Database Users

People with hardware locked vibrants..

What can we do? I dont want to mess with anything again because i know if anything goes wrong i cant get in to download mode.. But i too want to flash the new roms and gps fixes. Is there anyway to make the hardware buttons unlocked?

Why not use adb? I used it and Odin for the first time two days ago flashing this new patch and it was quite simple. I, like you, have a hardware locked handset. Let's hope it didn't take you nearly the same two hours that it took me.

You can root using clockworks and run some of the patch through clockworks too. Try not to use odin unless you really know what you're doing. A lot have odin hang on them. Other than that, you can flash rom using clockworks.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

jonathan3579 said:
Why not use adb? I used it and Odin for the first time two days ago flashing this new patch and it was quite simple. I, like you, have a hardware locked handset. Let's hope it didn't take you nearly the same two hours that it took me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I received 1 of the new hardware-locked phones and used adb to get into "download mode" - but odin got stuck and I had to unplug the phone and tried plugging it back in and it didn't work. Once I took the battery out, I got the dreaded "phone to pc" icon. I tried a whole lotta combinations all read here on XDA - nothing worked. One I got that "phone to pc" icon - i was screwed. Adb doesn't work at that point.
Basically - I wouldn't use Odin with one of the newer vibrants - only update.zip stuff
*Just a suggestion*

TWO HOURS! Lucky SOB, took me over 4 hours, but I was at work with nothing better to do then to play with it on and off, google some more, crawl xda, play some more....rinse repeat...
But I don't think there will be an official "fix" as in their eyes nothing is broken. It is as they intended. I'm not really sure if this move was by tmo or samsung, but regardless it's a PITA. I used ADB. The hardest part is getting the drivers in, after that it's easy cake walk thanks to the wealth of knowledge here at xda.

glensta said:
I received 1 of the new hardware-locked phones and used adb to get into "download mode" - but odin got stuck and I had to unplug the phone and tried plugging it back in and it didn't work. Once I took the battery out, I got the dreaded "phone to pc" icon. I tried a whole lotta combinations all read here on XDA - nothing worked. One I got that "phone to pc" icon - i was screwed. Adb doesn't work at that point.
Basically - I wouldn't use Odin with one of the newer vibrants - only update.zip stuff
*Just a suggestion*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
exactly my point. this is what happened to me. but think about this lets say i flash a rom right and you know how sometimes it hangs on the vibrant screen and just stays there. and in order to get it back i am going have to use odin. which i cant.......... so i think i wont mess with anything anymore. Rather just wait for official 2.2 ota update.

Chief Geek said:
TWO HOURS! Lucky SOB, took me over 4 hours, but I was at work with nothing better to do then to play with it on and off, google some more, crawl xda, play some more....rinse repeat...
But I don't think there will be an official "fix" as in their eyes nothing is broken. It is as they intended. I'm not really sure if this move was by tmo or samsung, but regardless it's a PITA. I used ADB. The hardest part is getting the drivers in, after that it's easy cake walk thanks to the wealth of knowledge here at xda.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Take it back and do a warranty exchange cause the buttons arent working correctly.

I've never tried it because I could never get Kies to connect to my phone, but isn't there a way to update firmware through Kies? I know the i9000 guys use Kies to upgrade, but I think that's only to get drivers and the updates though. I wish Samsung had a better interface than Odin to flash firmware. It's absolute garbage.

Hello, I am new to this android stuff but think I may have a problem and no hardware keys may come into play.
I rooted my phone for no other reason than to remove bloatware
I removed what I new was safe and left alot on the phone just because I was not sure what to remove
Phone was working great and had no problems
I decided I wanted to do a factory reset to remove all my apps and user data etc.....
I did do a titanium back up of my apps so I could easily resinstall if I wanted
I did the reset and now as soon as the phone boots I get TWLauncher force close and just about any other app that tries to load just continuose force close loop
I did not remove the original launcher so I am not sure why this is happening but I cant flash since I cant get into download mode and I cant use ADB since my phone wont let me put into debug what to do?????????????

glensta said:
I received 1 of the new hardware-locked phones and used adb to get into "download mode" - but odin got stuck and I had to unplug the phone and tried plugging it back in and it didn't work. Once I took the battery out, I got the dreaded "phone to pc" icon. I tried a whole lotta combinations all read here on XDA - nothing worked. One I got that "phone to pc" icon - i was screwed. Adb doesn't work at that point.
Basically - I wouldn't use Odin with one of the newer vibrants - only update.zip stuff
*Just a suggestion*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is how I got out of "phone to pc"
get into download mode (i went through it manually, as in plug in the phone, and pressing the volume buttons together at the same time)
Connected to ODIN, and by perfect accident, I clicked on "start" without placing ANY files in ANY spots.
This is what I thought "OMG $h!t" Well my phone was already bricked enough, so i just let it run its course through ODIN. My phone magically rebooted, and it booted into the ROM i had installed before I got the "phone to pc" problem.

Whats the disadvantage of having a hardware locked phone?
From what I'm reading i cant load custom roms? or can use Oden?
Also I just got mine and im sure its hardware locked but how can I tell
TIA

demo23019 said:
Whats the disadvantage of having a hardware locked phone?
From what I'm reading i cant load custom roms? or can use Oden?
Also I just got mine and im sure its hardware locked but how can I tell
TIA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The disadvantage is that it is harder (maybe impossible in some situations?) to get into the Download mode if something goes wrong during a ROM update. You can still load custom ROMS but if something goes wrong, you might not be able to get to Download mode to be able to fix it.
I had the phone ! PC screen on mine when I first tried to unsuccessfully flash Vibrant8. Luckily, my Vibrant doesn't seem to be hardware locked and I was able to get back into Download mode and re-flash it with Odin.

I'm able to access download mode with volume keys and i can access recovery mode so i guess im ok
also date on box is 8/27/10

How do you know whether you have a hardware locked Vibrant or not?

No No No.......
When you can't get into Download MOde....
assuming you just got a Hang in ODIN Flasher...
1. Un-plug usb from Phone ( But still plugged into the Computer )
2. Pull Battery
3. Let the Phone sit for 15 to 30 seconds
4. Plug in USB to Both Phone & PC if not already
5. Hold Both Volume Buttons
6. Put Battery in while still holding Volume Buttons.
My Phone is HW Locked as well, with a v1 board.
every-time I get odin hang, doing the above always results in letting me re-flash.
These Phone's by Design are hard to brick, unless you>
A. Change SBL
B. Use the Wrong .pit file for Partitioning
C. param.lfs does not Brick the Phone, but Does mess with Screen rendering
~Eugene

eugene373 said:
No No No.......
When you can't get into Download MOde....
assuming you just got a Hang in ODIN Flasher...
1. Un-plug usb from Phone ( But still plugged into the Computer )
2. Pull Battery
3. Let the Phone sit for 15 to 30 seconds
4. Plug in USB to Both Phone & PC if not already
5. Hold Both Volume Buttons
6. Put Battery in while still holding Volume Buttons.
My Phone is HW Locked as well, with a v1 board.
every-time I get odin hang, doing the above always results in letting me re-flash.
These Phone's by Design are hard to brick, unless you>
A. Change SBL
B. Use the Wrong .pit file for Partitioning
C. param.lfs does not Brick the Phone, but Does mess with Screen rendering
~Eugene
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I trust what you're saying.. but is there any way to test that out without having an already bricked phone? I want to make sure I can recover my phone before flashing your Vibrant hybrid ROM. So after Step 6 do you get the download mode screen? Or does ODIN now show a COM port and it works, even without the little digger guy?

eugene373 said:
No No No.......
When you can't get into Download MOde....
assuming you just got a Hang in ODIN Flasher...
1. Un-plug usb from Phone ( But still plugged into the Computer )
2. Pull Battery
3. Let the Phone sit for 15 to 30 seconds
4. Plug in USB to Both Phone & PC if not already
5. Hold Both Volume Buttons
6. Put Battery in while still holding Volume Buttons.
My Phone is HW Locked as well, with a v1 board.
every-time I get odin hang, doing the above always results in letting me re-flash.
These Phone's by Design are hard to brick, unless you>
A. Change SBL
B. Use the Wrong .pit file for Partitioning
C. param.lfs does not Brick the Phone, but Does mess with Screen rendering
~Eugene
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First off, absolutely no disrespect Eugene, you are an amazing developer and a HUGE contribution to this forum, I personally love your work and have tried many of your ROM's (actually looking at switching up to your newest hybrid rom next), but there are most certainly some of these phones that are hardware locked to the point that you can not get in to download mode, regardless of what you do. The steps you posted definitely work for some, and for non-hardware locked phones, they work beautifully, however, there are some phones that no matter what you do, no matter what order you do it in, you will never get in to download mode short of using ADB. The good news is, the lockout was not intentional, and exchanging your hardware locked Vibrant will generally result in a non-hardware locked phone (from mine, and many other's personal experience).

johnny12times said:
First off, absolutely no disrespect Eugene, you are an amazing developer and a HUGE contribution to this forum, I personally love your work and have tried many of your ROM's (actually looking at switching up to your newest hybrid rom next), but there are most certainly some of these phones that are hardware locked to the point that you can not get in to download mode, regardless of what you do. The steps you posted definitely work for some, and for non-hardware locked phones, they work beautifully, however, there are some phones that no matter what you do, no matter what order you do it in, you will never get in to download mode short of using ADB. The good news is, the lockout was not intentional, and exchanging your hardware locked Vibrant will generally result in a non-hardware locked phone (from mine, and many other's personal experience).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download Mode is controlled by SBL, so if they truly changed anything that would be the cause.
I would think you could target redbend to update the SBL or even boot.bin bml /stl location.. I've not tried this, nor do I need too.. Just tossing options out there for people to try & don't mind risking a brick..
If you can get the SBL / Boot.bin for the Stock to flash via redbend, then this will solve the HW locks.. Now, Regarding my Phone, I can still get into Download Mode however, only by doing the USB trick &/or ADB reboot download.
I can not get into recovery unless I use clockwork Manager or ADB into
By the way, this is not a Hardware Lock issue as the thread states.. Not being able to get into download Mode like described, is a zImage issue & not the SBL / BOOT.bin
just as a FYI.
~Eugene

Hello, I am new to this android stuff but think I may have a problem and no hardware keys may come into play.
I rooted my phone for no other reason than to remove bloatware
I removed what I new was safe and left alot on the phone just because I was not sure what to remove
Phone was working great and had no problems
I decided I wanted to do a factory reset to remove all my apps and user data etc.....
I did do a titanium back up of my apps so I could easily resinstall if I wanted
I did the reset and now as soon as the phone boots I get TWLauncher force close and just about any other app that tries to load just continuose force close loop
I did not remove the original launcher so I am not sure why this is happening but I cant flash since I cant get into download mode and I cant use ADB since my phone wont let me put into debug what to do?????????????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its happening because you ran a full titanium backup including system data. Yeah, dont do that. Reflash, then reinstall user apps with data, and pick and choose the system ones that are obvious (mms, bluetooth settings, wireless settings, etc.) Then reboot for changes to take effect. When in doubt, dont restore.
Good luck. Although you won't need it if you do what I just told you.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk

Just to share...
eugene373 said:
No No No.......
When you can't get into Download MOde....
assuming you just got a Hang in ODIN Flasher...
1. Un-plug usb from Phone ( But still plugged into the Computer )
2. Pull Battery
3. Let the Phone sit for 15 to 30 seconds
4. Plug in USB to Both Phone & PC if not already
5. Hold Both Volume Buttons
6. Put Battery in while still holding Volume Buttons.
My Phone is HW Locked as well, with a v1 board.
every-time I get odin hang, doing the above always results in letting me re-flash.
These Phone's by Design are hard to brick, unless you>
A. Change SBL
B. Use the Wrong .pit file for Partitioning
C. param.lfs does not Brick the Phone, but Does mess with Screen rendering
~Eugene
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the phone!computer bricked Vibrant, and just got my replacement from Asurion (in fact, of the phones in front of me are from Asurion since my original got stolen 2days after it came out ).
On phone1: The original TMO date is 8/12/2010, while the Asurion date is 8/19/2010. Also the ID is GJ/HLP. This one was HW Locked.
On phone2: The original TMO date is 9/2/2010, while the Asurion date is 9/10/2010. Also the ID is SM/HLP. This one doesn't seem to be HW Loocked, I can get into recovery easily, DL Mode ... not so much . Booting with vol+&- gets me into recovery, but booting with just vol- does nothing ...
Any thoughts?

brick boot loader to black screen: no simple solution, simple prevention

Hi
So last night when I flashed my new created ROM with CWM, it seems like I ruined my boot loader, and from that I can't find the way to recover
SYMPTOMS:
- black screen
- power button doesn't do anything
- no button combination boots to download mode
- no charghing indication when connected to charger or USB
- no detection in the computer when connected to the USB
Is this the real black screen of death?
How did I get there?
I flashed a ROM through CWM, when it finished I selected reboot from CWM, and since then, all I see is black screen, no indication whatsoever to powering up.
I didn't try a USB JIG yet, but I will at Thursday (meet with a friend that has one)
as far as I understand the only way to recover from this is using a RIFF Box JTAG which requires, taking apart the phone, and soldering small wires to the board, and then reload the boot loader
Where do we go from here?
If it happened to you Please write down:
how did it happened to you?
what did you do to try to recover?
did you mange to recover?
if you did, how did you?
Why is this post so important to everyone?
Because if it didn't happen to you yet it might happen in your next CWM flashing.
So its very important to find a solution or at least the way to prevent it.
- update 31/12/2010 -
Cause
corrupted boot loader , bad sbl.bin flashing
Prevention:
do not flash roms/addons/fixes with sbl.bin
if you must flash sbl.bin, do it while you are sure that your USB configuration is perfect, and do it as less as possible.
Solution (for those who already bricked to black)
you're not gonna like it
find riffbox jtag....

marcelo.waisman said:
Hi
So last night when I flashed my new created ROM with CWM, it seems like I ruined my boot loader, and from that I can't find the way to recover
SYMPTOMS:
- black screen
- power button doesn't do anything
- no button combination boots to download mode
- no charghing indication when connected to charger or USB
- no detection in the computer when connected to the USB
Is this the real black screen of death?
How did I get there?
I flashed a ROM through CWM, when it finished I selected reboot from CWM, and since then, all I see is black screen, no indication whatsoever to powering up.
I didn't try a USB JIG yet, but I will at Thursday (meet with a friend that has one)
as far as I understand the only way to recover from this is using a RIFF Box JTAG which requires, taking apart the phone, and soldering small wires to the board, and then reload the boot loader
Where do we go from here?
If it happened to you Please write down:
how did it happened to you?
what did you do to try to recover?
did you mange to recover?
if you did, how did you?
Why is this post so important to everyone?
Because if it didn't happen to you yet it might happen in your next CWM flashing.
So its very important to find a solution or at least the way to prevent it.
BTW I think its a developers post, because we need developers creative way of thinking to find a solution
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Happened to me too. I was tinkering with the Armani source to hopefully find something of use for Axura, and I bricked it. Same things happened to me. I called att and got a new one.

marcelo.waisman said:
Hi
So last night when I flashed my new created ROM with CWM, it seems like I ruined my boot loader, and from that I can't find the way to recover
SYMPTOMS:
- black screen
- power button doesn't do anything
- no button combination boots to download mode
- no charghing indication when connected to charger or USB
- no detection in the computer when connected to the USB
Is this the real black screen of death?
How did I get there?
I flashed a ROM through CWM, when it finished I selected reboot from CWM, and since then, all I see is black screen, no indication whatsoever to powering up.
I didn't try a USB JIG yet, but I will at Thursday (meet with a friend that has one)
as far as I understand the only way to recover from this is using a RIFF Box JTAG which requires, taking apart the phone, and soldering small wires to the board, and then reload the boot loader
Where do we go from here?
If it happened to you Please write down:
how did it happened to you?
what did you do to try to recover?
did you mange to recover?
if you did, how did you?
Why is this post so important to everyone?
Because if it didn't happen to you yet it might happen in your next CWM flashing.
So its very important to find a solution or at least the way to prevent it.
BTW I think its a developers post, because we need developers creative way of thinking to find a solution
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try removing battery and putting it back and then opening ODIN, holding the volume up/down and inserting the usb to bring it on the download mode. I guess I might have experience almost similar issue with one of the rom. I almost freaked out. Phone wont show if its charging. It wont mount on the pc. But tried all the possible method available several times including adb shell command. And finally I did hear the magical sound from window when the usb is connected and finally it did work.
Also try the adb method if it doesn't go into download mode using volume button combo.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Did u remove sbl.bin
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Happened to me the first time I ran the OTA update from ATT. Paused the update, and when I resumed it - the phone though I finished downloading the JH7 update and tried to apply it.
It failed to apply and when it went to restart, it never powered on. No download mode, recovery, USB power, Odin, nothing. It was completely dead.
I got it replaced at the AT&T store.

If sbl.bin was removed or corrupted you should call the warranty center. Tell them ota update bricked your phone. Lol good luck
sent from my cappy running di11igaf's rom v2.5 at 1280mhz!!

