Database Info

3 button Combo

This is a request, hopefully I will not get flamed for posting this.
I am not a programmer, I cant do what you guys do...just not my thing. There are MANY people that have problem with the 3 button combo stopping working. I experienced this myself on my second captivate. Is there anyone out there solid enough and willing to commit the time to solve this issue? It is obviously a software issue and I feel confident that if one of the senior solid members devoted time to it could solve it. I can say that if I have the ability to boot into download mode I will do just about anything to this phone because I will have the ability to always revert and start over. When I lost that ability, it crippled my phone in my mind cause problems occur, that is just how it goes eventually no matter if you follow directions perfectly or not.
Anyway, its easy for me to ask others to figure this out...its just beyond my current abilities and I think there are many on this board that would really love for a fix to be there. I also think its a worthy area to put time into considering the amount of people that have had issues with this. It doesnt always come down to people not knowing what to do, what combination works...for some of us it was a software issue that no options worked for. Anyway, that is my rant....I just have great faith that someone on here is solid enough to solve the issue...it just isnt me!!

FLAME WAR!!!
Seriously though, I feel your pain, I had two crappy cappies. Lucked out on the third.
Hope someone does figure it out.
Now let the FLAME WAR BEGIN!!!

I think froyo solved this issue because now my 3button combo works.

Some reported that JH7 fixed it too but it does not work for many and Im sure Froyo is the same deal. Anyway, just a thought as it would help many.

I would prefer adb to the button combos...
Just
1. connect ur phone in debugging mode
2. Press Win+R to open up a cammandline window
3. enter the folder with adb
for recovery mode, type in
adb reboot recovery
for download mode, type in
adb reboot download
This method does not require root, and extends the life of your buttons as well
adb usually comes with lagfix or sideloading patchs.

I agree that those methods are great but the problem is if you cant boot the device, the 3 button combos are your only choice.

gocats7 said:
This is a request, hopefully I will not get flamed for posting this.
I am not a programmer, I cant do what you guys do...just not my thing. There are MANY people that have problem with the 3 button combo stopping working. I experienced this myself on my second captivate. Is there anyone out there solid enough and willing to commit the time to solve this issue? It is obviously a software issue and I feel confident that if one of the senior solid members devoted time to it could solve it. I can say that if I have the ability to boot into download mode I will do just about anything to this phone because I will have the ability to always revert and start over. When I lost that ability, it crippled my phone in my mind cause problems occur, that is just how it goes eventually no matter if you follow directions perfectly or not.
Anyway, its easy for me to ask others to figure this out...its just beyond my current abilities and I think there are many on this board that would really love for a fix to be there. I also think its a worthy area to put time into considering the amount of people that have had issues with this. It doesnt always come down to people not knowing what to do, what combination works...for some of us it was a software issue that no options worked for. Anyway, that is my rant....I just have great faith that someone on here is solid enough to solve the issue...it just isnt me!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem isn't necessarily "obviously software". The JH7 OTA "fixed" the problem, but really it didn't, because if you Odin'd back, you have the problem again. We looked and looked in that release to try to find what was in it that fixed the problem, we could not find it. Tell me why Odin will not take away or give 3 button recovery to phones that already have it, or don't have it, but it will if you get it from the OTA. Also, why does it take so long for Samsung to provide a fix, but the fix actually isn't a fix, it is just a cover up. I am leaning very heavily on this is a hardware issue. If you think about it, why is it that you can completely destroy your phone, but you can still get into download mode? This is because your second bootloader still works (I believe) but why is it impossible to break this? I think it is because this is a hardware issue, and we can never get a real, permanent fix.

DemonWav said:
The problem isn't necessarily "obviously software". The JH7 OTA "fixed" the problem, but really it didn't, because if you Odin'd back, you have the problem again. We looked and looked in that release to try to find what was in it that fixed the problem, we could not find it. Tell me why Odin will not take away or give 3 button recovery to phones that already have it, or don't have it, but it will if you get it from the OTA. Also, why does it take so long for Samsung to provide a fix, but the fix actually isn't a fix, it is just a cover up. I am leaning very heavily on this is a hardware issue. If you think about it, why is it that you can completely destroy your phone, but you can still get into download mode? This is because your second bootloader still works (I believe) but why is it impossible to break this? I think it is because this is a hardware issue, and we can never get a real, permanent fix.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
word.
Also, for those of you who can get their phone to show the computer/phone screen, all you need to do is hold all the buttons and the screen will eventually restart, then you let go of the power button (but keep holding the others) this should get you in recovery mode... I read this somewhere on the forums and it has saved me many times!!! (my button combos only work this way)

We will just have to agree to disagree because I do not think it is a hardware issue and I do not agree with your logic. Mine worked perfect until I changed software. Others claim JH7 (software change) made theirs work again. I could go into more details about why I think the issue is software based but I wont convince you and you will not convince me. The request hasnt been met with much enthusiam so the thread should probably just close.

