[Q] Softbricked VZW S3 running LS 2.7 (4.2.2)

papadelogan said:

I've been trying to upgrade to a LiquidSmooth KitKat (3.0 Nightly Beta) ROM but it's been failing. So I figured it's Sunday, it's early, let me try again. Let's get a baseline:

Last usable (as of earlier this morning) ROM: LS 2.7 (4.2.2)
TWRP 2.6.3.0
SuperSU installed

So I *WAS* unlocked and rooted.... now... I don't know what the heck is wrong.

Saturday I downloaded "EZ Unlock 1.2" and installed it; Unlock Status was "UNKNOWN" and even after clicking the UNLOCK button it still showed "UNKNOWN"

So, this morning, I made sure I had the new ROM (LS KitKat 3.0 Nightly Beta 2) on my external SD card, booted in to TWRP, and updated to the latest TWRP (2.6.3.1). I then cleaned out some old ROM backups and made a new one (using compression) which was successful. Rebooted to system, all looked & worked normally, so I rebooted to TWRP Recovery, did a Factory Reset + system (so cache, dalvik, data, & system) and that went fine. Tried to install the new ROM... FAILED. So I rebooted to Recovery and tried to restore the backup I had just made, and it seemed to succeed, but when the phone rebooted, it only got to where it reads "Samsung Galaxy S III" and got no further. I let it sit like that for 10 minutes, then pulled the battery. I booted back in to Recovery and tried restoring a backup made 2 days ago (that I have previously restored from successfully) and that gave a "successful" result, but same thing after rebooting: stuck at where it reads "Samsung Galaxy S III" and would go no further.

I am in DOWNLOAD mode currently and want to get back to the point of being able to restore my backup from 2 days ago. I'll lose text messages basically, and that's fine. I have downloaded ODIN 3.07 but it's been about a year since I last tinkered with it.

Can someone help please? I either get this phone working in the next few hours, or I have to go buy something else off craigslist... or full retail... and I'd really just prefer to get this phone working again.

If I need to "start from ground zero" and redo the boot unlock and root it, so be it. Basically, how do I unbrick my S3?

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papadelogan said:

I am currently backing up my external SD card (all pics & backups go to ExtSDCard) before doing any formatting. I was going to try that next, but am expecting it to fail. What I've found on XDA so far has mostly for those that took an OTA but that is not my case. I am severely pressed for time (use my phone for work as well as personal) and am planning for "worst case scenario" so, assuming your suggestion fails, do I get the original ROM, flash that back using ODIN, then re-do the boot unlock & root?

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papadelogan said:

I was hoping for a bit more than "good luck" actually since it's been a good year since my last trip with Odin... but thanks.

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