hello smartphone's gurus, i have a bricked S3 when trying to install the stock android rom from samsung(the owner hates the icons and apps that came with the phone from a local carrier) using Odin 1.85 and first unlocking using an easy bootloader now the phone starts and keeps the breathing blue SAMSUNG logo and nothing happens, any ideas?
Samsung doesn't provide AOSP builds for their phones nor do they ever support anyone to flash their phones so they never supply any flashable builds. Have you tried to restore from backup (assuming you did do a backup)? If not, try to see if you can flash a custom ROM for your phone. deltatux
@deltatux: well i didnt know that can you tell me what rom could work using odin? i can get into download mode, where can i get a custom rom? I tried cyanogen but that required the phone to work to delete all data and copy the rom files
if you can see the Samsung logo it's not "bricked" Get into download mode (or CWM/TWRP) and you're set.
First off, restore to stock using ODIN. Get the stock rom from Sammobile. Next, go to XDA & follow instructions to unlock & install custom recovery, & root for the carrier version you are using. Next, put whatever rom you want to use on the microsd card. Boot into custom recovery using vol up, home button, & power. Flash new rom in recovery. Don't flash custom roms using ODIN. Only use Odin to flash back to stock roms or to install custom recovery.(Yes, you CAN use Odin, but it is better to flash roms in recovery). Make sure you have a working custom recovery before trying to flash any other roms.VERY IMPORTANT!!!!! Start here
Boot into Recovery by holding Volume-Up + Home + Power when you turn on the device. Look for "Wipe Data/Factory Reset" and choose that. If you're going from a Custom/Modified ROM back to Stock, failing to Wipe Data will cause a bootloop. I've accidentally encountered this on my Galaxy S2 when I had to recover from a softbrick a week or so ago - I flashed a Stock ROM through ODIN, but didn't Wipe Data because I wasn't able to, due to being unable to load Recovery... Upon first boot, I was stuck in a bootloop like you describe. I turned the phone off, loaded up Recovery and Wiped Data, after that the phone booted successfully. As you're seeing the animated Samsung logo, you should be able to open Recovery. It's only when you get stuck on the white "Samsung Galaxy SIII GT-I9300" logo that you're in a spot of bother.
Had the same issue a few months back. Fortunately I was able to restore the phone and boot normally, unfortunately I lost service/data connection and so had to have it replaced. I suspect it was due to the modem installed, or lack of one come to think of it. Here's the thread.
If you take a backup of your EFS data, you can recover your IMEI if you happen to lose it in any flashing escapades. Luckily I've not had any trouble with my IMEI since owning my Galaxy S2, but I have a backup just in case. Not sure if this is entirely relevant to the Galaxy S3 as well but here's some info on how to do it (provided you take that backup first...) http://www.xda-developers.com/andro...s-ii-and-other-samsung-devices-in-nine-steps/
Ah yes I forgot about the super fun brickbug. I thought that was only on Galaxy SII I9100 devices though? OP said he's using a Galaxy SIII. EDIT: My mistake, it appears it does affect the Galaxy SIII as well... OK, so what if OP flashes a JB 4.1.2 Stock ROM through ODIN, which of course will include a JB Stock kernel, which should be MMC-CAP-ERASE free, and then dive into recovery and factory reset? I know that a stock kernel won't have CWM recovery, but it's default little recovery should still have a Wipe Data/Factory Reset option. This is probably an incredibly longwinded way of fixing the problem...
Yes as you can see the problem lies in the exynos 4 chip + samsung ICS stock kernel combination. so all samsung mobile phones like galaxy SII and SIII, galaxy note and note II have this issue. The easiest way of fixing this would be to flash a safe kernel which means a smaller download and a faster fix. they are, usually, stock kernels modified with a custom and improved recovery and without the MMC-CAP-ERASE bug. with it the OP could do as many wipes as needed and install any custom or stock rom safely and freely. An example of this kernels is Hydracore Nirvana or PhilZ Kernel (as far as I know they are for the GT-N7000) but there are lots of safe kernels out there.