I think it is just bad luck. I was once being careless and had the battery fall out of my phone while flashing, it interrupted the flash and I was still able to get in download mode to Odin it. Needless to say, I'll never flash again without the back cover on

bulletproof1013 said:
Did u remove sbl.bin
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes i'ts probably a bad sbl.bin, but I didn't remove it I flashed a new one, most of the rom's do the same

yeah sounds like it...sry for your luck.but seems like its toast then. keep us posted

But if you had a batch 1008 captivate and you messed up during and Odin flash to stock then your screwed bcuz Odin one click swaps the sbl.bins to make your button combinations impossible. ADB would work but you obviously can't access that. I too have a 1008 and it sucks, that is why I bought a jig.

silverslotcar said:
But if you had a batch 1008 captivate and you messed up during and Odin flash to stock then your screwed bcuz Odin one click swaps the sbl.bins to make your button combinations impossible. ADB would work but you obviously can't access that. I too have a 1008 and it sucks, that is why I bought a jig.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a a way. Whenever you need to flash to stock you must use following stock. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=818439
This is same as normal stock posted by DG except that it includes sbl.bin that we (1008) need. I use it everytime and 3 button combos for Download, Recovery work great.

silverslotcar said:
But if you had a batch 1008 captivate and you messed up during and Odin flash to stock then your screwed bcuz Odin one click swaps the sbl.bins to make your button combinations impossible. ADB would work but you obviously can't access that. I too have a 1008 and it sucks, that is why I bought a jig.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it seems like this is not my case
I'm still looking for other people who had my case, and recovered (even with the JTAG riff box) or at least find someone who know's what we shouldn't do, so we don't break our phones.
so whats batch 1008?

This happened to me last night. I was trying to flash the Darky port via CWM and during the flash it became unresponsive. I had to pull the battery. This caused 2 different things. Sometimes it would be a never ending loop of boot screens and then others it would just go into recovery where it wouldn't let me do anything.
From here luckily I was able to access download mode by using the "adb reboot download" command. So I then got into dl mode and tried to flash stock (not the 3 button fixed one) and it froze on FACTORYFS (or whatever it is). I had no choice but to pull the battery. Now it won't boot at all. So my assumption is it wiped the bootloader. I'm not 100% sure but I feel that the reason it stopped where it did was because I didn't run odin as admin on my Win7 pc. I read in another thread that someone had the same problem when they didn't do that either.
If you are in a pitch black room and you press power you can see your screen illuminate, it's just very dim.
I have batch 1008 if it makes any difference to anyone.
Either way I'm heading to the device support center in a half hour or so to try to get a replacement. I originally was going to make or order a jig but people are saying it only works if the bootloader is intact. I originally had hopes because one person claimed that they recovered a completely dead phone with it, but upon further reading all others could not. It seems like his phone may not have been completely bricked.
Update:
Just got back from the at&t device support center. They gave me a new phone without any hassle. They asked what was wrong with my phone and I told them that I was trying to update it and now it won't turn on. The guy tried a few combinations of button presses and tried hooking it up to a jig-like device. Nothing worked so he just gave me a refurbished phones. No questions asked. As I was walking out he said a few people have had the same issue so it's not a big deal.
Either way I thought this would help to realize that there is likely no way to get the phone to boot unless you have a jtag handy.

I don't feel safe to flash rom via CWM.
If you really want to do that, delete the bootloader inside the .zip

So i think i killed mine too
so i get black screen, two button combo gives me SEC S5PC110 Test B/d
I opened odin but nothing Is this toast?

I had this exact problem over thanksgiving weekend. My phone was was was hard bricked I was getting the "phone + computer" it took some effort to get it into download but I got it there and when I was recovering with odin the connection got lost the screen went blue and then nothing. It was dead totally unresponsive no charging or boot screen nothing but once I got a black screen with redlines. After a lot of attempts to revive it I gave up called ATT warranty for a replacement. Luckily I opted for the slow mail service and kept reading. Yesterday I saw the above post and now I can say "yes even now your phone is not bricked even though it does NOTHING"
step 1) first thing I did was charge the battery with my replacement phone as the bricked phone was no longer able to charge the battery
step 2) open odin1 click and hooked up the usb to the phone and computer no battery
step 3) inserted the battery holding only volume up+down
step 4) "BOOM" download mode and a happy dance
I posted this in the"read before flashing" thread there are other people who have recovered from this and now I think that the extra trick to this is getting a 100% battery you need this to flash, and state the phone is in now wont charge a battery.
hope this sound encouraging

silverslotcar said:
But if you had a batch 1008 captivate and you messed up during and Odin flash to stock then your screwed bcuz Odin one click swaps the sbl.bins to make your button combinations impossible. ADB would work but you obviously can't access that. I too have a 1008 and it sucks, that is why I bought a jig.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's odd because I keep seeing people saying things like this. I, too, have a 1008 Captivate. My button combos have worked from day one and Odin one click has never messed that up. Maybe I'm just lucky?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

RKight said:
It's odd because I keep seeing people saying things like this. I, too, have a 1008 Captivate. My button combos have worked from day one and Odin one click has never messed that up. Maybe I'm just lucky?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe there's a "fixed" 1008 batch. Not all 1008s are going to have the problem.

norcal einstein said:
I believe there's a "fixed" 1008 batch. Not all 1008s are going to have the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah it's either that or just a misconception spread by the community. Both my old captivate and replacement were 1008. I have been able to get into recovery via the power+volume combination. I was also able to get into dl mode using the vol+insert usb combination.
It's possible I just got lucky on both but who knows.

I, and many others have a 1008 that don't go into download or recovery via the button combos without fixing sbl.bin.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

[Tutorial] How To Unbrick your galaxy 3

If your phone doesn’t boot into download mode and you have a black screen after flashing froyo heres how you unbrick it, it worked for me.
Step 1 – Prepare odin with the firmware u want to flash (in my case was I5800XXJPM) and get it ready to go;
Step 2 – Remove battery, SIM and SD card, next connect your galaxy 3 to the computer;
Step 3 – Hold Volume down + Power + Home button at the same time;
Step 4 – Insert the battery and wait a bit;
Step 5 – At this point Odin should have detected your SG3 ( Yellow rectangle should appear in your );
Step 6 – Click Start button in Odin and wait about 5 min.
If all goes well it should come back to life.
If You Find It Useful Click Thanks.

When you said Brick, it's Hardbrick or SoftBrick ?

Darius_AWS said:
When you said Brick, it's Hardbrick or SoftBrick ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"If your phone doesn’t boot into download mode and you have a black screen after flashing froyo" => hard brick...

kyrillos13 said:
"If your phone doesn’t boot into download mode and you have a black screen after flashing froyo" => hard brick...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lestat should try it

dude u shud have made this thread 3 months ago it wud have been very helpfull for me coz it wud save my 2hardbricks......hard luck though for me i got my motherboard chnged both times and the 2nd time they gave me i5800 motherboard but my model is i5801...l...so bloody hell samsung service centres......and i think they have given me a 2nd hand motherboard this time..,.....

Now no need to worry about hard brick. Do What you want to do with Your Samsung devices.
The above tutorial work with every device which support odin firmware flashing.

shreyasharusia said:
Now no need to worry about hard brick. Do What you want to do with Your Samsung devices.
The above tutorial work with every device which support odin firmware flashing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a relaxing thought!

You can skip step 3 - after reboot phone WILL go thrue download phase - this is how the bootloader is built. Just connect your phone, switch it on and after you PC Odin detected it push START - that`s it!!!

aarrun said:
dude u shud have made this thread 3 months ago it wud have been very helpfull for me coz it wud save my 2hardbricks......hard luck though for me i got my motherboard chnged both times and the 2nd time they gave me i5800 motherboard but my model is i5801...l...so bloody hell samsung service centres......and i think they have given me a 2nd hand motherboard this time..,.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
they always replace with used motherboards....
had to wait one month for them to do that

dude you saved my ass. Thank you so much.

alcsilian said:
dude you saved my ass. Thank you so much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did u really hard bricked and saved by this method?

Does its really working?

Unfortunately it is not working for me... After yesterday's attempting to upgrade to froyo I have a brick... Holding power down, trying enter the download menu, connecting USB cable - nothing happening - black screen. I have tried both methods described above and nothing happened

Hmmmm.... Im sorry if im asking something wihtout trying...
But is it really possible to boot the phone into Download Mode/Recovery/whatever WITHOUT the battery???

jinxskore said:
Hmmmm.... Im sorry if im asking something wihtout trying...
But is it really possible to boot the phone into Download Mode/Recovery/whatever WITHOUT the battery???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Who said without the battery. Connect the mobile to computer without battery,press and held both the volume rocker and then insert the battery . You will get the downloading mode and odin will detect your phone and then flash.

shreyasharusia said:
If your phone doesn’t boot into download mode and you have a black screen after flashing froyo heres how you unbrick it, it worked for me.
Step 1 – Prepare odin with the firmware u want to flash (in my case was I5800XXJPM) and get it ready to go;
Step 2 – Remove battery, SIM and SD card, next connect your galaxy 3 to the computer;
Step 3 – Hold Volume down + Power + Home button at the same time;
Step 4 – Insert the battery and wait a bit;
Step 5 – At this point Odin should have detected your SG3 ( Yellow rectangle should appear in your );
Step 6 – Click Start button in Odin and wait about 5 min.
If all goes well it should come back to life.
If You Find It Useful Click Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im sorry. I dont mean to prove you or anyone wrong. Maybe i just got things wrong...
Step 2 says to remove battery.
Step 3 basically means trying to start the phone into Download Mode.
Step 4 Well, if its only me, i cant imagine Holding Volume Down+Home+Power buttons and manage to insert the battery at the same time.
NOTE: I just asked if something was possible. Not particularly in accordance to your Tut. I just asked a general question. Sorry again if i offended anyone.
EDIT: The main reason was my curiosity, if the phone could work on power from the USB. LoL

i think it powers the phone without the battery through the USB cable from PC. never tried it though but i think it works since the battery charges while plugged in usb cable (this means it has juice).

I think its starting download mode when you put in the battery :S
If you are really that curious as to whether it will enter download mode just on usb power you dont have to wait for your phone to get hard bricked, just try it.

shreyasharusia said:
Now no need to worry about hard brick. Do What you want to do with Your Samsung devices.
The above tutorial work with every device which support odin firmware flashing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same here bro. i too changed my motherboard from samsung service center
and i dont this one is same as the previous one

unfortunately that doesn't work for me... stupidly enough, I tried to change something in the firmware file (just the logo.png file), and then it got stuck during flashing in Odin. So even more stupidly, I disconnected the phone, and when it didn't turn off I just took out the battery, and since then it behaves as a total brick, and doesn't even show any sign of life when I try to turn it on, or when I try the above mentioned methods (Odin doesn't detect anything).
Any other ideas, or things that I may have done wrong trying to revive it? and do you think that the JIG method could work?
thanks

[Q] Brinked nexus 7 APX mode (only)

Hi guys yesterday my nexus freeze in gmail.. so i turn it down by pressing and hold te power button
then the tablet freeze in the Google LOGO
after taht i try to ge into Recovery mode,, it freeze aswell then i just reboot it on bootloader adn i leave it thre for about 1 hour charging
the i try to go to boot loader to fhasl stok rom..
but..!! it wont work.. never turns on..
and it shows in my pc as APX mode
no more than that y tri to start it in bootloader but i just cant with every method i find in internet even i try to charge it by pogo pins and nothing happends
i try to do soetring with nvflash but it said
Unknow devices found and do nothing
pls help me ,!!

radeon9550 said:
Hi guys yesterday my nexus freeze in gmail.. so i turn it down by pressing and hold te power button
then the tablet freeze in the Google LOGO
after taht i try to ge into Recovery mode,, it freeze aswell then i just reboot it on bootloader adn i leave it thre for about 1 hour charging
the i try to go to boot loader to fhasl stok rom..
but..!! it wont work.. never turns on..
and it shows in my pc as APX mode
no more than that y tri to start it in bootloader but i just cant with every method i find in internet even i try to charge it by pogo pins and nothing happends
i try to do soetring with nvflash but it said
Unknow devices found and do nothing
pls help me ,!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok as far as I have herd there is no way to rescue a bricked nexus 7 using NVflash if there are no Backed-up Blob files on it. If you just ended up in apx mode without doing anything to its bootloader then it is probably out of charge or needs to have a particular button combo to sort it out
if on the other hand you corrupted the bootloader and after that the device is in a sleep of death then you have hardbricked your nexus 7 'apparently'
good luck

No Custom Bootloader
Hill well i never done something to the bootlaoder no Multibot no Custom bootloader ( factory only )
i try a lot of key combination but nothing happend :/
but my questin is i got a second n7 same specs how can i pull the blob files and,
can i use this files to unbrink the other
if i can pls explainme that
i love my tablet i dont wanna see her die
thnaks..

don't give up
radeon9550 said:
Hill well i never done something to the bootlaoder no Multibot no Custom bootloader ( factory only )
i try a lot of key combination but nothing happend :/
but my questin is i got a second n7 same specs how can i pull the blob files and,
can i use this files to unbrink the other
if i can pls explainme that
i love my tablet i dont wanna see her die
thnaks..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok if you want to know about how to set up a link between the NVflash tool (on your computer) and your new n7 just use the following proceedure here www.androidroot.mobi/pages/guides/tegra3-guide-nvflash-jellybean
As far as your old n7 is concerned if it is definitely hard-bricked and you have not made a backup using NVflash before the brick then there is no known way to save it with only a computer and n7 connected via USB however there is a slim chance your old n7 might just be in a state where it can't access the bootloader because of some power shortage or incorrect button states so do keep trying the key combos and recharging etc because there are a lot of stories of people who escaped using this random strategy. Normally to get into apx mode one would press all three buttons at once so to get out you could do the same so it is worth a try
BTW I have one more trick up my sleeve, if you download WugFresh's toolkit for the n7 (make sure its 2012 edition) then you could try pressing the 'reboot bootloader' option in the advance options menu in the lower left.
good luck

Gloftking said:
Ok if you want to know about how to set up a link between the NVflash tool (on your computer) and your new n7 just use the following proceedure here www.androidroot.mobi/pages/guides/tegra3-guide-nvflash-jellybean
As far as your old n7 is concerned if it is definitely hard-bricked and you have not made a backup using NVflash before the brick then there is no known way to save it with only a computer and n7 connected via USB however there is a slim chance your old n7 might just be in a state where it can't access the bootloader because of some power shortage or incorrect button states so do keep trying the key combos and recharging etc because there are a lot of stories of people who escaped using this random strategy. Normally to get into apx mode one would press all three buttons at once so to get out you could do the same so it is worth a try
BTW I have one more trick up my sleeve, if you download WugFresh's toolkit for the n7 (make sure its 2012 edition) then you could try pressing the 'reboot bootloader' option in the advance options menu in the lower left.
good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same deal here - and frickin ASUS wanted $165 JUST for the motherboard part. So I said no to the RMA and they sent it back.
NOW my question is - can I order a motherboard and just swap it out? Does that work? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Asus-Nexus-...2GB-ASUS-Google-ME370T-Ship-Fast/121330719361

bshiznit said:
Same deal here - and frickin ASUS wanted $165 JUST for the motherboard part. So I said no to the RMA and they sent it back.
NOW my question is - can I order a motherboard and just swap it out? Does that work? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Asus-Nexus-...2GB-ASUS-Google-ME370T-Ship-Fast/121330719361
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haven't done it myself, but understand it does work. https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Nexus+7+Motherboard+Replacement/9943

PrizmaticSmoke said:
Haven't done it myself, but understand it does work. https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Nexus+7+Motherboard+Replacement/9943
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! Ordered it and will be attempting

Stuck in a boot loop, and i cant enter recovery or download mode to fix it :(

My note 3 n9005 international model is stuck in a loop trying to go into recovery mode every time.
The sequence goes as such:
- The phone vibrates and the screen shows a glimmer in the bottom of the screen, it goes away in a split sec.
- The phone proceeds to vibrate once again and after 2-3 seconds the phone boots up with the note 3 and such stuff.
- Up in the left hand corner it says: RECOVERY BOOTING. .... (dark blue text). Next line is: RECOVERY IS NOT SEANDROID ENFORCING (red text). Next line is: Set Warranty Bit: recovery (yellow text)
- The phone then turns off and wait for around 9-10 seconds and then the three steps above go into repeat again and again.
The only thing that stops this is pulling out the battery which i have done several times now ...
I have tried the two "Famous" key combinations AKA. Home + Power + Volume up or Volume down
but none of them seem to have any effect .. only thing that happens is that the "3-step process mentioned" now has a delay of about 15 seconds to continue instead of waiting only 10 seconds which i presume means that it turned off at some point really quick and then turned back on to begin the loop again.
Now for the cause of this mayhem:
I was trying to install a custom rom(Darklord Note 5 rom that converts your note 3 into a note 5 software) in which a Aroma installer was involved, but my TWRP recovery went into a freeze once it was trying to open up the aroma installer, i got out of this situation fairly easy by pressing the Home + Power button to turn it off and then proceeded to go into recovery and then reboot which went smoothly. But i really needed to change into this other rom since my current rom is terribly slow(CM 12.1). SO, i went around the net and found out that the aroma installer freezing was a common problem for certain versions of TWRP.
So i tried installing an earlier version (2.6.70 i believe) on top of the other one using an app called "flashify" .. which i believe is the source of this problem since it probably couldn't overwrite my current version of TWRP. And as such im now stuck in this devilish loop which is a pain in the arse.
P.S Overwriting from Clockword mod recovery 3.X to TWRP 3.X went smootly and there were no issues there .. so i guess the downgrading of the TWRP is the problem ??
I hope this is not such a seldom occurrence that you have no experience in which you can help me :-/
Please help me with this !

