[Q] Phone died- can it be revived?

stopeject · Nov 30, 2013

Two days ago my phone started shutting down without a warning. It did it 10 or so times, but now I can't turn it on at all. No light when connected to a charger. I haven't flashed anything new on it in a couple of months. The only recent change was replacing a defective 64GB SD card with a 32Gb one.
I tried removing the battery for a while, replacing the battery from a working phone, booting without the SD card and reset with hard buttons. At this point I don't know what to do next. There are several unbricking guides, but they deal with consequences of a bad flash, and my phone has been working fine for a long time.

prboy1969 · Dec 1, 2013

You may want to try jiggling the Power Button. It could be the power button going out on you. Blowing compressed air carefully into the area surrounding the power button may also work.

stopeject · Dec 2, 2013

It didn't work and highly doubt this problem is related to the power button. Couple of times the phone simply died just sitting still without any movement.

prboy1969 · Dec 2, 2013

Check out the thread HERE. It may explain things better.

stopeject · Dec 2, 2013

prboy1969 said:
Check out the thread HERE. It may explain things better.

Thanks, interesting thread. There is however a key difference with my case- I didn't see the Power/Reboot menu popping up. That would be the tell-tale sign of the power switch issues.
I'm afraid that the only option for me would be to replace the motherboard. If I only could get the phone running one more time to create a backup...

stopeject · Dec 2, 2013

Turned out that my phone is not completely dead- when connected to a PC a message " QHSUSB_DLOAD drivers not found" pops up. However quick googling shows that I'm screwed regardless...

prboy1969 · Dec 3, 2013

stopeject said:
Turned out that my phone is not completely dead- when connected to a PC a message " QHSUSB_DLOAD drivers not found" pops up. However quick googling shows that I'm screwed regardless...

Maybe, maybe not. Check out the thread HERE. Then check out THIS thread. It may be able to help you.

stopeject · Dec 3, 2013

Thanks, this is worth trying, I have doubts it will help because I didn't brick the phone by a bad flash, but what do I have to lose? I also ordered a USB jig which might be able to put the phone in the Download mode.

gullzway · Dec 3, 2013

stopeject said:
Two days ago my phone started shutting down without a warning. It did it 10 or so times, but now I can't turn it on at all. No light when connected to a charger. I haven't flashed anything new on it in a couple of months. The only recent change was replacing a defective 64GB SD card with a 32Gb one.
I tried removing the battery for a while, replacing the battery from a working phone, booting without the SD card and reset with hard buttons. At this point I don't know what to do next. There are several unbricking guides, but they deal with consequences of a bad flash, and my phone has been working fine for a long time.

Mine did the same thing last Wednesday. Hadn't added any apps or flashed anything. Got home and Flashed a new Rom to it, but it still rebooted several times. Now all I get is the Samsung logo, then Ktoonsez kernel logo then it turns off. Download mode will open, but phone shuts off in a few seconds. I Already bought a Note 2 off ebay but still trying to fix my S3.

prboy1969 · Dec 4, 2013

gullzway said:
Mine did the same thing last Wednesday. Hadn't added any apps or flashed anything. Got home and Flashed a new Rom to it, but it still rebooted several times. Now all I get is the Samsung logo, then Ktoonsez kernel logo then it turns off. Download mode will open, but phone shuts off in a few seconds. I Already bought a Note 2 off ebay but still trying to fix my S3.

Did you do a Full Wipe before flashing the New Rom ? Did you verify the MD5 Checksum before flashing ? Have you tried booting back into Recovery, wiping cahces, and rebooting ?

stopeject · Dec 4, 2013

gullzway said:
Mine did the same thing last Wednesday. Hadn't added any apps or flashed anything. Got home and Flashed a new Rom to it, but it still rebooted several times. Now all I get is the Samsung logo, then Ktoonsez kernel logo then it turns off. Download mode will open, but phone shuts off in a few seconds. I Already bought a Note 2 off ebay but still trying to fix my S3.

Your symptoms are different- my phone doesn't even turn on. Interesting, I also run Ktoonzes kernel- I need the fast charge functionality. Other than troubles with 64GB SD card I had no problems with this kernel. Have you tried anything to fix the phone? You should have more options.

gullzway · Dec 4, 2013

prboy1969 said:
Did you do a Full Wipe before flashing the New Rom ? Did you verify the MD5 Checksum before flashing ? Have you tried booting back into Recovery, wiping cahces, and rebooting ?

Yes to both. It won't boot into recovery, it starts to then shuts off. I got it to boot into Android by tapping the side of the phone on a desk against the power button, but it shut off about 10 seconds later.

stopeject · Dec 4, 2013

You might have the power switch failure.
I managed to start the phone from SD card, but can't flash. Will ask questions in the guide thread.

prboy1969 · Dec 4, 2013

gullzway said:
Yes to both. It won't boot into recovery, it starts to then shuts off. I got it to boot into Android by tapping the side of the phone on a desk against the power button, but it shut off about 10 seconds later.

Try what I suggested in the second post.

TEAM MiK
MikROMs Since 3/13/11

gullzway · Dec 4, 2013

prboy1969 said:
Try what I suggested in the second post.

TEAM MiK
MikROMs Since 3/13/11

It is the power button. Took it apart and squeezed it as seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqBgbN8NLjI
It booted and worked, but put it back together and it's doing it again. I'll change out the switch or have it done. Thanks.

prboy1969 · Dec 4, 2013

Glad you know for sure what the issue is now. You may be able to have it repaired fairly cheap. Not sure about your area. But around here there are several places that will do the repair for $20-$30. That includes the cost of the Power Button.

TEAM MiK
MikROMs Since 3/13/11

gullzway · Dec 4, 2013

prboy1969 said:
Glad you know for sure what the issue is now. You may be able to have it repaired fairly cheap. Not sure about your area. But around here there are several places that will do the repair for $20-$30. That includes the cost of the Power Button.

TEAM MiK
MikROMs Since 3/13/11

Indeed, got it done for $20 at a repair shop. When I picked the motherboard up, he gave my $20 back because he couldn't guarantee it would work. He showed me 3 switches that he burnt up trying to fix it. The plastic starts to melt just as the solder does.

So far it has been working and hasn't rebooted in a few hours.

prboy1969 · Dec 5, 2013

gullzway said:
Indeed, got it done for $20 at a repair shop. When I picked the motherboard up, he gave my $20 back because he couldn't guarantee it would work. He showed me 3 switches that he burnt up trying to fix it. The plastic starts to melt just as the solder does.

So far it has been working and hasn't rebooted in a few hours.

Glad you got it sorted

. Now hopefully there's a way to get stopeject sorted.

stopeject · Dec 5, 2013

I have a feeling that I might have a bad flash chip in the phone. I'm waiting for uUSB jig, there is a small chance it will help.

prboy1969 · Dec 6, 2013

stopeject said:
I have a feeling that I might have a bad flash chip in the phone. I'm waiting for uUSB jig, there is a small chance it will help.

Well keep us posted. Would like to know the outcome.

TEAM MiK
MikROMs Since 3/13/11

[Q] Phone died- can it be revived?

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