I've managed to KILL my S3!!!! (D'oh) - Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

So I've been happily flashing the JB files, and phone was doing great. Tonight I came across a couple of programs, Root Explorer and Root Toolkit. Put both on my phone, everything is still OK.
Looking through the Toolkit, I see that you can update fonts to the phone, so being that type of guy, I picked one and went to install it.
Big Mistake? The phone went to reboot, and is now stuck at a nice blue SAMSUNG logo, and won't do anything.
Of course, I hadn't done a back up, so thinking a way around the problem (I'm at work, not on my own PC), I redownloaded the last update (DLI8) with Odin. Ran Odin off a flash drive, then went to connect the phone (brick) to the PC. The PC's (tried on 3 of them) all say that the device connected is a GADGET SERIAL (?) and is not recognised by Odin.
So, I know that I will try when I get home in the morning. But am I missing something else, something that I have not tried? (except some brain cells!!!!) Is it because Odin can't be ran off a flash drive? Is the S3 well and truly dead? Should I smash it and claim on warranty?

causbrite said:
So I've been happily flashing the JB files, and phone was doing great. Tonight I came across a couple of programs, Root Explorer and Root Toolkit. Put both on my phone, everything is still OK.
Looking through the Toolkit, I see that you can update fonts to the phone, so being that type of guy, I picked one and went to install it.
Big Mistake? The phone went to reboot, and is now stuck at a nice blue SAMSUNG logo, and won't do anything.
Of course, I hadn't done a back up, so thinking a way around the problem (I'm at work, not on my own PC), I redownloaded the last update (DLI8) with Odin. Ran Odin off a flash drive, then went to connect the phone (brick) to the PC. The PC's (tried on 3 of them) all say that the device connected is a GADGET SERIAL (?) and is not recognised by Odin.
So, I know that I will try when I get home in the morning. But am I missing something else, something that I have not tried? (except some brain cells!!!!) Is it because Odin can't be ran off a flash drive? Is the S3 well and truly dead? Should I smash it and claim on warranty?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
erm did you put your phone in download mode by pressing Home + Volume Down + Power before using odin?

Whilst holding the power button, hold volume down button also. This puts phone in download mode. Odin will now recognize it, assuming you've got the drivers installed.
Read the sticky threads thoroughly and you'll solve this in no time.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

Meemo23 said:
erm did you put your phone in download mode by pressing Home + Volume Down + Power before using odin?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Daelyn said:
Whilst holding the power button, hold volume down button also. This puts phone in download mode. Odin will now recognize it, assuming you've got the drivers installed.
Read the sticky threads thoroughly and you'll solve this in no time.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, in Download mode, PC's just sit there, so am thinking that because they are works ones (that I can't install drivers on) that I'll have to wait until I get home.:crying:

Fingers crossed
Managed to get the drivers installed on a work PC, running Odin, eventually connected to the phone, is currently saying 3minutes to finish. Blue bar is getting bigger. Hopefully by the time someone else reads this thread the problem will be solved.
Let this be a warning to all NOOBs (like me). BACKUP, BACKUP BACKUP
EDIT: IT WORKED. Now just to set it all up again how I like it......

Most work PC's are locked down so people can't install stuff on them that can cause the company problems.
Be VERY careful trying to do anything on a work PC as you may, inadvertantly, wind up with a brick.
Remember, just because its your work PC DOESN'T mean its YOUR PC....

ultramag69 said:
Most work PC's are locked down so people can't install stuff on them that can cause the company problems.
Be VERY careful trying to do anything on a work PC as you may, inadvertantly, wind up with a brick.
Remember, just because its your work PC DOESN'T mean its YOUR PC....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I know. It was a contractor PC, so not connected to our network. So no harm done. Phone staerted up great, but after a reboot lost all contact details, am in the process of getting them all back with that software from Samsung called "Kies" which is not playing very well at the minute. We live and learn.

I killed my s3 too while playing pokemon. It just suddenly reboot and stuck in boot logo with some white distorted line. I panic and plug out the battery and tada, phone dead. Can't even go into download mode.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

causbrite said:
Yes, I know. It was a contractor PC, so not connected to our network. So no harm done. Phone staerted up great, but after a reboot lost all contact details, am in the process of getting them all back with that software from Samsung called "Kies" which is not playing very well at the minute. We live and learn.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Next time root your device and perform a nandroid backup..
Sent from the iPoop killer ==>>>
---------- Post added at 07:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:22 PM ----------
eddydo said:
I killed my s3 too while playing pokemon. It just suddenly reboot and stuck in boot logo with some white distorted line. I panic and plug out the battery and tada, phone dead. Can't even go into download mode.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try going into recovery.. Vol up+power+home..
Sent from the iPoop killer ==>>>