It might not be the only solution but when I've previously got the boot loops I've had to reinstall a stock rom from Sammobile and then root again and reinstall TWRP and then reinstall my chosen ROM using TWRP. You might loose data if you did not Nandroid backup

I can't do any of those things
samesung said:
It might not be the only solution but when I've previously got the boot loops I've had to reinstall a stock rom from Sammobile and then root again and reinstall TWRP and then reinstall my chosen ROM using TWRP. You might lose data if you did not Nandroid backup
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, it seems i haven't made myself clear enough ... i've tried the 2 key combinations as mentioned in the post .. but none of them have any special effect .. i have no way to boot into recovery mode or download mode.
So without download mode i have no way of using ODIN to reinstall stock firmware .. i am aware of how to use ODIN so if the download mode worked this whole thing would not be an issue for me since i could just do what you said in your reply.
But the problem is that it doesn't work ... so i dont know how to get into the phone and do stuff to fix it.
Also, i dont care about data such as photos and stuff ... the only thing i care about is my phone getting fixed!
Hope you can help or maybe someone you know for me

Florint45 said:
My note 3 n9005 international model is stuck in a loop trying to go into recovery mode every time.
The sequence goes as such:
- The phone vibrates and the screen shows a glimmer in the bottom of the screen, it goes away in a split sec.
- The phone proceeds to vibrate once again and after 2-3 seconds the phone boots up with the note 3 and such stuff.
- Up in the left hand corner it says: RECOVERY BOOTING. .... (dark blue text). Next line is: RECOVERY IS NOT SEANDROID ENFORCING (red text). Next line is: Set Warranty Bit: recovery (yellow text)
- The phone then turns off and wait for around 9-10 seconds and then the three steps above go into repeat again and again.
The only thing that stops this is pulling out the battery which i have done several times now ...
I have tried the two "Famous" key combinations AKA. Home + Power + Volume up or Volume down
but none of them seem to have any effect .. only thing that happens is that the "3-step process mentioned" now has a delay of about 15 seconds to continue instead of waiting only 10 seconds which i presume means that it turned off at some point really quick and then turned back on to begin the loop again.
Now for the cause of this mayhem:
I was trying to install a custom rom(Darklord Note 5 rom that converts your note 3 into a note 5 software) in which a Aroma installer was involved, but my TWRP recovery went into a freeze once it was trying to open up the aroma installer, i got out of this situation fairly easy by pressing the Home + Power button to turn it off and then proceeded to go into recovery and then reboot which went smoothly. But i really needed to change into this other rom since my current rom is terribly slow(CM 12.1). SO, i went around the net and found out that the aroma installer freezing was a common problem for certain versions of TWRP.
So i tried installing an earlier version (2.6.70 i believe) on top of the other one using an app called "flashify" .. which i believe is the source of this problem since it probably couldn't overwrite my current version of TWRP. And as such im now stuck in this devilish loop which is a pain in the arse.
P.S Overwriting from Clockword mod recovery 3.X to TWRP 3.X went smootly and there were no issues there .. so i guess the downgrading of the TWRP is the problem ??
I hope this is not such a seldom occurrence that you have no experience in which you can help me :-/
Please help me with this !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm awkward, maybe you have hard bricked it? Idk maybe

MrHollywood said:
Hmm awkward, maybe you have hard bricked it? Idk maybe
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, in the case of an hard brick .. what so you suggest i do ?
Do i go to the store to get it fixed. (my warranty actually expired 1 month ago) and in the case of needing such a fix .. how much do you think it would cost ?
Or do i wait for a solution from some guy on this page ?

Florint45 said:
Hmm, in the case of an hard brick .. what so you suggest i do ?
Do i go to the store to get it fixed. (my warranty actually expired 1 month ago) and in the case of needing such a fix .. how much do you think it would cost ?
Or do i wait for a solution from some guy on this page ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First I would Google a solution, second I would wait about a week, who knows there might be a guy here who knows how to fix it, third of all and the end of all choices is to get it to a store, idk it might cost you at around 50-60 dollars. I once hardbricked my LG and they charged me 50 dollars. Let's hope your issues gets fixed without losing a lot of money.

MrHollywood said:
First I would Google a solution, second I would wait about a week, who knows there might be a guy here who knows how to fix it, third of all and the end of all choices is to get it to a store, idk it might cost you at around 50-60 dollars. I once hardbricked my LG and they charged me 50 dollars. Let's hope your issues gets fixed without losing a lot of money.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
" Hard-bricked – it refers to the phone as totally jammed, unresponsive or no visible signs of starting to work as it suppose to be. No display at all. You can’t even access the Download Mode screen. The only resolution for this is by using the method called JTAG flashing, which is you are forcing to install the firmware back to the phone. The process that you are about to experience is not too easy; this includes disassembling the phone, some soldering job required and flashing by means of using a flashing device tool.
– This method means that you cannot save your device at all by yourself anymore. If you considered necessary to have your Samsung Galaxy Note 3 back to life, the best way for you to do is to bring the device back to your dealer. Explain impressive that might persuade them to have your Galaxy Note repair for free of charge or have an exchange for warranty. "
The process explained afterwards involves "download mode" which i can't access ... so yeah .. guess il'l wait for a bit for a response that might help me .. otherwise ... il'l just take it to the store i guess !
also .. what do you think about this part: " bring the device back to your dealer. Explain impressive that might persuade them to have your Galaxy Note repair for free of charge or have an exchange for warranty" ?
do you think it means explaining it to the dealer in detail what has happened .. or does it perhaps mean to act like a total fool and be like ; " umm .. is this supposed to be like this ?"
Hope you understood that one better than i, cause if i can get a free fix il'l be real happy !

