Potential Brick, Unsure How To Proceed - AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III

Hello all.
I am an HTC guy through and through and have never owned a Samsung device. I'm familiar with HTC's S-OFF/HBOOT/bootloader stuff, but I'm not really all that clear on how it works for Samsung devices. I promise I've tried to do some reading before hand before coming to you, including looking at other threads, but they don't seem to be the issue I'm having.
I'm trying to help a friend out who has an AT&T GS3 that I unlocked for him and put an AOSP ROM on it a few months ago (don't worry, I made damn sure it was the AT&T version and no other carrier/international ROM).
He came to me today telling me that his phone suddenly turned off, and was not turning on again. I figure it's probably just a corrupted partition, something that I could fix with a reflash or something like that.
However, when I look at it, it seems to be something potentially worse. The phone did nothing with the battery in, so I took it out and put it back in. The phone very briefly vibrates, the Samsung logo shows for about 1.5 - 2 seconds at most, and then the screen goes dark.
When I try to enter Download Mode, I'm able to get to the custom software "warning" page, where I press Volume Up, and it shows me Download Mode and "Waiting" (as I expect it to) but then the screen just goes black again after about a second or two.
It's roughly the same with Recovery Mode, I can catch a glimpse of what looks like CWM (but I'm not entirely sure) and then the screen goes black.
If I choose to forgo the battery altogether, and I plug it in straight to the wall, the red LED on the top right lights up for again maybe 3 - 4 seconds at most, the light goes away, and the phone briefly vibrates, shows me the Samsung logo, and then goes dark.
I'm confused. I don't know if it's a brick, but then again, to me as an HTC user, "brick" means Qualcomm USB Download mode. I've also read about this infamous Samsung Sudden Death Syndrome that struck some of the 16 GB models that Samsung sold (and yes, you guessed it, this is the white 16GB model).
I don't really know what other troubleshooting options there are (but as I said before, I'm an HTC guy). If any of you have any sort of advice I would love to hear it.
Thank you for your time.

I've seen several users on here in the last few months with this issue. I worked with one of them for awhile trying to get it straightened out but couldn't resolve the problem. Some of that was due to the nature of the problem and some was probably due to the fact I didn't have the phone in my hands to help the new user better. I believe the user was able to get an exchange at an at&t service center. Sorry I can't offer more assistance. Keep us posted if you get a fix.

xBeerdroiDx said:
I've seen several users on here in the last few months with this issue. I worked with one of them for awhile trying to get it straightened out but couldn't resolve the problem. Some of that was due to the nature of the problem and some was probably due to the fact I didn't have the phone in my hands to help the new user better. I believe the user was able to get an exchange at an at&t service center. Sorry I can't offer more assistance. Keep us posted if you get a fix.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I appreciate you trying. I know it's such an odd issue that it's really hard to diagnose. I thought perhaps it might have to do with the battery somehow being "bad", but then the problem would be gone when I go AC only.
He's not against the idea of going to AT&T, but I feel bad; I convinced him to unlock and let me flash a new ROM so I feel that I should at least put in a good effort to make sure there's nothing more I can do.

Yeah, the biggest problem is that once you get into recovery or download mode, the device reboots/loops. This eliminates the possibility of any kind of flashing or wiping.

You might have a bad motherboard. If I was you I'd take it to att for a replacement. BTW if he doesn't have insurance for the phone they do have open enrollment , I'd wait a day or two after enrolling to submit a claim.
Wish you the best.
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

LiquidSolstice said:
I appreciate you trying. I know it's such an odd issue that it's really hard to diagnose. I thought perhaps it might have to do with the battery somehow being "bad", but then the problem would be gone when I go AC only.
He's not against the idea of going to AT&T, but I feel bad; I convinced him to unlock and let me flash a new ROM so I feel that I should at least put in a good effort to make sure there's nothing more I can do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a realllly long shot but he could contact mobile tech videos and tell them his issue and see if a jtag repair would help. If it's hardware of course he is out of luck but it's worth a shot and a lot cheaper.

