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Hi everyone!
I'm wondering, how risky it is to flash new firmware to the tab? Is it really brickable, I mean, is it possible to really really brick the tab to a point where it's not possible to fix it? I'm asking partly because I'm a rookie, but mostly because it seems that everyone who manages to brick their tab around here, is somehow able to restore it. Or am I mistaken?
Where I live, the tab has a starting price of $1100. And thats gotta be one of the most expensive bricks in xda history. And if I brick mine, I know I won't be able to resist buying a new one, which adds ut to a $2200 pricetag and a very VERY angry gf..
thanks btw to all of you who make this place what it is
As risky as any other device. Simple. The risk doesnt just lay on the devices shoulders, its the user and the rom maker.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App
Okay, I'm so confused with the brick-terminology being used here. In all posts regardig new firmware to the tab you'll see at least to guys saying that they bricked their tab. Only to say that they fixed it/unbricked it moments later.
I thought that if you bricked your device, whatever device it is, then it's dead, period. No more usefull than a brick like the ones you'll find in a brick wall, just a hell of a lot more expensive. Heck, the word "unbrick" shouldn't even exist by this definition.
So, let me rephrase:
If I brick my tab, can't I just unbrick it? And if not, why? Is it even possible for the tab to be totally and permanently bricked forever? Is the tab in any way safer to fool around with than other devices? Do we know anyone who have bricked their tab permanently? Should I be afraid of fooling around with my tabs firmware for real?
I think it's just a question of perception on the part of the person who "bricked" their device (the "brickie"? ). If you flash and find that you have what appears to be a dead device then you may well come on here and say "I've bricked my device!". You may then find that it's not bricked at all as there is a way (previously unknown to yourself) to recover. I remember in the old days on here people would pick up "bricked" phones on ebay etc, knowing that quite often they could recover them. It probably still happens...
But devices certainly can get permanently bricked too as you know. Personally, I would only flash if I had confidence in myself that it would work, having read up on the procedure and seen enough working examples. Others may just dive in and see what happens . Only you can decide if it's worth the risk or not, but these days I think it's quite rare to permanently brick a device if you fully understand the procedures and the risks. A stable recovery ROM makes a big difference. Not sure if the SGT has that yet.
paulshields said:
A stable recovery ROM makes a big difference. Not sure if the SGT has that yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's in the works, just not quite there yet.
As Paul said, there's always going to be a risk it COULD happen. But following documentation and fully understanding the task at hand before diving in helps to limit the risks to a minimum.
Thanks to all of you for enlightening me
When I was flashing the different files to get calling on my ATT Tab I managed to flash the wrong file and get the device not to boot up but there was still the "download mode" to go into and I was then able to flash the correct file. I find it is very rare to actually "brick" a device requiring the device to be replaced or cracked open & reprogrammed manually. Most of the time now when a device is described as a brick it just won't boot the OS like it is normally supposed to.
paulshields said:
I think it's just a question of perception on the part of the person who "bricked" their device (the "brickie"? ). If you flash and find that you have what appears to be a dead device then you may well come on here and say "I've bricked my device!". You may then find that it's not bricked at all as there is a way (previously unknown to yourself) to recover. I remember in the old days on here people would pick up "bricked" phones on ebay etc, knowing that quite often they could recover them. It probably still happens...
But devices certainly can get permanently bricked too as you know. Personally, I would only flash if I had confidence in myself that it would work, having read up on the procedure and seen enough working examples. Others may just dive in and see what happens . Only you can decide if it's worth the risk or not, but these days I think it's quite rare to permanently brick a device if you fully understand the procedures and the risks. A stable recovery ROM makes a big difference. Not sure if the SGT has that yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol @ "brickie" - I guess you have to be British to get that one?
As for "bricking" , quite right, the device isn't "bricked" if it can be fixed by the user.
People have gotten sloppy with the term, but really it means that you could build a house with it if it were fat enough, but it's no more useful than an expensive paperweight.
The worst you can do without bricking is boot-loop/no-boot which can usually be fixed. The point is, if the device shows any signs of life whatsoever, it's usually fixable.
I thought I bricked my tab, I got the infamous "phone-!-pc" screen
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=File:Samsung_Galaxy_S_Black_Screen_of_Death.jpg
I thought I was screwed. However, I still had it connected via USB and Odin still running and I saw that the com port popped up. I though, hmmmm
clicky and bam, its flashing.
Got it back.
This was after a stupid botched flash attempt on my part.
