[Q] galaxy s3 I747 wont boot past Samsung Galaxy s3 Logo, Did i brick my phone???

baruchadi said:

I was trying to carrier unlock my phone, and to do that i tried to downgrade it 4.3 to 4.1.1, and only after i had pressed the button, i had noticed that this might brick my phone in a comment in one of the forums, this is what i did:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2625461

after following this and trying to run odin with it, odin returned "FAIL", and due to my high level of stupidity at the time, i tried to use the original 4.1.1 as my PDA in odin right after, i didnt reboot or anything, just pressed start again with the other tar.md5 file....

so now i cannot go past the samsung galaxy s3 logo when booting. I CAN go into download mode though, but i have no clue what i am supposed to do afterwards

i have the Galaxy S 3 i747 (was 4.3 before the whole mess) at&t carrier, i am trying to unlock it because i am travelling and need a phone.

please help me fix it, i do not care about the warranty since i dont have it anymore anyways, as long as the phone is working
also, if possible, i also need to unlock it afterwards, any help is HIGHLY appreciated, thanks!

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Downgrading your boot loader from 4.3 is a guaranteed brick. I'm not sure if the brick will get you to the Samsung screen.

If you're already assuming its bricked reboot into recovery and do a full wipe. Restore a nandroid of something if you have one or try flashing a custom ROM. Because Odin failed maybe it never flashed the boot loader.

Worth a try

Sent from my SGH-I747M using XDA Free mobile app

baruchadi said:

I was trying to carrier unlock my phone, and to do that i tried to downgrade it 4.3 to 4.1.1, and only after i had pressed the button, i had noticed that this might brick my phone in a comment in one of the forums, this is what i did:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2625461

after following this and trying to run odin with it, odin returned "FAIL", and due to my high level of stupidity at the time, i tried to use the original 4.1.1 as my PDA in odin right after, i didnt reboot or anything, just pressed start again with the other tar.md5 file....

so now i cannot go past the samsung galaxy s3 logo when booting. I CAN go into download mode though, but i have no clue what i am supposed to do afterwards

i have the Galaxy S 3 i747 (was 4.3 before the whole mess) at&t carrier, i am trying to unlock it because i am travelling and need a phone.

please help me fix it, i do not care about the warranty since i dont have it anymore anyways, as long as the phone is working
also, if possible, i also need to unlock it afterwards, any help is HIGHLY appreciated, thanks!

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Welcome to the forum! Wished you'd come in much earlier though as you would have found you CANNOT downgrade from 4.3 to 4.1.1 to free unlock. Sorry, but once you are on 4.3, the surest way to unlock is to obtain the unlock code from the carrier or purchase one online. Sounds like you do have a soft brick. If your phone is still booting to the Samsung logo, then it's only a soft brick. Attempting to downgrade the 4.3 bootloader usually results in a hard brick so you may be in luck.

To fix this first, try to see if you can boot to recovery mode and do a hard wipe/factory reset. If you are able to boot to recovery (or download) mode then you have little to worry about. If the reset does not work, you can flash custom recovery via Odin and follow the instructions in the thread below to restore stock 4.3. Afraid, you have to revert to full stock 4.3 to get the phone back in working order and don't even think about 4.1.1.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2658486

If you are not able to get to recovery, then you can see if you can boot from a debrick image following the instructions (on the first page) of the thread below ...

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2549068

Once your phone is working normally, you can request the unlock code from AT&T via the request form below. If eligible, they should provide this. Otherwise, you would have to buy one online ....

https://www.att.com/deviceunlock/client/en_US/

Let me know if you need any further help.

baruchadi said:

I tried wiping everything, i also wiped cache, still didn't boot, thanks though!



I am able to get to recovery, but the first link isn't very clear.... i am not really familiar with odin and all this other stuff... lol, i am now downloading the files it says to download in the first link though, can you maybe tell me in a quick list what exactly im supposed to do?


thanks!

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

It's time to start reading. Before doing any flashing/modding, you should make sure you understand what you're doing and know the risks.

Now as for Odin, it's quite straight forward. Phone needs to be in download mode, you put the PDA file in Odin and flash (if it's a Odin one-click, just need to hit start). One thing is to not interrupt it! Especially if flashing bootloaders cause that will brick your phone. Also, don't downgrade bootloaders.

There are a few guides in the sticky, I suggest you take an hour or two reading them so things like that don't happen again (or that you know what to do if it does).

GL!

baruchadi said:

I tried wiping everything, i also wiped cache, still didn't boot, thanks though!



I am able to get to recovery, but the first link isn't very clear.... i am not really familiar with odin and all this other stuff... lol, i am now downloading the files it says to download in the first link though, can you maybe tell me in a quick list what exactly im supposed to do?


thanks!

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Alright. If wipe/reset didn't work, you'll need to restore full stock 4.3 via custom recovery. Here's what we need to do....

1) Download the Odin flashable *.Tar file for custom recovery. I prefer TWRP because of the GUI so that's where I'm pointing you to ...

http://techerrata.com/file/twrp2/d2att/openrecovery-twrp-2.6.3.1-d2att.tar

2) Download the stock restore file for 4.3 from the thread below... If you are using TWRP, then the first link is the one you need

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2658486

3) Copy the stock restore zip file to a good quality (micro) SD card

4) I presume you have Odin already so you will use this to flash custom recovery to your phone. Run Odin.exe on your PC. If you are using Odin v.3.09 then you need the AP tab. For all other versions, use the PDA tab. Navigate to the custom recovery *.Tar file you downloaded earlier and place this in the PDA (or AP tab). Leave the default settings as is and do not check/uncheck any boxes other than the default settings.

5) Boot the phone to download mode via the 3-button combo (Volume Down/Home/Power). When you get to Odin (Download) mode, press volume up to continue. Connect the phone to your PC with a good quality micro USB cable. Wait until Odin has recognized the device then click on the Start button to start firmware installation (flashing). Wait for the flashing to end and the <Pass> message. Disconnect the phone from the PC and pull the battery to stop auto reboot.

6) Place the micro SD card with the stock restore zip in your phone. Replace the battery and boot to recovery mode. If you were successful with the firmware flashing above, it should boot you to custom recovery.

7) Select install from external card and navigate to the stock restore zip file. Select this file and swipe the screen to start firmware installation. Wait for installation to complete. Then clear your cache/dalvik and reboot to system.

This will hopefully do it.