Related

3 button download/recovery mode saved my butt.

Within the 14 days return policy I took my Galaxy back after it bricked for no reason. I was almost stock other than unlocking it and running ADW. Too many things wrong with them so I gave it one more chance with a replacement. The new one has a working recovery/download mode so that's the biggie for me. The lag seems better and the GPS actually works. Great, I feel better. But I decided that I won't root it yet since 2.2 is coming soon. I'll let it flash as designed before digging deep.
Yeah, right. After noticing that the WiFI is still flaky at random times I turned it off again today when it wasn't passing any data. 3G still working so fine. But then the Market started to FC which I've not seen at all. I shut it down and rebooted again which is the fix for my WiFI. Well, it once again decided to brick just like the last one. I get past the logos and then just a black screen. She's bricked and I didn't even root it this time. Only thing not stock was ADW launcher instead of the Samsung thing that I don't like.
So I put her into recovery mode and did a factory reset. That fixed it and I setup all over again. Luckily with 2.1 you get a list of all your previously installed apps in Market the first time you enter so if you don't leve the app you can quickly install everything again. 20 minutes later I'm back in business except this time I'll stick with the launcher it came with, can't think of anything else that would cause this sudden bricking other than the wonder phone might be a piece of crap. I just don't know yet.
By reading the title I thought you meant that Samsungs new update to activate the 3 button combo had saved you. Having a phone with download mode enabled is quite hard to brick, you can always just put it into download mode and reflash with Odin.
That's the point, my replacement phone came with the update that Samsung is pointing people to. Labeled the same as the previous update but indeed has the button thing fixed. Until the next update comes along I'm not touching Odin or anything else, these phones have enough troubles as it is. I'm still concerned that mine bricked again simply by turning it on.
3rdcoast said:
That's the point, my replacement phone came with the update that Samsung is pointing people to. Labeled the same as the previous update but indeed has the button thing fixed. Until the next update comes along I'm not touching Odin or anything else, these phones have enough troubles as it is. I'm still concerned that mine bricked again simply by turning it on.
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Click to collapse
This is just my opinion but I don't think the phone would have come with the update, it would have just been an untainted unit that didn't exhibit this problem. Only a subset of new units were lacking the download and recovery modes and the fix released a couple of days ago was designed to correct that problem.
These modes are a standard feature of pretty much any Android device.
At any rate, good to hear that you have a fully functioning unit out of the box. I had to go to some length explaining and demonstrating the issue to the store from which I got my unit lacking these modes as well as my carrier until the fix came out and I fixed it myself.
I don't know either. I based my guess on the fact that Sam's fix happened to be an update that version matches what mine now shows. And my situation is a prime example why all phones need this mode. Not everyone would fix it the way I did but it only cost me 30 minutes and a few curse words because my pictures are all gone before I could get them off but I'm back up and running and that had to save somebody a few hundred dollars.
I'm still very nervous though, it did brick this morning without me doing anything. This time I don't even have NoLED or ADW but I can't leave it that way forever. My trusty Magic is way more tolerant of OS abuse.

What do i do now that HTC has screwed me over?

