[HOWTO] UnBrick T-Mobile S III QHSUSB_DLOAD w/Video Walkthrough

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KAsp3rd

Inactive Recognized Developer
Jan 16, 2011
1,353
2,155
Louisville
Other carriers and variants are still a work in progress
If you have a variant of the T999 other than the original T-Mobile SGH-T999 please contribute to the community and help us recover other users

If you have updated to 4.3 via OTA or flashed 4.3 firmware you will need to make sure you get the 4.3 debrick image.

Linux and Windows instructions are now included. Video only covers Linux.

Updated debrick links with zipped image files for lower bandwidth usage


I know there are some "How to unbrick" guides out there however they do no refer to an actual brick where you are stuck in QHSUSB-DLOAD mode.

The following guide will get you back to where you should be able to odin everything back to stock.



What you need:
  • Bricked SGH-T999
  • 16GB or 32GB microSD card (all data will be erased from this sdcard)
  • microSD card reader
  • Linux Live Disc, VM with Linux with direct hardware control or native Linux OS. (Should work with OSx as well however I cannot confirm as I do not own one) Windows can be used, instructions below.
  • Everything in the ODIN guide

    One of the following images based on your S III Model
  • SGH-T999 ***NOT FOR 4.3*** Debrick Image Thanks to @Techlyfe for the emmc dump
  • SGH-T999 4.3 only Debrick Image
  • SGH-T999L Debrick image Thanks to @DJ_SpaRky for the new T999L dump
  • SGH-T999N Debrick We still need one for this device
  • SGH-T999v ***NOT FOR 4.3*** Debrick Image
  • SGH-T999v 4.3 only Debrick Image @cLogic for the T999v 4.3 upload

How to get it done:

Linux Instructions
  • Boot your Linux OS
  • Download the debrick image listed in the Item's needed list
  • Open terminal on your Linux OS
  • Insert your microSD card into the reader
  • Plug your microSD card reader into your computer
  • Run
    Code:
    dmesg | tail
    you should see something that mentions where it is mounted via /sdX
  • *
    Code:
    dd if=/path_to_debrick.img of=/dev/sdX
    again where X is the microSD card ignoring the partition numbers as they should be overwritten
    I had to do this a couple times for the image to actually take
  • *
    Code:
    parted /dev/sdX print
    If you will see Error about the GPT table being corrupt you can type "OK" and then you will be given an option to Fix/Ignore; type "Ignore"
    should show approximately 23 partitions (IIRC)
Windows Instructions
  • Download win32diskimager
  • Download your debrick image
  • Unzip both items and run win32diskimager
  • Run win32diskimager
  • browse for your extracted debrick image
  • Select your microSD in the dropdown box
  • Click write
Instructions required for both
  • remove the microSD card from the reader
  • remove the battery, sim and external microSD card from your device
  • insert your debrick microSD into your phone
  • insert the battery and down your power button (at this point your phone might actually boot completely and you can recovery any software/data you want)
  • reboot into Download mode either via adb or Volume Down + Home + Power
  • Once the device is booted into bootloader remove the microSD card.
  • follow the directions in the ODIN thread and make sure you UNCHECK partition!
* requires su privileges


Here's is a flashable zip to get the first 128M of the emmc which is what we use to create our debrick.img. It will create the debrick.img then compress it is a .zip format. Idea given to me from DocHoliday77 and used his original zip from here.
If you upload them I will mirror and link them to this post


PIT Files for ODIN when coming upon the error "PIT Partition does not exist"

Thanks to the following:
@gTan64 for finding the fix while repairing their friend's phone.
@CNexus for Link to original thread here where I found the answer for this
@Techlyfe again for the SGH-T999 emmc dump
@DocHoliday77 for the odin guide and software
@Matt for being Matt
@jmcoffey for the SGH-T999L dump
And My wife for letting me mess with her phone (which in turn bricked it by overwriting the apm partition)

@deBricker for their thread another walkthrough
 
Last edited:

DocHoliday77

Senior Member
May 10, 2011
9,403
6,892
HuntsVegas!!!
Looking forward to hearing someone's results!
I can say that I do not believethis currently will work on a T999L, T999N, T999V. None of their firmware is compatible with each other. For example, if you try to flash ones firmware to another, it will cause a device to hard brick. So until versions for each model are posted, I wouldn't try this on anything but the T999.
Thanks for posting OP. Hoping it works!

