I have an unlocked AT&T Samsung Focus which I just got two weeks ago. And for some weird reason, the phone got bricked. It wasn't because of any update or anything.
What happened was I was just checking an app which I downloaded from the Marketplace, which got stuck (none of the buttons on the device were responding after several minutes). So I had to pull out the battery to restart the phone.
It now gets stuck in what appears to be an endless boot cycle. All I see is the Samsung logo which disappears after a while and then reappears. The phone doesn't seem to go beyond that.
I tried hard reseting the phone (Power + Volume DOWN + Camera), and even after formatting it several times, the problem is still the same.
I also read somewhere that if you leave the phone in Download Mode (Power + Volume UP + Camera) for a few minutes, it somehow *magically* restores itself. This didn't work for me either even after leaving it in the download mode for about an hour.
Now asking the excellent community of XDA for help is the last thing I can do because since I'm not in the USA, I can't even get a warranty claim on my Focus, and its nothing more than a paperweight right now.
So any ideas/tips/suggestions on what I should do?
Return it !
That's something I just can't do. Got it through a 3rd party in the US so I can't just return it. I'm not in the US, and I doubt that 3rd party company would have kept any records.
What I'm wondering is if the issue is in the hardware or the firmware. If it is the later, then is it possible to flash the ROM and see if it works?
Make a full hard Reset on it. If that not work. Your OS is screwed. You buy the phone unlocked so it have no warranty. If the hard reset don't work start praying to the hackers gods to start working on a ROM for all the Bricked Focus out of warranty out there.
I'm actually surprised there isn't any ROM/Hacking activity on the Samsung Focus yet. Its actually one of the top selling WP7 devices.
What I'm actually interested in knowing is that if it really is an OS/Firmware issue or a faulty NAND Flash which is causing the problems.
If its a NAND, then even a ROM wont be able to help. Any way to confirm this?
You could try to make a "jig" and force it into download-mode and flash a ROM, like I describe here. But I don't know if there is a ROM available.
I can get it into download mode. That's not the issue. The problem is the ROM. There aren't any available for Samsung Focus.
Related
My friends Samsung Focus seems to have gotten stuck turning on just showing SAMSUNG... phone did not have a SD card in it all. We had tried a sd card but never worked so removed it. About a week later the phone just rebooted and got stuck on boot.. Did the hard reset a few times and nothing? Also I accidentally got the phone in download mode. Since i have a Captivate, ive seen the download mode before and used it for kernels and such.. Is there any use of it on the Focus somehow? It says download mode and then do not turn off. it takes about 10 minutes..
Anyone have any suggestions or know anything? Phone is unlocked for tmobile, so cannot go to ATT to get replaced..
Thanks
same issue - samsung black screen no sd card at all
My Focus did the same thing today - it was almost as if an auto update was sent out, and the device reset itself. When I tried to enter my passcode, i got errors, and then upon resetting I became stuck on the black samsung screen. I've tried hard and soft resets with and without the SIM card. Nothing.
Any advice, beyond heading into ATT tomorrow?
hard reset is the 3 button combo, right? if so whats the soft reset?
yes. hard reset is the +, power, camera combo. soft reset is just powering down and then starting back up.
That is the issue I am having with my phones and I believe it is heat related. Check battery meter when you do the battery pull and reboot. Also the battery is warm to the touch also the screen if it stays in the samsung boot mode.
mine did the same thing this morning... I have a warranty replacement on the way. Would love to know what/why/ fix etc... though.
trolane said:
mine did the same thing this morning... I have a warranty replacement on the way. Would love to know what/why/ fix etc... though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have gotten a new replacement and battery and still have the same issues if I keep it in my jacket or shirt pocket.
trolane said:
mine did the same thing this morning... I have a warranty replacement on the way. Would love to know what/why/ fix etc... though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope theres a fix soon. My friend uses the phone for tmobile so cant really do anything. I wonder whats really happening with these phones.
Deadem said:
I have gotten a new replacement and battery and still have the same issues if I keep it in my jacket or shirt pocket.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is absolutely weird. This phone really has a big defect then if this happens out of the blue. Not good for Samsung... unless its the software that is screwy
Just had this happen today.
Stuck at samsung boot logo. Unable to get past it for hours. Getting it replaced tomorrow
peterfnet said:
Just had this happen today.