Just to give you a brief rundown of everything that's happened..
I'm 17 and saved up for a few months to buy a HTC One X. Needless to say, it's probably the most expensive phone i've ever owned, since all my other phones were hand-me-downs and old phones from eBay.
This morning i wake up and go to work as usual. Just to find my phone's display won't switch on. As you can imagine, I'm tirelessly panicking and try the 3 button combo.. to no avail.
Using Fastboot to reboot didn't work either.
This phone turned into a brick overnight, and i have no idea what happened??
Just before i left for work, i did check my phone and it was working alright.. Then five minutes later, it won't display anything.
The thing is, I can't take it back to HTC either because this is my 5th replacement phone!
First one had black glue smudged on the LCD it's self,
Second one had the screen not glued down and wasn't aligned,
Third one didn't even have any glue applied and the case wasn't even attached properly,
Forth one had this problem where the screen's LCD would dilate if i touched it - even lightly,
and this one is my 5th, the antenna wasn't properly connected and now the screen doesn't work.
I've had terrible luck, and i don't know what i can do?
If you can give me any information to get me out of this, it would be much appreciated.
Although i still can receive text's and calls fine, it's just the display..
Since you’re unlocked and running a non-stock kernel and ROM, maybe some of the dev-ish folks can help you resuscitate it if it’s indeed a s/w problem.
If it’s a h/w problem, what to do depends on where you bought the phone and how old it is. If it’s within the remorse/DOA period maybe you can exchange it. It’ll be hard for whoever you bought it from to see you’ve unlocked it if nothing’s showing on the display.
If it’s outside of the exchange period you’ll have to send it in for repair. If you can’t bring it back to life to flash it back to stock you’ll have to throw yourself on the mercy of HTC Asia in getting it fixed unlocked. HTC's different repair centers seem to all have different policies related to warranty coverage for h/w faults on unlocked phones. If it is a dead display maybe you’ll get lucky.
You might want to put a note in with it telling your “I’m 17” story and how devastated you are something you’ve worked so hard for has failed. Repair techs are people too. Good luck.
BarryH_GEG said:
Since you’re unlocked and running a non-stock kernel and ROM, maybe some of the dev-ish folks can help you resuscitate it if it’s indeed a s/w problem.
If it’s a h/w problem, what to do depends on where you bought the phone and how old it is. If it’s within the remorse/DOA period maybe you can exchange it. It’ll be hard for whoever you bought it from to see you’ve unlocked it if nothing’s showing on the display.
If it’s outside of the exchange period you’ll have to send it in for repair. If you can’t bring it back to life to flash it back to stock you’ll have to throw yourself on the mercy of HTC Asia in getting it fixed unlocked. HTC's different repair centers seem to all have different policies related to warranty coverage for h/w faults on unlocked phones. If it is a dead display maybe you’ll get lucky.
You might want to put a note in with it telling your “I’m 17” story and how devastated you are something you’ve worked so hard for has failed. Repair techs are people too. Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I shook the device out of frustration.. and it started working for a few seconds.
What's going on here? Is it a faulty display/connection? Is there a way to possibly just send it to a nearby phone shop and get it fixed?
Sorry about all the questions, I'm shocked, happy, and devastated all at the same time.