I was one of those who gained 3 button abilities with the update. we now know that JH7 and apparently Froyo will enable the 3 button combo. But if you ODIN back to 2.1, the 3 button combo no longer works.
My question is that once Froyo is officially released and we can ODIN back to stock on 2.2 (which we already can I think because of the leak), doesn't that mean we now have 3 button combo for good because technically, you won't need to ODIN back to 2.1 when Froyo is officially supported by samsung.
Or am i just confused? lol

gocats7 said:
We will just have to agree to disagree because I do not think it is a hardware issue and I do not agree with your logic. Mine worked perfect until I changed software. Others claim JH7 (software change) made theirs work again. I could go into more details about why I think the issue is software based but I wont convince you and you will not convince me. The request hasnt been met with much enthusiam so the thread should probably just close.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably because its old news. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=784147 I've already made the same request, but we got nowhere on it. Like I said, we have tried to find the problem, or what is fixing it, but we just can't find it. It's amazing that it does at least temporarily fix the problem, because from what we found, it shouldn't.

n19htmare said:
I was one of those who gained 3 button abilities with the update. we now know that JH7 and apparently Froyo will enable the 3 button combo. But if you ODIN back to 2.1, the 3 button combo no longer works.
My question is that once Froyo is officially released and we can ODIN back to stock on 2.2 (which we already can I think because of the leak), doesn't that mean we now have 3 button combo for good because technically, you won't need to ODIN back to 2.1 when Froyo is officially supported by samsung.
Or am i just confused? lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im in the same situation as you. froyo enabled the 3 button combo.
im thinking that since we dont have to odin back to 2.1 anymore, we will always have 3button combo. but can someone clarify this?

here is an easy way to get into recover/download mode without the 3 buttons:
First root your phone (most people on this site have done this)
then download Android Terminal Emulator from the market
once it is finished downloading, open and you should be at a blue screen, type "su" (without quotes obviously). It will ask for root access/super user permission. Click Yes. Now type "reboot download" to enter download mode, type reboot recovery for recovery, and reboot for plain old rebooting. It may say you don't have permission or something when you first try, just restart phone and try again.
Hope that helps. My button combos don't work either, so thats what I use flawlessly every time.

whenemusattack said:
here is an easy way to get into recover/download mode without the 3 buttons:
First root your phone (most people on this site have done this)
then download Android Terminal Emulator from the market
once it is finished downloading, open and you should be at a blue screen, type "su" (without quotes obviously). It will ask for root access/super user permission. Click Yes. Now type "reboot download" to enter download mode, type reboot recovery for recovery, and reboot for plain old rebooting. It may say you don't have permission or something when you first try, just restart phone and try again.
Hope that helps. My button combos don't work either, so thats what I use flawlessly every time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this will definitely work but im thinking the main concern for people is when they brick their phone and cant get it to boot up. ADB and Android Terminal Emulator only works when the phone is booted up. With no 3 button combo support, idk what people can do when it wont boot up

It's possible to easily get into download/recover mode via the method posted above or adb shell. The problem is if your phone cannot boot. This almost happened to me today when I tried to remove the sl4a lagfix before DG switched to OCLF.
The button combos originally worked on my Captivate, but stopped working at some point after I one-clicked back to JF6 and then flashed Cognition 2.2, as at the very least Cognition 2.2 is not guaranteed to restore the button combos. I have not tried the stock Froyo leak, so I cannot comment on that. At some point this week or next weekend, I will one-click to JF6, update to JH7, then install Cognition 2.2 from there and see if that restores it.

BTW my phone's 3 combo now works after One-Click Froyo. So it seems to me the 3 button issue is software related.

whenemusattack said:
BTW my phone's 3 combo now works after One-Click Froyo. So it seems to me the 3 button issue is software related.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which to me is weird because most recovery/debug modes are not or should not be affected by software. In which case it makes recovery totally pointless if your software is corrupt (point of recovery is to FIX the corrupt software).
it still doesn't make sense why SOME samsung phones will ALWAYS work with 3 button even on 2.1 and others wont at all.
In my case, I don't really care because I'm not an aggressive flasher and usually don't flash beta stuff etc.

