[Q] Device bricked? (Stock flashing already tried) - Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hello,
Before anybody gives me the "Use search" or "Here's this link, it solves everything" : I tried all of that !
I read countless number of posts, I tried many things !
So here is what I have :
- Samsung Galaxy S II (GT-i9100) not booting (Stuck at Logo + recovery mod not working (Download mode is))
- Can flash (Tried many different ROMS
- Stock ROM "Ice Cream Sandwich XWLP7 (4.0.3)"
- Stock recovery mod not working but ClockWorkMod's one works when I put it
What I tried :
- Tried to delete data/reset user factory
- Tried to put different versions of CyanogenMod's ROM
- Tried to put different versions of Stock ROM
- Used a stock pit file to repartition using Heimdall
I'm out of clue, if somebody has an idea what I can try ...
Thank you very much !
Edit : Forgot to say, I have access to adb interface

Given you say you've tried 'everything', what exactly do you expect anyone here to suggest ? Motherboard replacement; new one by Samsung service centre (expensive option), 2nd hand one you source online & either swap yourself or pay a local mobile repair shop to swap (cheaper option).

MistahBungle said:
Given you say you've tried 'everything', what exactly do you expect anyone here to suggest ? Motherboard replacement; new one by Samsung service centre (expensive option), 2nd hand one you source online & either swap yourself or pay a local mobile repair shop to swap (cheaper option).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the answer, I hope I didn't get too patronizing in my post
So basically my phone is bricked? Can't do anything about it?

Yeah, you did. And that's why I gave you that response.
Right...Now that we have that out of the way, search for Hopper8's 'Odin troubleshooting' thread. I don't think the link to 3 part firmware in the thread is live anymore, but the first thing I'd be doing is trying to hunt down any I9100 3 part stock firmware (not 4.0.4 though) & flashing that. Rationale being as it will wipe your phone, maybe it will remove remnants of what was previously on the phone & which may be causing problems. It's a longshot, but worth trying given the alternatives.
I'd also keep flashing stock firmwares (as many different ones as you can download), and go through all the troubleshooting steps in Hopper's thread. There's always a chance something simple/obvious is being overlooked which is tripping you up, which is easy to do if you've been at it for ages & have had no joy getting it fixed.
If after having done those things the situation hasn't changed, take it to someone who does JTAG's, and if they're prepared to have a look at it on the basis of 'you only pay them if a JTAG is possible' (I know a couple of repairers near me who do this, YMMV though), try that. It's unlikely to work/be possible, but worth trying.
If it isn't JTAG'able, then you either look at motherboard replacement as per my PP, or a new phone, as it's obviously a case of NAND corruption.

The 3 part firmware in hoppers guide is good........I'm hosting it now.....
Try the mediafire link before the dropbox one......
This might be my S2, or it might be my W...but it's definitely CM

Good news Might grab a copy myself in case it ever goes AWOL.

No probs MB.....that's what it's there for....
This might be my S2, or it might be my W...but it's definitely CM

Thank you very much for the 3 part stock firmware but it didn't solve my problem :x
I still have the phone not booting and the recovery mode bootlooping
I'll try option 2, I downloaded a bunch of stock firmwares from Sammobile and will flash my phone over and over
But I'm starting to get the impression that it's not gonna work...
I'll start asking around me if anybody has a not-working SG2 to get his motherboard

Definitely keep trying, but yeah unfortunately, you might want to start looking for that 2nd hand board.

Related

[Q] unrooted Galaxy S2 bricked after official update and showing ODIN?!