Related

[Q] pc will not see phone in dl mode

So sorry to bother you people with my little problems but as long as my phone is in dl mode the pc says device not recognized any other screen and its fine. Recovery, galaxy screen so how do I flash back to jfd from were I'm at or are there other options. I really am at my ropes end. 3 days I've fought with this thing. Thank you for any help you can give
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App
I'm going to grab at air here, but do you have Odin up before you stick it in download mode? it should be..... try unpluging usb and plugging it back in while in download mode with odin running... (DO NOT I REPEAT DO NOT unplug while actually flashing with Odin... it will soft brick your phone) just saying.. if it hangs while flashing it can still be recovered.. of course.. but the first time i softbricked my phone i was like OH SH1T!!!! my wife gonna kill me.... lol
Out of curiosity, is your usb port 2.0? Mine would never get recognized on older computers that didn't have usb2.0.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
I had the same problem a while back... what you have to do is make sure you have all of the correct driver's for ur vibrant installed on your computer in order for your computer to recognize it. go to samsung's website at this link ( http://www.samsung.com/us/support/downloads/ ) and enter your phone info in. When the next screen comes up, click on the "Software" tab at the top of the screen. You then need to click on the second one down (Device(Install) (Software) (ver.10095.9) ) and download/install that to your computer. Make sure you open it after you install it to make sure you have all of the driver's installed (it should do this automatically). after you reboot your computer, open odin, and connect you phone to your pc in download mode, it should now see it. let us know if this works for you...
web_ninja said:
I'm going to grab at air here, but do you have Odin up before you stick it in download mode? it should be..... try unpluging usb and plugging it back in while in download mode with odin running... (DO NOT I REPEAT DO NOT unplug while actually flashing with Odin... it will soft brick your phone) just saying.. if it hangs while flashing it can still be recovered.. of course.. but the first time i softbricked my phone i was like OH SH1T!!!! my wife gonna kill me.... lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First off the wifey don't know yet I told her I was testin this mytouch I found. Lol second. I've tried every whichaway. But I am thankful for the input.
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App
reinstaling drivers while hphone is connected to computer with debug on helped me
also you may want to make sure you have Odin v1.3. v1.0 was complete doo-doo.
I did use the doodoo version. But as u guys can see by the signature below all the advise worked...many thanks to all of you who helped...thank you soo much. I still need to update to 2.2
P.s. wife never found out I broke my phone...WIN!
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