[HELP] What do I do now? Captivate dead.

Yessss another dead captivate thread.
I think I'm gonna go die now.
I followed the video guide to install a custom ROM, in the development thread to the letter, and now my phone wont even turn on... (now that im thinking about it, I think I may have left the debugging mode OFF before I went to flash back to stock, maybe thats why?)
I got into download mode, plugged the phone into odin3 JF6 one click, it started and at some point during the process it said "removed" even though I didnt touch anything, and then i got a weird msg saying my device is not recognized, keep in mind the drivers were installed properly, and I had everything double checked before i flashed....
wtf do I do now? Cant boot at all or go back into download mode. this is my third galaxy, got it two days ago ffs.

My only 2 suggestions. Go to the Dev section and in the guides there is a method to make a USB Jig without solder or anything. You're out like $1 if it doesn't work.
Also, what rev is your phone? There's been some threads started saying the newer Rev phones, maybe 1010 and up crap out using normal One-click. Do check your rev level under the battery and do a search of the forums. I know I have seen the threads.
good luck.

1 reboot pc
2 use different usb ports (direct to motherboard)
3 open odin first as administrator
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

bobbylx said:
My only 2 suggestions. Go to the Dev section and in the guides there is a method to make a USB Jig without solder or anything. You're out like $1 if it doesn't work.
Also, what rev is your phone? There's been some threads started saying the newer Rev phones, maybe 1010 and up crap out using normal One-click. Do check your rev level under the battery and do a search of the forums. I know I have seen the threads.
good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure if I was looking at the right place, but I think its 10.12. I'll do a search and see what comes up, thanks for your help.
JayPhill89 said:
1 reboot pc
2 use different usb ports (direct to motherboard)
3 open odin first as administrator
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try that, thanks.

Open Odin first then,
1. Remove your battery for 30 seconds, remove external SD card and SIM card
2. Reinsert battery.
3. Hold down both volume buttons and while holding them down plug the phone in.
It should get into download mode then. I bricked my phone and it wouldn't boot up at all and this worked for me.
On a side note, I have not had much luck flashing or doing much of anything on Windows 7 64 bit. I would suggest trying it on an XP machine if you have access to one.

G.Hook said:
Open Odin first then,
1. Remove your battery for 30 seconds, remove external SD card and SIM card
2. Reinsert battery.
3. Hold down both volume buttons and while holding them down plug the phone in.
It should get into download mode then. I bricked my phone and it wouldn't boot up at all and this worked for me.
On a side note, I have not had much luck flashing or doing much of anything on Windows 7 64 bit. I would suggest trying it on an XP machine if you have access to one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried every possible key combination out there and nothing works. I think my best bet is a Jig, unfortunately the source didnt have any transistors in stock so im SOL for now.

Use JIG ... It will be your last help.

Use it as a paper weight.

If you look up samsung captivate jig on ebay you will find some pre built. I bought one not long ago just to have and it works just fine.
I hope this helps. Best of luck to you.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

Sounds like you are a victim of the one size odin fits all debacle. You will indeed need a jig to recover and then you must use odin to flash jh2 or later firmware to your phone. Unfortunately, most guides still direct people to flash jf6 even though your situation comes up on a regular basis.

Check out this link for a jig. And there is a video to show you how to build one. Or mobiletechvideo guy sells them for 17 bucks.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=889128&highlight=usb+jig
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA App

newter55 said:
Sounds like you are a victim of the one size odin fits all debacle. You will indeed need a jig to recover and then you must use odin to flash jh2 or later firmware to your phone. Unfortunately, most guides still direct people to flash jf6 even though your situation comes up on a regular basis.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems to me like there's consistent irregularities with the entire process, its not uniform at all, which is very frustrating, every one faces different problems, and the solution is never the same.
Anyways, I went out and bought 3 resistors, turns out they were the wrong ones, I found out the colors werent the same of what I needed, but then that just goes to show you how difficult it is, its partly my fault i got the wrong ones, but someone like me who doesnt know much about hardware hacking, walks into an electronic store, faced with several options, is some times lost.
Oh well, I could've fixed it, had I got the right resistors, but then again, who was going to guarantee I wasn't going to kill it again, for the exact same reason I mentioned in the first post, because I need to consider a few things here, first and foremost, that I have a rogers branded device, and these are the ATT forums.
I called rogers and a replacement has been placed, I should be getting it by friday, or tomorrow if im lucky, with whatever comfort that brings, I still have several concerns, and now that I've basically rendered 3 devices to "almost" none-working condition (this one being an exception because I can "possibly" fix it) I'm not even sure how far I want to go.