Hi everyone,
I am a noob but I have scoured the earth and not been able to find any answer to this or any case of this occurring... yet. However the incidence may increase over the next few days as Vietnamese users update.
I have an unrooted S2 GT-i9100G (the ones released for Asian markets).
I bought it new out of an unopened box from a major retailer and have never installed any CFW.
I was running ICS without a hitch until yesterday (and had previously successfully updated from Gingerbread), when an official update announcement arrived (I'm assuming Jellybean... finally).
Phone ran update then rebooted and bricked, and now gets stuck on the splash screen (Black screen with "Samsung Galaxy S2 GT-I9100G in the middle).
If I enter recovery mode (down, home, power) then it shows me a screen with ODIN mode!
I don't get it. I thought ODIN was not included in stock phones? I'm also assuming this is why the stock FW update bricked the phone.
What steps should I take now? Since it appears ODIN may exist on the phone in some capacity should I hook it up to the PC and try to root the phone?
So far all I have done is cleared the phone memory using the standard recovery mode, and left ODIN mode running whilst unconnected to PC to see what happened (which was nothing). For some reason the phone drains completely in ODIN mode even when connected to a charger.
Thanks for your input on this one.
EDIT: Also please don't tell me to take it back to the retailer. The phone is out of warranty now and Vietnamese retailers don't take any responsibility for their products after sale, so I need to sort this out by myself. Thanks
Down/home/power is download mode, not recovery mode. Recovery mode is vol up/home/power.
You need to find an I9100G stock rom for your carrier/country from somewhere (maybe Samfirmware ?), get into download mode & flash it with Odin (how to do this has been covered thousands of times here; search). If Odin won't work or the phone/PC won't recognise each other, search for threads re: this issue. There's a set of 10-12 troubleshooting steps you need to try in that instance.
MistahBungle said:
Down/home/power is download mode, not recovery mode. Recovery mode is vol up/home/power.
You need to find an I9100G stock rom for your carrier/country from somewhere (maybe Samfirmware ?), get into download mode & flash it with Odin (how to do this has been covered thousands of times here; search). If Odin won't work or the phone/PC won't recognise each other, search for threads re: this issue. There's a set of 10-12 troubleshooting steps you need to try in that instance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Roger that. I'm sure I can figure out how to do all these things quite easily. But how about the fact that Odin is present on the phone? I was under the impression that Odin is an extra application that you install to root your phone and install CFW. My phone is unrooted and stock out of a sealed box, so should I expect to have Odin on it? I don't want to have CFW on my phone and I'm concerned that even after I fix this issue and unbrick the phone, I will have difficulty installing the latest Jellybean XXV region OFW through automatic update.
It also seems strange and contrary to me that I should have to even use unofficial methods in order to fix an official update that was delivered automatically.
Odin is not present on the phone. Download mode is also referred to as 'Odin mode' because you use Odin to flash whatever (normally stock roms) in this mode. Odin is a piece of Samsung software initially used by techs @ service centres but now widely used by people who visit XDA/similar places to flash stuff to their phones.
Edit - You can think it's 'strange or contrary' that you need to do X or Y to fix your phone. That's fine (Personally, I'm not really interested). That's how you can fix your phone. Sorry if I sound standoffish or whatever, it isn't personal at all, but you're just another person with a (slightly, at this point) busted phone who visits here. I've told you how to fix it, so you can either do that or not.
And there it is. Thanks for your guidance
MistahBungle said:
Odin is not present on the phone. Download mode is also referred to as 'Odin mode' because you use Odin to flash whatever (normally stock roms) in this mode. Odin is a piece of Samsung software initially used by techs @ service centres but now widely used by people who visit XDA/similar places to flash stuff to their phones.
Edit - You can think it's 'strange or contrary' that you need to do X or Y to fix your phone. That's fine (Personally, I'm not really interested). That's how you can fix your phone. Sorry if I sound standoffish or whatever, it isn't personal at all, but you're just another person with a (slightly, at this point) busted phone who visits here. I've told you how to fix it, so you can either do that or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well until your final post I wasn't aware that download mode was also called Odin mode and that is perfectly normal for a stock phone to say this. I think it's perfectly reasonable for someone who has done a fair bit of research into fixing a stock phone to hear about Odin only in the context of rooting and CFW (pages which I avoid because I'm not interested in CFW), and thus to be surprised when they see Odin mentioned on their stock phone. Now that you've made me aware that this is normal, I'm perfectly capable of finding the info required to fix the phone.
I appreciate your help. I just wanted to mention this as it seems you feel I have asked this question unnecessarily. I hope this points out that if one follows this particular train of thought of fixing a stock phone then its very possible and not unreasonable to arrive at this conclusion.