[Q] Might have hard bricked my phone

So I was trying to root new Galaxy s2.. long story short, I think I hard bricked it.
The device won't power up; or at least the screen won't show anything.
I can't get to Download Mode.
Is there anyway I can save my new 400 dollar investment?
How are you trying to get into download mode ? Hold the volume down, home button and the power button at the same time. When you get the Samsung screen, release the power button but keep holding the volume down/home buttons until you get into download mode.
If you really can't get into download mode your options are:-
1) Get a jig. This would be your last chance to get into download mode before sending it off for repair.
2) Find someone near you who does JTAG repairs. This option will be cheaper than paying for Samsung to repair your phone.
3) Return the phone to Samsung. As you've tried to root the phone, there's a fair chance you'll end up paying for said repair as this voids your warranty. On the other hand you might be one of those people who get lucky and Samsung fixes your phone under warranty regardless. A roll of the dice essentially.
Edit - Remove your battery & leave it out for a minute or so before trying to get into download mode.
Or failing options 1 & 2 already suggested then perhaps option 2a..
Apply a current to the sim connectors under the battery and make sure it never evers boots again, Samsung won't know what's happened to it and will repair/replace FOC.
(I find an old laptop PSU minus connector plug usually applies enough current for this)
Hehehehe ;-) Damn that brought back memories Uridium. I used to do that with Sega Mega Drive cartridges. However, I'm not sure we should be suggesting same on here. Not exactly ethical and bordering on fraud tbh
uridium_uk said:
Or failing options 1 & 2 already suggested then perhaps option 2a..
Apply a current to the sim connectors under the battery and make sure it never evers boots again, Samsung won't know what's happened to it and will repair/replace FOC.
(I find an old laptop PSU minus connector plug usually applies enough current for this)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looking at JIGS on Ebay, I'll probably get one from there.
So how would I use that?
Plug it in to get to Download Mode then take it out and plug in USB connection to my PC?
I'm still unaware of which correct firmware to put it, so this is so scary :[
uridium_uk said:
Or failing options 1 & 2 already suggested then perhaps option 2a..
Apply a current to the sim connectors under the battery and make sure it never evers boots again, Samsung won't know what's happened to it and will repair/replace FOC.
(I find an old laptop PSU minus connector plug usually applies enough current for this)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha I will try the JIG method first.
But thanks for the devious idea ;]
Yep. Look for "Samsung Galaxy S2 download mode jig" or something like that on eBay. Shouldn't be more than a few bucks. When you get it, make sure the phone is off, plug the jig in the usb port & if you're lucky the phone will boot into download mode. Yeah, once you're in download mode, remove the jig, plug a USB cable in/connect to your PC then flash your firmware of choice via Odin.
We can worry about which firmware to flash once you're able to get it to boot with a jig tho. Post back here when you get it & then we can work out which firmware to go with.
johnnysyeah said:
Looking at JIGS on Ebay, I'll probably get one from there.
So how would I use that?
Plug it in to get to Download Mode then take it out and plug in USB connection to my PC?
I'm still unaware of which correct firmware to put it, so this is so scary :[
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MistahBungle said:
Yep. Look for "Samsung Galaxy S2 download mode jig" or something like that on eBay. Shouldn't be more than a few bucks. When you get it, make sure the phone is off, plug the jig in the usb port & if you're lucky the phone will boot into download mode. Yeah, once you're in download mode, remove the jig, plug a USB cable in/connect to your PC then flash your firmware of choice via Odin.
We can worry about which firmware to flash once you're able to get it to boot with a jig tho. Post back here when you get it & then we can work out which firmware to go with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your help! The JIG should arrive by Friday. Till then.. back to my iPhone 3G, yuck.
Hey I have an idea, why don't you tell us how you think you bricked your phone.
Because, for example, if you've flashed a bad Kernel then your phone may seem bricked (it has all the characteristics) but can be recovered by someone who knows what to do. Likewise, if you were flashing something with Odin and you had a sudden spasm attack and pulled the USB out, you've bricked your phone. Tell us what you did and we can give a proper reply.
EDIT: If the phone is only soft bricked and you can get into DL mode with a JIG, you go can it without one.
postfatal said:
Hey I have an idea, why don't you tell us how you think you bricked your phone.
Because, for example, if you've flashed a bad Kernel then your phone may seem bricked (it has all the characteristics) but can be recovered by someone who knows what to do. Likewise, if you were flashing something with Odin and you had a sudden spasm attack and pulled the USB out, you've bricked your phone. Tell us what you did and we can give a proper reply.
EDIT: If the phone is only soft bricked and you can get into DL mode with a JIG, you go can it without one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, first I was using odin to root it by changing the kernel. But I think I was using the wrong version and then I got "firmware is wrong. Please select recovery mode in kies and try again."
Then I tried to put back 2.3.4 and that's where I think went wrong. I unplugged the phone because it was just stuck with Odin on for over 10 minutes.
Then now I can't even turn it on.
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk
If Odin hadn't finished its business and you unplugged your phone then yea, you've probably bricked it. Cases like these is why I never use Odin, its beta software which even the developers don't fully understand how it works. Even if through no fault of your own, Odin can fail, and that leaves you pretty well ****ed. Try the JIG, you may have unplugged it when it wasn't flashing something important, but yea, I'd start making up a really good excuse to get a new phone.
postfatal said:
If Odin hadn't finished its business and you unplugged your phone then yea, you've probably bricked it. Cases like these is why I never use Odin, its beta software which even the developers don't fully understand how it works. Even if through no fault of your own, Odin can fail, and that leaves you pretty well ****ed. Try the JIG, you may have unplugged it when it wasn't flashing something important, but yea, I'd start making up a really good excuse to get a new phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the JIG is able to get it to go to download mode, would that mean for sure I can fix the phone?
And if the JIG cannot bring it to download mode, am I screwed with this phone?
If you do manage to get into download mode your phone can be saved otherwise yeah you are pretty much screwed
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
RorixRebel said:
If you do manage to get into download mode your phone can be saved otherwise yeah you are pretty much screwed
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
*crosses fingers* for the JIG then...
i just cant understand how people break their phones like this?
If you dont know what your doing theres a good reason not to flash your phone right there.
Saying that... i hope the jig works for you.
Vivasanti said:
i just cant understand how people break their phones like this?
If you dont know what your doing theres a good reason not to flash your phone right there.
Saying that... i hope the jig works for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do all my rooting and modding just fine for my HTC Thunderbolt. I was being careless and wasn't thinking about this carefully yesterday.
This is why we have xda with all its great users and help.
I had problems with my sgs2 when i first got it and my problem was solved with a different usb cable. I was using a cheap usb cable and when i tried an original worked a treat.
Just a thought if ya get it yo power up again.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Unbrick without Jig
johnnysyeah said:
I do all my rooting and modding just fine for my HTC Thunderbolt. I was being careless and wasn't thinking about this carefully yesterday.
This is why we have xda with all its great users and help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well it might be possible to Unbrick your phone without Jig, but solution has not worked for 100% user, though it has worked for me(I'm not sure it was hard brick). So here are the steps:
1- Start Odin
2- Attach the USB cable to the PC (DO NOT ATTACH IT TO THE PHONE)
3- Press and hold "Volume up" and "home" buttons
4- Attach the USB cable to the phone while holding both buttons
5- The phone will enter in download mode
Just flash the stock kernel after that.
And don't forget to THANK me if it works
sumitpathak said:
Well it might be possible to Unbrick your phone without Jig, but solution has not worked for 100% user, though it has worked for me(I'm not sure it was hard brick). So here are the steps:
1- Start Odin
2- Attach the USB cable to the PC (DO NOT ATTACH IT TO THE PHONE)
3- Press and hold "Volume up" and "home" buttons
4- Attach the USB cable to the phone while holding both buttons
5- The phone will enter in download mode
Just flash the stock kernel after that.
And don't forget to THANK me if it works
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd tried this before, but no luck.
In fact, that was the only way I was able to get to download mode.
But thanks for your advice
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk
johnnysyeah said:
I'd tried this before, but no luck.
In fact, that was the only way I was able to get to download mode.
But thanks for your advice
I dont really understand this as download mode requires Vol Down + Home + Pwr
Vol up is for recovery .
jje
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

[Q] Think i Bricked the Unbrickable... =/ .. No joke. Tried EVERYTHING.