So, I think you REALLY gotta mess it up to be proper "bricked"
I did a lots of tries and I thing that is not that easy to brick, but I can give a suggestion: Backup the EFS folder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I deleted by mistake with root explorer the nv_data and relatives backups, and I had a corrupted IMEI that is not a brick but I think is one of the bad things (and hard to recover if not impossible if you don't have a backup) because if the carriers ban double IMEI the phone (tab) will not work + is not legal
Forgot to say: seems that some SGS firmware upgrades corrupted the IMEI too, I didn't see something flashing the TAB, but restoring the EFS folder will fix (almost always) the problems
I have not tried to brick my GT, but the JM6 gave me a scare... I have been flashing it for a while now.
The one thing you have to give up for now is SWYPE. I se you have a norwegian flag... And norwegian is not included in any flash I have found. So if you ever decide to try flashing. Say goodbye to SWYPE in norwegian for now...
Yeah, the loss of the Norwegian keyboard is the only thing stopping me from flashing jm6. Lucky for me, I'm very patient.
Sent from my HeTC Desire using XDA App
Apparently, you can brick it. I succeeded !
I flashed with Odin and a custom made PDA package including boot.bin but no repartition.
Odin flashed without problems but the Tab did not reboot and simply 'died'.
Black screen all the time, no recovery/download mode, not seen by the PC, does not charge on ac/dc (neither the charger or the PDA ever gets hot, no sound on connection, ...).
I'm letting the battery discharge completely (but how long can that take when it's not using any energy...) to test again tomorrow but I will probably RMA it on monday.
One thing that concerns me is not being able to remove the battery to force the phone to shut down completely.
As an example when I originally 'bricked' my SGS using Kies, no matter how many times I powered the phone it simply refused to go into Recovery or Download mode. All it would do was show me the two icons on screen.
The only way I managed to totally shut the phone down was by removing the battery and wait 30 seconds before returning. Only then would the SGS allow me to access the 3-Button Recovery/Download Mode.
So..... has anyone come across a situation where you needed to remove the battery and if so how did you manage to recover?
Beards said:
One thing that concerns me is not being able to remove the battery to force the phone to shut down completely.
As an example when I originally 'bricked' my SGS using Kies, no matter how many times I powered the phone it simply refused to go into Recovery or Download mode. All it would do was show me the two icons on screen.
The only way I managed to totally shut the phone down was by removing the battery and wait 30 seconds before returning. Only then would the SGS allow me to access the 3-Button Recovery/Download Mode.
So..... has anyone come across a situation where you needed to remove the battery and if so how did you manage to recover?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The worst I have done is get the device in the "Phone---!----PC" mode where you can't enter "Download Mode". It seems that simply flashing a new PIT file and then forcing it off, it will then enter download mode again.
alias_neo said:
The worst I have done is get the device in the "Phone---!----PC" mode where you can't enter "Download Mode". It seems that simply flashing a new PIT file and then forcing it off, it will then enter download mode again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A little un-nerving isn't it... I have deep thoughts of not being able to get the Tab to drop out of memory by not being able to remove the battery and flush.
Beards said:
One thing that concerns me is not being able to remove the battery to force the phone to shut down completely.
As an example when I originally 'bricked' my SGS using Kies, no matter how many times I powered the phone it simply refused to go into Recovery or Download mode. All it would do was show me the two icons on screen.
The only way I managed to totally shut the phone down was by removing the battery and wait 30 seconds before returning. Only then would the SGS allow me to access the 3-Button Recovery/Download Mode.
So..... has anyone come across a situation where you needed to remove the battery and if so how did you manage to recover?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that when you leave/turn "USB Debugging" on in Applications -> Development, it is fairly save. As long as you are near a computer with adb installed and you have your usb cable within reach, you can reboot the device into recovery with adb reboot recovery or just reboot with adb reboot.
Another way is of course to let the battery run out of power, charge it and reboot.
appelflap said:
I think that when you leave/turn "USB Debugging" on in Applications -> Development, it is fairly save. As long as you are near a computer with adb installed and you have your usb cable within reach, you can reboot the device into recovery with adb reboot recovery or just reboot with adb reboot.
Another way is of course to let the battery run out of power, charge it and reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you saying that the Tab will accept an "adb reboot" in it's unresponsive black screen state or some other? I'v not yet come across a state where just holding power didn't turn it off.
appelflap said:
I think that when you leave/turn "USB Debugging" on in Applications -> Development, it is fairly save. As long as you are near a computer with adb installed and you have your usb cable within reach, you can reboot the device into recovery with adb reboot recovery or just reboot with adb reboot.
Another way is of course to let the battery run out of power, charge it and reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Running down the battery is an option... but it would take an age seeing as you're not doing anything with the phone except looking at two icons on a black screen.
alias_neo said:
Are you saying that the Tab will accept an "adb reboot" in it's unresponsive black screen state or some other? I'v not yet come across a state where just holding power didn't turn it off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That thought passed me by as well.
alias_neo said:
Are you saying that the Tab will accept an "adb reboot" in it's unresponsive black screen state or some other? I'v not yet come across a state where just holding power didn't turn it off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did . I was fooling around with the button definitions of the tab, I lost all my buttons so to speak (also the powerbutton) and couldn't get into the system. A simple adb reboot got me out of there without any problem.