Totally a bootloop issue. You should check if you are in a safe kernel (stock ICS kernels can cause BRICKs when wiping/factory reset) then do all wipes: factory reset, dalvik cache and normal cache. Then flash with PC ODIN any stock rom so it will reinstall the firmware and the original bootloader. It will boot then !
And this isn't a brick you can fix yourself, or even with a JTAG repair, it's an actual failure of the hardware, and you'd need to get a whole new mainboard for the phone. EspHack: Where did you download the firmware from (probably SamFirmware?), and what's the filename for the ROM you flashed in ODIN?
Indeed. Well, in fact it may be recovered if it isn't a full brick. some lucky guys got a piece of the rom busted and got their phones working at the expense of losing a part of the rom space. But yeah. usually its a full and hard brick... which i can't believe hasn't been fixed by samsung yet... being a pain in the ass for us and them for the ammount of RMAs... (doing a full wipe from recovery or from the phone doesn't void your warranty, if you have a stock samsung rom) especially when the fix is just a slight modification to the kernel :/
yep i can go to download mode then what? installing the same rom again doesnt solve the issue, tried another rom too and keeps doing the same :/ i would like to do that, can you tell me where to download the specific rom i need? odin seems like the ease-way for me how i install a kernel? same as the rom with odin? here called GT-I9300_XEO_I9300XXDLIB_I9300OXFDLI1_Original.zip is not my phone, just a mad friend asking me to help him flashing his droid and ofc i told him i dont know a **** about android but im a techie anyway lol and thanks for all the help guys i will try againg and see what happens
OK, cool. The ROM you have flashed through ODIN is an Android JellyBean 4.1.1 ROM. This means that you are free from the risk of the brickbug that was a problem with ROMs (and kernels) using Android Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) 4.0.4. EDIT: Just saw in your post above that you said you'd tried another ROM and the same thing happened. Make sure you're on this ROM "GT-I9300_XEO_I9300XXDLIB_I9300OXFDLI1_Original.zip" before attempting any of the below. I'd say the next best thing to try is to try and get into Recovery, which you can do by turning the phone off, holding Volume-Up + Home + Power. When the phone turns on and the white Samsung Galaxy SIII GT-I9300 logo appears, let go of all the keys you were holding. After a few seconds the Recovery menu should appear. Look for an option called "Wipe Data/Factory Reset" and select this (probably using the volume keys to move up and down and the Power key to select). This will wipe the phone clean of any remnants left behind by the ROM that was on the phone before. Once this has finished exit out of Recovery and with any luck the phone should boot. EDIT: The first boot will take a few minutes while Android gets itself sorted out. So give it a good 5mins or so just to give it enough time to finish. After this first boot, it'll be a lot quicker. When the lights for the menu/back keys light up and the phone vibrates a little, that's when it's pretty much finished the boot and any second after this the Android welcome screen should appear. Does anyone else have anything they'd like to add to this? For now I think EspHack should stick with 100% official & stock kernels etc, and let the owner of the phone decide if that's a route he wants to go down. Just in case in future they wish to send the phone off for warranty repair, as custom kernels etc will increase the binary counter, and Samsung are getting wise on how to reset it... EDIT: This video shows the process you need to go through. This link should go to the correct time, if not, go to 1:41 into the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it6pIvfKorM&feature=player_detailpage#t=102s
Yes, you are having the typical Jelly Bean bootloop issue. This is caused by a problem in bootloader+kernel combination. You should look in XDA forums the jelly bean bootloop issue and see the way it's fixed. you have to do wipes and flash the firmware like 3 times consecutively or something like that. It's generally caused by removing battery or draining it totally, but there can be other reasons. Edit: check this links. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1831973 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1997197 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1823030 http://androidforums.com/verizon-galaxy-nexus-all-things-root/573915-jelly-bean-boot-up-problems.html
The i9300 doesn't have a locked bootloader so cam you expand on what the hell you did with some random unlocking tool, also get a proper firmware from sammobile in a .tar.md5 format.