Are HTC refusing then? That seems a bit off/ illegal... Surely under the faulty goods act (I assume the law isn't THAT different in Australia to UK) they have to take it back as it CAN'T be a year old and they can't prove the issue was caused by your mistreatment. It doesn't matter how many phones you've had... Also, where did you buy the phone from? I think you should be able to return it through the shop as THEY sold you the phone, not HTC... They are still under an obligation as they sold you the thing.
Plus, the 'I'm a 17 year old and saved up for ages thing' might work too! I'd try not to get too technical with the law if you go down this route though!
Best of luck sorting this out. It's within your rights to get a replacement (you bought the phone new, I assume?) so I'm sure this will eventually work out. Don't give up! You just need to speak/ write to the right person...
sent from my internet
What rom were you on?
I remember my One X not charging at all while it was turned off completely although it showed Orange charging led.
It could be that you ran out of battery and phone not turning on. Due to no charging effect.
@Op,
Reading your story there's one thing that's crossing my mind.
Could it be possible the battery run dry during the night?
It sounds stupid but those things you forget easy when you're in a hurry or stressed.
I don't read anything in your post you tried to charge.
Atrixx said:
Just to give you a brief rundown of everything that's happened..
I'm 17 and saved up for a few months to buy a HTC One X. Needless to say, it's probably the most expensive phone i've ever owned, since all my other phones were hand-me-downs and old phones from eBay.
This morning i wake up and go to work as usual. Just to find my phone's display won't switch on. As you can imagine, I'm tirelessly panicking and try the 3 button combo.. to no avail.
Using Fastboot to reboot didn't work either.
This phone turned into a brick overnight, and i have no idea what happened??
Just before i left for work, i did check my phone and it was working alright.. Then five minutes later, it won't display anything.
The thing is, I can't take it back to HTC either because this is my 5th replacement phone!
First one had black glue smudged on the LCD it's self,
Second one had the screen not glued down and wasn't aligned,
Third one didn't even have any glue applied and the case wasn't even attached properly,
Forth one had this problem where the screen's LCD would dilate if i touched it - even lightly,
and this one is my 5th, the antenna wasn't properly connected and now the screen doesn't work.
I've had terrible luck, and i don't know what i can do?
If you can give me any information to get me out of this, it would be much appreciated.
Although i still can receive text's and calls fine, it's just the display..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
privatetrousers said:
Are HTC refusing then?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. But not in every region (yet). Do a search. It's been disucssed. Also, it appears Samsung's going down the same path.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1745834
BarryH_GEG said:
Yes. But not in every region (yet). Do a search. It's been disucssed. Also, it appears Samsung's going down the same path.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1745834
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aware of the discussion... Using the xda app and didn't pick up that the phone's been 'HTCdev'd (my fault for not reading properly - sorry, folks!). Still not sure HTC/ Samsung can legally 'sign your rights away' though. Still, not a discussion for here...
Hope you got the phone sorted anyway.
sent from my internet
Atrixx said:
I shook the device out of frustration.. and it started working for a few seconds.
What's going on here? Is it a faulty display/connection? Is there a way to possibly just send it to a nearby phone shop and get it fixed?
Sorry about all the questions, I'm shocked, happy, and devastated all at the same time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How or who fixed ur antenna problem, could be related if handset wasnt but back together properly.