Ok so i was in my flash happy mood earlier today..
I saw that ICS slim was updated and was going to try that, well i had ICZen on my phone at the time and tried to flash Slim, well blah blah, it didnt work.. The op told me to flash from a rom that had cm9 (iczen has glitch) so i flashed Lithium MIUI--went back into recovery and started to wipe.. i wiped everything.. So i went to go flash ics slim, and as soon as i pressed 'Yes, install..' it was installing for a very short bit, then all a sudden a reboot and got stuck on the rainbow screen...
I cannot go back into recovery, but i can go into download mode.. BUT this is where the kicker is......
My computer doesnt recognize my device... ive installed driver after driver to get it to recognize. Well, no avail
Even tried installing the drivers on 6 other friends computers (at my college) and all of them still didnt recognize my device..... SMDH.. been trying to fix this all day and im pissed.
Any ideas what to do? Hate to go out and buy another phone......
And before yall say 'you cant flash miui and then go straight to ics, you have to odin' --- No, i did it all the time.. This time something went wrong and idk what
Wow, 158 views and no replies..
Guess i did permanently brick it.. ok
If you can get in to download mode, you're not bricked.
I've read/heard that since our ICS roms are built off of Nexus code, you need to install the nexus drivers. Have you tried doing that? Also, are you sure it's not a bad cable? Try another samsung cable (if you can get a hold of one) to be sure.
dpaul007 said:
If you can get in to download mode, you're not bricked.
I've read/heard that since our ICS roms are built off of Nexus code, you need to install the nexus drivers. Have you tried doing that? Also, are you sure it's not a bad cable? Try another samsung cable (if you can get a hold of one) to be sure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, ive installed the nexus drivers too.. im positive its not a bad cable, ive used it on my computer before hand.. and yea, ive tried another cable as well..
I remember experiencing something like this a while back. i softbricked, could enter download mode, but the computer would not pick up my phone. i dont remember an exact solution, i just remember downloading all sorts of drivers and eventually i got it to pick up.
matholomus said:
Wow, 158 views and no replies..
Guess i did permanently brick it.. ok
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
as far as views:replies, you have to realize that even though you are in panic mode (weve all been there, so we know how you feel), that doesnt necessarily mean people are automatically going to have an answer for you. in this type of situation, its virtually impossible for anyone to tell you an exact solution (if there is one) unless they are sitting right next to you.
TopShelf10 said:
I remember experiencing something like this a while back. i softbricked, could enter download mode, but the computer would not pick up my phone. i dont remember an exact solution, i just remember downloading all sorts of drivers and eventually i got it to pick up.
as far as views:replies, you have to realize that even though you are in panic mode (weve all been there, so we know how you feel), that doesnt necessarily mean people are automatically going to have an answer for you. in this type of situation, its virtually impossible for anyone to tell you an exact solution (if there is one) unless they are sitting right next to you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow really? Damn.. remember what kind of drivers? ive used the samsung usb drivers and nexus s drivers..
But yea, i guess ur right.. sorry for the other post, i was (and still am a little) mad at the time
Try installing kies or kies mini, it did the trick for me when i was in a similar situation
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk
matholomus said:
Wow really? Damn.. remember what kind of drivers? ive used the samsung usb drivers and nexus s drivers..
But yea, i guess ur right.. sorry for the other post, i was (and still am a little) mad at the time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i honestly wish i could tell you exactly, this was a whiiile back, prob over a year.
all i remember was a lot of installing/uninstalling/reinstalling drivers, rebooting comp/phone, unplugging/replugging....it seemed like there was no hope so all i could do all day was fiddle and just hope and pray that i would do something right and the phone would read
im not going to lie though, it does sound pretty bad that youve tried it on multiple computers. that means your possible problems are (from most to least severe):
1. Busted USB port
2. Wrong drivers installed
3. Malfunctioning chord
Although i WILL say: make sure all of your USB connections are free of lint, gunk, etc. I know this sounds like one of those stupid, default troubleshooting steps, and i always looked down my nose at it. however there was a point in time the the comp wouldnt pick up my phone. i tried eeeeverything to remedy it and nothing was working. sure enough, i looked at the standard usb connector on my charging chord and it was FILLED with pocket lint. once i picked it out, BAM good as new!!
bfranklin1986 said:
Try installing kies or kies mini, it did the trick for me when i was in a similar situation
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did kies as well lol.. didnt work.. when it told me to connect my mobile device, i did. but it didnt register
TopShelf10 said:
i honestly wish i could tell you exactly, this was a whiiile back, prob over a year.
all i remember was a lot of installing/uninstalling/reinstalling drivers, rebooting comp/phone, unplugging/replugging....it seemed like there was no hope so all i could do all day was fiddle and just hope and pray that i would do something right and the phone would read
im not going to lie though, it does sound pretty bad that youve tried it on multiple computers. that means your possible problems are (from most to least severe):
1. Busted USB port
2. Wrong drivers installed
3. Malfunctioning chord
Although i WILL say: make sure all of your USB connections are free of lint, gunk, etc. I know this sounds like one of those stupid, default troubleshooting steps, and i always looked down my nose at it. however there was a point in time the the comp wouldnt pick up my phone. i tried eeeeverything to remedy it and nothing was working. sure enough, i looked at the standard usb connector on my charging chord and it was FILLED with pocket lint. once i picked it out, BAM good as new!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i literally restarted my computer 7-9 times from uninstalling and installing driver after driver.. been doing this all morning.. no class, lol thank god. so im in the dorm getting my nerd on..
tried it again on 2 other computers (installing drivers and what not) didnt work.. Tried 2 other usb cables, didnt work..
Tried ur method of cleaning usb ports, didnt work lol.. (i blew in them/phone too)..
