galaxy alpha issues - Samsung Galaxy Alpha

Hi everybody i am asking for advice on trying to repair a phone for a family member the phone is a galaxy alpha F variant UK stock rom, factory unlocked and unrooted the problem started after finishing a call the handset was left un attended and when it was later picked up the screen was black but does not appear broken aywhere and does not appear to respond to touch
i have tried un successfully to get it into recovery or download modes the handset turns on and the blue lights come on and you can hear the start up tone but see nothing on screen, it also charges and i have tried a new battery, odin does recognise a device but as i cant get it into download i cant flash a stock rom which i have already downloaded.
So my question is, is there any software that i can download to diagnose whether or not the screen is dead or whether it is a f/w issue or is there a way around this where i can use a different tool to get into the handset and flash a new stock rom in case the current f/w is corrupted
Thanks in advance for any useful help and advice
Please understand that i am a newb to this so if i have made some mistakes or my questions have been answered elsewhere previously i do apologise

I think it seems pretty obvious that the problem is the display itself

Hi BigHands,
I faced a problem having the exact same symptoms as yours twice in the last few month: screen was staying black but phone reacted to some "external" actions (ON/OFF), blue light.
Not sure what happened exactly, but removing the battery and trying to restart the phone finally brought the device back to life after trying more than than 10 times!!!
So in my case, the display was probably not the (only) root cause.
Really weird however that I needed to reboot the phone >10times to make it work: usually when software is screwed either one single power cycle will bring the device back to life or it will never power up again!
Anyways, a FW issue is still a possibility considering the number of bug this phone has (for the price it was sold, that phone is definitely the worse gadget I ever owned!)... But it seems there is a bunch of FW updates on going on this model accross the world, so there is still a little hope things might improve... Samsumg may have woken up; who knows...
JF

Related

[Q] Phone Crashing

Yesterday my battery died half way through playing a game (not entirely unexpected, I'd been playing on my phone quite a bit that day and it still lasted 22-23 hours), I connected the charger that came with the phone and left it to charge while I got on with some uni work.
The phone vibrated to tell me the charge was complete so I disconnected the charger and turned the phone on as usual. After the samsung galaxy S2 splash screen, the screen lock appears and when I move it there are several error messages saying that various applications have had to stop (the main one seems to be TwLauncher but when I force close it, many others also force close). This continues for several seconds until the phone decides to restart itself and repeats the process ad infinitum until I can shut down the phone (I can manage this by not trying to get rid of the screen lock and just holding the power button until the menu appears).
I've had this phone a week (one of those days being today where it did not work at all) so it's still well within the return period but I was wondering if there is an obvious fix that I'm missing.
If not, I'll be ringing Samsung on Monday (I have coursework due for friday so I'll be devoting my samsung office hours time to that) and if they can't give me an easy fix I'll be ringing the place I bought it from and asking for an exchange.
So, has anyone else had similar issues and managed a simple fix?
Bump, I take it everyone else's phone is working then?
Giving this another bump in the hopes there's someone with a simple solution.
I don't want to have send my phone off and wait for the place to get stock.
there have been 2 firmware releases from samsung in the last couple of days, i assume you are running the latest firmware?
I can't even get the phone to stay on long enough for Kies to recognise it. It keeps restarting. Even when it was working I couldn't get Kies to work with it properly (I couldn't copy the contacts from the phone to the computer).
It's running the firmware it came with, but I can't check which version it is.
I was going to try flashing the new firmware via ODIN but I've been busy with coursework. Is this likely to solve the issue or will I just be giving the retailers ammo to reject my return?
go into recovery and do a factory reset
psp888 said:
go into recovery and do a factory reset
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this is what I was looking for.
after googling, this sorted it out.
I just assumed download mode was the only other non-normal mode.
Thanks
Basic FAQs on the SGS1 forum mostly apply to SGS2 .Worth a look there before Google .
jje

