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[Q] CM 10.1 Permanent Soft Brick?

Running CM 10.1, 06/08 Nightly
I did search the threads and google, but could not find any posts about a phone that works normally except for download and recovery.
Problems:
1. Can't boot into recovery (via apps, power menu, or manually). It gets to the boot logo, and then blank screen and resets. It will keep resetting trying to go into recovery (a battery pull will put it back to normal).
2. Can't stay in download mode. When I put the phone in download mode, it turns off after a couple seconds. I can't ODIN it if it keeps turning off.
3. Power button doesn't work properly (sometimes it works, most of the times it doesn't). Example: I press the power button to close the screen. No response. A few minutes later I might press it, and the screen will close, but come back on and this time with power menu. I took out the button to verify that it wasn't stuck, and tried pressing the actual button inside the phone with the stick. I can feel it click, but it still has the same problems. Pretty sure it's not a stuck button.
What's working:
-Everything else. If I let the phone boot normally, it loads perfectly fine and into cyanogenmod. No issues with voice/data, any apps, or instability. No battery issue. No lag. No crashes. The only issue is with the power button, and my inability to boot into recovery or go into download mode.
History:
-I was experiencing a random reboot problem (and power button issue) from an earlier nightly, and I waited a couple months for a more stable version. The CWM recovery for some reason only worked sometimes. When I did get it to work, I flashed RC5 (format and wipe data, dalvik, cache, factory reset, etc.), which fixed my reboot problem, but not my power button.
-I came across this thread: at plus.google(.com)104277415207525128383/posts/iAVpVPYqMtM and updated the radio, even though the RC5 fixed my random reboot.
-I did try flashing CWM, TWRP, and Stock recoveries (the latest ones, and from CWM/EZ recovery apps), but have not tried CWM Touch. It doesn't seem to matter, it won't boot into recovery.
Perceived Solution:
-I have a plan with Best Buy - I am considering smashing the phone and getting it replaced with a refurb, but would like to avoid that if possible.
Anyone have any ideas? I am okay with the phone as is, but I would like to be able to update CM or to another ROM in the future
Thanks for helping me out!

Can you get into recovey just long enough to do a system wipe?
Sent from my Rooted Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4 using xda premium

DarkMenace said:
Can you get into recovey just long enough to do a system wipe?
Sent from my Rooted Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for responding; It doesn't boot into recovery at all. Right after holding Vol. Up, Menu + Power, I get the screen with the small text in the corner, so you know it's going to enter recovery. Then the logo appears, except after that the phone either hangs with a blank screen, shuts off, or resets itself.
I think something got corrupted, but I'm not sure how to find out what, or what steps I could take to fix it.

phospholipid1 said:
Thanks for responding; It doesn't boot into recovery at all. Right after holding Vol. Up, Menu + Power, I get the screen with the small text in the corner, so you know it's going to enter recovery. Then the logo appears, except after that the phone either hangs with a blank screen, shuts off, or resets itself.
I think something got corrupted, but I'm not sure how to find out what, or what steps I could take to fix it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately if you can't get into the recovery mode or the Odin mode then you would need to replace the phone. It's bricked.

DarkMenace said:
Unfortunately if you can't get into the recovery mode or the Odin mode then you would need to replace the phone. It's bricked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the response.
Yeah, that's what I thought. I've never really heard or seen someone with a "functionally bricked" phone, so I'm not sure what to do.
Before I go ahead and smash it for the insurance replacement, I want to see if anyone else has any ideas..
Like I said, the phone boots normally just fine. Is there some kind of app that can flash files? Or maybe some commands I can enter in the terminal emulator?

phospholipid1 said:
Thanks for the response.
Yeah, that's what I thought. I've never really heard or seen someone with a "functionally bricked" phone, so I'm not sure what to do.
Before I go ahead and smash it for the insurance replacement, I want to see if anyone else has any ideas..
Like I said, the phone boots normally just fine. Is there some kind of app that can flash files? Or maybe some commands I can enter in the terminal emulator?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried Odin Mobile Pro? I've never used it myself, but I've heard a lot of good things about from some friends.