im currently on C.L. lookin for a new phone, I WOULD hate to have to leave the vibrant community.. yall been great with roms/drama LOL..
im slowly losing hope on this .. but im continuing to try and fix this
Couple of things. Why don't you go over to the Dev section and download the AIO toolbox. Tiber I think has a link in one of the last posts that should still be working. It has all the pit/tar files, drivers (I know, I know), Odin and is very handy. Don't forget to make usre you have the .net files too.
Then try this
Make sure you have ODIN OPEN with admin privileges!
1.) Take off your back cover, remove your sim & mirco sd card.
2.) Remove your battery.
Make sure you have the USB plugged into your PC but NOT your phone!
3.) Hold the volume buttons.
4.) Put the battery in.
5.) Put the USB in.
You don't necessarily need the download mode image to be present. As long as you are getting the COM ID to light up yellow in ODIN, just flash back to stock like normal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If all else fails, just keep trying. It boots up to Download mode so it is salvagable and not hard bricked. If you do end up finding a new phone on CL and want to donate you Vibrant, i am looking for one to work on some things with.
Woodrube said:
Couple of things. Why don't you go over to the Dev section and download the AIO toolbox. Tiber I think has a link in one of the last posts that should still be working. It has all the pit/tar files, drivers (I know, I know), Odin and is very handy. Don't forget to make usre you have the .net files too.
Then try this
If all else fails, just keep trying. It boots up to Download mode so it is salvagable and not hard bricked. If you do end up finding a new phone on CL and want to donate you Vibrant, i am looking for one to work on some things with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks... but the aio toolbox is not going to the download link for me. the download link is down or something.
i did download the .net files tho, jus cant download the toolbox
So the one Rapidshare from Tiber isn't working? What about the one from OldeCrow 2 posts up. If neither of them are working, I can get it to you later on tonight when I get home from work.
Regardless, if you have the drivers and have Odin installed, try the tricks in my earlier post and see it works that way. Panic mode is probably not deep set in, don't worry we'll get it on.
When you say yours (and 6 others) don't recognize the phone, are you talking about Mass Storage mode or do all 6 of your friends have Odin installed on their computers? Might seem like a BS question and I am sorry about that but it is a one or the other type situation. It will be in download mode OR mass storage.
Can you boot into recovery by chance?
Depending on what bootloader you have it will be (Froyo) Vol+/- and power or (GB) Vol+ and Power. Also not to sound noob-ish but just bc you have a GB ROM doesnt mean you have GB bl's. Dealt with that with someone else this week and fought me tooth and nail over it.
if you have clockwork mod installed you can put a rom on your SD card through your computer, wipe your phone and then flash the from with a full wipe.
Sent from my HTC Desire HD using xda premium
That is what I am getting at.
If he can get into CWR then he can mount the phone to the computer in Mounts and Storage, put a simple 2.2 ROM on there and get it to boot up so that it works. then figure out the driver thing later on once we can get it to fully boot up.
Woodrube said:
So the one Rapidshare from Tiber isn't working? What about the one from OldeCrow 2 posts up. If neither of them are working, I can get it to you later on tonight when I get home from work.
Regardless, if you have the drivers and have Odin installed, try the tricks in my earlier post and see it works that way. Panic mode is probably not deep set in, don't worry we'll get it on.
When you say yours (and 6 others) don't recognize the phone, are you talking about Mass Storage mode or do all 6 of your friends have Odin installed on their computers? Might seem like a BS question and I am sorry about that but it is a one or the other type situation. It will be in download mode OR mass storage.
Can you boot into recovery by chance?
Depending on what bootloader you have it will be (Froyo) Vol+/- and power or (GB) Vol+ and Power. Also not to sound noob-ish but just bc you have a GB ROM doesnt mean you have GB bl's. Dealt with that with someone else this week and fought me tooth and nail over it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cant reboot into the bootloader nor recovery.. the only thing i can do is download mode..
I have the GB bootloader.. im sure of it lol
and yes i installed odin and all the files on all 6 of my friends computer.. none of them worked
davil544 said:
if you have clockwork mod installed you can put a rom on your SD card through your computer, wipe your phone and then flash the from with a full wipe.
Sent from my HTC Desire HD using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if i could get into recovery, i wouldnt be posting something like this LOL.. ive unbricked my phone before (that was when my comp recognized the device, now its not)
My device is not recognized by the computer, so my sd cards dont show on the comp
Woodrube said:
So the one Rapidshare from Tiber isn't working? What about the one from OldeCrow 2 posts up. If neither of them are working, I can get it to you later on tonight when I get home from work.
Regardless, if you have the drivers and have Odin installed, try the tricks in my earlier post and see it works that way. Panic mode is probably not deep set in, don't worry we'll get it on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh and i did do the little tricks you said, i found that op..
that person had the same problem as me and everyone tried to help, they gave him/her links and everything.. i followed with the links too, and just like that person, none of them worked for me either
saw the download link that oldecrow posted.. its working.. downloading now
Ok. Keep trying once it is downloaded and let us know how it is going. I am getting ready to leave work soon, so I won't be on until later tonight but there are plenty of others that can help.
There's also the One-Click Vibrant DeBrick from Adam Outler. I've used it on my netbook on phones with your identical problem and its never failed yet.
Also, Heimdall on Ubuntu will flash it no problem, it does NOT need drivers like Windows does...
http://www.glassechidna.com.au/products/heimdall/
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Up and running!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
NEVER WOULD HAVE THPOUGHT!! (well i did but...) anyways im up and running now!!!! Wow, idk what happened... it just started working.. i plugged it in and odin recognized it!!..
im on 2.1 again lol.. so all i need to do is go back into recovery and reinstall packages right?
Did i lose root? i forgot