rsnt said:
It seems to me like there's consistent irregularities with the entire process, its not uniform at all, which is very frustrating, every one faces different problems, and the solution is never the same.
Anyways, I went out and bought 3 resistors, turns out they were the wrong ones, I found out the colors werent the same of what I needed, but then that just goes to show you how difficult it is, its partly my fault i got the wrong ones, but someone like me who doesnt know much about hardware hacking, walks into an electronic store, faced with several options, is some times lost.
Oh well, I could've fixed it, had I got the right resistors, but then again, who was going to guarantee I wasn't going to kill it again, for the exact same reason I mentioned in the first post, because I need to consider a few things here, first and foremost, that I have a rogers branded device, and these are the ATT forums.
I called rogers and a replacement has been placed, I should be getting it by friday, or tomorrow if im lucky, with whatever comfort that brings, I still have several concerns, and now that I've basically rendered 3 devices to "almost" none-working condition (this one being an exception because I can "possibly" fix it) I'm not even sure how far I want to go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My first captivate went fubar within my 30 days and I damaged the nv_data.bin on my second captivate and was stuck with the test IMEI. Samsung fixed my second one for free. Now I'm at the point where I'm totally sure about what precautions I need to take to keep me out of trouble but I'm not sure if I want to risk it again, heh.
The cheap jig does work. It helped me when I accidentally unplugged my phone during an odin flash.

Yes, you make a good point. You will find that most of the guides are written by people like myself who have an early revision or a phone from the initial release. For most of us, from what I've read and experienced, our phones are really hard to brick, ie, button recovery always works, odin one-click works, etc.
I honestly don't know all the differences now between revs. The first hiccup was the phones missing button recovery/download, and now it seems that people are having issues using the Odin One-click that we have been using for months.
I would recommend with your next phone check the rev or manufacture date, then search the forums for people with similar or same revs that have been successful at flashing and find out what they did.
good luck

@bobby
I wasnt trying to diminish the help that the guides provide. The work that went into creating them is certainly appreciated. The problem arises when so many people just tell newcomers to flash with x version of odin without considering the changes that have occured in the newer builds.
Sent from my Liquid Metal using XDA App

newter55 said:
@bobby
I wasnt trying to diminish the help that the guides provide. The work that went into creating them is certainly appreciated. The problem arises when so many people just tell newcomers to flash with x version of odin without considering the changes that have occured in the newer builds.
Sent from my Liquid Metal using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you completely. I tend to take it for granted that button recovery works for me and that good old odin one-click does too. It seems we need to start collecting data and making new guides.
Something like,
If you have rev, 1006, 1007,1008 go here,
If you have rev 1009 to 1012 go here,
etc.

latest update,
Two cables, and six resistors later, my phone won't go into download mode, lol, I'm not even sure I did things right, I'm gonna try stripping the same cable, used in one of those videos on how to make a jig, I still have three extra resistors.
I'm starting to think its because of it being with rogers. im gonna search the forums.

A micro usb breakout board is the simplest method for constructing a jig.

Wow, I guess I'm lucky that the used Captivate I picked up for my gf is an older one at 1007. Root procedure for her went without a hitch.
From stock rom, all set up and in daily use, WITHOUT ROOTING first.
Put clockwork update.zip on her sdcard.
Reboot into recovery.
Reinstall packages twice to get into clockwork recovery.
Wipe data/factory reset.
Flash Cognition.
Profit.
She's been using it this way for two weeks and loves it so much more than stock.
What was so complicated about the procedure you followed? Or was it the same as this but it just didn't work?

rsnt said:
...and now that I've basically rendered 3 devices to "almost" none-working condition (this one being an exception because I can "possibly" fix it) I'm not even sure how far I want to go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you may have a good point. Eventually your carrier will stop replacing bricks for you. If you still have the inclination to play with flashing, investing in a jig would definately be a wise investment and if I were in your shoes, I wouldn't flash anything without one. I made a jig for myself before I ever flashed anything but luckily I have never had to use it, probably because I took the time (about a month and a half of trolling around here reading.) to research what all was involved with what I was about to jump into. Just something to consider in case you want to try again. Good luck!

How hard is it to brick this device?