Phone won't start after flashing in Odin...

Hey guys
1) Restarted my phone today using CM10.1 from a very recent nightly (within the past week).
2) On restart, phone froze and got kernel panic.
3) Restarted into CWM and tried to do a restore to an earlier backup I had made.
4) Half-way through the restore, I got ANOTHER kernel panic (never had that before)...
5) Only things I could do with the phone after that was enter download mode...nothing else...couldn't enter recovery mode anymore.
6) Went into download mode and flashed this CWM-Recovery (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1118693) and followed the instructions to the letter.
7) Odin 3.07 hung on NAND Write Start
8) Tried using Odin 1.3, and it seemed to flash correctly. It says completed no errors.
Phone will now not even start and is completely unresponsive...pressing any combination of buttons will not start the phone, and the phone is not recognized in Odin anymore...did I just hard brick it? Any other ideas?
Thanks,
Elliott
Service centre. Although if you can have someone who does JTAG's have a look at it to determine whether it can be JTAG'd without you giving them any money up front (I.E you only pay them if it can be JTAG'd), try that first.
Thanks that's what I thought.
Also, try a jig if you can get one. In all likelihood won't work, but stranger things have happened & you have nothing to lose.
Yeah thanks that's what I plan on doing. Any idea what I did wrong, though? I don't want it to happen again if I get it working with a jig.
Impossible to say. Not sure why you flashed that nondescript kernel/recovery in that situation tho given it probably wouldn't have worked even if the flash had been successful (You would probably have ended up with bootloop given recovery was obviously 'broken'). I would have flashed stock with Odin (And that's certainly what I tell people in your situation on here to do because it normally works).
But flashing recovery rather than a stock rom probably didn't break your phone, put it that way, so you didn't do anything 'wrong' per se. Just remember if you get into a similar situation again, go back to stock via Odin & start again (re-root your phone/restore a backup, flash your custom rom/kernel again, etc).
If the jig works (and don't get your hopes up or anything, we're talking a 1 in 10,000 chance, and that's probably being generous), flash stock with Odin (you wont have much choice).
Well...brought it to a JTAG specialist today and he couldn't fix it either...says it's very rare and he's had 5 out of 80 S2's like this happen without being able to fix them...
Bummer. Motherboard replacement in that case. If the phone's under warranty, take it to a service centre & say as little as possible. You might blag it for a warranty fix. No warranty ? You can still have a new motherboard put in by a service centre (more expensive option usually), or you can source a 2nd hand MB from a 'donor' phone (one with a broken screen that's otherwise OK, etc) & either swap it in yourself or pay a local mobile repair shop to do it (usually cheaper option).
@ OP By following what you flashed I noticed the date, we're talking about a 2 years old thread, a lot have changed since.
Not sure that was what bricked your device but I get that panic mode.
The other thing that it comes to mind is nand corruption, which has been quite common these days with people running custom.
I'm with bungle there, the best recovery package is going back to stock and start fresh.
I, on the other hand, wouldn't accept the situation you are on, I would spend a whole week trying to get that phone to boot again, whether a second opinion on a jtag, a new jig, another battery or any other thread on here at xda.
If the device gets hot near the rear camera and it won't even charge nor get warm around that area dismiss what I just said and proceed with the mobo replacement bungle suggested.
And of course, if you did something else to your device and didn't share it please, come clean so others don't freak out by reading this.
Sent from...this is not even my S2
Hey
Nothing else was done to the device...just what I stated exactly.
I caved today and bought a BNIB S3 because I couldn't go without a phone anymore...
Thanks for the help, guys
Elliott

[Q] Repair shop killed my phone ?