Stuck at samsung boot logo. Unable to get past it for hours. Getting it replaced tomorrow
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Update on my situation: I was able to had reset it, but it still kept me at the Samsung logo. AT&T replaced it. That solved the problem
Same issue here with my Rogers Focus, it has happened on two devices now. Would love to know what the problem is, so when I get my third one I can avoid it.
Happened to my Focus as well. Since I'm using an unlocked device and I'm not in the US, it looks like I'm pretty much screwed unless someone comes up with a fix like a ROM or something that can solve the issue.
From what I can tell its not battery related at all. I tried the battery from a Galaxy S I had and still didn't fix the problem.
The thing is that Samsung of America firmwares are very hard to find. I have find all the Roms on this page http://www.samfirmware.com/ even instrucction on how to flash the phone. The thing is that they only have the Omnia firmwares, we need a i917 Rom. One more thing you can put your phone in Download mode pressing Volume Up and Camera botton simultaneus from there you can flash the Phone. Come on we need a real hacker who can bring us a firmware for this phone.
Going into download mode is pointless until we get a Firmware. Looks like no Dev/Hacker is interested in Samsung Focus right now.
Greeting
I ask someone for help. My Samsung E900 has worked perfectly until yesterday ... After changing the Regional Settings sought to be restarted to accept new settings. After that phone at the time of ignition appears LG logo and the fit is a few seconds the screen clears and the LG logo appears again, and so constantly ..
Any ideas?
Thanks
Update - Problem resolved
Hi
I resolved the problem ... means COOLD START is on the keys...
Hold down the VOLUME + - and the CAMERA button and turn the POWER button the phone ...
Phone back to factory settings
Samsung? LOL. And I think this will work even if you don't hold the camera button, but I must try it again...
LG
sorry LG not Samsung LOL
Reset want do the job
Any other ideas?
After a reset i have the same symptoms again.
thx anyway
That's weird!
solved?
did u solve the it?
i have the same problem, it freezes on the "LG" screen, nothing more happens....
i tried the cold boot thingy but then it just sais "cold boot" and then nothing happens...
any one knows if there is something that can be done to make it work?
lamanfluff said:
did u solve the it?
i have the same problem, it freezes on the "LG" screen, nothing more happens....
i tried the cold boot thingy but then it just sais "cold boot" and then nothing happens...
any one knows if there is something that can be done to make it work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pulling the battery for 10-30 secs and then boot seems to be the universal problem solver for WP7 phones.
/J
my phone was delivered without the battery inserted, it it was out for like a couple of days. Still gets stuck at the "LG" screen...
lamanfluff said:
my phone was delivered without the battery inserted, it it was out for like a couple of days. Still gets stuck at the "LG" screen...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then return it as faulty as it should load unless borked somehow.
/J
Yes i Will return it on monday unless someone knows a way to restore it.
It's possible to start it in 3 modes.
1. Hold down the volume buttons + camera + power button. It then sais cold boot and then nothing more.
2. Vol down + camera + power. Then it sais emergency download, and my computer finds it
3. Camera + power. Shows a phone, cord and computer.
I tried the lg phone support tool and it sais the phone already are up to date.
Isn't there a way to load the windows phone 7 software onto the phone somehow?
Would really like to do it so I won't have to return it. I bought it of eBay, it is a customer return, so guess the guy before me tried messing with it to update it. And the company that sold it to me did not check if it was functioning before selling it to me..
lamanfluff said:
Yes i Will return it on monday unless someone knows a way to restore it.
It's possible to start it in 3 modes.
1. Hold down the volume buttons + camera + power button. It then sais cold boot and then nothing more.
2. Vol down + camera + power. Then it sais emergency download, and my computer finds it
3. Camera + power. Shows a phone, cord and computer.
I tried the lg phone support tool and it sais the phone already are up to date.
Isn't there a way to load the windows phone 7 software onto the phone somehow?
Would really like to do it so I won't have to return it. I bought it of eBay, it is a customer return, so guess the guy before me tried messing with it to update it. And the company that sold it to me did not check if it was functioning before selling it to me..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could of course flash the phone with new firmware and see if it fixes the problem, sounds like someone managed to mess up with your set.
There are some information around here how to flash the phone if you feel up for it.
/J
Ok but do u think The firmware is The problem? The LG tool showed that it was up to date, isn't it just the windows phone 7 software that is missing? I am not sure, but wouldn't the phone not show the lg logo if the firmware was bad?
A reward of € 10 will be given to the person helping me with this, and makes it work as supposed to.
lamanfluff said:
Ok but do u think The firmware is The problem? The LG tool showed that it was up to date, isn't it just the windows phone 7 software that is missing? I am not sure, but wouldn't the phone not show the lg logo if the firmware was bad?