I can buy one at a good price that the seller claims will not power on after trying to flash a rom. I know a lot of times one can work there way out of a apparent brick but I do not want to shell out cash for a real brick.

gbmitchell said:
I can buy one at a good price that the seller claims will not power on after trying to flash a rom. I know a lot of times one can work there way out of a apparent brick but I do not want to shell out cash for a real brick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the phone goes into download mode (volume down when plugging into computer w/ battery out) it can "probably" be recovered. Without knowing what said person flashed its hard to tell for certain. If they flashed firmware for another device, it might be done.
http://www.mydroidworld.com/forums/...harge-full-factory-tar-flashing-software.html
That is what you would use to recover it.

Its common to soft brick (recoverable with some work) but one would have to make a serious mistake to hard brick the Charge.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

What hoppermi said. Lol
Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

Mine has an "unknown" baseband and will not accept the full ED1 restore method mentioned in the above post. I've tried every suggestion by multiple people.
I'm waiting for someone to post the modem image before I just throw mine away.
Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

Yeah I thought it would more likely be recoverable than not. I know the fascinate was pretty good about that. Maybe I should get it.

If you can get it into Download mode, it can be recovered

Well find out soon enough. I either got a good deal or an expensive brick.

Samsung flashing pst is somewhat confusing to use. I managed to brick my friends phone last night to the point where odin could not connect to the phone but samsung flashing pst did the trick. Make sure you install all the drivers that come with pst and double click on the droid charge after opening samsung flashing pst then click on the sw download button on the left side of the new window. Then follow the directions in the link you posted. If you can access download mode you should easily be able to unbrick good luck I hope you get this fixed
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

Welp. I got it and it does not even look like it is pretending to power on under any circumstances.

You know how to go into download mode right? Open Odin, remove the battery in the Charge, plus the USB into your computer & while holding the Down volume rocker plug the Micro-USB into the phone and if done correctly you should see the triangle on your phones screen

Yeah I did that and there were no signs of life and I have done this part before on the fascinate. I guess maybe I will see if Samsung will fix it.

[Q] Is my phone bricked???

Okay, I bought a used MT4GS from a fairly reputable phone reseller called CPR (cell phone repair.) I bought it back in March or April of this year. I immediately rooted and installed a custom rom and CWM. A few months ago I upgraded my rom to CM9 and about a month ago I began having problems. The isses were minor at first, the hardware buttons on the outside of the phone would stop working but I could open the phone and use the ones on the keyboard. Then in the past two weeks all of the buttons would stop working. I thought it was a hardware problem so today I dropped it off at CPR and they took it apart and tested all of the buttons. According to them all the buttons tested out fine. So I have a phone that the only thing that works is the touch screen. Here is the odd thing. If I hold the volume down while booting I get the fastboot menu and can navigate it using the volume keys. If I go into recovery mode none of the buttons work same as in the phone. So either this is a software problem or a systemboard problem. Because my power and volume buttons work on the recovery menu I'm inclined to believe it's a software problem but I'm a little lost on how to fix it. I just tried to boot the phone again and it's now stuck on the boot animation and does nothing. Please help!!!

I was curious if you tried a reinstall before your keys went completely berserk...but no matter now. Sometimes a person will get a bad download though and you can get some WEIRD results from them.
Anyway....this is how I answered on the CM9 Thread if you hadn't seen it......
I've never heard of a ROM brickng a phone especially gradually but I suppose anything is possible. If what you're wanting to do is to return to stock & just kinda "start over" then just go to This Thread and scroll down to the files labeled as "Return to Stock" & download the correct file according to your installed software. Then you can just place it in the root directory of your SD card and reboot into Hboot. PG59IMG files are designed to run from your bootloader and you just answer the few questions it asks as it does.

WeekendsR2Short said:
I was curious if you tried a reinstall before your keys went completely berserk...but no matter now. Sometimes a person will get a bad download though and you can get some WEIRD results from them.
Anyway....this is how I answered on the CM9 Thread if you hadn't seen it......
I've never heard of a ROM brickng a phone especially gradually but I suppose anything is possible. If what you're wanting to do is to return to stock & just kinda "start over" then just go to This Thread and scroll down to the files labeled as "Return to Stock" & download the correct file according to your installed software. Then you can just place it in the root directory of your SD card and reboot into Hboot. PG59IMG files are designed to run from your bootloader and you just answer the few questions it asks as it does.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I actually did that last night. Got to watch the intro animation from HTC/T-Mobile etc. Still no buttons. I'm guessing that the system board has a bad chip since the buttons tested out okay. That is more consistent with the gradual failure than a software bug. Now if there were a rom made for a phone without buttons then I'd be in good shape. Luckily I found an identical phone on Craigslist for $85 which I feel is reasonable for a discontinued phone. Does anybody have recommendations on QWERTY Android phones for T-Mobile that are better than the MT4GS?