Trying to reset before warranty claim

Hey guys,
Kind of an interesting question here. I've had my GS3 since summer and it's been running great. I was on a custom ROM with root (done without tripping binary), so it still says Samsung official and 0 flashes on the download screen, but it does say "custom" on the system status. Anyway, I hadn't done anything with flashing in several months. But the other day my phone just shut off and wouldn't turn back on. When I try, it vibrates, goes to the samsung splash screen, then shuts back down. Doesn't matter what I do, it won't get further than this. Can't boot into recovery or download mode with the button combos either. Won't read it on the computer or anything either. So I went out today and made a jig, thinking this would help. Well, it kind of did. It boots it into download for about five seconds, then shuts back off. So it's not enough time for me to get it to the computer and flash the stock ROM through Odin. I was thinking about trying to send it in to Samsung for warranty claim, because I had seen that people had luck with this when this was happening to a lot of GS3s in December. On several forums people said that Samsung was doing it no questions asked, regardless of root because they knew it was a hardware problem. So my question was just whether anyone here had any experience with it/Samsung? Or whether you guys thought I would be smarter to try and do it with AT&T? Anyway, thanks a lot for your time and input.
xThaNaturalx said:
Hey guys,
Kind of an interesting question here. I've had my GS3 since summer and it's been running great. I was on a custom ROM with root (done without tripping binary), so it still says Samsung official and 0 flashes on the download screen, but it does say "custom" on the system status. Anyway, I hadn't done anything with flashing in several months. But the other day my phone just shut off and wouldn't turn back on. When I try, it vibrates, goes to the samsung splash screen, then shuts back down. Doesn't matter what I do, it won't get further than this. Can't boot into recovery or download mode with the button combos either. Won't read it on the computer or anything either. So I went out today and made a jig, thinking this would help. Well, it kind of did. It boots it into download for about five seconds, then shuts back off. So it's not enough time for me to get it to the computer and flash the stock ROM through Odin. I was thinking about trying to send it in to Samsung for warranty claim, because I had seen that people had luck with this when this was happening to a lot of GS3s in December. On several forums people said that Samsung was doing it no questions asked, regardless of root because they knew it was a hardware problem. So my question was just whether anyone here had any experience with it/Samsung? Or whether you guys thought I would be smarter to try and do it with AT&T? Anyway, thanks a lot for your time and input.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you get a new battery? Worth a try. AT&T might get you one on the spot to try at a corporate store. Otherwise I doubt AT&T will be able to tell if you rooted if you can't boot up.
aybarrap1 said:
Did you get a new battery? Worth a try. AT&T might get you one on the spot to try at a corporate store. Otherwise I doubt AT&T will be able to tell if you rooted if you can't boot up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely true, but if its not the battery the atat rep will point you to an atat service center for assistance and its a safe bet that they have a few more tools at their disposal to troubleshoot the phone. If they somehow see any system modification, you are capital F****d. Do you have the wireless insurance with atat? I just dealt with this except I dropped the phone, shattered the screen and it would only power on for 10 mins at a time and then reboot. I paid my $$$ deductable and sent the broken phone to the insurance provider and yes the system still showed as being "modified" when I sent it to them.
Sent from my Atat S3 that now thinks its a Galaxy Nexus........
I would send your s3 to Samsung if it still under warranty. I sent over my bricked s3 and they fixed it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