Phone will not get past "Vibrant - Samsung" screen

Here is the problem:
My phone is stuck on the screen you see immediately after pressing the power button, which has a big "Vibrant" and a smaller "Samsung" both white on black. Whatever I do, it won't get past that.
Here is what happened:
- I had Eclair on it for a long while, and updated to Froyo via Kies, also a long while ago. Then, tired of bad performances, I followed a tutorial to install ICS on it. It worked fine for a month and I was very pleased of the newly gained performances. However this week, (while I was on vacation away from my computer and even internet in fact) it started giving me messages saying something about "Memory low, close some applications" (paraphrasing), even thought my memory indicator said that I was using around 160 MB, which should not be that bad. Then, after a couple of hours like that, applications started to crash (because of low memory I assume). I killed applications not that useful, but it did not change the message. Then, the core application also started to crash, whatever I did. I rebooted several times to get it to start fresh, but as soon as I booted, I got the low memory message and the core crashing. At one point, it would get stuck on the ICS 3D flying boot scene, and not past that.
- So, I rebooted in recovery mode and tried to see if I had an option to just restore part of the ROM so I could use my phone anew. I wanted to avoid restoring it completely since I did not have the information about my APN (I have the T-Mobile Vibrant, but I live in Canada and I'm on Videotron's network), and performances before ICS where really bad (lagging, freezing, name it). Also, I figured it was only a booting problem, so (biggest mistake is here I believe) I tried to restore the boot only. I found somewhere in the advanced options of Clockwork an option to restore parts of the backed-up ROM. So I did it, but I got an error saying something about the checksum I think. There I realized that I was trying to restore an Eclair boot backup to an ICS ROM, so the checksum error probably came from that. I try it a second time... same result. Then, when I rebooted it stopped at the Vibrant screen I described above.
What I tried to resolve it:
- Tried to go back to recovery mode by holding the three buttons as usual. Cannot get in. The only thing that "works" is that if I hold the power button for 6-8 second, it will reboot. And get stuck at the same place.
- Search intensively on the web to see if anyone had the same kind of issue. Saw a lot of the "Exclamation mark bricked" type, resolved by going in recovery mode. Not useful to me.
- Tried to connect it to my computer and see where I could go from there. I am unable to mount the device. If the phone is powered down, as soon as I connect it, it starts to boot (and get stuck you know where). Windows does not recognizes the device, and gives me the message "This device cannot start. (Code 10)". I tried to use the drivers from ADB and those from Kies with the same results.
- I tried to install Android Debug Bridge, but without the phone mounted, it doesn't work.
- I tried to see if Odin would detect it, with the same results
- I tried to pray, but there is no answer there yet. :crying:
So here I am, with the following things still untried:
- I would try the "resistor" way of booting in download mode it that could help. However, I don't have soldering iron, don't know how to solder and don't have the parts required, so that would take me a lot of time just the try this option, without any clue that I would resolve my problem with this. I am willing to go that way if I am pretty sure it will work
- I haven't tried using the Riff Box, and I have no idea what it is and where it would get me. I would not even know where to get access to that.
On a final note, this is my only phone in the house, and to make the matter worse, I changed providers with this phone, so my older cell phones don't work with Videotron's SIM card... I would rather have the issue resolved fast if possible, because otherwise, I'll have to buy a new phone. Let's say that I would have better uses for that cash, so I hope it does not come to that.
So that concludes my sad story for today.
Any clues welcome. If the answer is "get a new phone", I would rather do it that trying stuff for two weeks and having to buy a new phone anyway.
Try reinstalling the drivers and add the nexus drivers since some people report that you may need it. Then get into download mode for Odin, on my phone its both volume buttons, but now power, then keep holding while put the USB in. The pit and pda and reparation should be selected, since that's what I do.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using xda app-developers app
pbeaumont said:
- I would try the "resistor" way of booting in download mode it that could help. However, I don't have soldering iron, don't know how to solder and don't have the parts required, so that would take me a lot of time just the try this option, without any clue that I would resolve my problem with this. I am willing to go that way if I am pretty sure it will work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This method should work for you, what your talking about is called a "USB Jig". You can buy one for around $5 online, I would recommend www.mobiletechvideos.com to buy from. Before you buy the jig I would try booting into download mode with the gingerbread button combos just in case you somehow installed them. Download mode is volume + and power button. Recovery is volume - and power.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk
iKoolkid said:
Try reinstalling the drivers and add the nexus drivers since some people report that you may need it. Then get into download mode for Odin, on my phone its both volume buttons, but now power, then keep holding while put the USB in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers several times, to no effect. In fact, whatever driver there is, it does not matter since Windows always give the message about device not able to start. So I just can't use Odin.
iTz KeeFy said:
This method should work for you, what your talking about is called a "USB Jig". Before you buy the jig I would try booting into download mode with the gingerbread button combos just in case you somehow installed them. Download mode is volume + and power button. Recovery is volume - and power.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just tried the gingerbread combo buttons, but no more results. I will try to get a Jig assembled asap, it would still be faster than ordering it and waiting 10 days to get it. I'll let you know how it goes.
I went and made myself an USB Jig and tada!, it worked!
So I'll now reinstall something with Odin and report a last and final time to confirm everything went right.
Many thanks guys!
Still no joy, I now only get the following message while connection the phone to the computer "windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (code 43)". I tried to use the drivers from Kies, the ones from ADB (unsigned, therefore cannot install them on my Windows 7 x64).
Tried to uninstall, then reinstall. Rebooted and reinstalled, and finally tried every USB port on my computer. Always the same result. Anyone has a clue?
Will try tomorrow on the computer @ work...
pbeaumont said:
Still no joy, I now only get the following message while connection the phone to the computer "windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (code 43)". I tried to use the drivers from Kies, the ones from ADB (unsigned, therefore cannot install them on my Windows 7 x64).
Tried to uninstall, then reinstall. Rebooted and reinstalled, and finally tried every USB port on my computer. Always the same result. Anyone has a clue?
Will try tomorrow on the computer @ work...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried a different usb cable?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk
Tried it on a different computer, with a different USB cable. Both cables and computer used to work to connect the phone.
I am at a loss for options to try right now... Any suggestion?
Just to clarify, if Odin is up and you connect your phone to the computer, does Odin give you a com port?
sent from my magic box to yours
samsgun357 said:
Just to clarify, if Odin is up and you connect your phone to the computer, does Odin give you a com port?
sent from my magic box to yours
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, not at all. The OS never gets to the point where it detects correctly the phone and mounts it.
First thing I have to ask is do you have a stock front facing camera?
sent from my magic box to yours
samsgun357 said:
First thing I have to ask is do you have a stock front facing camera?
sent from my magic box to yours
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^^^You learn fast my friend. I'll hit you up a bunch of thanks later on when I get off work. I've hit my limit for the day already on my PC and I can't whip out my phone while I am here.
OP, I am following this thread cause I have a spare Vibe that is doing somethings similar and not being recognized by my PC. I have actually read your OP more than a few times and tried all that you have, even sent it away to a developer friend of mine. He hasn't been able to get it to recognize yet either. Xenoism is in the same boat too. Keep trying and if you get Odin to see it, please come back here and post how. We'll do the same.
Here is another thread about it (Help please! Unique problem!!!)
samsgun357 said:
First thing I have to ask is do you have a stock front facing camera?
sent from my magic box to yours
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it is a T-Mobile Vibrant, and thus has only one camera facing the back. However, I fail to see how it could be relevant...
Woodrube said:
^^^You learn fast my friend. I'll hit you up a bunch of thanks later on when I get off work. I've hit my limit for the day already on my PC and I can't whip out my phone while I am here.
OP, I am following this thread cause I have a spare Vibe that is doing somethings similar and not being recognized by my PC. I have actually read your OP more than a few times and tried all that you have, even sent it away to a developer friend of mine. He hasn't been able to get it to recognize yet either. Xenoism is in the same boat too. Keep trying and if you get Odin to see it, please come back here and post how. We'll do the same.
Here is another thread about it (Help please! Unique problem!!!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, thanks for that. Today, Ill go buy myself a new phone (probably SIII) since I don't seem to have much other choices. I'll still try to get this one to work and keep you posted if I get any results.

