services Framework
_ Reboot into recovery and wipe cache and wipe Dalvik - Cache . ( no need to factory reset )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
manchoi44 said:
_ Go in Settings / applications / Manage applications , choose 'all ' tab
Then clear all data and cache of both Google play store nad google services Framework
_ Reboot into recovery and wipe cache and wipe Dalvik - Cache . ( no need to factory reset )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly what information is lost in this process? Will it forget all the apps in "my apps" section of Google Play?
Not sure why you need to clear Google framework?
Saurom is notorious for this. Playstore has evolved far past GB.
I had this happen when I got my Mega.
Went into app manager/running/ FC play store and clear data and cache from it
Back out or even power off/on and try reopening it.
Rebooting will erase cache also.
It probably wouldn't hurt wiping cache and davlik in recovery. Whether that is the solution ???
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I527 using XDA Free mobile app
Fix Android Error 492:Best Ways
Tenacious--M said:
I just downloaded the Saurom Rom and flashed it (full wipe) and the Att fix and flashed it.
I keep getting "could not download due to an error (492)" when I try to download things from the market.... can anybody help on what the problem is and how to rectify it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How Fix Android Error 492: Best Ways
Errors are inseparable parts of any gadget. Almost all of us face errors while working with our gadgets. So it is important for to recover from these errors in order to perform our tasks. Android is a platform which offers tons of apps associated with Google Play Store, These apps add to our ease and help us in our need. However Google Play store is associated with many errors.
One of the error associated with Google Play Store is Error 492, which is mainly observed while updating or installing apps on your device. However there are few easy and working methods to fix Android Error 492. I am discussing some of them here for you hope they help you.
Methods to Fix Android Error 492
Method 1: Re-install Apps
As this error 492 can occur if apps are not properly installed, one of the easiest and best method to fix Android error 492 on your device. Hope this method itself solve it for you. If not follow method 2 below.
Method 2: Clear Cache
One of the reasons for the error 492 may arise due to cache problems. As caches may cause apps to perform badly or slowly. To clear cache follow these easy steps below.
Go to Settings menu in your device.
In "Applications" choose to "Manage apps".
Select "Google Play Store" and tap "Clear cache and Data".
It must have solved the problem and now you can install apps on your device.
Even if the second method didn't worked at all for you, Follow the post Fix Android Error 492: Best Ways, at inforaid.com for more solutions which will surely work for you. All the Best.:good:
Fix Error 492 In Google Play Store
Go to Settings >> Manage Applications >> All
Now from the list of apps select Google Play Store then click on Clear Data and Clear Cache
Now search for Google Services Framework in the list of apps and then click on Clear Data and Clear Cache
Now you can try to update or install apps from Google Play Store hopefully that error doesn’t come again
If above method doesn’t work for you then boot into recovery (Clockworkmod) and then Wipe Cache and from Advanced >> Wipe Dalvik Cache.
I had the same issue, but guess what just restart did the magic!
Recently did a factory reset, then rooted and unlocked.
Since then I'm getting errors downloading apps. This seems to occur only over the wireless connection, not over Wifi. I have verified that I can access the SD-card and external SD-card. have plenty of available storage space (per Settings/Storage): 2.58 GB app, 8.43 GB internal, 29.06GB SD card. Also have a good data connection per browser/weather app use!
These are the two errors I am seeing when trying to download apps from Google Play:
"App xyz" could not be downloaded due to an error. (923)
Error downloading "App xyz". There is insufficient space on the device.
Searched to find a fix, but couldn't find a good answer. Can anyone help me?
I would flash Th3bill's full wipe @ http://www.jokersax.com/developer-pages/th3bill/809-2/ then flash your rom.
if that doesn't work, you'll have to go back to stock sbf and see if that fixed it. if OK, root... if OK, unlock. an incremental way to isolate the issue.
Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk 2
Dont do a full wipe just yet... Just go to settings, manage apps, click on play store, click clear data, then reboot. This will probably fix it.
Sent from my CM9ed MoPho!
@jrebo and @Acvice
It wasn't enough to clear settings, I had to do the full wipe and installing MIUI 2.6.22 fixed it.
I appreciate your the help!!
I had error 923 on my sgs3 and clearing app data resolved it.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2
1. under settings/apps go to google store.
2. cache and data reset.
3. update deinstall, and akzept reset to google store basic version !
4. delete googlemail account under accounts&syncronisation.
5. go to google store app, insert googlemail account new.
google store meanwhile has updated to newest version and will keep runing fine again now ! :good:
This can sometimes happen after a fresh install and gapps tries to throw every update it has logged for you at the phone. just retry after installing what sticks. usually sorts it. many phones have this issue
Methods to solve error 923
HackGerm said:
Recently did a factory reset, then rooted and unlocked.
Since then I'm getting errors downloading apps. This seems to occur only over the wireless connection, not over Wifi. I have verified that I can access the SD-card and external SD-card. have plenty of available storage space (per Settings/Storage): 2.58 GB app, 8.43 GB internal, 29.06GB SD card. Also have a good data connection per browser/weather app use!
These are the two errors I am seeing when trying to download apps from Google Play:
"App xyz" could not be downloaded due to an error. (923)
Error downloading "App xyz". There is insufficient space on the device.
Searched to find a fix, but couldn't find a good answer. Can anyone help me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi here are some methods for Error 923 at appslova.com. One of the method must work for you to solve this problem.
Fr4nky78 said:
1. under settings/apps go to google store.
2. cache and data reset.
3. update deinstall, and akzept reset to google store basic version !
4. delete googlemail account under accounts&syncronisation.
5. go to google store app, insert googlemail account new.
google store meanwhile has updated to newest version and will keep runing fine again now ! :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This helped me after using CF- Autoroot by Chainfire, on my nexus 5. Thanks man!