[Q] SDS? Hardware or Software Issue?

I am in need of help! My phone is dead. Here's the rundown
AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note II (i317)
Used on the Straight Talk Network
Running the latest Unofficial CM12, Lollipop 5.01 for the last week and loved every bit of it. No problems.
I cracked my screen in July and never got it fixed. The cracks spread and I was planning on getting it fixed, but haven't yet. I dropped it two days ago and then the screen wouldn't come back on. The buttons lit up and it would even ring when called. So I thought my screen was finally gone and started looking for a replacement. I took the battery out because I didn't want it ringing without the ability to answer it. Yesterday I put the fully charged battery in and attempted to turn the phone back on. It will not come back on and I think it's more than just the screen now.
Red LED blinks. Half of the screen seems like it is turning on, but then it all goes dark again. Will not enter Download or Recovery. I've been reading and thinking this is more of a hardware issue than software. I've flashed dozens of Roms with only minor issues here and there. I haven't had any issue with Lollipop and can't see it being related, although I could really be wrong.
My question is, is my phone dead? Do I need a new motherboard, along with the screen I was already gonna replace? If that's the case, I will just replace the phone and start over, unless anyone has free parts they want to donate, LOL! Seriously, just looking for input and suggestions.
Thanks
dirtyalphaman said:
I am in need of help! My phone is dead. Here's the rundown
AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note II (i317)
Used on the Straight Talk Network
Running the latest Unofficial CM12, Lollipop 5.01 for the last week and loved every bit of it. No problems.
I cracked my screen in July and never got it fixed. The cracks spread and I was planning on getting it fixed, but haven't yet. I dropped it two days ago and then the screen wouldn't come back on. The buttons lit up and it would even ring when called. So I thought my screen was finally gone and started looking for a replacement. I took the battery out because I didn't want it ringing without the ability to answer it. Yesterday I put the fully charged battery in and attempted to turn the phone back on. It will not come back on and I think it's more than just the screen now.
Red LED blinks. Half of the screen seems like it is turning on, but then it all goes dark again. Will not enter Download or Recovery. I've been reading and thinking this is more of a hardware issue than software. I've flashed dozens of Roms with only minor issues here and there. I haven't had any issue with Lollipop and can't see it being related, although I could really be wrong.
My question is, is my phone dead? Do I need a new motherboard, along with the screen I was already gonna replace? If that's the case, I will just replace the phone and start over, unless anyone has free parts they want to donate, LOL! Seriously, just looking for input and suggestions.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see a bunch of views................but not replies. Please Help............Bump!
dirtyalphaman said:
I see a bunch of views................but not replies. Please Help............Bump!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's pretty much nothing to say, but I guess I will.
You can't get to download mode, can't get to recovery mode, you can't see the screen......
If you're looking for a second opinion to say you're f*cked, then consider this it.
If you could get to download mode or recovery mode, it has a chance. But you still have hardware issues like the screen to replace. Which is not fun.
Possible yes. But unless you really know what you're doing and careful as hell, you take the chance of hosing something else up. Like ripping a ribbon cable or yanking a soldered wire out....
I tried replacing a Motorola Atrix screen. The result of that was me buying an Atrix 2.
Unless you are emotionally attached to this phone, bury it.
If not,
https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Samsung_Galaxy_Note_II#guideList
http://www.sw-box.com/Samsung-Galaxy-Note-2-Replacement-Parts.html?p=1
I did some quick searches and doesn't appear to be any kind souls out there with spare parts. You may want to try CraigList or something like that.
Good luck to you
dicksteele said:
There's pretty much nothing to say, but I guess I will.
You can't get to download mode, can't get to recovery mode, you can't see the screen......
If you're looking for a second opinion to say you're f*cked, then consider this it.
If you could get to download mode or recovery mode, it has a chance. But you still have hardware issues like the screen to replace. Which is not fun.
Possible yes. But unless you really know what you're doing and careful as hell, you take the chance of hosing something else up. Like ripping a ribbon cable or yanking a soldered wire out....
I tried replacing a Motorola Atrix screen. The result of that was me buying an Atrix 2.
Unless you are emotionally attached to this phone, bury it.
If not,
https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Samsung_Galaxy_Note_II#guideList
http://www.sw-box.com/Samsung-Galaxy-Note-2-Replacement-Parts.html?p=1
I did some quick searches and doesn't appear to be any kind souls out there with spare parts. You may want to try CraigList or something like that.
Good luck to you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, Thanks man! That's what I needed to hear. I have been flashing Roms since I had a Sprint PPC 6700 and I have enough experience to now I was f#@$ed, but I really needed to hear it from someone else. Someone with developer experience. A screen assembly and motherboard cost more than another phone on ebay or Swappa. Welp, back to the drawing board. Anyone got a note 2 they wanna sell cheap?
dirtyalphaman said:
Hey, Thanks man! That's what I needed to hear. I have been flashing Roms since I had a Sprint PPC 6700 and I have enough experience to now I was f#@$ed, but I really needed to hear it from someone else. Someone with developer experience. A screen assembly and motherboard cost more than another phone on ebay or Swappa. Welp, back to the drawing board. Anyone got a note 2 they wanna sell cheap?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No worries.
Feb 3 I'll be on 2 years with my Note 2. Longest I've kept one. Only have one smallish crack on the lower left corner.
With everything I've done to it I'm amazed it's still working.

Severe brightness issue (screen largely unusable)

Hi all, I have a problem with my stock T-Mobile US S9. A few months ago this weird thing happened where if I turned on my screen immediately after it turned itself off, only the top few lines would be visible. The whole screen would take input, but you could only see a little below the status bar, maybe. If I waited a bit and then turned the screen on, it would work normally, with the whole screen visible and looking fine.
It's gotten progressively worse to the point where this happens most of the time I turn the screen on. However, I've found two workarounds:
1) My Always On Display is set to turn on when I tap the phone. If I do that, the AOD works as normal, and if I then turn on the phone screen the phone screen works fine. This only works when Always on display is set to turn on on tap. It does not work if AOD is set to always be on.
2) If, when my screen is glitching out I hold the screen up to a reeaally bright light (like inches from a lightbulb), the rest of the screen turns on. It's weirdly green tinted and kind of stuttery.
Turning off automatic brightness does not fix this issue. If tried booting in safe mode and even factory resetting the phone. Issue still persists, including on screens like when the phone enters recovery mode.
The fact that I can get the screen working normally using workaround #1 makes me think this is a software issue, but the fact that it happens on the recovery screen makes me think it's pretty low-level. Any ideas? Anyone else had a similar issue?
I gave Samsung tech support a call and the level 1 tech I spoke with seemed to think that it was a software issue and that I should bring it in to be looked at by a technician. I'm in Maine at the moment and there's no Samsung or UBreakIFix stores within two hours, so she suggested taking it to Best Buy to look at. Not amazingly helpful or surprising.
If it's a software issue though... I mean this is my fourth Android phone and I've rooted and flashed ROMs on all the previous phones anyway. I don't want to lose Samsung Pay, so I'd rather not unlock the bootloader, but is there a way to flash the stock operating system or something? The exact model number is SM-G960U
It's a firmware or hardware issue not software as a reload* would have fixed it.
The firmware has been corrupted (needs reflashed) or there's been a hardware failure.
Best to send it in for repair or take it the a Samsung Experience Center as they can reflash the stock rom and have advanced diagnostic tools.
*make sure all system apks are running on factory load and have not been updated after the reload.
Updates, destroyers of worlds...
blackhawk said:
It's a firmware or hardware issue not software as a reload* would have fixed it.
The firmware has been corrupted (needs reflashed) or there's been a hardware failure.
Best to send it in for repair or take it the a Samsung Experience Center as they can reflash the stock rom and have advanced diagnostic tools.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If that’s really necessary I’ll do it. But the closest place is out of state and when I called them said it would take 4 hours just to do a diagnostic. That plus the round trip... if there’s a way I can save some time, I’d like to.
For example, if one possibility is a stock firmware reflash, that’s something I’ve never done before on a Samsung device, but not very different from things I feel comfortable doing. I've flashed roms and rooted many android devices in the past. From a preliminary search , it looks like there's even a leaked tool online to do so from Samsung called Odin and that I just need to find the latest SM-G960U image with the right "csc" code for my carrier (I think TMB for T Mobile US). What would be even better is if one of those diagnostic tools you mentioned leaked the same way that Odin did.
Any recommendations on either diagnostic software or firmware reflashing? Or would you strongly advise leaving that kind of thing alone? I would like to still use things like Samsung Pay at the end of all this.
jptiger said:
If that’s really necessary I’ll do it. But the closest place is out of state and when I called them said it would take 4 hours just to do a diagnostic. That plus the round trip... if there’s a way I can save some time, I’d like to.
For example, if one possibility is a stock firmware reflash, that’s something I’ve never done before on a Samsung device, but not very different from things I feel comfortable doing. I've flashed roms and rooted many android devices in the past. From a preliminary search , it looks like there's even a leaked tool online to do so from Samsung called Odin and that I just need to find the latest SM-G960U image with the right "csc" code for my carrier (I think TMB for T Mobile US). What would be even better is if one of those diagnostic tools you mentioned leaked the same way that Odin did.
Any recommendations on either diagnostic software or firmware reflashing? Or would you strongly advise leaving that kind of thing alone? I would like to still use things like Samsung Pay at the end of all this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it's under warranty let Samsung deal with it. A good tech with experience is invaluable.
Rather then waste time the extra ride might end up being the easiest solution. You could also next or 2nd day it to the center and back, make sure it's insured and packaged well.
blackhawk said:
If it's under warranty let Samsung deal with it. A good tech with experience is invaluable.
Rather then waste time the extra ride might end up being the easiest solution. You could also next or 2nd day it to the center and back, make sure it's insured and packaged well.
