**Ultimate GS3 sudden death thread**

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SiriusCybernetik

SiriusCybernetik

Senior Member
Dec 3, 2010
382
170
invinciblecc said:
Yes announce legal actions and if possible send thema receipt of legal action that would help things out
And email the CEO from option on their page
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe the terms I used were not well chosen enough for you to get my point.
In most countries you have some kind of mediators for this kind of litigations between consumers and corporations. Unless your file is made of hot air you're almost sure to win the case. These mediation services do not require to have a lawyer.
As someone else already mentioned, you need a written trace of your exchanges with Samsung/service center. Don't waste time and money on phone calls if you see that you are talking to a wall.
If the forts mails stay unanswered or result in a denial of your warranty claim, then it's time to switch into second gear and give them a deadline inform them that you will contact mediation services if they do not react within this deadline.
If they continue playing dumb, then you must do whatever you announced to do. E.g. seek help from a mediator.


Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
 
S

sgsboyo

Member
Jan 11, 2011
34
12
My latest response from the Samsung "care" team:

"Thank you for contacting Samsung, I am sorry that you feel this way about the product.
*
I appreciate that you are saying that rooting the phone has not caused this issue, however by rooting the phone the warranty has been voided.* As a result, this repair and all future repairs will be chargeable.
*
Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of further assistance."

So I wish anybody good luck in their attempts to get Samsung to back down from this standpoint. As it is, now, I feel utterly spent. Can't see how I can proceed any further without it costing me more money :(
*

Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
 
danarama

danarama

Senior Member
Aug 22, 2010
31,277
18,811
Oxenhope, West Yorkshire, UK
sgsboyo said:
My latest response from the Samsung "care" team:

"Thank you for contacting Samsung, I am sorry that you feel this way about the product.
*
I appreciate that you are saying that rooting the phone has not caused this issue, however by rooting the phone the warranty has been voided.* As a result, this repair and all future repairs will be chargeable.
*
Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of further assistance."

So I wish anybody good luck in their attempts to get Samsung to back down from this standpoint. As it is, now, I feel utterly spent. Can't see how I can proceed any further without it costing me more money :(
*

Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

If you're EU, isn't there some ombudsman? Offcom for warranty? I think they have to prove root is the cause

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
 
BrotherDave

BrotherDave

Member
Dec 27, 2010
6
0
Not so much of a SDS issue, but after updating my S3 last night through KIES it has picked up v4.1.2 (eventually). Today now having a massive issue with receiving incoming calls but only when the data connection is turned on, as soon as i turn it off calls come through no problems, turn it back on and nope calls go straight to voicemail.

Stock never been rooted on Orange UK.

Anyone come across anything similar?

:eek:
 
S

silentwitness1

Senior Member
Jan 29, 2012
447
49
Bombay
BrotherDave said:
Not so much of a SDS issue, but after updating my S3 last night through KIES it has picked up v4.1.2 (eventually). Today now having a massive issue with receiving incoming calls but only when the data connection is turned on, as soon as i turn it off calls come through no problems, turn it back on and nope calls go straight to voicemail.

Stock never been rooted on Orange UK.

Anyone come across anything similar?

:eek:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

advisable to do a factory reset after update.
 
demlasjr

demlasjr

Senior Member
Jul 23, 2012
1,213
256
Somebody from here sent the mobile to the technical support in Spain for SDS or freezes? Over the weekend my S3 was more inoperative than working cause of permanent freezes. The weird part is that today, the phone has frozen not a single time, while previous days it happened each 10-15 minutes. I contacted Samsung and Amazon so they talked with the level 1 Samsung Support which will pick up the phone from my house tomorrow morning in order to fix it. Even if the local tech saw the phone was freezing with his eyes, what if the ones from level 1 starts playing with it and will not freeze in that moment? I'm worried I need to wait 5-10 days and the phone will not be fixed. I'm planning to let a note in the package I send the phone explaining that I tried everything to fix the issue and that I'm scared the problem will reappear even if will not freeze that day. Hope they understand that I contacted them and I paid 24 euros to ship it to them because something is really wrong with the phone and not because I'm noob and I don't know too reset or something like that.
The freezes happened even after hard reset and reinstall