Sent from my SGH-T999L using Tapatalk 4
 

KAsp3rd

Inactive Recognized Developer
Jan 16, 2011
1,353
2,155
Louisville
Looking forward to hearing someone's results!
I can say that I do not believethis currently will work on a T999L, T999N, T999V. None of their firmware is compatible with each other. For example, if you try to flash ones firmware to another, it will cause a device to hard brick. So until versions for each model are posted, I wouldn't try this on anything but the T999.
Thanks for posting OP. Hoping it works!

Sent from my SGH-T999L using Tapatalk 4

Sent you a PM requesting the T999L emmc dump. If we can get all the T999 Variants in here then it would be awesome. Apparently the fallback boot on the S III when the bootloader is corrupt is externalSD so we just emulate the bootloader onto the microSD and it booted perfectly for me when I bricked my wife's T999
 

Qverse

Senior Member
Apr 29, 2006
514
165
Wow

This is truly a great thing !

Cant wait to see other the emmc dumps and to hear of results . The benefits of something like This is 10+ :good::good::good:

Thank You. :cool:
 

CNexus

Senior Member
May 17, 2012
9,010
14,000
~/android
Google Pixel 7
Just wanted to clarify that gTan64 was the one who originally discovered this method while trying to fix a friend's bricked Sprint S3. He didn't actually brick his own S3

And to elaborate, it's not so much a fail-safe but more of a built-in feature that allows these phones to boot from an sdcard because you can do this even if your phone isn't in QHSUSB_DLOAD mode
 

KAsp3rd

Inactive Recognized Developer
Jan 16, 2011
1,353
2,155
Louisville
Just wanted to clarify that gTan64 was the one who originally discovered this method while trying to fix a friend's bricked Sprint S3. He didn't actually brick his own S3

And to elaborate, it's not so much a fail-safe but more of a built-in feature that allows these phones to boot from an sdcard because you can do this even if your phone isn't in QHSUSB_DLOAD mode

Thank you. I almost had all the details correct :) I will edit the OP to properly state that when I get back to a PC

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4
 

artojeda1988

Senior Member
Aug 12, 2009
105
2
The image listed here is from the SGH-T999
I CANNOT confirm that it will work with the SGH-T999L version.

I know there are some "How to unbrick" guides out there however they do no refer to an actual brick where you are stuck in QHSUSB-DLOAD mode.

The following guide will get you back to where you should be able to odin everything back to where you need to be.

What you need:
  • Bricked SGH-T999
  • 16GB or 32GB microSD card (all data will be erased from this sdcard)
  • microSD card reader
  • Linux Live disc or VM with Linux with direct hardware control (Should work with OSx as well however I cannot confirm as I do not own one)
  • Debrick Image || Mirror Thanks to @Techlyfe for the emmc dump
  • Everything in the ODIN guide

How to get it done:

  • Boot your Linux OS
  • Download the debrick image listed in the Item's needed list
  • Open terminal on your Linux OS
  • Insert your microSD card into the reader
  • Plug your microSD card reader into your computer
  • Run
    Code:
    dmesg | tail
    you should see something that mentions where it is mounted via /sdX
  • *
    Code:
    dd if=/<path_to_debrick.img> of=/dev/sdX
    again where X is the microSD card ignoring the partition numbers as they should be overwritten
    I had to do this a couple times for the image to actually take
  • *
    Code:
    fdisk -l /dev/sdX
    should show approximately 29 partitions (IIRC)
  • remove the microSD card from the reader
  • remove the battery, sim and external microSD card from your SGH-T999
  • insert your debrick microSD into your phone
  • insert the battery and down your power button (at this point your phone might actually boot completely and you can recovery any software/data you want)
  • reboot into Download mode either via adb or Volume Down + Home + Power
  • follow the directions in the ODIN thread and make sure you UNCHECK partition!
* requires su privileges


Thanks to the following:
@gTan64 for bricking their Sprint S III causing this thread to start
@CNexus for the answer and the link to the original thread where I found the answer for this Link to original post here
@Techlyfe again for the SGH-T999 emmc dump
@DocHoliday77 for the odin guide and software
@Matt for being Matt
And My wife for letting me mess with her phone (which in turn bricked it by overwriting the apm partition.

If someone has the SGH-T999L or SGH-T999V and wants to post the emmc dumps of those the instructions are as follows

busybox dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0 of=/sdcard/debrick.img bs=1M count=128


If you upload them I will mirror and link them to this post

does it have to be on linux can i run it through command cmd on windows?
 
  • Like
Reactions: rothmasloly

WhoWhere

Senior Member
Oct 24, 2010
262
94
This is great news! I'm excited to hear confirmation.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 4
 

Chefedogg

Senior Member
May 22, 2012
121
37
Daytona Beach
The image listed here is from the SGH-T999
I CANNOT confirm that it will work with the SGH-T999L version.