Yes, I believe adb can connect with the Tab in very unresponsive states and still issue commands. I've seen it also with my old galaxy S. A bad flash and a blank screen still gave me access to the system shell with adb.
My lesson learned is: alway have "USB Debugging" turned on.
Running (was) a stock rooted N7 v1 on 4.3. Bought a data recovery tool off of the play store to try and recover some photos I had deleted. At some point it rebooted into safe mode, my battery was running low and I shut it off to let it charge. Now it's dead in the water. Stuck in APX mode. I am asking if there is anyway to breathe life back into this tablet.
The tablet does nothing on the screen, period, no matter what you do. When plugged in to a computer it sometimes registers as an unknown device, sometimes APX. None of these get you anywhere. Toolkits on these forums won't recognize the device, installing the android development kit and drivers does nothing, executing commands from the command line is worthless because the device won't register. I do not have any "blobs" and have no clue at this point even what they are or what they could have done for me had I made them.
I've searched this forum and found bits and pieces here and there and wanted to start a thread dealing solely with devices stuck like this and what has or hasn't worked and get others input if warranty service was done and the state your tablet was in when you sent it in (locked/unlocked, rooted etc).
Anyone stuck here will have probably tried the same things as I have but here is is a minor rundown...
1) Every button combo press known to man for short, medium, and extended periods of time.
2) Charging with the Original charger/cable for 1 hour, then button presses then charging for 12 hours.
3) Same as above but with different aftermarket chargers at different amperages.
4) Uninstalling and deleting drivers. Trying different drivers. Getting the Android drivers etc.
5) Trying every toolkit on the forums to no avail because the device won't register.
6) Checking to make sure the battery cables are seated correctly.
7) Screaming and yelling at your new paperweight.
My hope here is that I've missed some important thread about recovery and someone can point me in the right direction. Failing that, if I should get a new mobo or try and send it in for warranty service in the state it's in.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Sent from my Rooted Frameworked SCH-I545 using xda app-developers app
I don't know what you tried before to revive your tablet and what the tool did to get you into this state, but generally APX mode can be left by pushing the power button *only* for about 10-20 sec, as long as there us enough power within your battery and the hardware / software is working / consistent.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
I don't think I've ever seen anyone in here describe a situation where they observed the tablet in bootloader mode without seeing *something* on the screen.
And as you found out through your reading, using "nvflash" on the N7 is only useful at this time for folks that made prior disaster recovery preparations. So, APX mode is of no use to you (at this date 12/2013).
So, until you see something happen on that screen, drivers on a PC are of no value to you anyway.
It is really unfortunate that the N7 doesn't have a physical charging indicator - that makes it difficult to distinguish between a tablet which is truly borked vs. one that refuses to boot simply because the battery isn't charged.
Holding down a specific button combo (iirc Pwr+VolUp) during an attempt to get "something, anything" to happen will put the tab into APX mode, so it isn't particularly diagnostic that you have observed APX mode once or twice.
Really about the only way to know if the battery in a non-responsive N7 is charged or not is to put it in another tablet or measure the open-circuit voltage. (About 4.15v fully charged & about 3.5v discharged)
The reason that I mention this is that there have been a few reports from users in similar straits as you that report something like "I don't know what happened, but I tried it a few days later and all of a sudden the tablet booted up". Almost every one of those reports involved mentions of low battery conditions, just as your narrative does.
I don't know what file recovery program you used, but I suspect that is a red herring . It might have to have root privileges in order to read raw partitions, and might even want the tablet in safe mode to minimize write activity by *other apps* while it does it's forensics, but it certainly isn't going to recover files by writing in raw mode on a mounted, live filesystem - it would do all it's writing through normal kernel syscalls. That's the long way of saying that a low battery is more likely to be the original source of your troubles.
So what to do now? I think the first order of business is to figure out if your battery is charged or failing to take a charge. If it really is well charged, then a warranty return is probably in your future.
If you can't find a second N7 or a voltmeter, then you could try just leaving it on the charger for a couple of days... but that really is just a "grope about in the dark, wing & prayer" kind of strategy.
good luck
Button sequences & USB Identifiers (VID/PID pairs):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2133986
You are in the same situation I was in - nothing shows up on screen. I got APX drivers to finally install (had to search all over the internet to find them) and that STILL didn't help. I was never able to get it to come back. Nothing ever showed up on the screen.