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
 
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S

silentwitness1

Senior Member
Jan 29, 2012
447
49
Bombay
ok i finally got my phone back from sammy and i flashed 4.1.1 and i have tried everything including the software suggested Rob but the phone refuses to die. Any ideas how i could cause the SDS?
 
scottcwhite

scottcwhite

Senior Member
Sep 1, 2010
1,674
225
UPDATE

Well I finally had the chance to contact Samsung UK this morning and they took all my info and then had me contact their UK service center. Spoke to them and and they took all my info and gave me the address to ship the phone in to for warranty repair. According to them after supplying IMEI and S/N my only charge will be return shipping. We will see if this changes once they get the phone. I plane to FedEx the phone to them tomorrow and will update with any communication I have with them in the proceeding days to come.
 
Product F(RED)

Product F(RED)

Senior Member
Sep 6, 2010
9,883
2,105
Brooklyn, NY
This is the ONLY reason I like Apple (Yes, I said it). If you take your messed up Apple product to the store, even if you make up an issue just to get a replacement (e.g. "My iPod Touch overheats and keeps rebooting"), if they can't prove it they'll usually replace it anyways. I've told people who dropped their iPods and iPhones to do this and they always come back to me saying, "OH MY GOD IT WORKED, THEY GAVE ME A NEW ONE!"

Samsung may have better devices, but they need a better face-to-face presence (stores) and better customer service in general.
 
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19abby

Member
Feb 19, 2013
15
1
Product F(RED) said:
This is the ONLY reason I like Apple (Yes, I said it). If you take your messed up Apple product to the store, even if you make up an issue just to get a replacement (e.g. "My iPod Touch overheats and keeps rebooting"), if they can't prove it they'll usually replace it anyways. I've told people who dropped their iPods and iPhones to do this and they always come back to me saying, "OH MY GOD IT WORKED, THEY GAVE ME A NEW ONE!"

Samsung may have better devices, but they need a better face-to-face presence (stores) and better customer service in general.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Totally agree with you on that point. My phone has SDS and am just sitting here and waiting for it to become an expensive paper weight soon and am sure i wont get warrranty cause i rooted it.
 
Product F(RED)

Product F(RED)

Senior Member
Sep 6, 2010
9,883
2,105
Brooklyn, NY
19abby said:
Totally agree with you on that point. My phone has SDS and am just sitting here and waiting for it to become an expensive paper weight soon and am sure i wont get warrranty cause i rooted it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

So unroot it and let it die:

1. Run TriangleAway
2. Open ODIN on your PC
3. Flash an official 4.1.1 ROM (try a branded one in case yours was carrier branded)
4. Let it die and send it to Samsung

The flash counter only goes up if you flash an unofficial ROM (at least, if you're on the old bootloader).
 
S

shethsa

Senior Member
Dec 23, 2010
586
46
Mumbai
Couldn't agree more, although i doubt if it's uniform across all countries.
I guess the problem is apple stores are owned whereas Samsung service centres are franchised. And that can introduce huge variations in service quality across centres even within the same city.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2
 
Product F(RED)

Product F(RED)

Senior Member
Sep 6, 2010
9,883
2,105
Brooklyn, NY
shethsa said:
Couldn't agree more, although i doubt if it's uniform across all countries.
I guess the problem is apple stores are owned whereas Samsung service centres are franchised. And that can introduce huge variations in service quality across centres even within the same city.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

And what's worse is there are no Samsung stores here in the US at all. One showroom-type store opened up in a mall here in NYC, but it was more of a pop-up store and went away. There are no service centers. Everything is done through the carriers or on your own.