A reward of € 10 will be given to the person helping me with this, and makes it work as supposed to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could probably try a different version of the OS depending on what you have now (I bet you wrote what version you had, I just missed it).
There are a few threads about that under the WP7 hack and dev. And as far as the firmware goes it's hard to know if it's actually ok just because it loads to the logo, I don't know where in the boot sequence the logo appears etc. there could be problems with the firmware too.
My first step would be to see if it's possible to get a new version of the OS in and if not, I'd try some new firmware.
And if nothing works return it as faulty.
/J
jontatas said:
You could probably try a different version of the OS depending on what you have now (I bet you wrote what version you had, I just missed it).
There are a few threads about that under the WP7 hack and dev. And as far as the firmware goes it's hard to know if it's actually ok just because it loads to the logo, I don't know where in the boot sequence the logo appears etc. there could be problems with the firmware too.
My first step would be to see if it's possible to get a new version of the OS in and if not, I'd try some new firmware.
And if nothing works return it as faulty.
/J
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont know what version there is on my phone, it received it like this, the only thing I see when trying to start it is "LG" and it shows right away.
I tried everything I stumbled upon when it comes to trying to put windows phone software in the phone, but Nothing works... I will send it back tomorrow monday if I cant find a solution to this.
I got the same problem before.
I just turn it off, and leave it for a night
Next day, all the things are ok
yeeaah well, nothing helped, whatever I did to it...
I received no less than 3 broken phones and now finaly I have a working one yaaaayyy
Congrats,
I just sent my phone to LG for the same problem....
My phone can boot up in very low rate...
Lg optimus e900 start issue
Hi,
I have the same issue, I can't restart my phone.
I can see only the logo and the LG caption.
Pls help,
Laszlo
I've got almost the same problem
I just bought this phone via local site, several days ago i'm so much happy with its smoothness but 2 days ago this problem appear, i spent several hours just to find it hanging on LG logo, i've waited for hour to hour just to see nothing happened that time. I left it for bed, and the next day the phone back to normal. But then, at least the device hanging 3 times a day, its just restarting itself and it seems the phone is unable to boot itself to the homescreen. Need help! I've done many way, from restoring, cold boot, softreset, upgrade(when it comes normal) etc but all don't work till now.
Unfortunately, this product doesn't release officially in my country, so i guess i won't be able to get replacement unit. I became so desperate cause i often use it, i need to get this phone back to normal, soon! Thankyou and sorry for my bad english
i am having a problem with the update procedure on my trophy
its on the 7392 update and at the last step 9/10 where it says rebooting your phone it has stuck there for over a half an hour.
The phone shows the htc logo (white background)
What should i do? Should i cancel the update?
thx
after one hour waiting on the rebooting point i decided to press cancel on the update
Now the phone doesnt start
What can i do ?
I have to contact htc or is a way to recover it?
Take the battery out, put it back in, then hold the volume down and power buttons. See if the recovery screen shows up (Blue, Red, Green stripes).
If so, find a RUU restore file for your network on the development subforum. Ask for help here if you're stuck.
the problem is that the phone doesnt start. Its dead. Maybe it wass a hardware prob because from the beggining when i got it the scrolling wasnt as smooth as the other trophys i have.
Is there a prog like phoenix on nokia for htc?
It sounds to me the same problem I had, I did an update but saw the phone restart and frozen on the HTC logo for over 30 minutes. I had no choice but to power the phone off.
I've tried various ways to turn the phone on (factory hardware reset), holding the camera lens and power button etc. Nothing. Is it dead? What can we do? Did you manage to power on your device Djole77?
That sounds pretty bad for you guys. If you can't get the phone into recovery mode, even after removing the battery, they may be dead.
I is possible to JTAG the HTC trophy with some soldering, which would let you recover the phone in most circumstances. However it requires voiding your warranty, opening the phone and soldering. Best leave it.
The first thing to do is take it to your carrier for warranty repairs. The mango update voids your warranty (because the carriers don't / can't support Mango yet) but if the whole phone is bricked then it shouldn't make a difference. Take it to them and don't mention the mango upgrade.
If that doesn't work, try HTC.
If that doesnt' work, and you're on Microsoft's developer network, they offer a substitutionary warranty for developers installing mango.
johna8 said:
It sounds to me the same problem I had, I did an update but saw the phone restart and frozen on the HTC logo for over 30 minutes. I had no choice but to power the phone off.