No combination of button presses helped. I finally gave up and, since my N7 was still under warranty, I RMA'd it back to ASUS. It took about 3 weeks, but I got it back with a new motherboard installed on it.
It was borked and your's sounds the same way as mine. Just either register your N7 on the ASUS website and RMA it that way, or call it in over the phone and RMA it that way. Hopefully, you still have the box your N7 came in because you'll need the serial number.
Others have stated you can get it by opening the back, but that will void your warranty. I do believe you MUST have the serial number, so find the box and get it from there.
Also, you'll definitely lose everything that was there, especially if they replace the motherboard. So hopefully, you backed it up. I backed mine up just before it got borked, so I was lucky.
Good luck!
I am wary of trying to do the battery swap. I went and bought a new version after it crashed but I would be voiding both warranties to try the battery swap.
I do have the serial number if I want to try and get service.
I have done some reading about "deep discharge" battery issues and I suspect this may be a part if it but I have tried leaving it plugged in for days and nada.
I don't know if there is a way to "shock" or jump start the charging process and I am going to put the multimeter on it tomorrow and see what I get.
Thanks for everyone's input. I will keep you up to date.
Sent from my Rooted Frameworked Verizon Galaxy S4 on MJ7 using the XDA App.
Hi there,
My phone not turning on not without battery and SD not with home and volume+ and power button not with both volumes and power nothing at all not even vibrating when charging I am not sure if it's the battery but it was charged before I rebooted once rebooted it didn't turn back on I am on aurora ics and cwm.
I didn't have any problems with it partitions might of been wiped but I guess this would leave me with access to bootloader or anything or a vibrate on charge at least it happened as I was formatting another device but put the wrong sd on ubuntu so I started to think it might be the battery except it was charged unless it decided to leak all the charge in no time.
Also it doesn't do anything on usb or charge connection no vibrate no led no light buttons no nothing just nothing.
Sounds like my issue...
If in fact you did format the whole 3.69gb partition, then you wiped the phone.
So far, my only recourse has been to attempt a JTAG and install a bootloader.
I'm thinking that maybe I can try some form of "wire trick", like the ones used on the HTC Sensation, but I don't want to blow it up by shorting something unrepairable.
If you find another solution, please reply as it would be helpful to others.
PoXFreak said:
Sounds like my issue...
If in fact you did format the whole 3.69gb partition, then you wiped the phone.
So far, my only recourse has been to attempt a JTAG and install a bootloader.
I'm thinking that maybe I can try some form of "wire trick", like the ones used on the HTC Sensation, but I don't want to blow it up by shorting something unrepairable.
If you find another solution, please reply as it would be helpful to others.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nope i didnt format 3.96 gb it was 3 mb and it was shown as linux cd gadget also it worked afterwards until i rebooted next day then blackness the thing is i cant seem to find a battery to try with so i need to try everything first
The one I have here wouldn't start charging the battery until I force-fed the battery directly. (use a 4-5v charger and directly charge the battery for a couple of minutes).
Mine worked, but I made the mistake of formatting the entire partition (3.69gb), so now the phone does absolutely nothing.
PoXFreak said:
The one I have here wouldn't start charging the battery until I force-fed the battery directly. (use a 4-5v charger and directly charge the battery for a couple of minutes).
Mine worked, but I made the mistake of formatting the entire partition (3.69gb), so now the phone does absolutely nothing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am a bit confused here so now when you plug it you can do something to it since it's charging? I guess I never did the 3.69 thingy if I am not mistaken..So lemme ask you if I tried the wall outlet for example instead of the USB to tv or laptop would that help to start it? I am thinking of replacing the battery and see what happens that's if I can find it here in Turkey the Turks always into the newest phones so this one is ancient to them to find a battery for...
Mine is in the same state. But I know that in my efforts to get it to start again I accidently wiped the the entire partition. Can't turn it on, can't get a pink screen, not a thing and haven't beenable to find any solution. So I guess all I can do is sit back and check the postings to see if anyone else has the same issue and knows of a way to restore the boot partition.
Burtrum57 said:
Mine is in the same state. But I know that in my efforts to get it to start again I accidently wiped the the entire partition. Can't turn it on, can't get a pink screen, not a thing and haven't beenable to find any solution. So I guess all I can do is sit back and check the postings to see if anyone else has the same issue and knows of a way to restore the boot partition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm thinking of trying to run MTTY 1.42 and talk directly with the qualcomm chip to send the boot files myself, but I need to know what I need and where it goes first.
I did this with the HTC Kaiser (AT&T Tilt) with some success.
That was on Windows XP though...not sure if it will run correctly on Win 7.
PoXFreak said:
I'm thinking of trying to run MTTY 1.42 and talk directly with the qualcomm chip to send the boot files myself, but I need to know what I need and where it goes first.