It sounds to me like a faulty power button, it isn't hardbricked because your phone is able to boot into recovery and download mode. But If for some reason your power button is stuck in the on position, it will skip booting into recovery and eventually boot out of download mode. Just because the power button physically moves and clicks doesn't mean it can't get stuck, there's obviously something funny going on with it that isn't rom/kernel regulated.
You can try terminal emulator to see if it will work, but I honestly wouldn't do anything in any menu because your phone has the potential to reboot during a process and destroy your phone. Commands are:
su
reboot recovery
su
reboot download
If it's a power button issue, best buy should replace it anyways, you shouldn't have to smash it. Samsung will also fix it under your manufacturer warranty despite it being rooted.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

Thanks for responding, guys
rellomar said:
Have you tried Odin Mobile Pro? I've never used it myself, but I've heard a lot of good things about from some friends.
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Click to collapse
Yes, I did. This brings me back into download mode, at which the phone just turns off.
BadUsername said:
It sounds to me like a faulty power button, it isn't hardbricked because your phone is able to boot into recovery and download mode. But If for some reason your power button is stuck in the on position, it will skip booting into recovery and eventually boot out of download mode. Just because the power button physically moves and clicks doesn't mean it can't get stuck, there's obviously something funny going on with it that isn't rom/kernel regulated.
You can try terminal emulator to see if it will work, but I honestly wouldn't do anything in any menu because your phone has the potential to reboot during a process and destroy your phone. Commands are:
su
reboot recovery
su
reboot download
If it's a power button issue, best buy should replace it anyways, you shouldn't have to smash it. Samsung will also fix it under your manufacturer warranty despite it being rooted.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the commands; they ended up just shutting the phone off.
Yeah, I did ponder the idea that even though the power button "clicked," it might not necessarily be working. I google searched "galaxy s 3 broken power button" and there was a video with a description where the guy mentioned something about the circuit always being switched "on"
But his phone experienced different symptoms than mine (because the circuit was always switched on, the phone actually restarted itself while in normal operation. This hasn't happened to me).
Is there an app for me to definitely determine which buttons are being registered as they are pressed? Similar to programs that tell you what buttons you're pressing on your keyboard.
I would take it back to Best Buy, but I just don't want to give them any reason to say it was my own fault since I rooted and put a custom ROM on it.
Haha, I'll dunk it in salt water in favor of smashing it
Thanks again for your suggestions and ideas :cyclops:

ODIN to stock without power button working? Is it possible?

Sorry for the long title but it states my predicament. Basically my power button is done and I can't boot into recovery anymore. It just is a endless cycle of reboots(vibrates everyone 15 seconds or so). I even tried to enter download mode, which it does but than restarts the bootloop issue. Anyhow, I've never used ODIN so someone please fill me in. I want to ODIN back to stock because it's my last hope and basically I can't get into recovery anymore anyway. But do I need to use my power button to ODIN? Also what if I can't get into ODIN mode because it just wants to continue to reboot. Any help? I'm at a lost here.
Oops, wrong section. Mods can you please move to Q&A...sorrrry.

tu3218 said:
Sorry for the long title but it states my predicament. Basically my power button is done and I can't boot into recovery anymore. It just is a endless cycle of reboots(vibrates everyone 15 seconds or so). I even tried to enter download mode, which it does but than restarts the bootloop issue. Anyhow, I've never used ODIN so someone please fill me in. I want to ODIN back to stock because it's my last hope and basically I can't get into recovery anymore anyway. But do I need to use my power button to ODIN? Also what if I can't get into ODIN mode because it just wants to continue to reboot. Any help? I'm at a lost here.
Oops, wrong section. Mods can you please move to Q&A...sorrrry.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Moved to Q and A. I suggest pulling your battery for at least thirty minutes or maybe an hour. Then put the battery back in(do not power on) and plug the phone into your charger and allow it to charge overnight. From what you have said the power button does indeed work but you have done something to your phone causing a boot loop. In the morning search XDA for Odin procedures (there are a plethora of them on XDA) and attempt your Odin to stock. If the phone continues to boot loop I hope you have insurance... I did this to my LG Optimus once... And couldn't save it...

VeNuM said:
Moved to Q and A. I suggest pulling your battery for at least thirty minutes or maybe an hour. Then put the battery back in(do not power on) and plug the phone into your charger and allow it to charge overnight. From what you have said the power button does indeed work but you have done something to your phone causing a boot loop. In the morning search XDA for Odin procedures (there are a plethora of them on XDA) and attempt your Odin to stock. If the phone continues to boot loop I hope you have insurance... I did this to my LG Optimus once... And couldn't save it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does "work" but not correctly. Apparency its a known issue and called SDS. basically the way it acts is that when I press the button, the phone
Is acting as if I pressed it twice. So I press it to turn screen off, screen comes right back on. Long press power button for reboot menu, flashes, dissapears and than comes right back. This I believe is why I can't boot into recovery or download mode. Not that the phones bricked, but the phone is having trouble recognizing power button hits.
So my last try was to Odin back to stock just to see if that helps. But when I hold the buttons down to get into download mode or select it in reboot menu, it boots into it real quick(I see download mode appear on screen) but than immediately starts looping. So when I use Odin, will it automatically boot into download mode for me? What about mobile Odin?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

I had the same problem With my s3... It was out of warranty so I sent it to mobile tech videos to have the power switch repaired. It's been great ever since. I realize that doesn't really Answer your question about Odin, just figured I'd chime in with what I had to do. I was afraid to attempt to Odin or flash anything before the repair bc in my mind the phone believed the power button was being pressed repeatedly and that would make it interrupt the flash.