Hello,
I have a Samsung Galaxy S2.
After reading this post http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2382579 I decided to root my phone.
So I went ahead and started with this step http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1118693 because I was unsure if I had a kernel with the MMC-SUPERBRICK-BUG.
After I flashed CWM-SuperSU-v0.97.zip using Odin version 1.85 and after the phone rebooted it was stuck at the "triangle screen" for a few seconds then the display went black and I couldn't do anything further.
Up to this point the phone was still accessible in download mode (volume up, power and center button). I believe this is called "download mode". Sorry but I am a complete noob with rooting phones, etc...
So I panicked and took the phone to a repair shop (big mistake). The guy ran it in download mode then tried to flash something onto the phone (I think he used all 4 fields: Bootloader, PDA, Phone and CSC.
Then, in the middle of the operation, Odin froze when writing "setting up connection". Then the phone died ! pressing the 3 famous buttons does nothing and the phone just stays dead.
I had to leave the phone there as the guy said they will try to bypass stuff and try to connect to the CPU directly (sorry again if this sounds noobish). I did update my modem firmware and my computer BIOS in the past... but I guess this one was more complicated.
At the shop, they asked me to check again in 3 days. I am lost here. I don't know what to do anymore.
Is the phone hard bricked ? Should they bear all expenses for what they did ? I would bring back my phone and try something like this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1878255 or even a stock flash but I am afraid I cannot do that as the phone isn't even powering up anymore after they tried to repair it at the shop.
Any advice is appreciated.
Nope. You borked it. You tried to flash custom firmware to the phone & obviously failed spectacularly at it. Instead of trying to flash it yourself via download mode (which you could easily have done unless the NAND was borked), you paid them to do it. Sometimes flashes go bad. Sounds like that's what happened in this case.
Reading between the lines they sound like they're going to try & JTAG it (or have someone else do it). And if that fails I presume they'll change motherboards. You could always get the phone back & take it to someone who does JTAGs if that shop doesn't themselves.
MistahBungle said:
Nope. You borked it. You tried to flash custom firmware to the phone & obviously failed spectacularly at it. Instead of trying to flash it yourself via download mode (which you could easily have done unless the NAND was borked), you paid them to do it. Sometimes flashes go bad. Sounds like that's what happened in this case.
Reading between the lines they sound like they're going to try & JTAG it (or have someone else do it). And if that fails I presume they'll change motherboards. You could always get the phone back & take it to someone who does JTAGs if that shop doesn't themselves.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I know I failed at it
Or maybe the shop technician is the one who broke it. At least when I had the phone with me I was still able to boot in Odin mode.
Do you think I could have recovered my phone if I had kept it with me and it was booting in download mode ?
I feel so pissed that I took it to that shop. I just wish I hadn't panicked and I had tried, instead, to fix it at home by asking for more help.
Anyway I still haven't paid them anything so far.
We agreed that they will pay for the motherboard because I brought in a working phone (that would power up at least). The owner of the shop was nice enough to agree that he would only charge me fees for installing new software on the phone (even if they have to change the motherboard) because he knows the phone was booting in Odin mode when I came in to the shop and his technician flashed the wrong firmware.
I also wrote down the board serial number so I can be sure they changed it (if they say they did that). So you are telling me the phone can still be fixed ? What does JTAG mean ?
Even if it is fixed I think I will be too scared to try and root it again. Unless I can understand in advance, step by step, what I need to do and what file version(s) I need to use.
Ok, I got my phone today in good working condition.
According to the shop, they had to replace an IC (I don't know what damaged the IC, I am assuming this happened when they tried to electrically jolt the phone) then JTAG it to get it to work again. They charged me a small fee (and they did end up bearing more than 50% of the expenses) because I brought in a phone that was booting in download mode and they take responsibility for what happened after that (flashing wrong files which caused the phone to completely stop booting).
Anyway, long story short, this was my first attempt to root a mobile phone and I learned my lesson.
I am running the following:
Model Number: GT-I9100
Android Version: 4.0.3 (which I will need to upgrade to 4.1.2 of course)
Baseband Version: I9100XXLPW
I know you will say read the sticky posts or the guides but the truth is, that's exactly what I did (you can see the links to the guide I tried to follow in my original post) and I still ended up failing at rooting/installing cyanogen on my phone right after installing Clockwork Mod.
The truth is I am scared to try again and mess up the phone. So this time I would rather be safe than sorry.
What can I do, this time, to safely root it and install a mod like Cyanogen.
Detailed steps are appreciated:
- Do I need to upgrade to 4.1.2 before rooting as 4.0.3 might have the superbrick bug ?
- How to backup the phone.
- Odin version to use, ClockWork Mod version to use, Cyanogen version to use
- How to connect the phone, how to reboot in download mode and all the necessary actions to avoid bricking my phone.
No spoon feeding aloud on XDA.better to read and learn how to do this and that but before you flash anything after learning how to do that learn how to fix it if it doesn't work. :thumbup:
andrewwright said:
No spoon feeding aloud on XDA.better to read and learn how to do this and that but before you flash anything after learning how to do that learn how to fix it if it doesn't work. :thumbup:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fair enough, I figured I'd get that reply from someone and it's normal to be honest.
I decided not to try anything on my phone before I re-read the guides and be sure I know what I am doing.
I will also keep the phone running on stock firmware (after upgrading to JB 4.1.2) to check the battery consumption behavior which, I hope, will be fine since someone tampered with my phone's electronic components at the shop.