I did this with the HTC Kaiser (AT&T Tilt) with some success.
That was on Windows XP though...not sure if it will run correctly on Win 7.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
help me i have the same issue....
service
May be best option is to take it to service center.
Hi,
Not sure if it's a right place to ask, but let it be my first post here. I own an S5 device, and it's sort of crazy. Let me explain.
Three months ago my device suddenly rebooted and got almost-soft-bricked in sense of being unable to boot to the operating mode normally: its display just got black after the splash screen, however I could tap the display and watch 1 FPS "live stream" using `adb screencap` at my PC. So the device was not dead and I could take out all private not synced data I needed (it was really hard once for an application that has the backup facility disabled in its application manifest) -- blind tapping everywhere. My first attempt to fix the device was re-flashing another compatible ROM having all important data backed up. Well, I got it bricked and could not boot anymore. The recovery mode was not available (the device just frozen if trying to enter the recovery), however I could enter the download mode.
Unfortunately, no reflashing helped, so I decided to let it be fixed by a repaire service (since an official Samsung service center in my country has rejected the repair request _with payment_ because the device was not intended for sale here -- well, "thanks Samsung"). Ok, the alternative service took the device and asked almost a half of the device price for the display replace. Honestly, I forgot to ask why there was an idea to replace the display if it worked perfect while it was waiting in the Download mode. Again, it just got black after the splash screen, but the display worked fine in the Download mode until the device was powered off or reset. So after a few days they gave it back to me, and the device was really good now -- it worked fine. They also re-fllashed the device to Android 6 (previously Android 5) and the device was unrooted. Well, that's fine to me.
But after a few hours of rooting, testing and re-installing the software and migrating the data back to the device, the device rebooted again being unable to boot to the "operating mode". Now it just got stuck at the Samsung S5 splash screen or rebooted in a loop. But after a long time (it might took more than a day; the battery seems to be inserted in the device and not pulled off) the device was able to boot normally and (this might be odd) upgrade the installed apps. If I remember, this was a cyan screen with two or three animated white gears. So about 150 apps were upgraded and the normal "operating" mode activated -- so I could use the device. Now after working a few hours, the device falls into a reboot loop / splash freeze coma again for undetermined time, and then, for unknown to me reason, the device woke up.
In short:
1) The device reboots or shuts down suddenly.
2) Instant rebooting does not work for whatever reason.
3) Just wait for some undetermined time without the device battery pulled off.
4) ... It boots again.
5) The upgrading process starts after the boot.
6) Working with the device until paragraph 1: "The device reboots or shuts down suddenly".
Now I don't know if it's a hardware or a software issue: the repair service guys didn't explain much, and now I'm feeling cheated for the replacement of the display that worked perfect in the Download mode that I gave half device price just because it was an idea of theirs. Yes, I have the repair warranty paper for their service, but I just would like to know the real context.
What I could be deservedly blamed for:
* I rooted the device after their repair in a wrong way.
* When I rooted the device, I removed most Samsung bloatware I used to remove earlier. I don't tend to think that I could kill some important software, though. But, to me, it's hard to believe that a software issue might cause such an odd device behavior (I mean the booting just after a certain period of time).
So... I would really and really appreciate getting the real issue behind the symptoms or just a hint spark of light to reveal possible root causes. And was I really cheated by the repair service?
* My device: Samsung SM-G900P S5, Sprint
* Firmware before the repair: stock, Android 5.0.x (?), root, most Samsung bloatware removed
* Firmware after the repair: stock, Android 6.0.1, root, most Samsung bloatware removed (yes, the bloatware list difference is significant now)
* The battery: seems to work fine and does not get drained when the device is in coma
Thank you!
hurricane flow said:
Hi,
Not sure if it's a right place to ask, but let it be my first post here. I own an S5 device, and it's sort of crazy. Let me explain.
Three months ago my device suddenly rebooted and got almost-soft-bricked in sense of being unable to boot to the operating mode normally: its display just got black after the splash screen, however I could tap the display and watch 1 FPS "live stream" using `adb screencap` at my PC. So the device was not dead and I could take out all private not synced data I needed (it was really hard once for an application that has the backup facility disabled in its application manifest) -- blind tapping everywhere. My first attempt to fix the device was re-flashing another compatible ROM having all important data backed up. Well, I got it bricked and could not boot anymore. The recovery mode was not available (the device just frozen if trying to enter the recovery), however I could enter the download mode.