Also if you're under warranty, Samsung will most likely fix it despite being rooted. Mobile Tech Videos sounds like a great option too if you're out of warranty, glad to see there's an alternative way to get it fixed.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

I don't have the phone in question but for my Samsung Vibrant (Galaxy S, T-mo variant) if you press and hold the Volume Up button while plugging in the charger or say your computer's USB port the phone will boot into download mode. Not sure if it will work for the S3 though. Hopefully it does! :fingers-crossed:
Also, for my work around, I've mapped the Volume up button within ROMs to 'POWER WAKE' to replace the power button. It's not needed but its an easy way to reboot to recovery if its implemented in the Roms power menu. Occasionally the phone will crash or the battery may die. If I'm at home, that's an easy fix, just boot up download mode and flash a kernel/modem/recovery via odin and make sure auto reboot is selected. The phone should boot, granted there are no errors. The only problem I have is when it crashes or battery dies and I'm not at home I can't turn on the phone. If anyone knows a way around powering on or booting into recovery without the use of the power button or odin/download mode I will be eternally grateful. I'm try to get my Vibrant in working order for my father whose never had a Smart phone. I myself have upgraded to the s4 and am glad I stuck with what I knew instead of getting the HTC One. =]

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1931310
Read this thread. Power button issues on S2 might help and save you time and money. Or if you want to get into download mode use adb.. "adb reboot download " or can be done in terminal.
Sent from my SCH-I535

[Q] soft brick vibration issue

So while trying to put on a new ROM (I've rommed and done custom recoveries and radios on this phone before) I had TWRP recovery on it and the ROM I was going to wanted CWM on it, so I flashed that and on battery it will show Samsung logo then go into a 2 second vibrate boot loop.
None of the button combos work. I ordered a jig on ebay and it flashes download mode for about a second before it flashes again and goes into the 2 second vibrate mode again. I tried to go from jig to Odin and it saw it for a split second, but disconnected/failed as soon as it started looping.
I read about the power button issue and the behavior matches, but I know I was the one that messed this thing up.
Is the JTag repair service my only option at this point?
I got an S4 so I'm just trying to get this revived to get rid of it so too expensive and I'll just sell it for parts.
thanks in advance for the help!
Jeffro

jeffro7172 said:
I read about the power button issue and the behavior matches
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Focus on that.

theesotericone said:
Focus on that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reason I dismissed that was because I actually did it twice.the first time I was able to get into odin.
So of course the next time I did it, I told it to reboot into recovery and that was the last command I gave it. Since recovery is hosed I think that's why it's just looping.
I guess it could be the power button but I think because I hosed recovery, it's just not booting.

This phone has a separate recovery partition. So even if you hosed the recovery it would still boot. Theory here, like I said I've never seen anyone report a recovery bootloop. I think it's just a timing issue. Power button happened to get stuck when you where flashing something. The fact that it won't hold DL mode further leads to the simple solution.
You got a stuck power button.

Isn't the sop for this problem a battery pull? If you take the battery out and put it back in and the phone tries to turn on by itself(lights or vibration) then it's a faulty power button.

jondroid2 said:
Isn't the sop for this problem a battery pull? If you take the battery out and put it back in and the phone tries to turn on by itself(lights or vibration) then it's a faulty power button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
makes sense guys, that's what it does. Guess it just so happened to crap out right when I was messing with it. Thank you all, I'll head that route and see if I can get it revived.

It indeed revived with a take apart and some power button fiddling. Thank you all very much!

SM-G955FD can only access Download Mode

Hello everyone,
I apologize that my first post is directly asking for help but I've spent days reading and trying to figure out my issue to no avail.
I have a SM-G955FD and a few days ago it just turned off (battery at 40% and charging) and wouldn't turn back again (stock firmware, never rooted).
Recovery Mode (Pwr + Volume Up + Bixby) doesn't do a thing (Black Screen)
Download Mode (Pwr + Volume Down + Bixby) opens the Download Menu, if I proceed (Volume Up) , the device shows up in Odin.
I tracked the same firmware I had to flash it and found it. I load up the BL,AP,CP & CSC and proceed with flashing the device through ODIN.
Everything completes and I get a "PASS" from ODIN. However, when my phone reboots I get a blank screen with no vibration or logo or anything, it seems as if rebooting is actually turning the phone off.
Do you have any suggestions on what I can do? The device is still under warranty but I'd rather try everything within my ability to try and fix it.
Thank you so much folks.