That's why I feel you people in Europe and other parts of the world are so lucky, because here it's pretty much you buy the phone and you're done. There are no such thing as service centers here in the US. At all, for any manufacturer.
 
yahyoh

yahyoh

Senior Member
Nov 7, 2011
4,867
1,929
Amman
Product F(RED) said:
This is the ONLY reason I like Apple (Yes, I said it). If you take your messed up Apple product to the store, even if you make up an issue just to get a replacement (e.g. "My iPod Touch overheats and keeps rebooting"), if they can't prove it they'll usually replace it anyways. I've told people who dropped their iPods and iPhones to do this and they always come back to me saying, "OH MY GOD IT WORKED, THEY GAVE ME A NEW ONE!"

Samsung may have better devices, but they need a better face-to-face presence (stores) and better customer service in general.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

thats so true , thats what really Samsung need :good:
 
1

19abby

Member
Feb 19, 2013
15
1
Product F(RED) said:
So unroot it and let it die:

1. Run TriangleAway
2. Open ODIN on your PC
3. Flash an official 4.1.1 ROM (try a branded one in case yours was carrier branded)
4. Let it die and send it to Samsung

The flash counter only goes up if you flash an unofficial ROM (at least, if you're on the old bootloader).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Yup plan to do exactly that. Only found out yesterday....and i had just flashed it and rooted it for the first time just 2 days ago! #fml
Currently downloading the stock ROM..which is downloading painfully slowly. So once that's done i plan to flash it and sit and wait for it to die.
 
yahyoh

yahyoh

Senior Member
Nov 7, 2011
4,867
1,929
Amman
wednesday13 said:
I doubt that will happen. Simple sources for exynos they couldn't deliver.

Glad I sold my s3 and switched to Xperia.

Just stay away from Samsung. Poor build quality, poor software imo.

Sent from my LT29i using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

sorry i don't care if the source came or not i'm really enjoying TW based ROM's , but it will be good for Dev's if it will come some day

LOL sony has worst build quality than Samsung BTW , hahahaha poor software :eek::eek:

sorry but Sony has poorest , crappiest software ever + slow updates + crappy camera , crappy DAC, poor screen .... etc :silly:

BTW 2 years old GS2 got 4.1.2 update before any of the new Sony devices ( T -TX -V) with a lot of GS3 goodies

edit : sorry for OT :eek:
 
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G

grahameys

Member
Aug 15, 2010
15
5
Thought this may be worth posting up here:

I am in the UK and recently, my S3 had been freezing a lot, needing a soft reset, even when on the ELLA firmware. I sent it back to Samsung and I got it back today, exactly 13 days after I sent it. They diagnosed a faulty mainboard and replaced it. I checked with the EMMC app and I now have a SANE chip under EMMC.. I even stated on the letter to Samsung that the freezes were intermittent. Now to get on with my life :)
 
1

19abby

Member
Feb 19, 2013
15
1
grahameys said:
Thought this may be worth posting up here:

I am in the UK and recently, my S3 had been freezing a lot, needing a soft reset, even when on the ELLA firmware. I sent it back to Samsung and I got it back today, exactly 13 days after I sent it. They diagnosed a faulty mainboard and replaced it. I checked with the EMMC app and I now have a SANE chip under EMMC.. I even stated on the letter to Samsung that the freezes were intermittent. Now to get on with my life :)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

was it rooted and flashed?
 
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    Obagleyfreer
    Obagleyfreer
    **** SAMSUNG HAVE APPLIED A SUDDEN DEATH FIX VIA A SOFTWARE UPDATE****

    STOCK KERNEL: XXELKC AND NEWER

    STOCK RECOVERY: XXELKC AND NEWER

    ALSO ANY CUSTOM KERNEL AND RECOVERY THAT ARE BUILT FROM THE UPDATED SOURCES. THERE HAVE BEEN CASES OF SDS ON DEVICES THAT HAVE UPDATED BUT TO WHAT EXTENT THE DAMAGE WAS AT ALREADY BEFORE FLASHING WE DON'T KNOW.



    WHO'S AFFECTED?
    It seems that at the moment the only devices that have suffered from SDS are the 16GB version with:
    eMMC: VTU00M
    FW Rev: 0xF1

    To check your eMMC version download eMMC Brickbug Check from Google Play.
    What you want is the eMMC version and the FW Rev.



    THE FIX
    Samsung have now released a Sudden Death Fix via a patched Kernel and Recovery in latest firmware. Firmware Version: XXELKC

    Simply update OTA or download XXELKC firmware (or newer) from sammobile.com and flash using Odin.

    You need both the stock recovery and kernel installed for it to work properly, or a custom kernel and recovery built from the updated sources
    ie Latest Perseus Kernel and PhilZ Recovery are examples



    LINKS
    For more info about SDS, who could be effected and how to fix check out this awesome thread by rootSU

    For a detailed look at how the fix works check out this thread here.


    WARRANTY
    For those of you in Europe who have rooted your phone it appears that this doesn't void warranty. Check this thread for more info.
    Also this website could prove very handy for anyone with a European or UK handset that has died.
    View
    40
    E
    Entropy512
    InfX said:
    Just took a look at the diffs and i have to admit, i don't nearly get what this does. What are those "movi commands"? Where can one find a data-sheet to decode the magics? :(

    BTW, just took the kernel image from the WanamLite v5.3 CWM zip (that's what i am currently running), un-gz-ed it, and actually found the "movi operation is failed" error string in there. Good for me, i guess ;)

    AndreiLux, thanks A LOT for your research.
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    You won't. These are HIGHLY proprietary to Samsung's storage people.

    mjb said:
    I'd hazard a guess that it does - but I'd certainly like someone like Entropy to weigh in.
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    Bah, I wish I could see what you quoted. As far as safety goes:
    90%+ chance that the change in Update7 is the fix.
    75% chance that XXELLA/4/etc have the fix (It's possible, but highly unlikely, that the string VTU00M would appear in the kernel without the fix.

    smsmasters said:
    Is there a way to check if I already have any bad blocks on my eMMC?
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    This isn't about bad blocks - this is about a firmware bug where a data structure gets suddenly corrupted. You can really only know "is it working" or "is it dead". The one exception seems to be that some people see odd performance issues just before death, similar to the issues people see when using PIT workarounds for Superbrick.

    Just as I said above, the low-level details of what's going on are HIGHLY proprietary to Samsung.
    AndreiLux said:
    The patch additionally checks that the firmware date is 2012/04/13 and only applies the commands then.

    So you need type: VTU00M revision: 0xf1 and internal firmware date of 2012/04/13 for the bug to have an effect. The date which eMMC brickbug checker reads is the production date as it seems.

    So there might be phones with VTU00M/0xf1 out there which are not affected, I don't know if that makes sense in regard that if the revision would even be the same then.
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    Yeah. I'm wondering if we should add some printk()s to check what the date is. I'm curious if there are other dates floating around.

    AndreiLux said:
    No, the date shown in the eMMC app is the production date, the internal firmware date is something else and not possible to read out through normal methods.
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    Correct, although we could add a printk to kernels to print out the info.

    iridaki said:
    eMMC app gives me: 05/2012
    but checking via the SSID gives me: 2012/06/09.
    So two different dates, but none of them is the internal firmware date, correct?
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    Correct.

    -A-P-M- said:
    Most phones died over night after charging. Since there are many defective chargers, can this be related to a faulty charger? For example, I have my sgs3 for about 6 months and a few days ago charging became very slow (didnt charge fully after whole night). I used HTC's charger and charging is nornal again. Ive seen that many sgs3 owners got problems with charger. Can some faulty chargers start charging very skow and others give too much electricty which burns internals?

    Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    No. Seriously - READ. It is at this point unambiguously an eMMC firmware failure that has NOTHING to do with the charger.

    The ONLY connection with charging is this: CHARGING HOLDS A WAKELOCK. This means the device will do various tasks in the background that it wouldn't do in deep sleep, some of which perform I/O cycles on the eMMC.

    mjb said:
    The patch to the MMC driver discovered in the Update 7 sources released by Samsung performs a procedure that is nearly identical to the fix for another mmc firmware bug in a different samsung device.

    The patch also includes some character strings which can be searched for in the binary kernel of XXELLA, as when code is compiled, strings are left as they are.

    The kernel from the XXELLA firmware DOES include these strings, so it's probably safe to assume that the kernel includes the code that performs the in-RAM fix to the mmc firmware.

    The fact that some people have reported that they've experienced SDS on the XXELLA ROM is interesting - none have confirmed 100% that they had the XXELLA kernel running (to the best of my knowledge). This means that for some reason they may have been running another kernel that doesn't have the patch.
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    So far all of them were running other kernels.

    It's just like the people who claimed they Superbricked on stock recovery. Turns out that in their eyes, fakeflashing CWM from stock recovery was still in some twisted way stock recovery... It wasn't.

    skivnit said:
    I'm still confused. Some posts say lla kernel is safe others say you need Perseus. So which one is it

    Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    Perseus is 90% guaranteed to be safe (I'm not claiming 100% without a detailed technical explanation from Samsung. Even then I'm not claiming 100%, just like I refuse to guarantee that nonsecure erase is safe on Superbrick-vulnerable devices even though Samsung claims it is... As a result anything I release has eMMC TRIM/ERASE completely disabled for those devices.
    ELLA/4/etc are 75%+ guaranteed to be safe - since we THINK they have the same patch

    zscomp said:
    If i understood it correctly, we have an assumption? that because similar code is implemented in kernels for similar problems in other samsung phones, so that means we have the same problem in S3.
    If this is true then all or almost all 16GB phones are affected, as i didnt saw a phone with different emmc.(maybe some new phones have newer revision?)
    We are talking then for millions S3's that are going to die?
    Maybe this code then doesnt have to do anything with the "SDS issue" and is more of a precaution or even testing trying to figure out the problem from Samsung?
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    Samsung's storage guys have a wide variety of chips/models. VTU00M 0xf1 is primarily seen in I9300 units, and almost all 16GB I9300s except very recent ones have it. Some other devices have it, but it isn't nearly as prevalent in other devices. My Note 10.1 has MAG4FB I think (need to check again...) In addition, there appears to be some additional identifying information beyond VTU00M 0xf1 that we haven't had time to collect data on yet (and developers need to make kernel patches to even allow this data to be collected...)

    krivinash said:
    I think that it's combination is the solution.

    according to this from 1st post:

    ...Kernels >v31 and beyond stock LLA are now the only truly protected ones.

    Can someone confirm this?
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    the key in that post is the word "now". That post was made yesterday - the patch has been making the rounds and is getting integrated

    Nees3 said:
    Have you searched for it in older kernels? Why wouldn't that string appear also in those? If it does, then this means nothing.
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    That's something that needs to be checked... However if it appears in older kernels Samsung was violating the GPL with them as I'm fairly certain it is nowhere within the source.

    qavro said:
    Nothing can fix an SDS because the phone is already dead. :D
    But to prevent it, yes it seems. One of those at this moment.
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    Just like Superbrick.

    drraptor said:
    Samsung haven't fixed the super brick bug yet :p

    Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    On a small subset of affected devices they have - I9100s in HK apparently have Jellybean and that has their official fix. But so far, nearly all affected devices are still on ICS and they only put the fix in JB kernels.

    koolshubh said:
    Just did a emmc check and I found out that my fwrev is oxf7 and the date is 11/2012... But I got the same chip like otherss... :(

    So am I on a safer side?

    Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    Unknown. Often flaws like this are firmware-dependent.

    For example:
    VYL00M/KYL00M/MAG4FA fwrev 0x19 = Superbrick + 32kb-of-zeroes bug
    VYL00M/KYL00M/MAG4FA fwrev 0x25 = 32kb-of-zeroes bug only (immune to Superbrick)

    However for the above, we had confirmation from a trusted source (A Google engineer) that 0x19 had a bug with the symptoms we were seeing and that HE had seen it in GNex prototypes, and that 0x25 was "fixed" in regards to that bug (Superbrick). A fix for the bug in 0x25 is what led us to him.

    avesalom said:
    Theoretically if you have the same chip, you are candidate for sds sometime.... :(
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    Not necessarily. I would put the status as "unknown". If you have VTU00M 0xf7 you're much less likely to have problems than 0xf1 - but with something like this guarantees cannot be made.

    Also: The fix patch was merged to CM10.1 source last night. So today's nightly should be safe. If it's not - no one is safe.
    View
    30
    E
    Entropy512
    pkrstr said:
    Will my i9305 die too, or only the i9300 is afected?
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    If you have VTU00M fwrev 0xf1 flash, you are probably at risk. I9305 is too new to tell

    leroytorner said:
    In today's SamMobile article, they say is a firm bug!!?????? In other words, sammy firm only have the bug?? If I use (no because my phone deaths on 12/27) aosp rom and custom kernel, bug not affect my device???
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    No. In fact, there's nothing that indicates there is a bug in the bootloader/kernel/system firmware yet. Given the behavior of the problem and Samsung's past history, it's likely a bug in internal eMMC firmware (which can, at best be field-patched if it only involves a few bytes of microcode - major changes are not possible in the field.) This upcoming update likely contains a workaround for that eMMC bug.

    Look at the Superbrick bug - There was no underlying "bug" in any of Samsung's firmwares, except that they didn't block commands that would trigger a known bug in the underlying flash memory. Now, in any hardware without that bug, issuing secure erase commands is fine. The workaround for the bug is simple: Don't send secure erase commands to the damn chip.

    zadusimple said:
    Is it true that all 16gigs phone will die soon one day?

    Sent from a better Galaxy designed for humans!
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    Unknown. Right now any device with VTU00M flash is at risk - but how high the risk is we don't know.

    clin81 said:
    but Samsung says that will fix the issue with fw update.....or not?

    there is no fw going to write to the NAND?
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    No one knows yet. If it's done in the kernel, we'll know EXACTLY what/how they fixed it and how to apply the fix to custom firmwares. If it's the bootloader, we won't know unless they explicitly states that they changed the bootloader to fix it. If it's in /system (HIGHLY unlikely) we might see something.

    Most likely place they'll fix this is the kernel with a variant of the Sumrall patch from last spring, OR an alteration to the MMC code in order to avoid doing something (we don't know what) that the chip doesn't like (this would be similar to how Superbrick is worked around). So far, every time Samsung has ever fixed or worked around an eMMC bug/defect, it's been in the kernel and not the bootloader. So everyone flashing this new bootloader is just making it more likely they'll be denied warranty support if their device dies.

    Motogp1 said:
    Yes the current btu release (today)apparently has sudden death fix via the bootloader.

    I recommend updating via pc odin as mobile odin won't fix the bootloader, Im already on samsung 4.1.2 release at christmas just downlaoding todays release.
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    Bull****. You have ZERO evidence to substantiate this claim.

    clin81 said:
    so we can only wait for the new bootloader from Samsung .... :crying:
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    And why do you think it's the bootloader? There's no evidence to say WHERE the fix will be applied because there isn't even any information about HOW the failures are occurring. Right now, I'd say it's most likely going to be a kernel fix.

    jody2k said:
    Yes but its like a chain reaction: if one component or sector dies mostly the other ones will follow. Freezes and hookups are those signs of hardware failure.

    As long if those symptoms doesnt apair you dont need to worry too much

    Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    If it's a wear leveller bug, there's a possibility fixed wear leveller firmware might "repair" damage to the internal data structures.

    InfX said:
    Can someone please explain... if it's a wear leveler, and thats a part of eMMC (as opposed to software-only wear leveling), how is it even possible to update it? Can one possibly update the eMMC microcode ?!
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    Search before posting. I posted an example of how this has been done to Samsung eMMC chips in the past only 1-2 days ago. (Search this thread for Sumrall...)

    Minor eMMC microcode updates can be done at runtime. It's fairly safe since it apparently patches the firmware after it has loaded into volatile memory (and hence a power cycle removes the patch if it's misapplied). This is what the Galaxy Nexus patch for VYL00M/KYL00M/MAG4FA fwrev 0x25 did.