Possible solution
I've ran into error 923 in Google Play.
None of the above worked, and I finally managed to fix it by deleting /data/core/zcore*.zip files (2.5GB in total).
By the looks of permissions on those files, some files could be deleted without root, but not all of them.
this video fixed the problem for me.. while it's "kind of a long video" for the 2 easy steps.. it's just the 2 steps.. 'clear cache' (not sure that helped, really?)
but the 2nd step did help.. I rolled back google play to a 'older'-orginal version.. and that fixed it
Hi there
I hope someone can help me or give me a pointer. The short story is that Google Play has reverted to the Android Market (v2.3.4) and I can't download anything from the Market.
The longer story is this...
I have a Samsung Galaxy S2, bought sim-free over a year ago, running Android 2.3.3. Yesterday I had a problem with Google Play not being able to download some apps. This was clearly wrong: I had 1.5GB free of 16GB. In the course of trying to fix this (ha!), and trying to find recovery mode, I borked the device further. Google Play reverted to Android Market v2.3.4, and some apps got messed up in random ways and consistently crashed. I uninstalled some of the crashing apps, but I still cannot download anything from the Market in order to reinstall them.
I've cleared cache and cleared data for various apps and services: Market, Download Manager, Google Play Services (odd that that's still there), Google Services Framework, and maybe some others.
The problem with the Market is that when I touch to download an app it readies itself for the download (moving diagonal lines on the progress bar) and then the progress bar disappears as if it's finished. There is no download, and certainly no install, but no error message either. On the other hand my web-based Google Play account says I've just downloaded it. And meanwhile my web-based Google Play account says there are no devices associated with my account.
Given the situation with Market, I can't even download something like MarketFixer which may help. I can sideload apks, but I can't find a (legitimate-looking) apk like MarketFixer to download.
I've never rooted my device, so I don't expect to have to do that to fix this. Before do a factory reset, does anyone have any ideas?
Many thanks
Nik
Update: Solved in thread below
ah darn!! i thought i could help you, up until the point where you said you didn't root . If you rooted then you could just install the latest version of google play
dragid10 said:
ah darn!! i thought i could help you, up until the point where you said you didn't root . If you rooted then you could just install the latest version of google play
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for even thinking of that, dragid10.
Hmm... theoretically, if I routed, where would I get the latest version of Google Play from? I can't access the Market, after all.
There are a few threads in the apps forum here on XDA one is http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1932489
I also don't think you need to be rooted to install it. Just make sure you turn on unknown sources from settings(either under applications or security)
Also have you tried uninstalling updates for the market or removing your Google account from your phone and re-adding it.
Edit:Updated thread URL original one was a closed thread.
nsmith4 said:
There are a few threads in the apps forum here on XDA one is http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1932489
I also don't think you need to be rooted to install it. Just make sure you turn on unknown sources from settings(either under applications or security)
Also have you tried uninstalling updates for the market or removing your Google account from your phone and re-adding it.
Edit:Updated thread URL original one was a closed thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nsmith4, thank you. That's moved me a bit forward. I couldn't find a Google Play apk, and now I've got Google Play back on my device, and the web version of Google Play knows about my device again.
(I did try to delete my Google account and it refused me. It said it was needed by some applications and should do a factory reset instead!)
So now it seems I'm back to my original problem: I (still) can't download any apps from Google Play because it says (wrongly) there's insufficient space on device. I shall keep looking for an apk of MarketFixer or similar. This problem is now the same as the one reported here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1436188
although of course I cannot download MarketFix to help me fix the market.
Update: That install of Google Play didn't stick. When I rebooted the phone it took me through the Android initiation process (asked for Google username and password) and Market was back in place of Play.
Looks like a problem with factory resetting every time you restart. That is a bigger problem. Google Play will automatically update itself (all update to com.android.vending will).
Try taking the ICS update (if you haven't already), you need a fresh install of the OS. Or you can root and install a ROM. Same thing
Sent from my DROID2 using xda premium
You say you "borked the device further". The question is, what happened? What did you do, and what got borked, in what way? If you don't even know, then it will be difficult or impossible to repair. The easiest and fastest solution will be to install a fresh ROM, like Gagdude said.
-- Sent from my TouchPad using Communities
post-mortem said:
You say you "borked the device further". The question is, what happened? What did you do, and what got borked, in what way? If you don't even know, then it will be difficult or impossible to repair. The easiest and fastest solution will be to install a fresh ROM, like Gagdude said.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
gagdude, post-mortem: No, I didn't keep a careful record of what I did. The "borking" is a combination of the problems listed above. I'm going to do a factory reset and upgrade to ICS, as suggested, thanks. Will keep you posted.
Mid-point update: Successfully factory reset my phone (Volume up + Power on, factory reset, then reboot). Now my SIM card isn't recognised (sigh).
The same problem, but with a different device, is here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1344576
It appears as if my modem software is messed up. The saga continues.
Solved! SIM working again.
...And miraculously it's solved!
I flashed a new ROM onto the device -- ICS, which is very shiny and new to me -- using Odin, and it came back to life perfectly. Useful links were:
"[ROM+Guide] Official i9100 Firmwares LPE/Q/7/2/F/S/4/7/G/9/W/D/F Download"
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1075278
"Firmware Archive" - where I got the firmware download from
http://samsung-updates.com/
Solution to "RESOLVED [Q] SIM not detected?? (ATT + polish GNOTE)" - not my device, but a story that encouraged me to install a new ROM.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=19407086&postcount=28
Odin download - although it seems this is an old version:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1738841
Thanks to all on these forums (not just this thread) for sharing their experiences.