Edit #1: Took it to a Samsung Repair Center and they told me I've voided my warranty because I installed a custom firmware. I clearly show them the "Download Menu" and how it's clearly marked "Official" & the Warranty Void bit/hex is 0 (I only flashed the same exact firmware from Sammobile using Odin, nothing even related to rooting which they claimed I did). They tell me this doesn't matter and that it's now out of warranty and if a software flash doesn't work then they would have to charge me 380$ (American Dollars).
I have a gut feeling that it's a software related thing at this point but my realistic assumption is that since the power button isn't causing the phone to vibrate it's probably a hardware issue.
What do you guys think?
I really apologize for the long posts, but I'm really pissed since the phone is barely 6 months old and I bought it unlocked.

galaxyflashing said:
I really apologize for the long posts, but I'm really pissed since the phone is barely 6 months old and I bought it unlocked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you try soft reset ? this is how :
To soft reset a frozen Galaxy S8 or S8 Plus you need to hold the power button and the volume-down button for roughly 7 seconds. Let go of the buttons once you feel the device vibrate and see the Samsung Galaxy S8 logo on the screen. Your phone will then reboot, and hopefully, start working properly once again
One thing to note: On the forced reboot/soft reset, you will be given four (4) options. Use the volume keys to navigate, and the “Bixby” key to select. Option 1 will do a normal boot, as if you’re turning the device on.
i hope your phone work again... try another Samsung repair center and don't explain anything just told them that your phone worked fine and one morning this problem appears... and nothing else don't mention Odin flash or....
i think this its storage problem or a hardware fail...

I have same issue my phone only can enter download mode, i try flash with 3 different firmware, it said pass but my phone wont reboot. It just like turn off
Then i unthick auto reboot, but it still same. My phone wont reboot
Even with pit file i just do nothing, it still cant reboot
If anyone have solution please share to me, i'm stuck i dont know what must i do

Arfianritkah said:
I have same issue my phone only can enter download mode, i try flash with 3 different firmware, it said pass but my phone wont reboot. It just like turn off
Then i unthick auto reboot, but it still same. My phone wont reboot
Even with pit file i just do nothing, it still cant reboot
If anyone have solution please share to me, i'm stuck i dont know what must i do
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi there! No solution other than changing the motherboard. Went to another repair center and they did that in less than 2 hours and around a day to complete the water test.
Good luck

NEVER SEEN HARD BRICK on Oneplus One

Good Morning,
yesterday when i flashed a rom, something goes wrong.
My opo don't go in boot animation and work only the recovery and fastboot.
I don't know why but afther another reboot the phone is dead, i think that is a normal hard brick so i try to restore with the tool "msm8974 download tool" but it don't work, when i start the restore come out a red word.
I never seen a hard brick like this, the phone is 100% dead , when i press the power button don't vibrates and nothing come out, diplay is black.
What can i do to restore my opo? :crying:

Try Wiping everything from TWRP and try a different ROM.
Another thing to try is connecting ADB to get the logcat.
Can you give more details on what you've tried so far?
Additionally, I remember reading that the OPO can stop booting correctly when the battery starts failing.

umer936 said:
Try Wiping everything from TWRP and try a different ROM.
Another thing to try is connecting ADB to get the logcat.
Can you give more details on what you've tried so far?
Additionally, I remember reading that the OPO can stop booting correctly when the battery starts failing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now the phone is dead, if I press the power button nothing come out (no vibration, no screen) the phone look like without battery! (But it is over 50%)
I followed the tutorial to restore HARD BRICK with the tool but it don't success!

ghibli2 said:
Now the phone is dead, if I press the power button nothing come out (no vibration, no screen) the phone look like without battery! (But it is over 50%)
I followed the tutorial to restore HARD BRICK with the tool but it don't success!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Me to.. this morning my phone dead.. i dont know what can i do again..
Trying pressing all combination button not showing anything even in pc device manager usb not recognize or qhsusb_bulk not appear
Anyone can help me please.. @netbuzz

I have bricked this phone in and out, believe me lol all you gotta do is open the phone, unscrew all (TOP HALF) screws and UN plugg battery......wait about 30 sec RE plugg/connect battery and re run the unbricking tool