I've tried various ways to turn the phone on (factory hardware reset), holding the camera lens and power button etc. Nothing. Is it dead? What can we do? Did you manage to power on your device Djole77?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
unfortunately no i will send to the service and wait what they will tell me
From the beginning something was wrong with this phone the scrolling wasn't smooth like the other trophys I have
maybe there was a hardware problem and the update finished it
I have the same problem Do you have any news?
Thanx
Well, as the title suggests, I got the original Yu Yureka AO5510 phone yesterday and without even trying anything, apart from installing a few simple apps on it that I regularly use, I discovered that whenever I would make an outgoing call, receive a call, or try calling someone using Viber, or even initiating a Skype video call, the phone would reset itself.
Same thing would happen initiating a code in the dialer to stabilize the proximity sensor... the phone just resets itself immediately every single time.
I was barely able to unlock the bootloader (I think).
After that I tried installing a custom recovery, but it never worked.
In addition to that, I experienced major issues with drivers because I'm on Windows 7 x64.
I was able to somehow get the drivers operational by following an older method, and try installing CWM/TWRP through Fastboot, which seemingly worked from what Fastboot said, but when I actually tried getting into the recovery itself (Vol Up and Power button), the phone just went into normal boot (I also tried Vol down and Power button, and all three at the same time).
The phone arrived with 5.1.1.
I also tried the Yu yureka Tool Box. Followed the procedures to the letter, but again, nothing worked.
I tried manual installations through Fastboot on several occasions, and again nothing worked.
To find that a supposedly new phone cannot actually make phone calls of any kind is absurd... and I find it appalling that I had to go through 10 hours of continuous attempts at making an out of the box phone work - and failing on top of that.
Now, I could potentially live with that if I could get a custom recovery on the thing, but the device refuses to cooperate.
The only potential option available is pressing the Vol UP, Vol down and Power buttons simultaneously...
THAT however, gets me into Cyanogenmod Recovery, which is apparently limited, and I do not think is suitable for installation of new firmware.
Unless someone has an idea I could try implementing in the next 24 to 48 hours, I will be returning the phone and requesting a refund.
I've seen this before, it's a hardware fault. Send it back
Indeed? Most other sources seem to say it's a firmware problem. But given the difficulties I had with trying to put a custom recovery on the thing, I'm starting to think it could be a hardware problem as well. At any rate, a new phone shouldn't be doing that, and no one should go through 10 hours of attempts in trying to make it work in the first place (I can understand if you bought a phone, then bricked it yourself through meddling and then tried bringing it back to life - but not a new phone).
Oh well. Refund it is then. I might go for zenfone 2 instead
did you get it off ebay by any chance? as i know a guy who had the same problem, and sent it back to the ebay seller about 2 weeks ago
Yeah. Got it off e-bay.
No other reliable way of getting it from UK I'm afraid.
So, long story short, my GS4 just froze up and shut off on me this morning while checking out Facebook on the phone, and now it won't turn on no matter what I do.
Removing the battery and holding the power button for a few minutes partly resolves my issue, as I am then able to actually power on the phone, but then it just gets stuck on the GS4 logo and doesn't boot into the actual system. I was also able to get into Download mode at one point, but I wasn't sure about flashing new firmware from there since my phone is rooted and has a custom recovery installed, and maybe that will interfere with the installation.
Anybody got some input on this? I am kinda freaking out here, would really love it if I could fix this thing without taking it to an overpriced shop, who maybe wouldn't even accept it due to it's 'modified firmware'.
BamBamBam. said:
So, long story short, my GS4 just froze up and shut off on me this morning while checking out Facebook on the phone, and now it won't turn on no matter what I do.
Removing the battery and holding the power button for a few minutes partly resolves my issue, as I am then able to actually power on the phone, but then it just gets stuck on the GS4 logo and doesn't boot into the actual system. I was also able to get into Download mode at one point, but I wasn't sure about flashing new firmware from there since my phone is rooted and has a custom recovery installed, and maybe that will interfere with the installation.
Anybody got some input on this? I am kinda freaking out here, would really love it if I could fix this thing without taking it to an overpriced shop, who maybe wouldn't even accept it due to it's 'modified firmware'.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if it boot into recovery, factory reset your phone and wipe cache, it's a painful solution but it's functional.., I've had the same issue on another Samsung phone and that fixed it, also I don't think flashing stock rom would interfere with anything, you can try that as well.