Unfortunately, no reflashing helped, so I decided to let it be fixed by a repaire service (since an official Samsung service center in my country has rejected the repair request _with payment_ because the device was not intended for sale here -- well, "thanks Samsung"). Ok, the alternative service took the device and asked almost a half of the device price for the display replace. Honestly, I forgot to ask why there was an idea to replace the display if it worked perfect while it was waiting in the Download mode. Again, it just got black after the splash screen, but the display worked fine in the Download mode until the device was powered off or reset. So after a few days they gave it back to me, and the device was really good now -- it worked fine. They also re-fllashed the device to Android 6 (previously Android 5) and the device was unrooted. Well, that's fine to me.
But after a few hours of rooting, testing and re-installing the software and migrating the data back to the device, the device rebooted again being unable to boot to the "operating mode". Now it just got stuck at the Samsung S5 splash screen or rebooted in a loop. But after a long time (it might took more than a day; the battery seems to be inserted in the device and not pulled off) the device was able to boot normally and (this might be odd) upgrade the installed apps. If I remember, this was a cyan screen with two or three animated white gears. So about 150 apps were upgraded and the normal "operating" mode activated -- so I could use the device. Now after working a few hours, the device falls into a reboot loop / splash freeze coma again for undetermined time, and then, for unknown to me reason, the device woke up.
In short:
1) The device reboots or shuts down suddenly.
2) Instant rebooting does not work for whatever reason.
3) Just wait for some undetermined time without the device battery pulled off.
4) ... It boots again.
5) The upgrading process starts after the boot.
6) Working with the device until paragraph 1: "The device reboots or shuts down suddenly".
Now I don't know if it's a hardware or a software issue: the repair service guys didn't explain much, and now I'm feeling cheated for the replacement of the display that worked perfect in the Download mode that I gave half device price just because it was an idea of theirs. Yes, I have the repair warranty paper for their service, but I just would like to know the real context.
What I could be deservedly blamed for:
* I rooted the device after their repair in a wrong way.
* When I rooted the device, I removed most Samsung bloatware I used to remove earlier. I don't tend to think that I could kill some important software, though. But, to me, it's hard to believe that a software issue might cause such an odd device behavior (I mean the booting just after a certain period of time).
So... I would really and really appreciate getting the real issue behind the symptoms or just a hint spark of light to reveal possible root causes. And was I really cheated by the repair service?
* My device: Samsung SM-G900P S5, Sprint
* Firmware before the repair: stock, Android 5.0.x (?), root, most Samsung bloatware removed
* Firmware after the repair: stock, Android 6.0.1, root, most Samsung bloatware removed (yes, the bloatware list difference is significant now)
* The battery: seems to work fine and does not get drained when the device is in coma
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
someone said after an OTA to 6.0.1 it borked the phone into a reboot loop too. I had mine rooted for maybe a week or 2 and now I have reboot Loops, not even twrp can fix this issue. I am trying a battery like this person said here http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s5/help/marshmallow-6-0-1-ota-update-boot-loop-t3425838,
spending 9 bux and change beats spending 250 for another Unlocked G900T
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s5/help/marshmallow-6-0-1-ota-update-boot-loop-t3425838
eidairaman1 said:
someone said after an OTA to 6.0.1 it borked the phone into a reboot loop too. I had mine rooted for maybe a week or 2 and now I have reboot Loops, not even twrp can fix this issue. I am trying a battery like this person said here http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s5/help/marshmallow-6-0-1-ota-update-boot-loop-t3425838,
spending 9 bux and change beats spending 250 for another Unlocked G900T
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s5/help/marshmallow-6-0-1-ota-update-boot-loop-t3425838
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Hm, that's interesting, thank you. I also noticed that the loop happens after some time only, it's like the more you have your phone running in the normal mode, the more your phone can get into the loop again. However, I don't think it's a battery overheat issue or so (sorry, I may use silly terms not being an expert at all). So in short:
1) After some pretty long power-off time you power on the device. It's working really stable unless...
2) ... unless something happens (battery? some intricate software or hardware issue?) and the device gets rebooted.
3) Here comes the boot loop, and usually no reboot helps to get out of the reboot loop.
4) Just power off the device and let it just be alone for some time, and now you're back to the step 1 until the "unless..."
My coma device is powered off for long time (thus I think that the step 4 still works for me after that long time) and I'm going to give it to the repair service again, just comparing what the service guys say and what the forum folks say.
I will follow up on the battery swap when mine arrives.
hurricane flow said:
Hm, that's interesting, thank you. I also noticed that the loop happens after some time only, it's like the more you have your phone running in the normal mode, the more your phone can get into the loop again. However, I don't think it's a battery overheat issue or so (sorry, I may use silly terms not being an expert at all). So in short:
1) After some pretty long power-off time you power on the device. It's working really stable unless...
2) ... unless something happens (battery? some intricate software or hardware issue?) and the device gets rebooted.
3) Here comes the boot loop, and usually no reboot helps to get out of the reboot loop.