[Q] Please Help Galaxy 10.1 Screen Closes every 15 secs

I bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 on September 13 in the USA. It is a 32 GB WiFi model. And it was shipped to India and I opened it on the 1st of October.
This is what happens:
I can switch on the device
The Home screen appears.
And without me doing anything or if I try to explore any of the widgets the screen goes off and then comes back again to the Home Screen itself. All within 15 seconds.
And if I try to press the camera option it say "Please turn off USB storage before using the camera function"
I tried to meddle with the settings( all within 15 the seconds as it again shuts off and goes to the start home screen) but to no avail.
But I'm able to shut down the device.
Buddies it is a brand new device , I did not even register myself , no data loaded , nothing at all. I think it is some software glitch.
Since it is an imported piece they say it cannot be serviced in India.
HELP ME
What model have you got?
Two choices with a new electronic device - faulty hardware or faulty/corrupted software install at manufacturing.
If you cannot return it to where you bought it (India>USA must be tricky) you can only eliminate the software possibility by re-installing from scratch...if it works then ok, you're up and running....if it doesn't then it's hardware and you're gonna have to find a way of getting unit repaired/exchanged...sorry can't be more help with instant answer...we can help you on this forum to try a reinstall, no problems
If the unit really is knackered, and you don't get anywhere with local support, you could try what I have tried on occasions with spectacular success...trawl the web, find the name of several top people in the company's head office - by this I mean in Korea for Samsung, draft a message stating faults, what they have not done for you in your home country as regards product support and then emphasise that you believed Samsung to be above this sort of shoddy standard, say how you thought they were a reputable company etc. Don't be rude but sound despairing and disillusioned with the company....."customer service" people could not give a toss in most countries, thay are paid their salaries regardless of whether or not you are happy Make up every email address you can think of for a name and fire the message off to all of them...hopefully you'll get lucky with one of the addy's...you'll be amazed how rattling the cage of somebody really high up in a company can get results
Try going the custom rom way. Try flashing task's rom and see what happens? If it's still a problem, u can be sure it's a hardware problem
Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk
darktranquility18 said:
Try going the custom rom way. Try flashing task's rom and see what happens? If it's still a problem, u can be sure it's a hardware problem
Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why a custom rom?? First thing to do is just to see if it is software related...there are some people who have problems with custom roms, y'know...just reload stock first to see whether it is hardware or software problem...throwing new things into the mix should come after a correct analysis of initial problem...introducing another variable straight off is not good practice
A few suggestions. First, in screen settings, make sure the display is not set to turn off in 15 seconds. If that's not it, then try to do a factory reset from the settings screen. The only other I can think of is to connect to your wireless and check for updates.
Checked...it's not set at 15 secs
Please use the Q&A Forum for questions Thanks
Moving to Q&A
Did you try the factory reset like rcy1 suggested?
Yes I tried
I just had one other thought... is the power saving enabled?
@ orthochow
Any news?

SGS2 bootloop! Help!

