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How to unbrick the soft bricked Captivate

NOTE:
So far this has been the only sure fire method I've found to 100% get around any brick situation regardless of firmware, etc. This only works for the captivate, not any other galaxy s variant.
Situations: phone-!-Computer / no download mode
Black Screen / RST_STATUS 0x0
Procedure:
1. Remove the battery, external SD card and SIM card.
2. Wait 10 seconds.
3. Open odin3
4. Connect usb cable.
5. Hold volume up + volume down + Power.
6. Insert battery.
7. Release POWER BUTTON ONLY.
You should now be in immediate download mode.
Please forgive me if this is duplicate some where, but I tried every procedure I could find on google to no avail, then accidentally found this method just before I was going to box it back up and see if my buddy at AT&T would make me eat it or not.
My situation was: Launched Odin3 to flash H3 firmware, died twice in the middle, and on the third time locked up half ways just at the beginning of factoryfs.rfs -- Then the phone did nothing. Blackscreen is all. Interestingly enough, while in the state if you hold volume up + power, it will give a hw diagnostic screen. Beyond that I could get no where. Just a black screen, no acknowledgement when connected to PC, no charging indicator, nothing.
If this is a dupe Im sorry but this method I could not find and hope to make it readily available to people who may think their phones bricked.
Update 12/22/2010:
How to BRICK the phone / WARNING!!!
If for whatever reason you decide to use Odin to flash a stock GTI9000 ROM and manually add the kernels and modems using a "pure" 2.2.1 sammy rom. BEWARE.
Researching a lot, it seems the consensus is that the sbl in the 2.2.1 versions of the GTI9000 has *hard* download mode crippled.. Meaning if there is a software screw up YOU CANNOT USE A USB JIG OR ANY OTHER METHOD OF GETTING THE PHONE IN DOWNLOAD MODE!!! To fix it you'll need a new one or JTAG to replace the bootloader.
As far as I can tell, beyond getting completely rid of the AT&T logo, there is no need to flash boot/sbl to get the "purity" of the 2.2.1 sammy roms.
Extract all files from the tar EXCEPT boot/sbl and re-tar and flash just those to avoid overwriting the stock captivate boot loader.
Also, it does not appear the boot/sbl from the captivate 2.2 leak suffers this same problem.
For any one iffy on bricking their phones, stay away from roms that remove COMPLETELY the AT&T logo on boot. This generally means the boot loader has been messed with any you may be screwed if you soft brick the phone. Most CWM roms dont overwrite the boot/sbl, but some can and do. Watch yourself.. if it the AT&T logo goes away COMPLETELY, I recommend flashing JF6 with One click while the roms alive using adb reboot download and try another rom.

thanks!
worked...took a few tries but some trick with this captivate to get it into download mode.. i was totally bricked too, diag screen with PC/Phone icons and exclamation mark. for me 1.) plug usb, 2.) hold power and vol up/down and connect battery (it fell out) and i was in download mode

I guess a similar procedure was on the odin3 one click thread, but there is something different in your procedure, it's not my case but it would be nice if some people confirms this as this may be useful and if it really works it should be included in odin thread

What worked for me was: Pull the battery, sim and micro sd card. Open odin on the PC. Insert the battery. Hold vol up and down then with the buttons held connect the usb cable. Just remember to plug in the usb cable with the vol up and down held in and odin must be open on the computer.
I also ran into the vol up plus power red text screen. Interesting to note that one of the fields will change depending if the usb cable is connected or not.

mine is dead
mi samsung captivate was working great but, suddenly it go black and only the touch bottom have light, when i plug it in the a/c it show is charging. i'm mac user and a read that i ned to use odin3 but it not work on mac. how i can unbrick the phone???
is rooted with one click lag
the dbdata was modif to
thats all
HEEEEELLLLLPPPPPP

Odin will not open on the mac?
Cant you use a virtual machine and use Odin on a Mac that way?
Or else take the odin 3 single click for JF6 and use on a friends Windows Computer.

Please help - unable to flash back with Odin3
I have pretty much tried it all at this point and am trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong.
I followed the directions just in case get to the big yellow triangle with the droid shoveling and the screen stays at "downloading, do not turn off target..."
Of course I had Odin3 open already but its not seeing my phone, USB drives are installed am using Odin3 ver. 1.30.
Any help would be appreciated, TIA!

TechNut* said:
I have pretty much tried it all at this point and am trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong.
I followed the directions just in case get to the big yellow triangle with the droid shoveling and the screen stays at "downloading, do not turn off target..."
Of course I had Odin3 open already but its not seeing my phone, USB drives are installed am using Odin3 ver. 1.30.
Any help would be appreciated, TIA!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Best way to get download mode is use adb and type adb reboot download.
Or follow the volume up/down held with odin open on the computer, then you plug in the usb cable to the computer.

askpcguy said:
What worked for me was: Pull the battery, sim and micro sd card. Open odin on the PC. Insert the battery. Hold vol up and down then with the buttons held connect the usb cable. Just remember to plug in the usb cable with the vol up and down held in and odin must be open on the computer.
I also ran into the vol up plus power red text screen. Interesting to note that one of the fields will change depending if the usb cable is connected or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you thank you thank you. i had a totally dead no boot or anything and this worked, i was going through the whole returning the phone senerio in my head

mattbeau said:
Thank you thank you thank you. i had a totally dead no boot or anything and this worked, i was going through the whole returning the phone senerio in my head
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just sharing the info! Makes you think twice about trying something else don't it?

does not seem to work because as soon as my battery touches the contacts it goes to the diag screen. do I have to release the power button in super human speed times there?
looked at all threads here, looked elsewhere -- there are some that are not fixable. Wanted to add that in case others come here and think that they might be the only ones that can't get it to work.
Ended up sending mine off to Samsung to reset today. :/

I love you! I called AT&T to send me documentation to sign and it was going to cost me 125 dollars to get it replaced even with warranty. And you fixed it !

i have tried just about every single method detailed in these forums, and nothing works.
Trying what OP suggested just sends me to the battery charging animation screen.
Anybody have any ideas ?

file analysis
I keep can get to the download screen and I hit start and it does the same thing everytime it just does File analysis i cant figure what i am doing wrong here somebody please help me

I think the issue was it had something to do with 64 bit windows 7 i just re did the stock rom one click solution and it worked fine

thekurrgan said:
NOTE:
5. Hold volume up + volume down + Power.
6. Insert battery.
7. Release POWER BUTTON ONLY.
You should now be in immediate download mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for sharing your experience.
I don't have a Captivate yet but am doing research on it and hopeful of getting one. I am confused about one thing.
Every where that I have read about how to enter Recovery mode or Download mode on the Captivate using the 3 button method, it says holding down both Volume UP + Volume Down (plus Power button) will enter Recovery mode. But you say it enters Download mode which is confusing to me. As I recall, to enter Download mode you must press the Vol Down only (plus Power button). Could it be because the phone won't go into Recovery mode, it goes into Download mode instead? Am I missing something?
Thank you!

Download mode is for updating the phone's firmware.
Remove battery, plug in the usb cable to the phone, open ODIN on the computer (need usb drivers installed before hand) on the phone hold volume up and down then plug the phone into the computer. Your phone will say DOWNLOADING. This method works even if you run into problems and the phone refuses to boot properly.
Recovery mode is for installing Update.zip. The method is tricky but involves holding volume up/down and power, the phone will show ATT then go black. It will repeat that but after the second time it goes black let go of power.
If that doesnt work, android debug tools ADB reboot recovery will work even better.
Or root the phone and use Clockwork Rom manager to boot into recovery, just press the menu item.

askpcguy said:
Download mode is for updating the phone's firmware.
Remove battery, plug in the usb cable to the phone, open ODIN on the computer (need usb drivers installed before hand) on the phone hold volume up and down then plug the phone into the computer. Your phone will say DOWNLOADING. This method works even if you run into problems and the phone refuses to boot properly.
Recovery mode is for installing Update.zip. The method is tricky but involves holding volume up/down and power, the phone will show ATT then go black. It will repeat that but after the second time it goes black let go of power.
If that doesn't work, android debug tools ADB reboot recovery will work even better.
Or root the phone and use Clockwork Rom manager to boot into recovery, just press the menu item.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you askpcguy! I understand the difference between Download and Recovery modes.
So the procedural difference here is having the battery in + Power button, versus battery not in (use USB cable instead) and no Power button. Can the phone get power from the PC via the USB cable? This seems to differ from what the original poster said about download mode. Perhaps OP could edit his original post for clarification? Or am I still missing something? Thanks to all

The phone does get power from the USB cable.
The difference is one procedure uses the USB cable (download mode) and the other does not (Recovery mode).
The volume up+down method does not use the power button, the phone is powered on into download mode once you plug in the USB cable.
We say pull the battery to get the phone powered off. If a firmware flash stalled or doesn't complete, pull the battery and try again!

I now understand the precedural difference.
Thank you askpcguy!

[Q] Froyo update problem

Hi:
I was performing the update to Froyo from version 2.1 (Eclair) and looks like the process was stock... I try to reboot the phone and now I have on the screen two symbols one is a phone icon and the other is a PC... Does anyone know what this mean?? It doesnt boot...
Thanks

You need to flash your phone with odin
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

use odin 1 click to flash back to stock

looks like the PC doesnt see the device. I dont see that the usb is recognizing the device. Any idea on how to accomplish this.???
Thanks

i'm stuck. i have a computer and phone icon with a yellow sign in between. nothing happens. did i just brick my phone??

yeah its bricked. send it to me.
seriously....a little bit of searching the forums would save you the hassle of waiting for someone to answer something you can figure out yourself:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=731989

Thanks for the link. I did a lot of search and I found the link you posted here. I follow the instructions on how to enter in download mode but neither work...Any more ideas?
THanks

Your phone is bricked. There is one way to get out that screen and enter download mode. But somehow the instructions of doing it was removed from the linked thread above. I've been there once and recovered. IIRC, you need to:
1. Take out SIM card and SD card.
2. Hold Vol Up and Vol Down. Press and hold Power button.
3. Hold all three buttons while waiting for phone to power up then go blank. It will power back on again.
Hopefully, the second time it power back on, it will enter download mode and you can let go the buttons.
If your phone is one of those with 3-button download mode disabled, you are SOL.

Its this something that can be fix? Or I just put the phone on the trash... If this can be fix where?
Thanks

You can try your luck with warranty service.
Or try the procedure described here for 'semi-bricked' phone: http://samsungcaptivate.wikia.com/wiki/Putting_the_Phone_into_Download_Mode
If the phone is "semi-bricked"; i.e., the "phone-exclamation mark-computer" picture appears on power up (perhaps from a bad ROM flash):
* Be sure the Samsung USB drivers for the phone are installed on your computer.
* Remove and replace the battery.
* Connect the phone to the computer with the USB cable. The "phone-exclamation mark-computer" picture should display on the phone's screen.
* Hold the Volume Up+Volume Down+Power buttons down simultaneously.The screen should go blank, then the picture should appear again. When the screen goes blank a second time, release the Power button while continuing to hold the Volume Up+Volume Down buttons down.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Phone will not go into CWM Recovery and automatically enters download mode with USB

Okay guys, I have an annoying problem. My phone after the ICS update does not want to go into CWM Recovery with the Power button + vol down (or up) method. I can never get the darn thing to work. It just loads up until the white samsung logo and then goes black and just vibrates. Any idea what could be the problem? It's an issue because it means I can't root or anything since stock won't allow me to go into recovery. The only way I used to get into recovery was through rom manager and I obviously need super user permissions to do that.
Another thing is, whenever I power on my phone with the usb cord plugged in, it automatically enters download mode. I know you're suppose to hold certain buttons but I just power the thing on and it goes straight to the DL mode screen. I'm thinking these two things could be related.
Any idea on how to fix this? I went back to complete stock and it didn't do a thing.

ArecxP said:
Okay guys, I have an annoying problem. My phone after the ICS update does not want to go into CWM Recovery with the Power button + vol down (or up) method. I can never get the darn thing to work. It just loads up until the white samsung logo and then goes black and just vibrates. Any idea what could be the problem? It's an issue because it means I can't root or anything since stock won't allow me to go into recovery. The only way I used to get into recovery was through rom manager and I obviously need super user permissions to do that.
Another thing is, whenever I power on my phone with the usb cord plugged in, it automatically enters download mode. I know you're suppose to hold certain buttons but I just power the thing on and it goes straight to the DL mode screen. I'm thinking these two things could be related.
Any idea on how to fix this? I went back to complete stock and it didn't do a thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
check ur pm mate

Its power button + volume up AND down... hold both buttons and the power button.

sulpher said:
Its power button + volume up AND down... hold both buttons and the power button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wasn't being specific, I just named the buttons off the top of my head. Either way, the methods don't work

ArecxP said:
I wasn't being specific, I just named the buttons off the top of my head. Either way, the methods don't work
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My phone was being a bit finicky with this as well, I found the below sequence to work for me every time.
Press and hold both vol+ and vol-
Press and hold power
Wait until phone is vibrating once every couple of seconds
Release power
Release vol+ and vol-

ArecxP said:
I wasn't being specific, I just named the buttons off the top of my head. Either way, the methods don't work
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
u need to b specific to get proper help.
u stated "Either way, the methods don't work ", specifically what methods r u talking about, there is only one method in using the buttons that works as RabidSmurf has stated, but first pull battery and dont keep usb plugged in, if that didnt work redownload cwm, check the md5 checksum and reflash using odin

To get into download mode I'm holding power+vol up+vol down
after the phone starts up release the power and keep holding up+down.
Let me know how it works.

ArecxP said:
Okay guys, I have an annoying problem. My phone after the ICS update does not want to go into CWM Recovery with the Power button + vol down (or up) method. I can never get the darn thing to work. It just loads up until the white samsung logo and then goes black and just vibrates. Any idea what could be the problem? It's an issue because it means I can't root or anything since stock won't allow me to go into recovery. The only way I used to get into recovery was through rom manager and I obviously need super user permissions to do that.
Another thing is, whenever I power on my phone with the usb cord plugged in, it automatically enters download mode. I know you're suppose to hold certain buttons but I just power the thing on and it goes straight to the DL mode screen. I'm thinking these two things could be related.
Any idea on how to fix this? I went back to complete stock and it didn't do a thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make sure it is not attached to any USB. Not even the power outlet because it will take you to firmware update mode (download mode) and hold up down volume keys and power until you see the white Samsung logo. good luck!

i had to deal with this when the firmware failed to ugprade for some reason, what i did was download odin and the stock rom and flash it with odin, i was back up in no time

Not booting
Frnds plz help
After flashing am n m same soc chipset custom rom my phone is not going in cwm also another problem is after pressing the power button the phone screen is gping black n then boot audio is playing but phone is not booting completely.
To be more specific i have cqnvas 2 plus with mt6589 and pne site there was eom name note 5 evolution for a116 hd with same soc i.e. mt6589 hence i flashed the rom it flashed succesfully also but then the problems occurred.
Plz help me fast thx in advance.

Please tell me i didnt kill my phone!!!

Ok so my fiancé pointed out that her phone got an update and I liked how it looked so I wanted to update mine. but I couldn't because of root. and so since I never use my root I went into super su and hit the unroot button and then my phone reset I have been in bootloop ever since. before someone suggests NO I cannot use ODIN because it wont register my phone being plugged in. YES I have the proper driver installed I triple checked and no my computer does not register the phone either. is there anything that I can do?

You didnt kill your phone!!!
The reason of bootloop is that when you press unroot in superSU it also restores unpatched stock boot.img which doesn't boot with custom recovery.
Hold power + home + volume up + volume down for 7 seconds to hard reboot your phone and enter download mode confirmation page. Press volume down to exit downloading mode and immediately hold volume up + power + home until you enter recovery. Do a factory reset.
Enter download mode confirmation page again by same method and press volume up, connect phone to your PC. Now if Odin doesn't recognize your phone then that 100% Driver or USB Cable problem. Flash latest official firmware and you should be good to go.

Aria.A97 said:
You didnt kill your phone!!!
The reason of bootloop is that when you press unroot in superSU it also restores unpatched stock boot.img which doesn't boot with custom recovery.
Hold power + home + volume up + volume down for 7 seconds to hard reboot your phone and enter download mode confirmation page. Press volume down to exit downloading mode and immediately hold volume up + power + home until you enter recovery. Do a factory reset.
Enter download mode confirmation page again by same method and press volume up, connect phone to your PC. Now if Odin doesn't recognize your phone then that 100% Driver or USB Cable problem. Flash latest official firmware and you should be good to go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice tut! Anyway, if he still can't get recognized by PC, i suggest to try different PC, i had the same problem a while ago, my pc wouldn't recognize my phone in odin no matter what. Then i checked on my friends PC and it worked like a charm. It must be USB ports problems.

if your pc does see your phone but the odin still fails you can just use smartswitch and do emergency recovery tyoe your model number and imei in and sit back and relax and you are done

Thank YOU!!!!!!
Aria.A97 said:
You didnt kill your phone!!!
The reason of bootloop is that when you press unroot in superSU it also restores unpatched stock boot.img which doesn't boot with custom recovery.
Hold power + home + volume up + volume down for 7 seconds to hard reboot your phone and enter download mode confirmation page. Press volume down to exit downloading mode and immediately hold volume up + power + home until you enter recovery. Do a factory reset.
Enter download mode confirmation page again by same method and press volume up, connect phone to your PC. Now if Odin doesn't recognize your phone then that 100% Driver or USB Cable problem. Flash latest official firmware and you should be good to go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are a genius It was my cable that I was using... I was sitting here reading your post and I'm thinking to my self "yeah like I haven't tried that already thanks for nothing." then I saw the part about my cable and said its worth a shot. thank you so much I was so scared and frustrated about possible being without a phone... Thank you again

Xeodia said:
You are a genius It was my cable that I was using... I was sitting here reading your post and I'm thinking to my self "yeah like I haven't tried that already thanks for nothing." then I saw the part about my cable and said its worth a shot. thank you so much I was so scared and frustrated about possible being without a phone... Thank you again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey guys since my s6 SM-G920F is with tripped knox status 0x1 i can't use smartswitch for emergency recovery it stucks on 94% always with hours,what is the main reason of that i tried on other pc it is the same,my cable is ok because it charges s6 without any singl problem!sorry for interuppt in this thread like idiot but what is about smartswitch stucks always on 94%?!!!
anyone help me:crying:

vlatkonexus4 said:
Hey guys since my s6 SM-G920F is with tripped knox status 0x1 i can't use smartswitch for emergency recovery it stucks on 94% always with hours,what is the main reason of that i tried on other pc it is the same,my cable is ok because it charges s6 without any singl problem!sorry for interuppt in this thread like idiot but what is about smartswitch stucks always on 94%?!!!
anyone help me:crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just use odin to flash firmware.

vlatkonexus4 said:
Hey guys since my s6 SM-G920F is with tripped knox status 0x1 i can't use smartswitch for emergency recovery it stucks on 94% always with hours,what is the main reason of that i tried on other pc it is the same,my cable is ok because it charges s6 without any singl problem!sorry for interuppt in this thread like idiot but what is about smartswitch stucks always on 94%?!!!
anyone help me:crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nonsense.... I used it when I trashed my EFS / Modem
Smart Switch does work, check your USB drivers and internet connection.
At the end of the process smart switch does verify a lot of thing, when your CPU from your computer is slow it will hang a long time on 94%

i can try via teamviewer to help you

Question my Galaxy A12 won't boot to android or download mode help me pls

so I just tried to install unofficial TWRP 3.5.0 on my Samsung galaxy a125m and everything went fine, Odin said done. Then I just tried to start TWRP by pressing power and vol up and it didn't start, so I thought I might have done something wrong and rebooted to download mode and flashed it again, Odin said done, then I unplugged the USB cable and now it won't boot, neither to the system or recovery, even to download mode, it did enter download mode a few times before but I pressed the wrong button and had to cancel and enter again, now it won't even enter download mode so I can't flash stock rom to fix bootloop... pls how can I solve this I'm desperate
when I try to enter download mode by pressing volume up + volume down it just shows up charging mode without any numbers, then it turn on and shows Samsung logo, unlocked bootloader warning screen, and the Samsung logo again, but then just restarts and repeats all again...
when I try to press volume up + volume down + power, nothing really happens...
someone help me please

You need to keep both volume up and down pressed, then plug in the charging cable. It should enter download mode, no need to press the power button like in older samsungs.

PhotonIce said:
You need to keep both volume up and down pressed, then plug in the charging cable. It should enter download mode, no need to press the power button like in older samsungs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah I did that a lot of times, it used to work now It doesn't anymore
in this video you can see what's going on, I'm pressing both volume keys and nothing happens
Your browser is not able to display this video.

Is the cable plugged into a charger and on?
Have you considered that your volume buttons may not be working?

Same hear

Try attaching your phone to the PC, and then pressing volume down + power to reset the phone, (for about 7~8 seconds) then immediately press the volume down and up buttons, that's how I recovered from it. Tell me if it worked

juliano-oh! said:
Try attaching your phone to the PC, and then pressing volume down + power to reset the phone, (for about 7~8 seconds) then immediately press the volume down and up buttons, that's how I recovered from it. Tell me if it worked
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please help it dosent worked
No pc detection
No download mode
No recovery
No charging

Hello, unfortunately in these cases the only solution is to enter download mode, check if any button is damaged or if the cable works and if it is well connected, press the buttons harder, hold down the volume up and volume down buttons at the same time , by pressing the strong buttons, for about 6 seconds and then connect the cable. If you don't try another cable to see if that's the problem there is no other solution as the phone is not recognized by an app that can put it into download mode when turned off the solution is the one I already told you about. I hope you have fixed that problem. Sorry for my bad English.

developeMYWORLD said:
Please help it dosent worked
No pc detection
No download mode
No recovery
No charging
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To Escape the Black Screen of Death or Bootloop
To boot to RECOVERY MODE
Method 1
First connect phone to the PC for 30 minutes
Hold all 3 keys and release volume down when it buzzes.
Method 2
1. Plug in USB cable to PC
2. Hold down all 3 buttons on phone.
3. When it buzzes release volume down and plug in USB cable to phone.
Then restore your backup or install a ROM
To boot to DOWNLOAD MODE
Method 1
First connect phone to the PC for 30 minutes
Hold all 3 keys and release power when it buzzes.
Method 2
1. Plug in USB cable to PC
2. Hold down all 3 buttons on phone.
3. When it buzzes release power button and plug in USB cable to phone.
Then use Odin to flash official firmware.
@physwizz

I am having a similar problem with the Samsung A12 SM-a125u
I never could enter into this "Downloading mode".
I tried flashing the stock ROM through ADB with fastboot, and I have another problem that I've never seen before: ADB can see the device while in recovery mode, but fastboot can't. And so it won't allow me to flash the ROM and I don't even know how Odin is supposed to help yet; I think I needed to enter Downloading mode for that, but I can't get into it.
I'm working on this phone for a friend who was given it because his friend's mom doesn't remember the password to it. Does that matter? It's worth noting that because of that I cannot get in to turn on OEM unlocking or dev mode, but idk why that would come into play in recovery mode. Also, the model indicates this is an AT&T phone, and tutorials online have acknowledged this model in their "applicable models" list at the beginning of their tutorials, but I know that carrier phones can cause problems all over the place (stop buying carrier locked phones people!); is this a problem?
How the heck do I flash the stock ROM to this this?