4) Just power off the device and let it just be alone for some time, and now you're back to the step 1 until the "unless..."
My coma device is powered off for long time (thus I think that the step 4 still works for me after that long time) and I'm going to give it to the repair service again, just comparing what the service guys say and what the forum folks say.
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I received a battery yesterday, charged it up and started using it today, no reboots or bootloops so far.
The battery that came in my phone was made in china, the one I just got yesterday was made in Vietnam.
I'm wondering if Samsung really needs to stop using china to make batteries lol, Surefire flashlights state not to use batteries made in china lol.
eidairaman1 said:
I received a battery yesterday, charged it up and started using it today, no reboots or bootloops so far.
The battery that came in my phone was made in china, the one I just got yesterday was made in Vietnam.
I'm wondering if Samsung really needs to stop using china to make batteries lol, Surefire flashlights state not to use batteries made in china lol.
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Hm, that's really interesting. It's hard to believe that replacing the old battery might affect it that much and get rid of bootloops -- I mean, I just thought that it might be a software/firmware failure (let's say I removed some system apps [actually Samsung bloatware] improperly), or something very core hardware might fail, but I have never thought of a batter as the root cause. Hard to say, sorry. But I'll take your solution into account. Thank you!
hurricane flow said:
Hm, that's really interesting. It's hard to believe that replacing the old battery might affect it that much and get rid of bootloops -- I mean, I just thought that it might be a software/firmware failure (let's say I removed some system apps [actually Samsung bloatware] improperly), or something very core hardware might fail, but I have never thought of a batter as the root cause. Hard to say, sorry. But I'll take your solution into account. Thank you!
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I thought it was a bad rom flash as well or SuperSU causing it, well I found another article stating they replaced the battery and the issue went away. I think the phone was stating a bad POST so it would restart
Long story short my phone was in a pool long enough to shut itself off. I assumed it would never come back to life but I got all the water out of it that I could by shacking it and such and then started the drying process.
The only reason I'm trying to recover the phone is because it appears I turned off Google Photos backup 4 months ago (it was trying to backup when I didn't want it to) and forgot to turn it back on and now I've got 4 months of pics/vids of my 8 month old son on there that are currently "lost". That's half of his life so clearly I'd like to recover these.
So I dried it for 3 days, charged it to 100%, and powered it up. Motorola logo displayed for a few seconds and then it went to a screen that said:
Your phone didn't start up successfully, use Software Repair Assistant on computer to repair your device.
Connector your device to your computer to get software repair assistant.
AP Fastboot Flash Mode (Secure)
Failed to verify hab image boot
Failed to validate boot image
ERROR: failed to pass validation. backup to fastboot
Fastboot reason: Fall-through from normal boot mode
I downloaded the software repair assistant and when I connect my phone to the computer it is recognized by the computer and the software also recognizes it and starts the "finding phone information" process where it identifies the phone type and such (presumably). Problem is it just sticks at this and never does anything else. I left it connected for over an hour while it did this. I tried a few more times with the same result.
So my questions are does anyone know what the errors mean, how do I fix them, and if they can't be fixed without a factory reset (or at all), what's the best path to trying to recover the pics/vids? I considered attempting a factory reset and then using a recovery program/app but if there are any methods that don't involve first deleting the files via a factory reset and then requiring a recovery attempt, I'd love to try that first.
Thanks for your time.
Stinger2300 said:
Long story short my phone was in a pool long enough to shut itself off. I assumed it would never come back to life but I got all the water out of it that I could by shacking it and such and then started the drying process.
The only reason I'm trying to recover the phone is because it appears I turned off Google Photos backup 4 months ago (it was trying to backup when I didn't want it to) and forgot to turn it back on and now I've got 4 months of pics/vids of my 8 month old son on there that are currently "lost". That's half of his life so clearly I'd like to recover these.
So I dried it for 3 days, charged it to 100%, and powered it up. Motorola logo displayed for a few seconds and then it went to a screen that said:
Your phone didn't start up successfully, use Software Repair Assistant on computer to repair your device.
Connector your device to your computer to get software repair assistant.
AP Fastboot Flash Mode (Secure)
Failed to verify hab image boot
Failed to validate boot image
ERROR: failed to pass validation. backup to fastboot
Fastboot reason: Fall-through from normal boot mode
I downloaded the software repair assistant and when I connect my phone to the computer it is recognized by the computer and the software also recognizes it and starts the "finding phone information" process where it identifies the phone type and such (presumably). Problem is it just sticks at this and never does anything else. I left it connected for over an hour while it did this. I tried a few more times with the same result.