    Major eMMC microcode updates can't be done so easily, which is why the underlying Superbrick flaw was never fixed.


    pRo_lama said:
    [KIES]I9300XXELLA 4.1.2->EXYNOS BUG FIXED!!S3 SUDDEN DEATH FIXED!!Jan.02,2013

    http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2077844
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    Don't make definitive claims you have no evidence to support.
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    ponepo said:
    Hi all,

    Assuming that there is no NAND degradation or similar and that SDS come for something specific, why over 90% of the deaths have come from the fourth month onwards? Why have not failed at 4 days or two weeks, for example? What is the secret component involved over time to fail?
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    We will likely never know the specific secret component, but with knowledge of the behavior of eMMC, how it behaves, and how Samsung eMMCs have failed in the past, we can guess.

    The wear leveller keeps track of what memory blocks have been used and what haven't, and relocates blocks periodically to spread wear across the device. For example, if you write to the fourth block of the eMMC repeatedly, internally it'll map the fourth block to the 100th, then maybe the 150th, then 200th, etc...

    At some point, after a long time of operation, the wear leveller might reach a corner case where a bug is triggered - my guess would be an integer overflow or a signed vs. unsigned issue. For example, it's working with the 32767th instance of block 5, and tries to increment a counter to 32768 - but instead, gets -32768 instead because something is treating an unsigned int as signed. The next time it tries to work with that counter, BOOM - it crashes. Again, we don't know the exact nature of what's happening, but it's likely something along these lines.

    It's very similar to what happened with Superbrick on the GS2 - if you issued a secure erase command to erase memory that was in a certain specific state (I can't talk about what the exact state is, sorry... And no, there's no way to tell if the memory is in that state unless you're Samsung or you've Superbricked it.), the wear leveller would crash and leave behind corrupted data structures - any attempt to access these structures again would crash the wear leveller again. The symptom to the user was any attempt to access affected regions of the eMMC would cause the chip to hang.
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    Animor said:
    Entropy512, thank you.
    How can you explain users that had XXELLA stock rom, and still suffered from SDS? There are more than one report of it.
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    I have yet to see any such reports... The one report I've seen of an XXELLA failure was XXELLA system + Siyah.

    iridaki said:
    You are being unecessarilhy harsh here, especially considering that you are addressing people who are under the fear that their expensive phones will die on them suddenly. AdreiLux seems to be more skeptical regarding the possibility of the fix depending on the new bootloader as well. Calling names surely doesn't make you look smarter than the "idiots" who took a step -granted maybe rushed- towards a probable fix of a dreadful issue. And you may know much more than the average joe here, but you still have ZERO evidence that the new bootloader doesn't do anything at all that contributes to fixing the SDS, so you may have as well been nicer. Just my 2 cents.
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    I have all of the evidence I need - I now have kernel source for a complete eMMC firmware patch. The fix is in the kernel, not in the bootloader. It's being patched in the EXACT same way as the GNex 32kb-of-zeros fix patch, which had zero bootloader involvement.

    The fact is that flashing a bootloader is a fundamentally dangerous operation, and flashing a bootloader with known regressions in functionality is 100% reckless and stupid.

    The fact is that Samsung has NEVER fixed a problem like this in the bootloader before. There was ZERO evidence pointing there. There was plenty of evidence (the GNex VYL00M/KYL00M/MAG4FA 0x25 patch) pointing to the fix being in the kernel when it came out.

    Animor said:
    How come you knew that SDS is related to eMMC (and specifically version VTU00M) before samsung released their code? What led to this assumption?
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    All of the symptoms and behavior pointed this way.
    1) Some devices were exhibiting "Superbrick-ish" behavior where certain eMMC regions were working and others were inaccessible
    2) It was ONLY happening on 16GB devices - this is the most obvious piece of evidence. If it weren't the eMMC, it would have been seen on 32/64GB devices
    3) It would be the third time in one year Samsung has ****ed up their wear leveller, their quality control is clearly crap in this regard.
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