I know there are some "How to unbrick" guides out there however they do no refer to an actual brick where you are stuck in QHSUSB-DLOAD mode.

The following guide will get you back to where you should be able to odin everything back to where you need to be.

What you need:
  • Bricked SGH-T999
  • 16GB or 32GB microSD card (all data will be erased from this sdcard)
  • microSD card reader
  • Linux Live disc or VM with Linux with direct hardware control (Should work with OSx as well however I cannot confirm as I do not own one)
  • Debrick Image || Mirror Thanks to @Techlyfe for the emmc dump
  • Everything in the ODIN guide

How to get it done:

  • Boot your Linux OS
  • Download the debrick image listed in the Item's needed list
  • Open terminal on your Linux OS
  • Insert your microSD card into the reader
  • Plug your microSD card reader into your computer
  • Run
    Code:
    dmesg | tail
    you should see something that mentions where it is mounted via /sdX
  • *
    Code:
    dd if=/<path_to_debrick.img> of=/dev/sdX
    again where X is the microSD card ignoring the partition numbers as they should be overwritten
    I had to do this a couple times for the image to actually take
  • *
    Code:
    fdisk -l /dev/sdX
    should show approximately 29 partitions (IIRC)
  • remove the microSD card from the reader
  • remove the battery, sim and external microSD card from your SGH-T999
  • insert your debrick microSD into your phone
  • insert the battery and down your power button (at this point your phone might actually boot completely and you can recovery any software/data you want)
  • reboot into Download mode either via adb or Volume Down + Home + Power
  • follow the directions in the ODIN thread and make sure you UNCHECK partition!
* requires su privileges


Thanks to the following:
@gTan64 for bricking their Sprint S III causing this thread to start
@CNexus for the answer and the link to the original thread where I found the answer for this Link to original post here
@Techlyfe again for the SGH-T999 emmc dump
@DocHoliday77 for the odin guide and software
@Matt for being Matt
And My wife for letting me mess with her phone (which in turn bricked it by overwriting the apm partition.

If someone has the SGH-T999L or SGH-T999V and wants to post the emmc dumps of those the instructions are as follows

busybox dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0 of=/sdcard/debrick.img bs=1M count=128


If you upload them I will mirror and link them to this post

I was searching for this emmc dump all last week, sent my phone out to get jTagged, get it back today and now I stumble across this :laugh:
Thank you very much kind sir for hooking us up!!
 
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Reactions: Trozzul and Panamon

KAsp3rd

Inactive Recognized Developer
Jan 16, 2011
1,353
2,155
Louisville
If you use this method please respond with your results as to show users that it has worked for you. If you would like to help with this for other variants of the S3 please inform me and I'll work with you to get what we need.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4
 

absinthesummer

Account currently disabled
May 16, 2012
1,147
1,337
Usa
meettomy.site
What you need:
  • Bricked SGH-T999
  • 16GB or 32GB microSD card (all data will be erased from this sdcard)
  • microSD card reader
  • Linux Live disc or VM with Linux with direct hardware control (Should work with OSx as well however I cannot confirm as I do not own


Don't mind me, I'm just adding a link to ubuntu live cd to make the resources easier to access for those who need to try this. I hope that is OK with you. If not, I'll remove it.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD#How-To_LiveCD_Ubuntu

BTW, I did not quote the entire OP lol, just the list ;)
 
Last edited:

liongvn

Senior Member
Mar 4, 2013
189
89
30
Da Nang
Fixed.But it don't write any data to sdcard.
Hope you can make a video soon :(
 
Last edited:

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  • 83
    Other carriers and variants are still a work in progress
    If you have a variant of the T999 other than the original T-Mobile SGH-T999 please contribute to the community and help us recover other users

    If you have updated to 4.3 via OTA or flashed 4.3 firmware you will need to make sure you get the 4.3 debrick image.

    Linux and Windows instructions are now included. Video only covers Linux.

    Updated debrick links with zipped image files for lower bandwidth usage


    I know there are some "How to unbrick" guides out there however they do no refer to an actual brick where you are stuck in QHSUSB-DLOAD mode.

    The following guide will get you back to where you should be able to odin everything back to stock.



    What you need:
    • Bricked SGH-T999
    • 16GB or 32GB microSD card (all data will be erased from this sdcard)
    • microSD card reader
    • Linux Live Disc, VM with Linux with direct hardware control or native Linux OS. (Should work with OSx as well however I cannot confirm as I do not own one) Windows can be used, instructions below.
    • Everything in the ODIN guide

      One of the following images based on your S III Model
    • SGH-T999 ***NOT FOR 4.3*** Debrick Image Thanks to @Techlyfe for the emmc dump
    • SGH-T999 4.3 only Debrick Image
    • SGH-T999L Debrick image Thanks to @DJ_SpaRky for the new T999L dump
    • SGH-T999N Debrick We still need one for this device
    • SGH-T999v ***NOT FOR 4.3*** Debrick Image
    • SGH-T999v 4.3 only Debrick Image @cLogic for the T999v 4.3 upload

    How to get it done:

    Linux Instructions
    • Boot your Linux OS
    • Download the debrick image listed in the Item's needed list
    • Open terminal on your Linux OS
    • Insert your microSD card into the reader
    • Plug your microSD card reader into your computer
    • Run
      Code:
      dmesg | tail
      you should see something that mentions where it is mounted via /sdX
    • *
      Code:
      dd if=/path_to_debrick.img of=/dev/sdX
      again where X is the microSD card ignoring the partition numbers as they should be overwritten
      I had to do this a couple times for the image to actually take
    • *
      Code:
      parted /dev/sdX print
      If you will see Error about the GPT table being corrupt you can type "OK" and then you will be given an option to Fix/Ignore; type "Ignore"
      should show approximately 23 partitions (IIRC)
    Windows Instructions
    • Download win32diskimager
    • Download your debrick image
    • Unzip both items and run win32diskimager
    • Run win32diskimager
    • browse for your extracted debrick image
    • Select your microSD in the dropdown box
    • Click write
    Instructions required for both
    • remove the microSD card from the reader
    • remove the battery, sim and external microSD card from your device
    • insert your debrick microSD into your phone
    • insert the battery and down your power button (at this point your phone might actually boot completely and you can recovery any software/data you want)
    • reboot into Download mode either via adb or Volume Down + Home + Power
    • Once the device is booted into bootloader remove the microSD card.
    • follow the directions in the ODIN thread and make sure you UNCHECK partition!
    * requires su privileges


    Here's is a flashable zip to get the first 128M of the emmc which is what we use to create our debrick.img. It will create the debrick.img then compress it is a .zip format. Idea given to me from DocHoliday77 and used his original zip from here.
    If you upload them I will mirror and link them to this post


    PIT Files for ODIN when coming upon the error "PIT Partition does not exist"

    Thanks to the following:
    @gTan64 for finding the fix while repairing their friend's phone.
    @CNexus for Link to original thread here where I found the answer for this
    @Techlyfe again for the SGH-T999 emmc dump
    @DocHoliday77 for the odin guide and software
    @Matt for being Matt
    @jmcoffey for the SGH-T999L dump
    And My wife for letting me mess with her phone (which in turn bricked it by overwriting the apm partition)

    @deBricker for their thread another walkthrough
    22
    If You Can Flash A ROM.....

    Now you can create the image file needed for this De-Brick method.

    Download this: T999_Partial_Sys_Dump_for_debrick.zip

    Flash it in your preferred recovery (CWM or TWRP) and it will create the dump file needed for this debrick method from KAsp3rd!

    Once you have flashed it you will find a file called debrick.img on your internal sdcard. It should be 128MB in size. (if you zip it, it will be much smaller!) Upload this to your preferred file host (I recommend Dev-Host), and PM the link to KAsp3rd.


    Now it is waaaayyy too easy for anyone to reasonably say no! :cowboy:
    18
    RESERVED

    Reserved for screenshots and future usage


    I can usually be found on IRC Freenode #teambuild #teamkang or #teamgelato
    8
    Looking forward to hearing someone's results!
    I can say that I do not believethis currently will work on a T999L, T999N, T999V. None of their firmware is compatible with each other. For example, if you try to flash ones firmware to another, it will cause a device to hard brick. So until versions for each model are posted, I wouldn't try this on anything but the T999.
    Thanks for posting OP. Hoping it works!

    Sent from my SGH-T999L using Tapatalk 4
    8
    Looking forward to hearing someone's results!
    I can say that I do not believethis currently will work on a T999L, T999N, T999V. None of their firmware is compatible with each other. For example, if you try to flash ones firmware to another, it will cause a device to hard brick. So until versions for each model are posted, I wouldn't try this on anything but the T999.
    Thanks for posting OP. Hoping it works!

    Sent from my SGH-T999L using Tapatalk 4

    Sent you a PM requesting the T999L emmc dump. If we can get all the T999 Variants in here then it would be awesome. Apparently the fallback boot on the S III when the bootloader is corrupt is externalSD so we just emulate the bootloader onto the microSD and it booted perfectly for me when I bricked my wife's T999