So my questions are does anyone know what the errors mean, how do I fix them, and if they can't be fixed without a factory reset (or at all), what's the best path to trying to recover the pics/vids? I considered attempting a factory reset and then using a recovery program/app but if there are any methods that don't involve first deleting the files via a factory reset and then requiring a recovery attempt, I'd love to try that first.
Thanks for your time.
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I can't help you with the problem of getting your pictures, but I can tell you the "Software Repair Assistant" isn't going to help... It hasn't been supported for years on any model, probably 5+ I guess. It is just left over code that Moto hasn't removed from current devices that's saying that.
Most likely you eMMC chip is corrupt, that's your internal storage... If it took a dip in a pool, that's the worst possible place it could happen to get wet, chlorine and other chemicals in the water literally eat away the silicon internals of the phone. You would have better if to drop it in a muddy River or lake than a "clean" pool.
Honestly, at this point if the device won't boot and the bootloader is locked, your chances of recovery if any data is near zero.
you could try booting into fastboot, go to stock recovery and then adb pull
munchy_cool said:
you could try booting into fastboot, go to stock recovery and then adb pull
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Looks like you need to know the exact file name for each file for that. Is that correct or can you somehow view a list of available files to pull?
Stinger2300 said:
Looks like you need to know the exact file name for each file for that. Is that correct or can you somehow view a list of available files to pull?
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if you have enough space on your computer and you do
adb pull /sdcard .
that should pull all contents of internal storage to computer
munchy_cool said:
if you have enough space on your computer and you do
adb pull /sdcard .
that should pull all contents of internal storage to computer
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OK, I'll give that a try after I get the SDK Manager updated. Thanks.
Well, I can't believe it but I hadn't messed with the phone since Wednesday (when it wouldn't boot) and when I plugged it into the computer and turned it on today it booted!
I was able to pull 24gb of pics/vids/texts without any "tricks" and the only thing that doesn't seem to work on the phone (for now) is the camera (constantly get camera app has stopped errors and no camera apps will open) and the screen has some interesting artifacts like it's got a little water in between the screen layers. I'm using my old Moto X for now and I'm ordering a Moto X4 (waterproof) to replace it.
Either way, I can't believe it actually came back to life and I'm so damn happy right now! Thanks for your help even if I didn't end up needing to use it.
Stinger2300 said:
I was able to pull 24gb of pics/vids/texts without any "tricks" and the only thing that doesn't seem to work on the phone (for now) is the camera (constantly get camera app has stopped errors and no camera apps will open) and the screen has some interesting artifacts like it's got a little water in between the screen layers. I'm using my old Moto X for now and I'm ordering a Moto X4 (waterproof) to replace it.
Either way, I can't believe it actually came back to life and I'm so damn happy right now! Thanks for your help even if I didn't end up needing to use it.
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awesome news. see you in the x4 forums
Stinger2300 said:
Well, I can't believe it but I hadn't messed with the phone since Wednesday (when it wouldn't boot) and when I plugged it into the computer and turned it on today it booted!
I was able to pull 24gb of pics/vids/texts without any "tricks" and the only thing that doesn't seem to work on the phone (for now) is the camera (constantly get camera app has stopped errors and no camera apps will open) and the screen has some interesting artifacts like it's got a little water in between the screen layers. I'm using my old Moto X for now and I'm ordering a Moto X4 (waterproof) to replace it.
Either way, I can't believe it actually came back to life and I'm so damn happy right now! Thanks for your help even if I didn't end up needing to use it.
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Click to collapse
That means it was still wet underneath/around the nand chip (where data is stored) causing the images from the stock firmware not to write (and subsequently fail) good thing you didn't fry it, anything less than a week of drying is pointless really and probably only survived due to the excessive shaking and such. Really the best thing to have done would have been to leave it on a car dash for a week. Camera would have dried out and still been working (betcha got what looks like stains on the sides/top/bottom of the screen)
In the future, non removable battery phones when dropped in water long enough to soak through, DO NOT CHARGE IT FOR AT LEAST A WEEK, DONT TURN IT ON FOR A WEEK. If you wanna be as safe as possible, that is.
Ae3NerdGod said:
That means it was still wet underneath/around the nand chip (where data is stored) causing the images from the stock firmware not to write (and subsequently fail) good thing you didn't fry it, anything less than a week of drying is pointless really and probably only survived due to the excessive shaking and such. Really the best thing to have done would have been to leave it on a car dash for a week. Camera would have dried out and still been working (betcha got what looks like stains on the sides/top/bottom of the screen)
In the future, non removable battery phones when dropped in water long enough to soak through, DO NOT CHARGE IT FOR AT LEAST A WEEK, DONT TURN IT ON FOR A WEEK. If you wanna be as safe as possible, that is.
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Thanks for the info, hopefully I'll never have to use it!
Yes, it looks like stains on the bottom portion of the screen.