Someone mentioned that Samsung is coming out with one soon but I can't remember the name for squat.

If it's for T-Mobile then I suggest the Samsung Relay 4G. Else better wait for Samsung Stratosphere 2 fior Verizon if you might consider changing networks for the sake of a better phone.

THAAAAT'S the one! Samsung Relay 4G. Thank you kind sir!:good:

Samsung took over for HTC, who took over for crApple.

blackknightavalon said:
Samsung took over for HTC, who took over for crApple.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Samsung also.

First off let me say I'm sorry about the death of your MT4GS - mine died over a month ago and I'm still in mourning. However, the Relay is a nice little device. I don't want to be accused of attempting to recruit people again, but at the risk of saying so it is an upgrade from the HTC product in MOST ways - some people don't like the screen as much and the camera is definitely inferior. However, it's a nice device. I'm happy with it honestly. TouchWIZ takes some getting used to but since HTC didn't give us ICS, even ICSense... and Samsung has ICS on here with JB to come... I'm satisfied. If you are still curious we have a thread in the G2/Desire forum that we are using until XDA gives us a dedicated forum.
Sent from my SGH-T699 using xda app-developers app

[Q] Arrgh.. BRICK!!

OK, My first attempt at messing with the firmware on an Android phone resulted in dismal failure and a dead phone..
Here's the scenario as events unfolded..
Bought an unlocked Galaxy S 4G
Trying to connect my phone to my PC resulted in dismal failure, wondered if it might be a dodgy firmware someone had installed.
*#2663# to update the TSP firmware. This just hung on the updating screen. Eventually the battery gave out. (Don't ask me why I was updating the Touch Screen Panel Firmware, I don't know.. I was fiddling. )
Recharged the battery and rebooted the phone.. Menu and Back buttons on touch pannel light but don't work.
Searched this forum and many others, seems to be a common problem but no clues as to how to resolve.
So I downloaded Odin 307 and the USB drivers, put phone in download mode, installed the following via Odin
CODE_T959VUVKG4_CL385158_REV00_user_low_noship.tar
SGH-T959V-CSC-TMB-VIBRANTP.tar
T959VUVKG4-Phone-CL1037720.tar
Worked fine, but didn't fix the issue with the TSP.
Somewhere I read that maybe it was partition corruption, so I decided to repartition. Ticked the "Repartition" box and used Hawk_Sidekick_VibrantPlus_831.pit (All four of these came as a package I found linked to on this site somewhere.) Odin said it was ok, but now I can't even power the phone on. Screen stays blank. Computer does not recognise USB device. Odin doesn't see it. It seems to be dead.
So.. Is there a rescue remedy from this scenario, or do I use this piece of glass and electronics to wedge my door open?
Please help I'm not going to pretend I knew what I was doing, but I'd like to unbrick this thing so I can at least make phone calls on it and send emails to people saying what a plonker I've been..
Thanks. :crying:

Do you have a T959V or T959 ?
Check under your battery.
Sent from my SGH-T959V using xda premium

T959V
No, I've not tried that. I'll give it a go.

The Heimdall One Click has saved my phone quite a few times, it's simple and effective! Let us know how it goes!
Sent from my Illūsîøn'd Galaxy S³

Ok, so I managed to get it into Download mode and reflashed it in Odin. I'm going to have a go with "oneclick" and see what happens, but at this point the only outstanding thing to fix is the TSP, which is still kaput. (Maybe one click will fix that) I've searched and searched on this forum, there's a whole bunch of dead threads where people have killed their TSP, and no resulting fixes posted. If anyone has any ideas, its would be great if you could post them, because at the moment, "menu" and "back" are still U/S.
Thanks for your help so far. If I get a solution, I'll post it here, I hate abandoned threads where people leech solutions to their probems and don't give feedback.

OK, So I tried this : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=23121150&postcount=12&nocache=1&z=6720291850525859
No luck..
Next thing to try is an older version of the O/S, apparently if I put on then it downgrades one of the firmware, and running the update again fixes the issue. (On can only hope.. Now I gotta go see if I can find an older version of the OS and try this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=21987511&postcount=9
:fingers-crossed:
Oh well.. On the plus side, I bought this little cheap phone to play around and learn on.. I seem to be doing just that. :cyclops: