Will this brick my phone?

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uscpsycho

Senior Member
Mar 25, 2011
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I have an S3 with a bad motherboard that makes it reboot very erratically. Sometimes I don't get through the splash screen before it reboots itself.

The phone is rooted 4.3 with stock recovery so there is no way to make a nandroid backup.

I'd like to install custom recovery so I can try to make a nandroid backup but I'm afraid if the phone shuts off in the middle of the installation I'll end up with a brick. Is this something I need to worry about? Will I brick my phone if it reboots in the middle of the installation or can the phone gracefully recover from an aborted installation of custom recovery?

TIA
 
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uscpsycho

Senior Member
Mar 25, 2011
258
49
CNexus said:
If it reboots in the middle of the backup, nothing bad will happen
It's just copying your partitions when it does a backup so it's fine
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Of course there is no harm in rebooting in the middle of creating a backup.

I'm not worried about rebooting in the middle of the backup. I'm worried about the phone rebooting in the middle of installing custom recovery.

Anyone know if there are grave consequences?
 
CNexus

CNexus

Senior Member
May 17, 2012
9,010
14,000
~/android
Google Pixel 7
uscpsycho said:
Of course there is no harm in rebooting in the middle of creating a backup.

I'm not worried about rebooting in the middle of the backup. I'm worried about the phone rebooting in the middle of installing custom recovery.

Anyone know if there are grave consequences?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Ah, sorry I misunderstood.

But no, the recovery is not a vital part of the software. You can have a corrupt recovery and still have a functional device.

If you were flashing something like the bootloader, then you might have had problems there. But you should be good whether it goes through or not.
 
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uscpsycho

Senior Member
Mar 25, 2011
258
49
CNexus said:
Ah, sorry I misunderstood.

But no, the recovery is not a vital part of the software. You can have a corrupt recovery and still have a functional device.

If you were flashing something like the bootloader, then you might have had problems there. But you should be good whether it goes through or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Just to be clear, if my phone reboots in the middle of installing custom recovery there is no harm? What would happen if I tried to boot into recovery after an aborted installation? Would the stock recovery still be there or would my phone wig out?

Sounds like I can keep trying and trying until my phone successfully makes it through the installation process?

You said I "should" be OK. How confident are you that I'll be OK if the process is aborted midway through?

Thanks!
 
CNexus

CNexus

Senior Member
May 17, 2012
9,010
14,000
~/android
Google Pixel 7
uscpsycho said:
Just to be clear, if my phone reboots in the middle of installing custom recovery there is no harm? What would happen if I tried to boot into recovery after an aborted installation? Would the stock recovery still be there or would my phone wig out?

Sounds like I can keep trying and trying until my phone successfully makes it through the installation process?

You said I "should" be OK. How confident are you that I'll be OK if the process is aborted midway through?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I am 100% confident nothing bad will happen if the phone reboots

When you try to reboot into recovery, the stock recovery may have been reflashes by the system (system/etc/install-recovery.sh script specifically) or the screen will just be black
 
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uscpsycho

Senior Member
Mar 25, 2011
258
49
CNexus said:
I am 100% confident nothing bad will happen if the phone reboots

When you try to reboot into recovery, the stock recovery may have been reflashes by the system (system/etc/install-recovery.sh script specifically) or the screen will just be black
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Thank you!

Now that I think this through a little more, I'm not sure this is such a good idea. My new phone will either have 4.1 or 4.3 with Knox on it. My faulty phone that I want to back up has 4.3 with Knox AND the warranty bit is tripped. If I restore from a nandroid backup is that going to result in my warranty bit being tripped again?

If so, probably better to just do the saferoot method on the new phone and restore my apps from Titanium Backup. Right?
 
CNexus

CNexus

Senior Member
May 17, 2012
9,010
14,000
~/android
Google Pixel 7
uscpsycho said:
Thank you!

Now that I think this through a little more, I'm not sure this is such a good idea. My new phone will either have 4.1 or 4.3 with Knox on it. My faulty phone that I want to back up has 4.3 with Knox AND the warranty bit is tripped. If I restore from a nandroid backup is that going to result in my warranty bit being tripped again?

If so, probably better to just do the saferoot method on the new phone and restore my apps from Titanium Backup. Right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Flashing a custom recovery will trip Knox, so yes, since you will need a custom recovery to restore the backup on your new phone.
 
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uscpsycho

Senior Member
Mar 25, 2011
258
49
CNexus said:
Flashing a custom recovery will trip Knox, so yes, since you will need a custom recovery to restore the backup on your new phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I did not know that. So I can saferoot without tripping Knox but then if I install a custom recovery that will trip Knox.

I guess I'll just root and try to get everything set up the way I had it on my original S3 then if it ends up being too much trouble I'll just restore a nandroid.

I'm not toooo concerned about tripping Knox because my warranty bit was tripped on my original S3 and I had no problem getting it replaced by Sprint. I don't think they even bothered to check if my phone was rooted or the warranty bit tripped. I think they just checked for physical & water damage, my phone didn't have so much as a scratch on it.

This is a bit off topic but anyone know if there are known issues to rooting this phone with the saferoot method? That thread is a beast to dig through.
 
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    CNexus
    CNexus
    uscpsycho said:
    Of course there is no harm in rebooting in the middle of creating a backup.

    I'm not worried about rebooting in the middle of the backup. I'm worried about the phone rebooting in the middle of installing custom recovery.

    Anyone know if there are grave consequences?
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    Ah, sorry I misunderstood.

    But no, the recovery is not a vital part of the software. You can have a corrupt recovery and still have a functional device.

    If you were flashing something like the bootloader, then you might have had problems there. But you should be good whether it goes through or not.
    View
    1
    CNexus
    CNexus
    uscpsycho said:
    Just to be clear, if my phone reboots in the middle of installing custom recovery there is no harm? What would happen if I tried to boot into recovery after an aborted installation? Would the stock recovery still be there or would my phone wig out?

    Sounds like I can keep trying and trying until my phone successfully makes it through the installation process?

    You said I "should" be OK. How confident are you that I'll be OK if the process is aborted midway through?

    Thanks!
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    I am 100% confident nothing bad will happen if the phone reboots

    When you try to reboot into recovery, the stock recovery may have been reflashes by the system (system/etc/install-recovery.sh script specifically) or the screen will just be black
    View
    1
    CNexus
    CNexus
    uscpsycho said:
    Thank you!

    Now that I think this through a little more, I'm not sure this is such a good idea. My new phone will either have 4.1 or 4.3 with Knox on it. My faulty phone that I want to back up has 4.3 with Knox AND the warranty bit is tripped. If I restore from a nandroid backup is that going to result in my warranty bit being tripped again?

    If so, probably better to just do the saferoot method on the new phone and restore my apps from Titanium Backup. Right?
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    Flashing a custom recovery will trip Knox, so yes, since you will need a custom recovery to restore the backup on your new phone.
    View

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