Hi guys! First off, I know this sounds like a common problem, but I've looked through several times and haven't found a solution yet.
I have a SGS2, came as 2.3.3 stock but upgraded a while back to 2.3.5 through Kies. It was working perfectly for as long as I remember.
About a month ago the battery started acting weird going from 80% to 20% in no time, heating up too, I do remember dropping the phone once during this period, but it was nothing (just thought I should include this, also, I usually leave the phone plugged into the charger overnight as I do not have a power source at work (i work outdoors) i probably need a battery replacement)
The screen brightness would sometimes flicker and then POOF! The phone shuts off...At first this would happen at any activity, nothing specific, BUT, I have noticed that it intensifies with the Facebook app.
Anyways, usually plugging the phone back into the charger and powering it up would bring it back online, but not this time. It would get stuck looping the animation of the 'S' at the beginning and no booting up. I have a valid warranty card which I'm guessing will get the phone either fixed or replaced but I need help to try to salvage whatever info I can get my hands on, preferably everything, but my memos are most important to me.
Thanks for the help!
sherief87 said:
Hi guys! First off, I know this sounds like a common problem, but I've looked through several times and haven't found a solution yet.
I have a SGS2, came as 2.3.3 stock but upgraded a while back to 2.3.5 through Kies. It was working perfectly for as long as I remember.
About a month ago the battery started acting weird going from 80% to 20% in no time, heating up too, I do remember dropping the phone once during this period, but it was nothing (just thought I should include this, also, I usually leave the phone plugged into the charger overnight as I do not have a power source at work (i work outdoors) i probably need a battery replacement)
The screen brightness would sometimes flicker and then POOF! The phone shuts off...At first this would happen at any activity, nothing specific, BUT, I have noticed that it intensifies with the Facebook app.
Anyways, usually plugging the phone back into the charger and powering it up would bring it back online, but not this time. It would get stuck looping the animation of the 'S' at the beginning and no booting up. I have a valid warranty card which I'm guessing will get the phone either fixed or replaced but I need help to try to salvage whatever info I can get my hands on, preferably everything, but my memos are most important to me.
Thanks for the help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
are u rooted
try flashing the stock rom again and check if u face the same issue
I'm not rooted. I tried doing that using odin and got the stock firmware from sammobile. same thing happens, stuck at the boot.
a friend suggested i try to flash the stock ICS version, same thing.
sherief87 said:
I'm not rooted. I tried doing that using odin and got the stock firmware from sammobile. same thing happens, stuck at the boot.
a friend suggested i try to flash the stock ICS version, same thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Weird. It shouldn't boot loop. You sure your version is GT-I9100 and not GT-I9100G? Since I'm in Riyadh, the latest version for GB here (Saudi Arabia) was JPKJ2, but that's for GT-I9100, dunno about the G version.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
okay so with the help of a friend and this awesome forum, i managed to install cwm, from there i could take a nandroid backup, but i cant mount the phone as a drive or anything to copy the files, and i'm guessing i cant use this backup i just took to restore later because it'll just get me stuck at the same place im at now
i read that i can use unyaffs to extract files from the resultant backup image, so my question is, before i do a wipe, is there any other method through which i could get a backup of my stuff? the things i would very much like to get a copy off are my messages/notes/whatsapp history and pretty much anything really
thanks for the help!

SGS2 bricked while booting up.

