Hard bricked

[m0d hipp¥]

I just hard bricked my phone, and I'm hoping I can try to get it working again.
I have made backups using flashfire in the past. (I had a few different backups I made).
Prior to getting hard bricked, I was running the PIA firmware, but I was trying to restore from a backup that I had through flash fire, and due to a total rookie move I ended up restoring (or attempting to) restore to a PG1 unintentionally, and well now I can't do anything.

I think I may have a jig at home from a previous samsung phone (I believe an S3), would that work for my S7?
I also came across this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2476353

Would that work for me?
I have a macbook pro I can use terminal with, I have a microSD card and reader, and I already have the stock PIA rom on my hard drive.
Is there hope still?

Right now regardless of what key combination I hold down my phone has a black screen.

Any help would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

[sacnotsack]

If you can't get into download mode then you don't have much to lose by trying what the other thread suggested.

 

[m0d hipp¥]

@sacnotsack, thanks for the response, and that is my intention, however I am missing 1 crucial part to that thread and that is the debrick.img

Can someone with the PIA (G930TUVU4APIA) rom please post a dump of a partial system img for me? If I'm not mistaken, you can dump it with these commands in ADB.

adb shell
dd if=/dev/block/sda20 of=/sdcard/debrick.img bs=4096 count=128

Just to clarify...
sda20 should be the system partition. Any way that's what it is for me.
You can check yourself by doing typing this in ADB:

ls -al /dev/block/bootdevice/by-name

You will get something like this:
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2016-01-08 10:35 system -> /dev/block/sda20

And to get the block size you would type this:
blockdev --getbsz /dev/block/sda20

So the command
"dd if=/dev/block/sda20 of=/sdcard/debrick.img bs=4096 count=128"

If I get this working, I'll compile a nice tut for S7 users and post all the results with files in case anyone else runs into this issue.

Thank you in advance

 

[m0d hipp¥]

I don't mean to be an annoyance, but does anyone have any thoughts or could point me to some direction? I know there are a lot of you that are much more knowledgable in this than I am, and all I'm hoping I can get assistance for is if someone can just make a dump of the debrick.img file so I can try to load it on my SD card.

Thanks

 

[MetalPhoenix45]

Hi, the easiest way to restore back to stock is to download Odin. I think it's Windows exclusive so you'll need bootcamp and install windows. After that, download Odin and extract it. Download stock firmware from androidfilehost.com, then extract. Open Odin and you'll see the options BL, AP, CP, and CSC. The firmware will have 4 or 5 files and will include these labels. Put each respective files into each options in odin. (Sometimes Odin will freeze, but let it do it's thing) After that, go into download mode (hold Volume down, Power, and Home whole turning on). Wait for Odin to recognize your device, if it doesn't, then download Samsung drivers. After it recognizes, press start and wait for the process to finish. That's it! Hopefully I was able to help.

 

[m0d hipp¥]

Hi, the easiest way to restore back to stock is to download Odin. I think it's Windows exclusive so you'll need bootcamp and install windows. After that, download Odin and extract it. Download stock firmware from androidfilehost.com, then extract. Open Odin and you'll see the options BL, AP, CP, and CSC. The firmware will have 4 or 5 files and will include these labels. Put each respective files into each options in odin. (Sometimes Odin will freeze, but let it do it's thing) After that, go into download mode (hold Volume down, Power, and Home whole turning on). Wait for Odin to recognize your device, if it doesn't, then download Samsung drivers. After it recognizes, press start and wait for the process to finish. That's it! Hopefully I was able to help.

MetalPhoenix45, thanks for your response. I have a Windows computer as well and I am very familiar with ODIN. The issue is, that in your explanation my guess is you are thinking the phone is in a "soft bricked" mode. The difference between a hard brick phone and a soft brick phone is that in a hard brick phone nothing is recognized when plugged in, it doesn't power on and it also doesn't show any sign of charge when it's plugged into the power.
In a soft brick mode, your phone can be stuck in a boot loop, or at the very least it still shows signs of it getting power. In which case I can just force into download mode and do what you stated above. I don't think that the things you mentioned above would work for me because when I have my phone plugged in to my computer, in device manager it doesn't detect anything. It doesn't even say unknown device or unrecognized hardware. It doesn't see it at all, and I have loaded the Samsung drivers on my pc because ODIN recognized the device prior to my issue.
I do have the stock firmware and everything on my machine, but I just can't get my phone to power or on into download boot even with a JIG.

 

[crazynate121]

I just hard bricked my phone, and I'm hoping I can try to get it working again.
I have made backups using flashfire in the past. (I had a few different backups I made).
Prior to getting hard bricked, I was running the PIA firmware, but I was trying to restore from a backup that I had through flash fire, and due to a total rookie move I ended up restoring (or attempting to) restore to a PG1 unintentionally, and well now I can't do anything.

I think I may have a jig at home from a previous samsung phone (I believe an S3), would that work for my S7?
I also came across this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2476353

Would that work for me?
I have a macbook pro I can use terminal with, I have a microSD card and reader, and I already have the stock PIA rom on my hard drive.
Is there hope still?

Right now regardless of what key combination I hold down my phone has a black screen.

Any help would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Have you had any luck on fixing s7 I've got same issue I've even got device broken down minus the charger port due to cost of screen replacement! Not sure exactly how to test battery itself but every combination of testing battery externally I've nothing any ideas? I'd rather replace the battery vs charger port or is it completely done? This is.the first root I've ever had go wrong and haven't found any solutions yet and been looking since November

Thanks in advance for any advice

On rooted 910v now have a 920t rooted but let's just say my temper got the best of me and we'll will be replacing screen? Oddly enough as many times as the note 4 has been dropped either by myself or son not even a single scratch s7 definitely a pot more brittle!!

 

[m0d hipp¥]

Have you had any luck on fixing s7 I've got same issue I've even got device broken down minus the charger port due to cost of screen replacement! Not sure exactly how to test battery itself but every combination of testing battery externally I've nothing any ideas? I'd rather replace the battery vs charger port or is it completely done? This is.the first root I've ever had go wrong and haven't found any solutions yet and been looking since November

Thanks in advance for any advice

On rooted 910v now have a 920t rooted but let's just say my temper got the best of me and we'll will be replacing screen? Oddly enough as many times as the note 4 has been dropped either by myself or son not even a single scratch s7 definitely a pot more brittle!!

Unfortunately, I had no luck. I ended up haing to replace the PCB to fix the issue. Basically I learned the hard way that samsung isn't very "dev friendly". I don't blame them, but for any phone enthusiasts that plan on tinkering with their phone if you get the snapdragon version of the S7 vs the exynos version, you WILL run into trouble.
This is because the bootloader can't be unlocked on the SD models. Furthermore, if you get flagged for custom roms your warranty gets void. Over the years I've noticed Samsung is getting more and more strict about this. Honestly if you want a phone that will play nice with modding it, you should look into the google variants, Nexus, or the OnePlus. I can tell you from personal experience, OnePlus plays well with dev users. In fact they don't void the warranty for using custom roms or anything like that; in fact they're very pro and open about supporting the user base and providing a phone that the user is happy with.

Any way, that was my experience. I don't want to go off topic here, so if you have any questions you can PM me if you like, but the short answer is, if you're hard bricked then you will need to replace the motherboard/pcb. I even contacted places to see if they can jtag or jig or anything and they're not able to do it with the snapdragon S7.

 

[m0d hipp¥]

bah double post, sorry I can't delete this

 

[crazynate121]

Funny you said nexus just ordered 2 two days ago older 7 but 4g and and what not strictly for experimental and ethical purposes of course was actually shocked at the still high priced note 5 Screen tbh but we live and learn!! SOMETIMES? LOL

 

[PadsPCB]

Unfortunately, I had no luck. I ended up haing to replace the PCB to fix the issue. Basically I learned the hard way that samsung isn't very "dev friendly". I don't blame them, but for any phone enthusiasts that plan on tinkering with their phone if you get the snapdragon version of the S7 vs the exynos version, you WILL run into trouble.
This is because the bootloader can't be unlocked on the SD models. Furthermore, if you get flagged for custom roms your warranty gets void. Over the years I've noticed Samsung is getting more and more strict about this. Honestly if you want a phone that will play nice with modding it, you should look into the google variants, Nexus, or the OnePlus. I can tell you from personal experience, OnePlus plays well with dev users. In fact they don't void the warranty for using custom roms or anything like that; in fact they're very pro and open about supporting the user base and providing a phone that the user is happy with.

Any way, that was my experience. I don't want to go off topic here, so if you have any questions you can PM me if you like, but the short answer is, if you're hard bricked then you will need to replace the motherboard/pcb. I even contacted places to see if they can jtag or jig or anything and they're not able to do it with the snapdragon S7.

I am in the same boat, and considering your experience after this sore event, maybe you can help a lot of us guys here in the same situation.
My case is even worst, because, here in my country, there are NO Snapdragons, just G930F Equinoxes.
You may help im providing us lames the debrick.img file, but you must be rooted to do so. This would ve much appreciated.

Another way is to insert a blank 16GB+ SD card on the phone and format it through Odin. You just insert the card on the slot, enter download mode in the phone and load all files in Odin including the .pit. In Odin options select "Re-format" and "T Flash" that will say to the phone to format the ExtSDCard and use the ExtSDCard as destination instead of the internal emmc!
Post the image of the SD, that you can extract it with the Win32DiskImage, and you and your family will be blessed for ten generations. Also save the file in case you mess things again.
There is one method using QFil,but i'm stil trying to asemble all required files and don't now if it will even work. Should work...!!!
Anyway, can you please help us?
Best regards..

 

[m0d hipp¥]

I am in the same boat, and considering your experience after this sore event, maybe you can help a lot of us guys here in the same situation.
My case is even worst, because, here in my country, there are NO Snapdragons, just G930F Equinoxes.
You may help im providing us lames the debrick.img file, but you must be rooted to do so. This would ve much appreciated.

Another way is to insert a blank 16GB+ SD card on the phone and format it through Odin. You just insert the card on the slot, enter download mode in the phone and load all files in Odin including the .pit. In Odin options select "Re-format" and "T Flash" that will say to the phone to format the ExtSDCard and use the ExtSDCard as destination instead of the internal emmc!
Post the image of the SD, that you can extract it with the Win32DiskImage, and you and your family will be blessed for ten generations. Also save the file in case you mess things again.
There is one method using QFil,but i'm stil trying to asemble all required files and don't now if it will even work. Should work...!!!
Anyway, can you please help us?
Best regards..

Unfortunately, I won't be of much help. If you have the exynos S7, you would need to ask someone else with the same version of your phone for the software because the SD versions would run on different software due to different hardware.

Is there a reason why you don't try sending it out to get serviced so they can replace your PCB ?

I tried to get the debrick.img file a while back as well, but had no luck in doing so and actually I don't have my S7 phone anymore. I bought the OnePlus 3T and it's been working much better for my needs. I'm sorry to say this, but If you have any intention of modding a phone you have 2 options. 1. Get a phone that supports modding and allows you to unlock the bootloader 2. Get the unlocked variant of the phone.

If I have learned anything from my experience, it's that it is incredibly important to do your research. Not only look at the specs of the phone, but look at reviews from other users with the phone. Also if you plan on modding it, go through some threads and see how easy/difficult it is to mod that version of phone you're interested in.

 

[PadsPCB]

Unfortunately, I won't be of much help. If you have the exynos S7, you would need to ask someone else with the same version of your phone for the software because the SD versions would run on different software due to different hardware.
Is there a reason why you don't try sending it out to get serviced so they can replace your PCB ?
I tried to get the debrick.img file a while back as well, but had no luck in doing so and actually I don't have my S7 phone anymore. I bought the OnePlus 3T and it's been working much better for my needs. I'm sorry to say this, but If you have any intention of modding a phone you have 2 options. 1. Get a phone that supports modding and allows you to unlock the bootloader 2. Get the unlocked variant of the phone.
If I have learned anything from my experience, it's that it is incredibly important to do your research. Not only look at the specs of the phone, but look at reviews from other users with the phone. Also if you plan on modding it, go through some threads and see how easy/difficult it is to mod that version of phone you're interested in.

Then i think got stuck, beacause in these forums there is no one willing/able/interested in helping anyone.
I said i'm in the SAME boat == I got an SM-G930T (from T-Mobile) that has a SnapDragon cpu but HERE in my country THERE ARE NO Snapdragons only Equinoxes. If we had such phones here surely i would have done this already, but G930F's won't do, as i have already tried.
So, as you know how i feel about a brand new SM-G930T Bricked, you wold be my last hope. There is no way to send it back to Samsung beacause it was bought from a friend and surely no warranty.
Anyway, best regards and rest in peace

 

[m0d hipp¥]

Oh sorry, I misunderstood you. I'd like to think that it's not so much people don't want to try to help out, it's just that there is nothing that can be done for users on the snapdragon device so no one bothers unfortunately. Sorry to hear about this, and it really is unfortunate that you had to go through the same thing I went through with no help. Trust me, if I was able to do anything to provide any guidance I would.

Good luck!