[Q] Son of a Hard Brick! Please help...

It appears that I've hard bricked my Vibrant T959. In the middle of flashing using ODIN, it crapped out for whatever reason. I cant get into download mode or recovery mode any more. Really having a tough time finding a solution to my problem. I've come across plenty of people with soft bricked phones, alas no luck in finding a solution for my problem.
I've looked into the Unbrickable Mod and it's predominantly overwhelming. I dont believe a USB dongle would help here (maybe I'm wrong...hopefully I'm wrong). Can anyone help me out?
Any advice or tips is greatly appreciated!
Unless you screwed the bootloaders during the flash (were you flashing bootloaders?), a dongle is going to work. And it is much cheaper/easier than any more invasive solution.
JJMT said:
Unless you screwed the bootloaders during the flash (were you flashing bootloaders?), a dongle is going to work. And it is much cheaper/easier than any more invasive solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply! If I'm not mistaken I was flashing a Kernel at the time. So if that's the case, you'd think there's a chance if I bought the dongle?
ReadySethGo said:
Thanks for your reply! If I'm not mistaken I was flashing a Kernel at the time. So if that's the case, you'd think there's a chance if I bought the dongle?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would give a dongle a high probability of success.
ReadySethGo said:
It appears that I've hard bricked my Vibrant T959. In the middle of flashing using ODIN, it crapped out for whatever reason. I cant get into download mode or recovery mode any more. Really having a tough time finding a solution to my problem. I've come across plenty of people with soft bricked phones, alas no luck in finding a solution for my problem.
I've looked into the Unbrickable Mod and it's predominantly overwhelming. I dont believe a USB dongle would help here (maybe I'm wrong...hopefully I'm wrong). Can anyone help me out?
Any advice or tips is greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey I was doing trying to go from Froyo 2.2 to 2.1 using ODIN because when i flashed CWM in 2.2 it didn't boot into recovery and i read somewhere that it needed to be in 2.1 so I downloaded the related .pit and .tar files and hooked it to ODIN and then I just a saw a blue screen on my phone for about an hour and finally pulled the plug on it but now I can't even get the phone to boot up... did i brick it and if you find any solution please help me out as well...
Anyone who has any idea what I need to do please HELP!!!!
thanks
---------- Post added at 10:03 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:14 AM ----------
ReadySethGo said:
It appears that I've hard bricked my Vibrant T959. In the middle of flashing using ODIN, it crapped out for whatever reason. I cant get into download mode or recovery mode any more. Really having a tough time finding a solution to my problem. I've come across plenty of people with soft bricked phones, alas no luck in finding a solution for my problem.
I've looked into the Unbrickable Mod and it's predominantly overwhelming. I dont believe a USB dongle would help here (maybe I'm wrong...hopefully I'm wrong). Can anyone help me out?
Any advice or tips is greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay this time around I have a solution for your problem...
As i mentioned in the previous post my phone was not turning on or anything at all so here are the steps I followed...
1 - download ODIN
2 - download the .pit and .tar files
3 - make sure your phone drivers are installed on the PC you are using.
4 - open ODIN and load the .pit file and .tar file (PDA for .tar file)
5 - Plug in the USB cable into the PC
6 - remove the battery from the phone
7 - Hold down VOLUME UP and VOLUME DOWN simultaneously
8 - Plug in the usb into the phone
9 - reinsert the battery into the phone and hold the volume keys until your phone is in download mode
10 - wait for a yellow box to appear in ODIN (0:COM11) something like that, means your phone is ready
11 - Click start and be patient, shouldn't take a long time though... you should see the green progress bar in ODIN...
I hope these steps help someone who is in a similar position, let me know if i can be on any further assistance.
Goodluck.
NSingh95 said:
Hey I was doing trying to go from Froyo 2.2 to 2.1 using ODIN because when i flashed CWM in 2.2 it didn't boot into recovery and i read somewhere that it needed to be in 2.1 so I downloaded the related .pit and .tar files and hooked it to ODIN and then I just a saw a blue screen on my phone for about an hour and finally pulled the plug on it but now I can't even get the phone to boot up... did i brick it and if you find any solution please help me out as well...
Anyone who has any idea what I need to do please HELP!!!!
thanks
---------- Post added at 10:03 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:14 AM ----------
Okay this time around I have a solution for your problem...
As i mentioned in the previous post my phone was not turning on or anything at all so here are the steps I followed...
1 - download ODIN
2 - download the .pit and .tar files
3 - make sure your phone drivers are installed on the PC you are using.
4 - open ODIN and load the .pit file and .tar file (PDA for .tar file)
5 - Plug in the USB cable into the PC
6 - remove the battery from the phone
7 - Hold down VOLUME UP and VOLUME DOWN simultaneously
8 - Plug in the usb into the phone
9 - reinsert the battery into the phone and hold the volume keys until your phone is in download mode
10 - wait for a yellow box to appear in ODIN (0:COM11) something like that, means your phone is ready
11 - Click start and be patient, shouldn't take a long time though... you should see the green progress bar in ODIN...
I hope these steps help someone who is in a similar position, let me know if i can be on any further assistance.
Goodluck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your input and help, I'm sure these steps will help someone. But this will not work for me as I'm not able to put the phone into download mode for ODIN to read and recognize my device.
My march goes on...
JJMT said:
I would give a dongle a high probability of success.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I overnighted a dongle off Amazon last night and just received it this morning. Unfortunately, no dice. It has not put the phone into download mode. I tested the dongle on a s SGSII to confirm that the dongle wasn't DOA or something and worked flawlessly on that device.
My search continues...
I am Not sure if you have tried this option already or not but you might want to look into 1 click unbrick, just search it on google and maybe that will work out for you if you haven't already tried it
good luck
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
NSingh95 said:
I am Not sure if you have tried this option already or not but you might want to look into 1 click unbrick, just search it on google and maybe that will work out for you if you haven't already tried it
good luck
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No luck. Tried it yesterday to no avail. Thanks for the ideas anyways NSingh95!
Sounds like you just need to flash a new kernel but you would need to be in recovery or download mode to do so. Have you checked to see if gingerbread boot combos work? Hold only volume up and turn the phone on, maybe you have gingerbread bootloaders and don't know it ha.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk 2
iTz KeeFy said:
Sounds like you just need to flash a new kernel but you would need to be in recovery or download mode to do so. Have you checked to see if gingerbread boot combos work? Hold only volume up and turn the phone on, maybe you have gingerbread bootloaders and don't know it ha.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tried various combinations of buttons in hopes of getting it into download mode. No luck with any of them. If I could just get it into said download mode it would be very easy to reflash a proper kernel. No luck yet.
I'm on the same boat. Yesterday after downgrading to stock eclair, I was trying to upgrade thru Kies mini. Everything was looking good, it went up to 100% but when it was supposed to reboot my phone, nothing happened. It's completely dead, no lights, no power, no nothing. I had a similar problem last year, but I was still able to put my phone in download mode by pulling the battery and plugging it in to the USB cable. I tried volume up + down, volume up + power, volume down + power, volume up + down + power. I think I tried everything already with no luck. I hope somebody can come up with a solution.
alberto02005 said:
I'm on the same boat. Yesterday after downgrading to stock eclair, I was trying to upgrade thru Kies mini. Everything was looking good, it went up to 100% but when it was supposed to reboot my phone, nothing happened. It's completely dead, no lights, no power, no nothing. I had a similar problem last year, but I was still able to put my phone in download mode by pulling the battery and plugging it in to the USB cable. I tried volume up + down, volume up + power, volume down + power, volume up + down + power. I think I tried everything already with no luck. I hope somebody can come up with a solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have a hard bricked phone, its basically a paper weight now. NEVER use kies to upgrade your phone, it ruins more phones than it helps. You can try calling samsung and telling them that their program Kies has hard bricked your phone, I have seen a few people get lucky and get a free replacement.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk 2
---------- Post added at 10:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:40 AM ----------
ReadySethGo said:
I have tried various combinations of buttons in hopes of getting it into download mode. No luck with any of them. If I could just get it into said download mode it would be very easy to reflash a proper kernel. No luck yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried button combos while the usb jig is plugged in? My phone doesn't jump to download mode with a jig either. Try getting into download mode the normal way but instead of inserting usb cable while holding buttons, insert usb jig. Worth a try....
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk 2
iTz KeeFy said:
You have a hard bricked phone, its basically a paper weight now. NEVER use kies to upgrade your phone, it ruins more phones than it helps. You can try calling samsung and telling them that their program Kies has hard bricked your phone, I have seen a few people get lucky and get a free replacement.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk 2
---------- Post added at 10:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:40 AM ----------
Have you tried button combos while the usb jig is plugged in? My phone doesn't jump to download mode with a jig either. Try getting into download mode the normal way but instead of inserting usb cable while holding buttons, insert usb jig. Worth a try....
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was a good idea, but unfortunately it didn't do anything for me. Thanks for the idea though, hadn't thought to try that process.

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