Florint45 said:
" Hard-bricked – it refers to the phone as totally jammed, unresponsive or no visible signs of starting to work as it suppose to be. No display at all. You can’t even access the Download Mode screen. The only resolution for this is by using the method called JTAG flashing, which is you are forcing to install the firmware back to the phone. The process that you are about to experience is not too easy; this includes disassembling the phone, some soldering job required and flashing by means of using a flashing device tool.
– This method means that you cannot save your device at all by yourself anymore. If you considered necessary to have your Samsung Galaxy Note 3 back to life, the best way for you to do is to bring the device back to your dealer. Explain impressive that might persuade them to have your Galaxy Note repair for free of charge or have an exchange for warranty. "
The process explained afterwards involves "download mode" which i can't access ... so yeah .. guess il'l wait for a bit for a response that might help me .. otherwise ... il'l just take it to the store i guess !
also .. what do you think about this part: " bring the device back to your dealer. Explain impressive that might persuade them to have your Galaxy Note repair for free of charge or have an exchange for warranty" ?
do you think it means explaining it to the dealer in detail what has happened .. or does it perhaps mean to act like a total fool and be like ; " umm .. is this supposed to be like this ?"
Hope you understood that one better than i, cause if i can get a free fix il'l be real happy !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah wait for a while. And what he meant was to lie lol to say you didn't do anything and somehow your device died, but unfortunately that only works when you have a warranty.
---------- Post added at 10:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:03 PM ----------
Florint45 said:
My note 3 n9005 international model is stuck in a loop trying to go into recovery mode every time.
The sequence goes as such:
- The phone vibrates and the screen shows a glimmer in the bottom of the screen, it goes away in a split sec.
- The phone proceeds to vibrate once again and after 2-3 seconds the phone boots up with the note 3 and such stuff.
- Up in the left hand corner it says: RECOVERY BOOTING. .... (dark blue text). Next line is: RECOVERY IS NOT SEANDROID ENFORCING (red text). Next line is: Set Warranty Bit: recovery (yellow text)
- The phone then turns off and wait for around 9-10 seconds and then the three steps above go into repeat again and again.
The only thing that stops this is pulling out the battery which i have done several times now ...
I have tried the two "Famous" key combinations AKA. Home + Power + Volume up or Volume down
but none of them seem to have any effect .. only thing that happens is that the "3-step process mentioned" now has a delay of about 15 seconds to continue instead of waiting only 10 seconds which i presume means that it turned off at some point really quick and then turned back on to begin the loop again.
Now for the cause of this mayhem:
I was trying to install a custom rom(Darklord Note 5 rom that converts your note 3 into a note 5 software) in which a Aroma installer was involved, but my TWRP recovery went into a freeze once it was trying to open up the aroma installer, i got out of this situation fairly easy by pressing the Home + Power button to turn it off and then proceeded to go into recovery and then reboot which went smoothly. But i really needed to change into this other rom since my current rom is terribly slow(CM 12.1). SO, i went around the net and found out that the aroma installer freezing was a common problem for certain versions of TWRP.
So i tried installing an earlier version (2.6.70 i believe) on top of the other one using an app called "flashify" .. which i believe is the source of this problem since it probably couldn't overwrite my current version of TWRP. And as such im now stuck in this devilish loop which is a pain in the arse.
P.S Overwriting from Clockword mod recovery 3.X to TWRP 3.X went smootly and there were no issues there .. so i guess the downgrading of the TWRP is the problem ??
I hope this is not such a seldom occurrence that you have no experience in which you can help me :-/
Please help me with this !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cheer up! Well not that much lol, I found a video that MIGHT be able to help you.
https://youtu.be/D2LZri5HT1E
Check it out and I am here if you want to ask some questions!

Maybe a USB jig will force the phone into download mode?

MrHollywood said:
Yeah wait for a while. And what he meant was to lie lol to say you didn't do anything and somehow your device died, but unfortunately that only works when you have a warranty.
---------- Post added at 10:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:03 PM ----------
Cheer up! Well not that much lol, I found a video that MIGHT be able to help you.
https://youtu.be/D2LZri5HT1E
Check it out and I am here if you want to ask some questions!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems like we'll have to go with MIGHT since i just idetified it as being a stage 2 hard brick, i must have fiddled with it a little too much ... Hmm, the phone was getting old anyways and performance was faltering by the minute too. So i guess il'l check it out at the store if they can repair it for something like 50$ - 100$ .. otherwise, i guess il'l get myself a ****ty phone for now and wait for a new flagship smartphone to appear !
I was thinking about going for LG G5 .. good idea ? or do you have another suggestion

audit13 said:
Maybe a USB jig will force the phone into download mode?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you suggest buying one or making one myself (i found some guides about it ) .. which one do you think would perform best ? (assuming i make mine correctly)

Whether you make or buy doesn't matter as long as it does the job. I will say that a pre made jig is small and neat.

samesung said:
It might not be the only solution but when I've previously got the boot loops I've had to reinstall a stock rom from Sammobile and then root again and reinstall TWRP and then reinstall my chosen ROM using TWRP. You might loose data if you did not Nandroid backup
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hey in same position and want to do exactly as you mentioned,start from scratch again which infact i dont mind at all..problem is im unsure of how to do it as all i can get w h en trying all else button combo's battery pulls etc is the start screen of twrp that just loops ..
thanks in advance for reading this

give a try with Kies 3
connect your phone with pc and open kies. there you see "phone recovery guide". click on it and it will try to reinstall the whole firmware and bootloader etc. screenshot attached

I believe kies has been replaced with smart switch.

audit13 said:
I believe kies has been replaced with smart switch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if i may ask what is a jig???i ive seen something mentioned a few times briefly in tutorials suggesting to use one and im running out of options.tried samswitch and kies and phone wont connect..furthest i can get is when booting to recovery it loops at opening Twrp screen and it wont go to download mode..any help greatly appreciated

A USB jig is a small device that will force the phone into download mode.
https://www.xda-developers.com/need-a-samsung-usb-jig-build-your-own/

audit13 said:
I believe kies has been replaced with smart switch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
smart switch will not detect note 3 as it is developed for new devices like note 5 and onwards.

My note 3 and s4 worked with smart switch.

audit13 said:
My note 3 and s4 worked with smart switch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok. thanks for guidance. i will try it.