Hi - I tried posting this in Development where I thought it should go but I haven't posted at all before so it won't let me.
I've gotten myself into a very messy (and probably stupid) situation with firmware with my I9300 - there's a very real chance I think that it is non-recoverable, but if anyone could give me some advice on what else to try I would be extremely grateful!
My problem:
Galaxy S3 I9300 16gb international won't boot - stuck at Device Name screen.
How I got here (over about 4 weeks):
Only other information I have really is that on the back cover behind the battery it says 'Model GT-I9300' and 'SSN-I9300GSMH' if those are important.
Other forums seem to indicate that I have a NAND read/write issue, but trying to flash a stock kernel (which was the advice given) results in... 'NAND write start!' freeze :\
Like I said, I have no idea if this is recoverable in any way at this point, but if anyone has any ideas I'd love to hear them!
Thanks
I've gotten myself into a very messy (and probably stupid) situation with firmware with my I9300 - there's a very real chance I think that it is non-recoverable, but if anyone could give me some advice on what else to try I would be extremely grateful!
My problem:
Galaxy S3 I9300 16gb international won't boot - stuck at Device Name screen.
- Won't boot into recovery
- Will boot into download mode
- Odin connects to device, but trying to flash stock ROM freezes at 'NAND Write Start!' or just FCs ("Odin has stopped working" reported by Windows
- Heimdall won't recognise my device (does it even work with the s3? I don't know) so I can't print a PIT or anything
How I got here (over about 4 weeks):
- Started with I9300 16gb international version (Grey import from Hong Kong to Australia, booted in French but let me change to English)
- Gained root access through CWM touch kernel and Odin
- Flashed AOKP Milestone 6 ROM
- Used 'Secure Settings' (app) and 'Locale' (app) to set up a lockscreen PIN that enabled and disabled dynamically according to location rules (worked pretty well!)
- Decided I wanted to encrypt my device
- Clicked through all warnings, followed instructions to set PIN (didn't disable Secure Settings, the app that allowed the lockscreen changes outlined above)
- Encryption successful, booted successfully using the PIN set
- Lockscreen goes funny - 'quick PIN' option in AOKP (where you don't have to press OK after entering the PIN correctly) stops working
- Any PIN at all at this point will unlock my device
- Reboot to discover that my original encryption PIN has stopped working
- Seriously, I tried it like 20 times including slight variations in case I mistyped, and other PINs that I use in case I misremembered
- Rebooted into CWM to try to flash a new ROM
- Can't access internal SD due to encryption
- Use Galaxy S3 Toolkit to 'download and flash new stock rom, kernel using Odin'
- Didn't know which firmware to download so i went with option 5 (GT-I9300_BTU_I9300XXALF2_I9300OXAALF2_I9300XXLF2)
- Odin connects sucessfully, flashes device
- Device reboots into 'Trouble with firmware upgrade - connect to samsung kies to fix' (or whatever it says)
- Download and install Kies (i had the USB drivers for the phone installed previously)
- Kies won't recognise my phone on any level for emergency recovery
- Decide that the internal SD card encryption is causing the problems, and that maybe I need to repartition
- Don't notice all the warnings about repartitioning
- Download PIT files for I9300 from somewhere
- Try reflashing ROM using one of these PITs (I didn't know any better so I just used GT-I9300_mx_20120329.pit, which in retrospect is probably for a device with different internal storage size)
- Phone stopped giving me 'Firmware update problem' screen and started going to the 'GT I9300' booting screen, but never got past that point
- Repeat ad infinitum - I've tried flashing several different stock ROMs, using several PITs and am now at the point mentioned above.
Only other information I have really is that on the back cover behind the battery it says 'Model GT-I9300' and 'SSN-I9300GSMH' if those are important.
Other forums seem to indicate that I have a NAND read/write issue, but trying to flash a stock kernel (which was the advice given) results in... 'NAND write start!' freeze :\
Like I said, I have no idea if this is recoverable in any way at this point, but if anyone has any ideas I'd love to hear them!
Thanks