[Q] Galaxy S2 possibly deadbrick, need advise

Hi, I'm using an international based galaxy S2 I9100. I've been using PA roms for my S2 for quite a while, then I start to get the annoying problems because my google apps (like chrome, maps, etc) doesn't want to update properly because "storage not sufficient" issue.
So I decided to find a way to expand my S2 internal memory of 2GB and found a thread here about .pit files. Downloaded a modified .pit files to make the internal memory to be 6GB and the SDcard (ums) to be 8GB. Flashed the .pit files according to the instructions through odin (data wiping, cache wipe, delvik cache wipe).
When the flashing finished my internal storage did change into 6GB but my 8GB SD card (ums) is gone. I installed diskinfo and it shows that my 8GB was stated as unmounted.
Then I accidentally flashed another kernel without full wipe, so I tried to recover by re-flashing the samsung official stock rom.
After the md5.tar was finished being installed, I was stuck at the booting screen, it keeps playing the samsung logo over and over again.
Then I decided to download an original .pit files, thinking that the partition is the one who most likely makes it bootlooping. Once again because I'm a bit panicking, I didn't realize that I downloaded .pit file for I9100G not I9100. After flashing, the phone was supposed to reboot, but it just turned off and that's it...
I couldn't get it on, usb driver didn't work anymore (pc won't recognize). I've checked with samsung service center, they confirmed that the device still actually have electric current when we turned them on...but because of flashing rom and stuff the only service they offer is to change the mainboard, but the service lady was kind enough to let me know that I might still have a chance without changing my mb, and that is by trying jtag though they didn't provide it @ samsung service center.
I believe my device is in deadbrick situation and I worries that the most important thing is to actually fix the partition even if the jtag able to revive my phone. I've contacted some mobile phone service center in my town to check about jtag, but most of them gave a not so clear answer to some of my questions..
So I'm asking for some answers of my question from experts in xda forum :
1. Can JTAG / RIFF solve my S2 deadbrick problem & partition as well? And how do they really work?
2. Do you think due to what I did (mentioned above), there's some serious problem that JTAG/RIFF won't fix and if the answer is yes, what is the suitable fix?
Due to this problem I had a bad day, would be appreciated that negative comment is not given coz I know I probably did some stupid things above, but that's part of learning...so answers and good advise are welcome and will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Emtzzz
1 & 2) Nobody here could possibly answer your questions, because we don't have the phone in front of us with the JTAG equipment. Anyone here who tries to tell you otherwise is lying out their arse.
You're only going to know if it's JTAG'able or not when someone who does JTAG's has a look at it/tries to do it.
MistahBungle said:
1 & 2) Nobody here could possibly answer your questions, because we don't have the phone in front of us with the JTAG equipment. Anyone here who tries to tell you otherwise is lying out their arse.
You're only going to know if it's JTAG'able or not when someone who does JTAG's has a look at it/tries to do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I understand, that's why I'm hoping there's somebody in this forum who done JTAG or had similar problem with mine might be able to explain to me the solution to my situation...and if they're actually using JTAG as the solution they could probably let me know what to expect / ask from the one who's gonna do the jtag for me.
jtag flashes the bootloader.
If your nand is stuffed, you are looking at mobo change.
Sent from the little guy

[Q] eMMC problem useless phone?

Hey guys been searching for hours and hours and I really need someone to tell me whether I should keep trying to just throw my phone in the can
Somehow my GT-i9100 locked up while running and app and when I took the battery out and restarted it was stuck on the Samsung Logo.
I accessed the recovery menu and wiped cache...didn't work and the phone wouldn't be recognized by the computer nor would it charge when plugged to the wall outlet.
I decided to flash a new stock rom *Previously had the latest version of official ICS on my S2" and I proceeded to select the format/wipe to factory option.
It stayed there then it turned of and now it's a complete total brick! wtf.
I've read quite a bit and it has all the symptoms of an eMMC failure.
Is there any way I can save my phone? Will a jig work to force it into download mode?
I'm supposing the pit file fix requires the phone to boot in recovery.
If you can help me out I'll really appreciate it.
Thanks.
If you have no download mode or recovery/the phone won't boot at all, a jig is highly unlikely to do anything - but try one anyway given they only cost a few bucks. You might get lucky.
Likewise a JTAG more than likely won't be possible, if you can have someone who does JTAG's take a look at it on the basis of no payment unless a JTAG can be done, again you may as well try it.
Most likely fix is motherboard replacement - new one by Samsung service centre (most expensive option) or 2nd hand one by you/a local mobile repair shop (less expensive option).
If your phone was rooted at the time you did a wipe & the stock rom you were running was 4.0.4, then yes, it's probably the brickbug. But if your phone wasn't rooted and not running 4.0.4, then it could have been a whole host of things that caused it to brick (I can't help but feeling there's a bunch of info missing here).
MistahBungle said:
If you have no download mode or recovery/the phone won't boot at all, a jig is highly unlikely to do anything - but try one anyway given they only cost a few bucks. You might get lucky.
Likewise a JTAG more than likely won't be possible, if you can have someone who does JTAG's take a look at it on the basis of no payment unless a JTAG can be done, again you may as well try it.
Most likely fix is motherboard replacement - new one by Samsung service centre (most expensive option) or 2nd hand one by you/a local mobile repair shop (less expensive option).
If your phone was rooted at the time you did a wipe & the stock rom you were running was 4.0.4, then yes, it's probably the brickbug. But if your phone wasn't rooted and not running 4.0.4, then it could have been a whole host of things that caused it to brick (I can't help but feeling there's a bunch of info missing here).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Phone was not rooted, I forget if the last official ICS upgrade for the phone was 4.0.4 it may well be, but I did the wipe from the stock recovery menu. I honestly didn't expect it to brick this way I wasn't even modding it. But I'll try to get someone who jtags I love this damn phone.
Only one confirmed case of brickbug happening to someone wiping from stock recovery, you are not another case.
Cross your fingers it's JTAG'able, will be relatively cheap (tho manage your expectations, far more unlikely that JTAG is possible than likely) compared to the alternatives.

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