Database Info

Any bricks??

How easy is this phone to brick?
And by brick I mean point of no return?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

I have heard no reports of people bricking it ever.
Sent from my Darkginger CM7 Google Nexus S!

It appears to be rather difficult. I've not seen any validated reports of a brick here yet. One guy acted like he might have bricked his legitimately, but it's not clear what he actually did or if he managed to flash something to it.
As long as you have fastboot working, there should be no issues flashing a recovery image and a rom from there.
Keep in mind Google designed this phone to be easily unlocked and modded with custom roms.

If mine is still working, they have to be pretty hard to brick. Google did an awesome job in making recovery very easy.

byock1 said:
If mine is still working, they have to be pretty hard to brick. Google did an awesome job in making recovery very easy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed. I'm not going to pull a Titanic and claim its unbrickable but I'd say its pretty f°°°ing hard to brick. As distortedloop said, I've not seen a case where someone could not get to the bootloader and if you can do that you can fast boot a recovery and restore a stock nandroid.
Sent from my Darkginger CM7 Google Nexus S!

I haven't heard of bricks either.... its really difficult to brick when u have recovery.

you really have to pull some crazy **** to brick this phone, even then its hard. ive even tried flashing a nexus one and a mt4g rom to it, but it just errored out

lol i did brick my nexus s
i flashed the odin flash image found here and killed my att nexus s so sad
i was trying getting CM7 on it but it wouldnt mount cache nor data so tried to mount them over adb and went crazy and flashed that odin image,
wont boot or anything probably different bootloader and i killed it appart from having different modem, i guess i will go back to my i9000T that wont brick even if i install euro i9000 bootloaders

davioxx said:
lol i did brick my nexus s
i flashed the odin flash image found here and killed my att nexus s so sad
i was trying getting CM7 on it but it wouldnt mount cache nor data so tried to mount them over adb and went crazy and flashed that odin image,
wont boot or anything probably different bootloader and i killed it appart from having different modem, i guess i will go back to my i9000T that wont brick even if i install euro i9000 bootloaders
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even then, its probably still not bricked. Sell me yours.

peeturr said:
Even then, its probably still not bricked. Sell me yours.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol really help me getting it back to life i think i have a unique device atm
i cannot boot neither recovery, fastboot or download mode
im thinking on building a jig with the 301k resistor to see if that makes it boot :S

davioxx said:
lol i did brick my nexus s
i flashed the odin flash image found here and killed my att nexus s
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you brick a phone that doesn't yet exist (att nexus s)...?

Nice catch there
nice to notice the ATT nexus s

Brick
benifactor said:
How easy is this phone to brick?
And by brick I mean point of no return?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it must be impossible; I've put on roms, kernels, etc., and I don't know what I'm doing. Just play around and it's never broken.

benifactor said:
How easy is this phone to brick?
And by brick I mean point of no return?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its kind of hard to brick where you cant bring it back. i had bootloops and stuck at the google screen but as far as that goes you can still access your recovery and restore a working rom.

bricked samsung captivate

hey guys,
i doubt anyone can be of any help. I have bricked my captivate in trying to odin flash the rom back to the stock js6, or whatever. Any help.. wont go into download or recovery mode.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=775911
If you don't even know what ROM you're trying to flash to, perhaps you should stick to stock.

rww265 said:
hey guys,
i doubt anyone can be of any help. I have bricked my captivate in trying to odin flash the rom back to the stock js6, or whatever. Any help.. wont go into download or recovery mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really like how descriptive you are in telling us what exactly your problem is
Here's a simplified guide to fixing your phone:
1. Press the power button. Does something happen (anything?) If yes, go to step 2, otherwise jump to step 3.
2. Read what Miami_Son posted.
3. Your phone is dead. Mail it back to Samsung. Pray that they don't charge you an arm and a leg to restore the firmware.

Uh-oh
3. Your phone is dead. Mail it back to Samsung. Pray that they don't charge you an arm and a leg to restore the firmware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you happen to know how much they may charge for this? I tried to flash back to stock last night and now have no reaction when I press the power button. I talked to Samsung, but couldn't get any good information from them about potential cost without telling them exactly what happened.
Does anyone know what the process involves? Can the tell from a phone that won't power what was done?
Sorry for the n00bish questions.

bmwenger said:
Do you happen to know how much they may charge for this? I tried to flash back to stock last night and now have no reaction when I press the power button. I talked to Samsung, but couldn't get any good information from them about potential cost without telling them exactly what happened.
Does anyone know what the process involves? Can the tell from a phone that won't power what was done?
Sorry for the n00bish questions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hard bricking with Odin takes some effort. Did you try everything in the thread I posted? If it didn't complete an Odin flash then they probably can't tell what happened or if it has a custom ROM on it. More likely they'll just strip it for repair parts or just reflash it without diagnosing it. Just say that it was suffering from random shutdowns and now it won't turn on.

Miami_Son said:
Hard bricking with Odin takes some effort. Did you try everything in the thread I posted? If it didn't complete an Odin flash then they probably can't tell what happened or if it has a custom ROM on it. More likely they'll just strip it for repair parts or just reflash it without diagnosing it. Just say that it was suffering from random shutdowns and now it won't turn on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
About the only thing I haven't tried is a jig, but from what I have read unless you have something happen when you push the power button that won't work. I didn't far enough to really tell where it is in the process. I had a recovery screen (2e I think) show up and then nothing responded to a button press. Next thing I know, it won't let me boot up.
Oh well, we'll see what happens with the phone and Samsung.
Thank you so much for all the help I have gotten over the past few weeks from this site.

[Q] So confused...

I have completely screwed my phone. I have rooted and ROM'ed at least 5 Android phones in the past.
This one is simply ridiculous.
I have used ODIN and had no problems. Now when I flashed my rom through CWM it just flashes a Samsung screen.
I have redone everything 10 times I am doing everything correctly.
I have tried different ROMs different kernels, same thing every time.
I am lost, and need help PLEASE!

Did you flash a pit file? Repartitioning usually does the trick.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

Now that I've wiped my phone, how do I disable the voodoo lagfix without being able to do anything on the phone so I can install a ROM? This doesn't make sense to me.

ilovesoad said:
Did you flash a pit file? Repartitioning usually does the trick.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sorry I don't know what that is.

mjdato said:
I'm sorry I don't know what that is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check out this thread for info on (and to get) the pit file.

I did this and now my phone will not boot up at all...

This phone is a total piece...

mjdato said:
This phone is a total piece...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you just do not know what your doing, simple as that. Tons of people here and elsewhere have no problems. You haven't listed what roms and kernels you are trying. My guess is either using froyo rom with GB kernel or not using odin right, it's pretty easy to use but also easy to get wrong, I suggest actually taking some time to learn what to do and what everything is. It's evident you are very impatient by your constant posts in this thread and their content which implies you didn't take the proper time to research what you are doing and how it all works. With some actual useful information like rom and kernel we could probably help

I've been researching this phone and the tools for a week now, and started this process at 1PM, so no im not impatient.
This phone is a piece. It was bad when it came out and it still is crap. I've rooted, Rom'ed and modded every Android phone I've ever had with no issue. Different carriers, different manufacturer's. Never had an issue.
Now, thanks for the lecture Dad, if you have any insight as to why my phone will not boot up after flashing the pit file it would be much appreciated, if not, troll somewheres else.
Thanks!

mjdato said:
if you have any insight as to why my phone will not boot up after flashing the pit file it would be much appreciated, if not, troll somewheres else.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you drunk? Maybe try again when you sober up?
Sent from my mobile office.

What roms and kernals have you tried?
Are you making sure that you are using the PDA option in Odin instead of phone?
Are you using the PIT option with the right boxes checked/unchecked?
Give us a little more insight on what you have done and what you are trying to do and we will do our best to help you out.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA App

mjdato said:
I've been researching this phone and the tools for a week now, and started this process at 1PM, so no im not impatient.
This phone is a piece. It was bad when it came out and it still is crap. I've rooted, Rom'ed and modded every Android phone I've ever had with no issue. Different carriers, different manufacturer's. Never had an issue.
Now, thanks for the lecture Dad, if you have any insight as to why my phone will not boot up after flashing the pit file it would be much appreciated, if not, troll somewheres else.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have been researching this phone for weeks wouldn't you have known if it were a piece of #### before you bought it? So far I like the phone very light and reliable. Definitely needs root though the original software is terrible.

jfl14609 said:
If you have been researching this phone for weeks wouldn't you have known if it were a piece of #### before you bought it? So far I like the phone very light and reliable. Definitely needs root though the original software is terrible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I'm not mistaken when you use a pit file you have to Odin a new rom right after. It wipes everything off the partitions.but I've only used a pit one time so may be wrong . The first few times I flashed this phone I had problems but eventually I caught everything that usually causes a problem. And I was just like you, had been flashing evo, incredible and hero for a long time with no problem. But Samsung gave me a headache. But i was stuck in a bootloop and nothing would flash. I ran the pit then flashed a new tar file and she booted up fine
Didn't mean to quote that post. Oops

Please use the Q&A Forum for questions Thanks
Moving to Q&A

It was given to me by my job. I didn't have a choice if I wanted my bill paid for every month.

Ok, so I have tried:
0808_charge_overclock
NAMELESS_Kernel_Cleanup_Script
ROMS i have tried:
Altered BeastAlpha 5
Eclipse_TW4_v1.1
humble50_rc2

At this point it will not charge or boot up into anything so I'm not sure if it's even recoverable right now....where should I even start?

mkarps said:
Are you drunk? Maybe try again when you sober up?
Sent from my mobile office.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I truly wish I was. LOL

mjdato said:
Ok, so I have tried:
0808_charge_overclock
NAMELESS_Kernel_Cleanup_Script
ROMS i have tried:
Altered BeastAlpha 5
Eclipse_TW4_v1.1
humble50_rc2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well since u partitioned with the pit. Ur phone is sitting there with nothing on it. No rom, no kernel,recovery etc. So i know humble 5 wont work cuz it doesn't include a kernel. Humble 4 will however work. It includes a kernel and a recovery .have u did everything in the "Hoe to fix your phone "thread on top of development section?

mjdato said:
At this point it will not charge or boot up into anything so I'm not sure if it's even recoverable right now....where should I even start?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had problems at times getting my phone into download mode. Just gonna toss some stuff out there as I'm sure there are people that know more than me. Is there anyway you can have a charged or extra battery charged? I would hmm uninstall the samsung drivers etc..or atleast re install so your phone is recognized when you plug it in the usb. So you can get your phone into download mode and Odin doesnt see it? Have you followed the directions in the stickys on the Dev page to a T? Im sure you have tried all usb ports,different cable, hell different computer. If you still can't get it back up as many have posted they haven't seen to many totally bricked phones I would love to have something to just play around with. If you dont have insurance and cant get it exchanged let me know. Pretty sure though more people will chime in and get things working though.

[Q] bootlooping after fxz

ok, this is bad, after a rsd lite restore, i am rebooting after about 3 of the pulses of the m logo (the beginning of the boot animation) this is bad, and I need some help, please. I thought stock flash would not cause anything like this.

lkrasner said:
ok, this is bad, after a rsd lite restore, i am rebooting after about 3 of the pulses of the m logo (the beginning of the boot animation) this is bad, and I need some help, please. I thought stock flash would not cause anything like this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, that shouldn't happen... Did you use the "replace" files for flashing the fxz from 2.3.6? Not sure what's the best course of action, but I would probably just pull the battery, try to get back into AP Fastboot and flash the fxz again (double checking the file path).
All hope's not lost, you're only bootlooping - not a full-on brick..

alteredlikeness said:
Yup, that shouldn't happen... Did you use the "replace" files for flashing the fxz from 2.3.6? Not sure what's the best course of action, but I would probably just pull the battery, try to get back into AP Fastboot and flash the fxz again (double checking the file path).
All hope's not lost, you're only bootlooping - not a full-on brick..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i was too fast in posting, my heart rate is not back down yet. I was using th erestore to stock script, which has always worked before. did it twice with same result, then I tried the normal rsd and it's fine, no idea why, but whatever. Back to getting ics working. (I was so close, the screwed something up.)

lkrasner said:
i was too fast in posting, my heart rate is not back down yet. I was using th erestore to stock script, which has always worked before. did it twice with same result, then I tried the normal rsd and it's fine, no idea why, but whatever. Back to getting ics working. (I was so close, the screwed something up.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to hear, man.
A lot of brick scares lately... We don't need to be losing anyone. Now, get back to work on ICS!

alteredlikeness said:
Good to hear, man.
A lot of brick scares lately... We don't need to be losing anyone. Now, get back to work on ICS!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will, almost got it working, it boots and runs fine, now I just have to finish the radio stuff, keep your fingers crossed. Any Idea what could have caused this to happen though? It sent and flashed system twice each time, so maybe that is related. I am going to download it again. I probably deleted a file or something stupid!

Well crap... I have a hard brick

Ok I got overly excited with the news of the bootloader being unlocked. So I flashed the unsecure boot loader to my phone and everything went fine. So I decided to go ahead and extract the the kernel I was using from the zip so I didn't have to use kexec anymore. Anyway I read a post incorrectly and flashed the kernel to the wrong partition on my phone and got a hard brick. I can't get into odin or clockwork recovery, only a black screen. I saw another post I accidently flashed it to dd if=/sdcard/aboot.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p5
If I plug it into my computer I get the popup to install the QHSUSB_DLOAD. If there is anyway to recover this please let me know!

Time to get your story straight.... "I just turned it off and it won't turn back on??? Maybe my chargers broken?"
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

dushotgun said:
Ok I got overly excited with the news of the bootloader being unlocked. So I flashed the unsecure boot loader to my phone and everything went fine. So I decided to go ahead and extract the the kernel I was using from the zip so I didn't have to use kexec anymore. Anyway I read a post incorrectly and flashed the kernel to the wrong partition on my phone and got a hard brick. I can't get into odin or clockwork recovery, only a black screen. I saw another post I accidently flashed it to dd if=/sdcard/aboot.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p5
If I plug it into my computer I get the popup to install the QHSUSB_DLOAD. If there is anyway to recover this please let me know!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not to be a **** but damn dude WTF..Why would you do that. Anyways i think the only way to recovery is jtag since you are getting qhsusb_dload but i dont know. pm adam and ask him maybe he can help you out

Wait you tried to unzip the kernel in your pc? For what exactly? How did you flashed it back unzipped?
VERIZON GALAXY S 3

jgrimberg1979 said:
Not to be a **** but damn dude WTF..Why would you do that. Anyways i think the only way to recovery is jtag since you are getting qhsusb_dload but i dont know. pm adam and ask him maybe he can help you out
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I effed up majorly. I was on a droid x for 2 years before so I'm new with kernel flashing. So jtag is the only option?

dushotgun said:
Yeah I effed up majorly. I was on a droid x for 2 years before so I'm new with kernel flashing. So jtag is the only option?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can try a USB Jig to force your phone into Download mode, but if it's truly hardbricked then JTAG or getting a replacement are your only options.

I hate to go off topic and say this but this could be one potential reason as to why the idiots at Verizon want to lock stuff.
Why not wait for things to settle down before trying it out without knowing?

Coderedpl said:
I hate to go off topic and say this but this could be one potential reason as to why the idiots at Verizon want to lock stuff.
Why not wait for things to settle down before trying it out without knowing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
we're only human if i had this phone and saw this unlocked bootloader i would get excited about it as well lol i feel for the man/woman

Coderedpl said:
I hate to go off topic and say this but this could be one potential reason as to why the idiots at Verizon want to lock stuff.
Why not wait for things to settle down before trying it out without knowing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah thanks I realize I screwed up. I guess I was overconfident after two years of flashing stuff. I just need to know if there are any tools to reflash the aboot I effed up.

dushotgun said:
Yeah thanks I realize I screwed up. I guess I was overconfident after two years of flashing stuff. I just need to know if there are any tools to reflash the aboot I effed up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does pressing power home + vol down not do anything?
Contact Adam he might be able to help

jgrimberg1979 said:
Not to be a **** but damn dude WTF..Why would you do that. Anyways i think the only way to recovery is jtag since you are getting qhsusb_dload but i dont know. pm adam and ask him maybe he can help you out
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sucks, OP.
And don't even bother writing Adam. I don't know him, but I read his threads. He just had a major accomplishment (with help) and he will probably not even respond. Let him have his day/peace. He earned it. You admit that you jumped the gun.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

Coderedpl said:
I hate to go off topic and say this but this could be one potential reason as to why the idiots at Verizon want to lock stuff.
Why not wait for things to settle down before trying it out without knowing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ohhh..c'monnnn- he/she was a Droid X user. As a fellow X2 encrypted bootloader ****ing never unlocked I was excited as **** about it being cracked too.
I'm not ****ing with my kernel or nothing.. but.. I couldn't resist. Been on lock down for 2 years- pre ordered the phone and come to find out they locked this ****er too.
Don't be so hard on the guy/gal.. :angel:

Coderedpl said:
Does pressing power home + vol down not do anything?
Contact Adam he might be able to help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I sent him a message but no response yet. I tried that and I still get nothing thanks though. I've read every page of the bootloader research by adam I saw this on his original post:
"op5= aboot
This block is signed by Samsung, we will not be able to modify it
This block contains HTML information. It would appear that it is possible to put the device into a mode where it will provide a webserver which displays state information.
This block appears to be a complete operating system
This block contains the Loke Daemon which communicates with Odin3."
I take this to mean there is no way for me to communicate with odin now and jig wouldn't be able to force it into odin either since I overwrote the 0p5 block. I guess thats it since I don't have a jtag set up.

Have you considered inquiring about JTAG rates from these folks?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnA8Djs55Ds&list=UUpntFTjw320ZgqHUEndzg0g&index=2&feature=plcp
- ooofest

You flashed the kernel to the aboot partition, most likely meaning no booty booty to get into a state (download mode) where you can ODIN to stock. That being said, looks like you'll be JTAGing in your near future. Curious about prices, if you do it!

ooofest said:
Have you considered inquiring about JTAG rates from these folks?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnA8Djs55Ds&list=UUpntFTjw320ZgqHUEndzg0g&index=2&feature=plcp
- ooofest
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's $60
http://mobiletechvideos.mybigcommerce.com/samsung-galaxy-s-iii-jtag-brick-repair/

ooofest said:
Have you considered inquiring about JTAG rates from these folks?
- ooofest
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the link, it looks like thats my only option for getting it fixed.

This is why using dd to flash stuff can be dangerous. "I'm fairly certain it will flash Tetris.Apk to your bootloader partition if you tell it to" to quote one of the devs from my Thunderbolt days.

JBO1018 said:
This is why using dd to flash stuff can be dangerous. "I'm fairly certain it will flash Tetris.Apk to your bootloader partition if you tell it to" to quote one of the devs from my Thunderbolt days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will and it will ENJOY it.

JBO1018 said:
This is why using dd to flash stuff can be dangerous. "I'm fairly certain it will flash Tetris.Apk to your bootloader partition if you tell it to" to quote one of the devs from my Thunderbolt days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dd = disk destroyer :laugh: