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[Q] Phone is partially bricked...?

Hey guys,
I think my phone is partially bricked. I know that sounds weird, but here's the situation:
I was able to unlock my bootloader (faced multiple write errors using fastboot but it did unlock eventually), I can't reflash using Odin (it fails Error is "Complete Write Fail"), when I tried to format some partitions using clockwork I get:
E: format_volume: make_extf4fs failed on /dev/block/platform/s3c-sdhci.0/by-name/system
Error formatting /system!
No linux newb here, so I'm guessing my internal partition is fubared..
Here's what's funny... I can flash a rom and boot into the rom usually on the first try. If I boot into the rom, it runs fine until I reboot the phone. Then it takes another *LITERALLY* 10 times of pulling the battery and rebooting the phone because the phone sticks at the Google boot logo. I can boot into recovery, fastboot, no problem.
As my phone sits right now: I can flash clockwork, bootloader unlocked. I'm having to try the NAND restore to 2.3.1 to get it to work. I rebooted the phone multiple times, no problems but then after a phone call...get a notification that the sd card was suddenly removed and now I'm back to square one..
Does anyone have a clue as to why my phone decided to unmount the internal storage and why I can't get this thing to work correctly 100%?
Thanks guys..
Btw, I usually can't mount the USB storage using clockwork when I get these errors. I have to keep rebooting the phone until I get lucky enough to format the /sdcard, then try and mount it up to my computer.

Just rebooted the phone, flashed /system, and mounted up the USB..
Can anyone explain this??

otisranson said:
Hey guys,
I think my phone is partially bricked. I know that sounds weird, but here's the situation:
I was able to unlock my bootloader (faced multiple write errors using fastboot but it did unlock eventually), I can't reflash using Odin (it fails Error is "Complete Write Fail"), when I tried to format some partitions using clockwork I get:
E: format_volume: make_extf4fs failed on /dev/block/platform/s3c-sdhci.0/by-name/system
Error formatting /system!
No linux newb here, so I'm guessing my internal partition is fubared..
Here's what's funny... I can flash a rom and boot into the rom usually on the first try. If I boot into the rom, it runs fine until I reboot the phone. Then it takes another *LITERALLY* 10 times of pulling the battery and rebooting the phone because the phone sticks at the Google boot logo. I can boot into recovery, fastboot, no problem.
As my phone sits right now: I can flash clockwork, bootloader unlocked. I'm having to try the NAND restore to 2.3.1 to get it to work. I rebooted the phone multiple times, no problems but then after a phone call...get a notification that the sd card was suddenly removed and now I'm back to square one..
Does anyone have a clue as to why my phone decided to unmount the internal storage and why I can't get this thing to work correctly 100%?
Thanks guys..
Btw, I usually can't mount the USB storage using clockwork when I get these errors. I have to keep rebooting the phone until I get lucky enough to format the /sdcard, then try and mount it up to my computer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
otisranson said:
Just rebooted the phone, flashed /system, and mounted up the USB..
Can anyone explain this??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yup, this ones explainable. classic symptoms of a ns with its internal sd card dying/dead. it happens way too often unfortunately. luckily its a fairly easy and inexpensive repair, if youre not under warranty.

Any direction on how to fix it while not under warranty?
Or take it to tmobile?

otisranson said:
Any direction on how to fix it while not under warranty?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
check out any local mobile device repair shops. you could probably do it yourself if you dont fear taking the phone apart, it should be to difficult of a repair. its just a matter of buying a replacement(ebay?), taking the phone apart, and replacing the sd.

Found this breakdown, but I don't see where the internal storage is..
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Nexus-S-Teardown/4365/1

I've been having similar issues..what is the exact part name for the SD?...I wanna search to buy one
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA Premium App

I think its:
Samsung KB100D00WM-A453 memory package and S5PC110A01 1GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird Processor.
I'm going to try to find another nexus s mother board as a whole, that's my only option.

otisranson said:
Found this breakdown, but I don't see where the internal storage is..
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Nexus-S-Teardown/4365/1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it's in step 10

i seen something a few weeks ago online on how to replace this...it was a video..i just cant remember where i seen it!

I ended up just purchasing a new phone on ebay.. If I find a nexus s with a cracked screen, I will swap out the mobo.

You can check whether there are blocks flagged as bad by FTL (Flash Translation Layer) in recovery. Check recovery.log file (it can be, the bad blocks will show up after formats).

Soft Bricked and have been stuck for a week plus!

Hey Guys,
So I have been all threw the forum over the past week plus trying to find a solutions and have tried the majority of the ones on the site. Here is what happend:
HOW I GOT HERE:
I was running a CM10 nightly build from 01/15/2013 that was installed via CWM. I had been running it for about a week. When I went to bed I set my phone on the nightstand. About 2 hours into sleep the phone rebooted as I eventually woke up and noticed it thinking it was just the phone wonking out. When I up fully 6 hours later the phone was still rebooting. Since then when ever I cut on the phone it will no get passed the Google logo with the padlock. I can boot into fastboot and recovery. I am running the latest CWM 6.0.2.5.
PHONE VITALS QUICK GLANCE
Android ROM version: CM10 01/15/2013 Nightly Build
Baseband: D720SPRLC1
Bootloader: D720SPRKC5
Recovery: CWM v6.0.2.5
WHAT I HAVE TRIED
Restoring from backup
My first fix was to flash three different roms via recovery (doing full wipes each time)
Then I tried flashing a new recovery
Formatting /system, /cache, /data, and /boot and then flashing a new rom
Then I focused on trying to get the USB storage to mount so I tried using adb shell to repair the file system and that worked
Then I tried new roms and things got REALLY weird. When I would place a rom on “sdcard” it would be available to flash. When I flashed it though it would not take and upon returning to recovery it wouldn’t be there or when I mounted the storage again. After about 10 times of this I figured let me make sure I am not crazy and try the following.
Format the internal storage. In windows when I tried this windows would show that the device formatted and was empty one I dismounted after putting items on it and go back to storage by both remounting it or by recovery the old data would come right back. In Ubuntu when I tried formatting it both via disc recovery and gparted they both said the device was empty but that they were unable to create a partition.
So then I went down the path of all of the debricking tools out there including the one from AdamOutler's (I think it is called ressurector), ODIN, and the Nexus Root Tool all with varying results.
Ressurector kept saying injection failed
ODIN just does not work on the nexus s from what I can tell (spent a day researching and no one seems to give a definitive answer on this one)
And Nexus Root Tool attempts to flash back to stock but runs into an error with the baseband.
So next I decided to try and flash back to stock using the Google images. Using Ubuntu I ran the flash-all.sh that comes in the zip and kept running into the baseband issue.
So next I found OldBlue910’s post with all the OTA updates and I went after trying to use that to fix my phone. Thanks to the amount of instruction he gives I got a lot further and got the flash-all.sh in his stock zip to give me a better error message telling me which baseband I needed to have to go back to stock which when I double checked he includes in the zip. The problem is when I try to flash that radio fastboot tells me I was successful but the bootloader still reads as D720SPRLC1 and does not change regardless of what I do. When I try flashing the stock images again after flashing the radio I receive the same errors.
So now I think I have hit the real brick wall and unless someone has any advice I will need to go and buy a new phone. Hoping you guys can help. I figured if you guys can figure out a hard brick then this is still doable, I have just exhausted my own realm of knowledge.
Please and thank you’s to anyone with advice.

Could you get any lights ON? The buttons or the screen?

lights are on
Yes during the boot loop the Google logo comes up, then the screen goes black, then the Google logo comes back, and finally in about 20 seconds the lights come on. Once that happens after about 4 minutes the process starts all over again.

Stuck at Google screen, Can't mount E [I9020A]

So, as the topic states, I'm having major problems as of late.
Nexus S, GT-I9020A
ROM: CM9
Over the past few months, my phones been acting up. My phone when rebooted stalls at the Google Lock Screen. I am unable to mount the E drive in CWM as well,
Going into CWM,
1) wipe data/factory reset gives me problems, results below
--Wiping Data...
Formatting /data...
E: Format_volume: make_extf4fs failed on /dev/block/platform/s3c-sdhci.0/by-name/userdata
Formatting /cache...
Formatting /sd-ext...
Formatting /sdcard/.android_secure...
Error mounting /sdcard/.android_secure!
Skipping format...
Data wipe complete
2) wipe cache partition
--Wiping cache...
Formatting /cache...
Cache wipe complete.
3) Mounts and Storage
Error mounting /sdcard!
Error mounting /system!
Error mounting /data!
format /sdcard ...
Error mounting /sdcard!
Skipping format...
Done
4) Apply update from .zip file on SD card
E: can't mount /sdcard/
.... That's about all the options that I would go through to fix a rom. I don't know what else to do, last time this happened the E drive magically mounted and I was able to turn my phone back on, this time I've not been so lucky.
Reading around, I haven't been able to get any information on where to go next, most topics seem to be successful with the things I've done. I'm afraid that the phone is bricked, is there anything else I could try before I throw in the towel?

What version of CWM recovery are you using?

polobunny said:
What version of CWM recovery are you using?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I knew I forgot something,
v5.0.2.0

Bump to the top,
Is there any insight on the way forward? I've heard of Odin as something that may help, but from what I've read, Odin is only Samsung, Fastboot for Google.

No one has been able to help me, or anyone else with this issue, although it seems rather common in the past 6 months. I have read dozens of threads with this problem, they are all mostly ignored, little replied to, and never solved.
CWM Touch is what is did it to your phone. I would suggest switching to another recovery at least, and try installing a new ROM that way if you already have one on your phone. If you have nothing on the memory already, good luck getting something on it, you're probably going to have to send it in.
In my experience, nothing will work to write to your MS once it is corrupted. I have tried the Toolkit, ADB, ODIN, and Fastboot. All of it worked correctly until it got to the MS portion of my memory, then it would error out and complete, with no change. I have put well over 100 hours of reading and effort into it. Went from knowing NOTHING about this except how to flash a ROM, to knowing all of the fastboot commands by heart... Still no luck.
Aggravating, I know. But that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. :crying:

DizturbedOne said:
No one has been able to help me, or anyone else with this issue, although it seems rather common in the past 6 months. I have read dozens of threads with this problem, they are all mostly ignored, little replied to, and never solved.
CWM Touch is what is did it to your phone. I would suggest switching to another recovery at least, and try installing a new ROM that way if you already have one on your phone. If you have nothing on the memory already, good luck getting something on it, you're probably going to have to send it in.
In my experience, nothing will work to write to your MS once it is corrupted. I have tried the Toolkit, ADB, ODIN, and Fastboot. All of it worked correctly until it got to the MS portion of my memory, then it would error out and complete, with no change. I have put well over 100 hours of reading and effort into it. Went from knowing NOTHING about this except how to flash a ROM, to knowing all of the fastboot commands by heart... Still no luck.
Aggravating, I know. But that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. :crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, seemingly so eh? The phone is probably not even worth sending it in as it would probably cost just as much to buy a new one.
I don't have CWM Touch (assuming that's CWM with touch function), just CWM that requires the vol rockers. It's an old version.
Hmm, it's been a while, but how would I be able to change the recovery if I can't access the E drive? I presume ADB? Then hope it works?
Anyways, thanks for your help, it's been quite frustrating seeing nothing turn up.

Another bump in hopes anyone with a fix reads this.

Bricked with no ADB, can't mount USB or SDcard, ODIN freezes

. The phone was running great for weeks, it had the USB fast charge hack, and the setup in my sig, when suddenly I woke up to a bootloop after going to bed with a perfectly good phone. Stupidly, I had no backup in recovery to flash. Trying to put an update.zip onto the internal memory is when I discovered that USB mount in recovery doesn't work. In CWM or TWRP I get nothing if I try. I also couldn't mount anything from /sdcard, /data, or /system, I would get "Error mounting /system!" if I tried. It also won't flash a zip from sideload in CWM, although it seems to push it over just fine as it takes a while and reads the file size of the zip. It seems as if anything I try to do to /system, /sdcard, or /data just won't take.
. I can get it to listen to fastboot commands, it will even list as one in Wug's toolkit, but it is not recognized as an ADB device in Wug's. Fastboot seems to work by itself, and in Wug's. In both cases, it seems to flash the radio, bootloader, and recovery just fine. When I (or the script in Wug's) gets to flashing the /system, /sdcard, and /data portion however, then it returns an error after seemingly writing everything. I've tried flashing with manual command line, Wug's Toolkit, and a batch file from someone here on XDA, none of it works.
ODIN hangs indefinitely within a few seconds of trying to flash. I can only get the COM:3 box in ODIN to go yellow, never green like I remember when I unlocked the bootloader. How can I get ODIN working? I feel like if I can get it going I should be able to fix this.
I'm at my wits end here. At this point I've tried fastboot, ODIN, and Wugs Toolkit. Nothing works I can flash recoveries. I have download mode. I have fastboot working. What can I do to get this damn thing working? Can this be a simple USB driver issue after all the drivers I've tried?
Anyone who helps me fix this will get thanked by me every time I see them for quite awhile, I've put too many hours into this already! Yes, I've moved on to a GS4, but I LOVED this phone and would like to get it going again. I'll still use it as a GrooveIP phone at home, or give it to my kid. Or even to have it as a backup would be great. Thanks for all the help guys!

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2500397
Have you tried going trough the same steps?

Oh yes, several times, with a GB, ICS, and the latest JB AOSP ROM, for the correct phone (sph-d720). I always use crespo4g images. It never works. It acts as if it writes, but has an error that says "can not automatically format" when it tries to flash the zip. When I reboot the phone there is no change. I can flash recoveries just fine.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using xda app-developers app

Nobody? I would love to get back on this phone... My favorite device of all time to this day

DizturbedOne said:
Nobody? I would love to get back on this phone... My favorite device of all time to this day
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a hunch that your internal memory has gone bad. Any luck so Far by any other method?
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk

No go from anything I've tried. It seems like it just won't be recognized as an ADB device. Pretty disappointed at this point.
Tapatalkin' from my SGS4

Boot loop issue [Fixed]

So i was using my phone 5 days ago like normal and sudendly it decided to reboot itself, after that it got stuck on the 4 balls android logo and doesnt boot into the system anymore.
what iv tried so far:
-Full Wipe
-Download and flash a full factory image, then full wipe
-Download and flash TWRP with SlimRom + Gapps then full wipe
Nothing works, it always get stuck in bootlogo, it just sits there dancing like its booting normally but it never does, im runing out of options here, what can i do guys?
Note: i have access to bootloader, all button works, also have access to recovery without any issues.

Follow flashing a stock kit kat from?
If stock kit kat doesn't work after a full wipe, the memory chip is faulty.

audit13 said:
Follow flashing a stock kit kat from?
If stock kit kat doesn't work after a full wipe, the memory chip is faulty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let me download a kitkat image and see what happens, ill report back as soon as i do it

audit13 said:
Follow flashing a stock kit kat from?
If stock kit kat doesn't work after a full wipe, the memory chip is faulty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So... i flashed the first build available in google site for this phone and it booted perfectly, im going to try to flash the last version again and see what happens, but why did this happened then?

mediavieja said:
So... i flashed the first build available in google site for this phone and it booted perfectly, im going to try to flash the last version again and see what happens, but why did this happened then?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aight so i flahshed twrp and slimrom again but im once again stuck on bootloop what do u suggest?

This is a sign that something is faulty in the memory chip. Stock KK, and possibly stock LP, may work but MM will always results in bootloop.

audit13 said:
This is a sign that something is faulty in the memory chip. Stock KK, and possibly stock LP, may work but MM will always results in bootloop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, tried stock MM (latest stock) and didnt work

Try LP and see if it works. If it doesn't, it's definitely the memory chip.

audit13 said:
Try LP and see if it works. If it doesn't, it's definitely the memory chip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Must be then, cause i tried LP and didnt worked

I think it has something to do with differences in partition layouts between kk and LP/mm.

audit13 said:
I think it has something to do with differences in partition layouts between kk and LP/mm.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do u know if theres anyway to fix it?

I know of no way to fix this and I've not seen a post from someone that was able to run LP or mm on an affected phone.

audit13 said:
I know of no way to fix this and I've not seen a post from someone that was able to run LP or mm on an affected phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awww well thanks anyway for all ur help men, i really apreciate it

You are very welcome. We are all here to help and learn from each other.
The cheapest solution may be to buy a used nexus with a busted screen but working motherboard and perform a bit of phone surgery. I've done this a few times over the years with great results.

There is a problem where /persist gets easily corrupted. Especially when you have to force reboot. A LOT. This might be your problem.
To find out if this is the case, please do the following:
1. Because you are using a Nexus 5, please download the Skipsoft Unified Android Toolkit (SUAT) and install it. Google it if you need to. Its windows only from what i can tell. Go through the screens until you configured the toolkit. You don't need pro for this setup. If you are running on linux or mac, please find a equivalent set of tools which can do the next 4 steps.
1.5. Unlock the boot-loader. Don't bother about backup, if persist is dead and you have not unlocked the boot-loader before, you WONT get your data back. (Better hope you made a partial-backup beforehand.) (Good thing is, if you did unlock the boot-loader before this problem occurred, RECOVERY OF DATA IS STILL POSSIBLE!)
2. Boot into TWRP recovery. When you get the modifications warning screen, TURN ON modifications. YOU NEED THIS FOR LATER ON.
2.5. If you already have the boot loader unlocked before the problem occurred, NOW is the time to do a backup! If /persist is dead, you will need to erase and re-flash to get android back!
3. On the bottom of the screen should be a button with 4 lines (the middle 2 should be shorter than the outer 2 if you are that blind). That is the log. Keep in mind where that button is. Go into mount and press persist to attempt to mount it.
If persist mounts successfully:
/persist is alive and kicking. Android should be starting successfully. If this is not the case, look for other reasons on why this could be failing. If other options have been exhausted, then you have a dead memory chip. Get it replaced! (And go for a upgrade while you are at it, 16 GB is not a lot. )
If persist does not mount:
Uh oh, looks like trouble. Now this is the time to check your logs. Remember the button i told you to remember? Press that button. Look for a red line that says "Unable to mount /persist (Invalid argument)"
"Unable to mount /persist (Invalid argument)" was not present.
Twrp might not be showing it or there is no way of recovering it. You have a 50% chance of recovery. Do you want to risk it? If so, carry on to step 4.
"Unable to mount /persist" was present but the text in the brackets was different.
Lookup the error code. If it is not any I/O input output errors then you should be fine to continue. If it is, Recovery is not possible.
"Unable to mount /persist (Invalid argument)" was present.
Oh dear. Looks like we have dead partition. However, because we got what we were expecting, recovery is possible. Follow the next steps. They can be done from a ADB shell on the PC or on the device.
4. Load up a ADB shell and run the following command:
e2fsck /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/persist
This basically runs a file system check. IT should find problems with the partition and rebuild the file system. Now here comes the next bit. (And this is where you hope you read everything and backed up beforehand.)
5. Go to the main menu and press mount. Try mounting everything. Now back out and press wipe. Press advanced wipe. Select everything that you can. Then "swipe to format" everything. Once that is done, go back into the main menu and press reboot. Press bootloader. You will get a warning about no OS, just swipe to reboot. (Why do you think we are rebooting back to boot-loader?)
If everything went well, you should now be able to re-flash with your choice of ROM. You may have to re-flash normal android first though. Look up guides on how do that.

HSF3232 said:
There is a problem where /persist gets easily corrupted. Especially when you have to force reboot. A LOT. This might be your problem.
To find out if this is the case, please do the following:
1. Because you are using a Nexus 5, please download the Skipsoft Unified Android Toolkit (SUAT) and install it. Google it if you need to. Its windows only from what i can tell. Go through the screens until you configured the toolkit. You don't need pro for this setup. If you are running on linux or mac, please find a equivalent set of tools which can do the next 4 steps.
1.5. Unlock the boot-loader. Don't bother about backup, if persist is dead and you have not unlocked the boot-loader before, you WONT get your data back. (Better hope you made a partial-backup beforehand.) (Good thing is, if you did unlock the boot-loader before this problem occurred, RECOVERY OF DATA IS STILL POSSIBLE!)
2. Boot into TWRP recovery. When you get the modifications warning screen, TURN ON modifications. YOU NEED THIS FOR LATER ON.
2.5. If you already have the boot loader unlocked before the problem occurred, NOW is the time to do a backup! If /persist is dead, you will need to erase and re-flash to get android back!
3. On the bottom of the screen should be a button with 4 lines (the middle 2 should be shorter than the outer 2 if you are that blind). That is the log. Keep in mind where that button is. Go into mount and press persist to attempt to mount it.
If persist mounts successfully:
/persist is alive and kicking. Android should be starting successfully. If this is not the case, look for other reasons on why this could be failing. If other options have been exhausted, then you have a dead memory chip. Get it replaced! (And go for a upgrade while you are at it, 16 GB is not a lot. )
If persist does not mount:
Uh oh, looks like trouble. Now this is the time to check your logs. Remember the button i told you to remember? Press that button. Look for a red line that says "Unable to mount /persist (Invalid argument)"
"Unable to mount /persist (Invalid argument)" was not present.
Twrp might not be showing it or there is no way of recovering it. You have a 50% chance of recovery. Do you want to risk it? If so, carry on to step 4.
"Unable to mount /persist" was present but the text in the brackets was different.
Lookup the error code. If it is not any I/O input output errors then you should be fine to continue. If it is, Recovery is not possible.
"Unable to mount /persist (Invalid argument)" was present.
Oh dear. Looks like we have dead partition. However, because we got what we were expecting, recovery is possible. Follow the next steps. They can be done from a ADB shell on the PC or on the device.
4. Load up a ADB shell and run the following command:
e2fsck /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/persist
This basically runs a file system check. IT should find problems with the partition and rebuild the file system. Now here comes the next bit. (And this is where you hope you read everything and backed up beforehand.)
5. Go to the main menu and press mount. Try mounting everything. Now back out and press wipe. Press advanced wipe. Select everything that you can. Then "swipe to format" everything. Once that is done, go back into the main menu and press reboot. Press bootloader. You will get a warning about no OS, just swipe to reboot. (Why do you think we are rebooting back to boot-loader?)
If everything went well, you should now be able to re-flash with your choice of ROM. You may have to re-flash normal android first though. Look up guides on how do that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well i followed the procedure to fix persist, i was getting Unable to mount "/persist" (Invalid argument) so bu running command e2fsck /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/persist i was able to mount it, after that i rebooted the phone to bootloader and i was able to flash and run the latest software update so i have to say thank you very much sir im gonna try to put slimrom now on this bad boy and change the post title to fixed