Well, first of all, I should start by greeting the community, as this is my first post. So, yeah, hey everybody, been reading the forum for quite a while now, and it's been of a great help
Now, to the problem - this morning I noticed that my sgs2 had turned itself off. I didn't suspect the phone to be bricked or something as this happens from time to time when using custom roms. I tried turning it back on, it booted up, showed my kernels logo (DorimanX, not sure for the version though), so I put my phone in my pocket. After half an hour or so, I wanted to make a call, but I noticed that my sgs2 still hadn't booted up. So I tried restarting my phone using the power button, but instead of restarting it just turned off and I hadn't been able to turn it on since - it's bricked
I've heard of phones getting bricked while flashing a new rom or kernel, but never had I thought it could happen on simply booting up...
I did some research on bricked SGS2 and here's what I have done so far:
I've tried booting up in recovery/download modes, but that doesnt work.
I've tried soft/hard resetting my phone - still no luck.
I've also tried making an USB Jig, didn't work though. I'm not quite sure if my self-made jig works in the first place, as I did mess up the micro usb connector pretty bad while soldering resistors to pins. I'll try that one again with a different jack later and will keep you updated on weather it worked or not.
So, my question is, if my second try at making a USB Jig fails, is JTagging my only chance on reviving the phone? I guess that a MOBO change would probably help.
Another question is, if JTagging is my only chance, wouldn't it be easyer to just replace the bricked NAND chip? Then again, even though I have all kinds of soldering equipment accessible and also have the skills to do it, I have no idea where it's located on the mobo... Some info on that would also be much appreciated.
I havent flashed a new rom for quite a while now, last time I did it was when the latest version of Resurrection Remix was released.
My CPU wasn't overclocked - it was underclocked to 1GHz.
I was using DorimanX kernel.
Thanks in advance
jankanolv said:
Well, first of all, I should start by greeting the community, as this is my first post. So, yeah, hey everybody, been reading the forum for quite a while now, and it's been of a great help
Now, to the problem - this morning I noticed that my sgs2 had turned itself off. I didn't suspect the phone to be bricked or something as this happens from time to time when using custom roms. I tried turning it back on, it booted up, showed my kernels logo (DorimanX, not sure for the version though), so I put my phone in my pocket. After half an hour or so, I wanted to make a call, but I noticed that my sgs2 still hadn't booted up. So I tried restarting my phone using the power button, but instead of restarting it just turned off and I hadn't been able to turn it on since - it's bricked
I've heard of phones getting bricked while flashing a new rom or kernel, but never had I thought it could happen on simply booting up...
I did some research on bricked SGS2 and here's what I have done so far:
I've tried booting up in recovery/download modes, but that doesnt work.
I've tried soft/hard resetting my phone - still no luck.
I've also tried making an USB Jig, didn't work though. I'm not quite sure if my self-made jig works in the first place, as I did mess up the micro usb connector pretty bad while soldering resistors to pins. I'll try that one again with a different jack later and will keep you updated on weather it worked or not.
So, my question is, if my second try at making a USB Jig fails, is JTagging my only chance on reviving the phone? I guess that a MOBO change would probably help.
Another question is, if JTagging is my only chance, wouldn't it be easyer to just replace the bricked NAND chip? Then again, even though I have all kinds of soldering equipment accessible and also have the skills to do it, I have no idea where it's located on the mobo... Some info on that would also be much appreciated.
I havent flashed a new rom for quite a while now, last time I did it was when the latest version of Resurrection Remix was released.
My CPU wasn't overclocked - it was underclocked to 1GHz.
I was using DorimanX kernel.
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What happens when you plug the charger. Does it charge?
pasanjay said:
What happens when you plug the charger. Does it charge?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess the battery is charging, as it heats up, but I don't see the charging animation. Also my PC won't see that a USB divice of any kind is connected.
jankanolv said:
I guess the battery is charging, as it heats up, but I don't see the charging animation. Also my PC won't see that a USB divice of any kind is connected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
order an usb jig and try. If it does not work send it to a repair center
Very similar happened to me a couple of days ago. Sgs2 crashed and wouldn't boot. I was also running dorimanx kernel, under clocked at 1ghz.
Originally I managed to get to download mode (not recovery mode). Kernels wouldn't flash via odin. I also tried using samsung kies to flash stock without success.
I tried the solution for nand bricked phones in this forum, however, this appears to have hard bricked the phone, since it failed to flash and now the phone does nothing (other than get hot when it is plugged in.) Nothing shows on screen. The PC does not recognise the device.
None of the threads I've read seem to offer a solution to this - any ideas? I guess I need to try a service centre, but thought I'd mention since I had same configuration as jankanolv, which of course may just be a coincidence...
birdr said:
Very similar happened to me a couple of days ago. Sgs2 crashed and wouldn't boot. I was also running dorimanx kernel, under clocked at 1ghz.
Originally I managed to get to download mode (not recovery mode). Kernels wouldn't flash via odin. I also tried using samsung kies to flash stock without success.
I tried the solution for nand bricked phones in this forum, however, this appears to have hard bricked the phone, since it failed to flash and now the phone does nothing (other than get hot when it is plugged in.) Nothing shows on screen. The PC does not recognise the device.
None of the threads I've read seem to offer a solution to this - any ideas? I guess I need to try a service centre, but thought I'd mention since I had same configuration as jankanolv, which of course may just be a coincidence...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds familliar, lol. Anyways, did you use USB Jig to get to download mode? Or you just managed to boot it up on it's own?
I am really confused right now, because I'm pretty sure this can't be a hard brick as nothing has went wrong while flashing something on the device - it just bricked itself...
I've just get in the forum a few minutes ago only to find somoene with this symptoms, and i wasn't in here for too long and voilá...
Since yesterday my SGII, with no problems to this date, went in reboot mode for a few times.
I have no clue what is going on, but im sure something is.
i'll wait to see if theres anyone else complaining about it.
cheers
Hmm... Looks like a lot of people are getting this "brick" lately.
Maybe we all used some kind of app that bricked the phone on bootup?
Well, I tried to make another Jig, didn't work... This time though, I screwed my resitors up...
Another thing - is it really relevant to have exactly 301kOhm resistance between pins 4 and 5? As far as I know, it just kind of short circuits some pins on MOBO, which tells the phone to boot up in download mode. But I might be wrong...
Btw, sorry for the double post.
Same Problem
Hi,
I just face the same problem today,
now my S2 not working and just heat up.
this only happened after the original update done to my S2 - Android 4.1.2 - 2 days ago.
any help please
heat up....near the rear camera heat up?
Sent from the little guy
Mine gets hot near the camera. Nothing shows on screen.
In answer to jankanolv's questions:
- originally I could get to download mode via pressing home/power/volume down. (Not any more following failed flash). I've not tried a USB jig.
- my crash which started the situation occurred while I was listening to tune in radio pro app.
Well guys....near camera heating + no boot/dl/recovery = claim warranty saying that you factory reset the phone, 4.0.4 was laggy.
Sent from the little guy
was going to post a thread asking for help for what appears to be a similar problem
mine got stuck in a bootloop after pulling the battery, tried flashing new software in recovery then tried through odin but kept failing, now its bricked.
does nothing, wont go into either download or recovery mode so looks like its off to the service centre with it.
ahmadmetwally said:
Hi,
I just face the same problem today,
now my S2 not working and just heat up.
this only happened after the original update done to my S2 - Android 4.1.2 - 2 days ago.
any help please
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yessss! good to know I'm not the only one facing this issue.
I posted a thread about this yesterday but it is all the way down in page 3 already:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2192996
I tapped on the "sync" toggle on the notification shade and my phone just turned itself off.
Recovery and download mode were accessible though.
Thanks for the help.
I went to Samsung to get them to fix based on the factory reset while on stock 4.04 premise, but they were having none of it, and wanted to charge me to investigate the problem. Once out of warranty period, it seems it doesn't matter if their software can brick your phone!
I found a local phone fixing service in Hong Kong which investigated, diagnosed as a motherboard failure (which I suspect my problem genuinely was given how firmware flashes were failing), and replaced + fitted for 700hkd, (approx 90usd). The guy did it in front of me within 10 mins. "Andy Telecom" in Mongkok, on +852 9237 9237 in case someone else has the same issue locally.
Well, outta warranty...that's another story. You only get 1-2 years to brick your device
Glad you had it fixed for 90 bucks, some service centers charge around 150.
Sent from the little guy
Well, I finally managed to make a working USB Jig, tried it on Galaxy Ace, worked like a charm.
What confuses me right now, is that my sgs2 has drained all the battery, even though it was switched off for about 2 days. I'm charging the device right now, and I will keep you updated on weather my jig works..
Sorry for double-posting again on an old thread, just wanted to let you guys know - I took the phone to warranty service and they changed the mobo. I didn't have to pay anything and everything is working normally. Of course all data on sd card is now lost for good, lol.
So if you hard brick your device so badly it even won't respond to usb jig and you still have your warranty active, don't bother trying to revive your phone - just take it to warranty service
I guess they couldn't see the odin download count so they cant void my warranty, he he he ]

