[Q] Suddenly, My Phone Will Not Power On

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xluryan

Senior Member
Nov 21, 2008
73
7
I've tried searching but no one seems to have this same issue. Or where I saw people with the same issue, they just stopped responding to suggestions and no resolution was reported. So if anyone can help me I'll definitely post until the end!

It started a couple days ago: my phone kept switching orientations (portrait/landscape) as if I were rotating the phone in my hands, but I wasn't. It would happen if it was being held upright, or even laying down on my desk.

Yesterday into this morning it got really bad. It would switch orientations literally every second. I started backing up as many apps as I could, but that was incredibly hard because the buttons moved every time the orientation rotated.

I was able to boot into recovery and make a data/system backup from there.

During the course of the day today my phone eventually just shut off. Now it will no longer power up. I have tried booting normally, as well as into recovery or download mode, but it responds to nothing. There is no screen flash; there is no vibrate. Absolutely no response.

I have swapped batteries with a friend who has the exact same phone. My battery works fine in his phone. His battery produces the same results in my phone: no response to anything.

When plugged in the phone behaves the same: no charging light, and unresponsive to any combination of button presses.

So... being that I'm rooted and likely out of warranty, is there any way I can fix this myself without going to Verizon?

Thanks a TON in advance to any replies! My fingers are crossed...
 

DiSiD

Senior Member
Oct 25, 2013
75
16
I've been seeing a lot of this (power button failures) lately. Are you on CM 10.2 by chance?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
 

xluryan

Senior Member
Nov 21, 2008
73
7
I've been seeing a lot of this (power button failures) lately. Are you on CM 10.2 by chance?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

I was on AOKP Milestone 2, which I believe was based off of 10.2. I could be wrong, but it was either 10.2 or 10.1.

But this seems like a hardware failure, no? What would the ROM have to do with it? Not to come off as brash; just curious.
 

markdapimp

Senior Member
Nov 8, 2013
1,431
374
I've tried searching but no one seems to have this same issue. Or where I saw people with the same issue, they just stopped responding to suggestions and no resolution was reported. So if anyone can help me I'll definitely post until the end!

It started a couple days ago: my phone kept switching orientations (portrait/landscape) as if I were rotating the phone in my hands, but I wasn't. It would happen if it was being held upright, or even laying down on my desk.

Yesterday into this morning it got really bad. It would switch orientations literally every second. I started backing up as many apps as I could, but that was incredibly hard because the buttons moved every time the orientation rotated.

I was able to boot into recovery and make a data/system backup from there.

During the course of the day today my phone eventually just shut off. Now it will no longer power up. I have tried booting normally, as well as into recovery or download mode, but it responds to nothing. There is no screen flash; there is no vibrate. Absolutely no response.

I have swapped batteries with a friend who has the exact same phone. My battery works fine in his phone. His battery produces the same results in my phone: no response to anything.

When plugged in the phone behaves the same: no charging light, and unresponsive to any combination of button presses.

So... being that I'm rooted and likely out of warranty, is there any way I can fix this myself without going to Verizon?

Thanks a TON in advance to any replies! My fingers are crossed...

Sounds like a magical hard brick?
 

markdapimp

Senior Member
Nov 8, 2013
1,431
374
Haven't heard that phrase, but it certainly sounds like some kind of black magic :eek:

Is this fixable? I'm not afraid of ripping my phone apart...

Try getting yourself a USB Jig off eBay or something or make one if you're crafty with electronics.
it should get you into download mode and then you can odin back to stock witch will atleast bring you a functioning phone
good luck

heres a video of the Jig getting this hardbricked s3 into download mode from the same Power on conditions you listed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdrdWqaXUBE
 

xluryan

Senior Member
Nov 21, 2008
73
7
Try getting yourself a USB Jig off eBay or something or make one if you're crafty with electronics.
it should get you into download mode and then you can odin back to stock witch will atleast bring you a functioning phone
good luck

heres a video of the Jig getting this hardbricked s3 into download mode from the same Power on conditions you listed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdrdWqaXUBE

Great find. Yeah he definitely has exactly the same symptoms as me. Although he bricked it by flashing things improperly. Mine just started out of nowhere.

Hopefully that makes no difference. I don't think I can wait for a "jig" to arrive. I'll probably try to make one myself. Anyone have one near Minneapolis that I could borrow for a few minutes? :D

I'll keep you all posted.
 

xluryan

Senior Member
Nov 21, 2008
73
7
Well, good news and bad.

Good news: I made a jig. Bad news: it won't revive my dead phone. I tried the jig in an old S3 with a cracked screen and the jig puts that phone into download mode just fine. But nothing will wake up the other S3.

Could the micro USB port be damaged on my phone? What else could be causing this?
 

DiSiD

Senior Member
Oct 25, 2013
75
16
I was on AOKP Milestone 2, which I believe was based off of 10.2. I could be wrong, but it was either 10.2 or 10.1.

But this seems like a hardware failure, no? What would the ROM have to do with it? Not to come off as brash; just curious.

I honestly don't know what the Rom would have to do with it except two people before you described very similar things and happened to mention CM (recently, so I thought maybe a common thread).

Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
 

xluryan

Senior Member
Nov 21, 2008
73
7
I honestly don't know what the Rom would have to do with it except two people before you described very similar things and happened to mention CM (recently, so I thought maybe a common thread).

Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

Not sure. It was working for a couple months just fine on that ROM. This feels more like a hardware issue...

Being that the USB Jig didn't work, I'm not sure what options I have left. Anyone know how a JTAG works? Would that be an option?

Or am I just hosed?
 

dinkleberg

Senior Member
Dec 7, 2013
51
7
it might be a faulty motherboard. its like something wrong with the actual gs3. that or your battery is dead. but if not its definately a hardware issue. try buying a new motherboard to exchange the bad one