[Q] New Here: Seeking Help w/ Rebooting S4's.

Hello:
So, the bottom line up front is I need help solving a problem with my now third, new Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4--it keeps restarting on its own, at random times, but most often after I lock the screen.
To go in more depth, if you think you may know the solution: I purchased the S4 when it first came out, some time in 2013 (not sure specifically, but it was new) and it worked just fine for 13 months (1 month past the warranty of course); this was back in August, when I got the latest Android update pushed to my phone from Verizon (4.4.2). A couple of weeks later, I would occasionally get overheating warnings that would very quickly disappear (like within a few seconds), and then the device started restarting itself... I cannot predict when it will restart, it's random, but like I said above, it usually happens most right after I lock the screen by pressing the right side button once. I started looking around on the internet for a solution then, but only found a couple of videos from earlier in 2013 where people were having battery problems (Google search has been letting me down more and more as the years pass). One day while at work, I was listening to Pandora as I always have with the phone in my front pocket, as I always have. A few hours later when I got home, not having taken the phone out of my front pocket since those last few hours at work, I went to answer a text message I had received; when I unlocked the phone, the screen was black, except for a small bit of white showing through some cracks UNDER the LCD, UNDER the screen protector, INSIDE my Otterbox Defender... the phone appeared to be working still, but the screen and touch screen did not. At that point I was pretty damn irritated and tried to find answers for a week with no luck... I called Verizon, they sent me on a goose chase to Samsung, who sent me back to Verizon, who got me in a conference call with Samsung and then left the call, and then Samsung ultimately said I would need to pay for repairs to the phone... SO... I went back to Verizon who again said I would have to talk to Samsung, but instead I just settled to giving Asurion (my phone insurance through Verizon, whom I pay an extra $9 monthly) $99 as a deductible to get a replacement S4...
Two days later I receive a brand new S4... spend hours setting it up the way I had my prior one... wasting tons of my valueable time to do so and bandwidth from my Concast ISP and the data cap they've decided to give us... one week later, the phone starts restarting itself... and this one did it more often than my prior one... EVERYTHING is up to date, minus a good amount of useless bloatware apps I never use from Samsung, like "Watch On," which I ignore... but everything necessary, I update. So, I go back to Asurion, who quickly ships me a 3rd S4...
Two days later I receive that third, brand new S4... spend hours setting it up the way I had my prior one... and now, this one is also restarting itself randomly. Interestingly, when I visited family for Thanksgiving, it restarted itself over and over and over much more frequently than when I'm at my place... at my family's place, they have very poor reception, and my phone usually has to work more to try to get the signal... IDK what the deal is, but maybe that information can be helpful to y'all.
Other things to note:
1) When I check the "RAM manager" by holding down the home button and then choosing "Task Manager", the phone is always using at least 800MB of 1.77GB of RAM... even when I choose "Clear memory" and it tells me 30 something apps have been closed... it jumps right back up to 800-900MB of usage.
2) I've tried factory resets on all three phones; with the first one where the screen cracked inside, I hooked the phone up via HDMI... within a couple of days, the restarting begins.
3) With the first replacement I received, I could not sent text messages with the default messenger app... and shortly after trying, it would restart.
4) I have used the same SIM card with all three phones since the issue began, when I first got the 4.2.2 update... I do not suspect the SIM card is the problem, but I'm also not savy with the phone... I know my way around it, but I'm not in the know.
5) I thought maybe it started because of some apps I had been trying, so I had deleted them, and the problem still persists.
6) I constantly have a Pebble Bluetooth smart watch connected to the phone... I have since I got it last Spring (2014).
7) I have never rooted the S4, overclocked it, underclocked it, or modded it in anyway because I do not know how, and I was afraid of what could happen in the future with whatever ROM I did flash onto the device if Verizon tried to push an update to it... I just don't know anything about the whole process, and I'm assuming it requires a lot of know how and babysitting of the device... I just want it to work.
8) I've replaced the battery twice; it doesn't seem to be the problem.
9) I've cleared the cache through the boot manager thing gotten to by holding a combo of buttons on the device while it's rebooting... it did not help.
Edit: 10) Today while I was listening to Pandora in the car, the audio began to skip and scratch, and then it paused for a moment, and then the phone restarted itself.
11) I forgot to mention that the reboot process itself is very fast compared to a manual restart performed by me... the phone will go black, the Samsung color rings will show a second after that, the logo appears then, the screen flashes the red Verizon logo, and then the devices is ready to be used... it's less than 10 seconds.
I've been searching around on the internet for about two months now while dealing with the problem and I can't find anything useful. Does anyone here know what my issue is and how I can fix it? Is there a way to pull error logs / information from the S4 somehow to give to someone to diagnose, like DxDiags on PC? I don't know how to read that stuff myself, but I know it can be very useful... I just don't know how to find that info inside of these very locked down ****boxes we call smartphones...
I truly appreciate any help I can get--sorry I can't offer anything in return; if I can't find a solution, I'm just going to go to my backup phone from 2011 (Droid X), and I will definitely never purchase another Samsung device, especially after they blamed me as the cause of the problem without even seeing the phone...
Thanks.
The problem is with the NG6 software build, and "probably" not with your phone. Go to Settings>About Phone> and see what Baseband Version is on your phone. If the last 3 letters are NG6, that's probably the problem. There is a new OTA update (as of 12/1).....Baseband Version ending in NK1, which corrects the rebooting problem. Either install the new update, or go back to the NC5 baseband version and that should solve your problem. Both NK1 and NC5 can be rooted if you desire.

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