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Click to collapse
That makes complete sense for something under warranty, but unfortunately my phone isn't. The S9 is about three years old now, and the Samsung rep was quick to tell me that the device was no longer covered. It looks like a mail-in repair service would cost about $175, which I'm theoretically willing to pay, but not if I can just handle on my own for free.
jptiger said:
That makes complete sense for something under warranty, but unfortunately my phone isn't. The S9 is about three years old now, and the Samsung rep was quick to tell me that the device was no longer covered. It looks like a mail-in repair service would cost about $175, which I'm theoretically willing to pay, but not if I can just handle on my own for free.
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In that case you have nothing to lose by reflashing it. Hopefully that gets it.
Otherwise it be hardware... probably a good chance this actually the cause.
The good news is the 9's are available for a couple hundred in good condition if need be.
I was considering getting the 9 as a second phone (have the 10+) as the 10+'s haven't come down much in price.
Samsung current lineup sucks.
Huh. Well, before reflashing, I tried something I found other people suggesting for a related problem: https://eu.community.samsung.com/t5...t-bars-black-screen-issue/td-p/1745470/page/7
It's an app called OLED Saver. It's not perfect, the screen still has an odd green tint to it unless I use one of the tricks I was describing above. But I no longer have the issue where most of the screen isn't visible.
I might try reflashing anyway, will post results if I do.
Yeah, no joy. Reflashed by downloading the latest firmware using Frija for SM-G960U with TMB as the CSC, and flashed using Odin v3.13.3. If anything the problem is slightly worse now, but OLED Saver still mostly seems to fix it. I guess it's just a hardware issue with a weird software workaround...
Same type of brightness problem here as you describe, on my new S9 (G960U) - - Model starqltesq - CSS XAA
The product is under guarantee, but as it is imported from Hongkong to France, I don't have accesss to the Samsung local representatives and have probably to send it back to Hongkong ...
I will keep you updated if I learn something about the problem and the solution ....
Wiping the cache partition stopped this happening for me for around 24 hours but it came back this morning. On the Note9 forums someone posted that setting animations to .5 in dev options fixes this. I will try it.
Bhonka said:
Wiping the cache partition stopped this happening for me for around 24 hours but it came back this morning. On the Note9 forums someone posted that setting animations to .5 in dev options fixes this. I will try it.
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Disable animations instead. It wastes resources. Personally I like seeing a fast, snappy OS do it's thing with no middle man needed. Lol, you end up waiting for the animations rather than the OS.
I've heard of people flashing custom roms and that resolved the issue permenetly, but can't find anyone willing to give some real feedback. I posted a topic asking this question, but haven't gotten any replies..
Not very helpful, but a work around could be to use Screen Filter
I temporary fixing my S9+ green screen issue by uninstalling the NFC module.
Unfortunately, this option make us cant charging the phone.
Maybe some one expert in hardware mod can do better.
Eve&Me said:
I temporary fixing my S9+ green screen issue by uninstalling the NFC module.
Unfortunately, this option make us cant charging the phone.
Maybe some one expert in hardware mod can do better.
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Hey could you explain what exactly did you uninstall and how?
After uninstalling it wireless charing stopped working or what did you mean by cant charge the phone?
Did it fully resolve the green screen issue?
Some people noticed that problem after upgrade Android 9 to 10.
At this moment we have some facts:
1) OLED saver temporary solves problem
2) disconnect NFC module solves problem, some people on xda and on the yt confirm that
3) heating back cover using heat gun can help - I Discovered that some weeks ago
Interesting comment from the yt:
Sour Words
Sorry to say this, but green screen issue is a hardware fault not something an update can fix. One of the updates from Samsung is causing the CPU to over heat and in return permanently damaging the oled screen. Not only that but also compromising the battery as well. The only fix is the replacement of both the oled screen and battery. This repair is entirely the fault of Samsung due to a faulty update that over works the CPU capacity. Therefore my advice is for you to return your device back to Samsung and lodge an assessment request. They charge a small fee for the assessment, but the entire repair should be compensated by Samsung. Be firm and keep the pressure via emailing them to insist on Samsung covering the repair costs. My Note 9 is almost 3 years old when green screen issue happened. They fixed the entire thing free of charge. But I kept firm and didn't let them bully me into charging me for the repairs, which was their fault in the first place. I must admit, my phone despite its age, is in perfect condition. Not a scratch on it. Which I know contributed winning my argument for the repairs. So if you have psychical damage, I doubt you will have a chance. Good luck to all who will give this successful method a go.
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mreminemfan4ewver said:
Hey could you explain what exactly did you uninstall and how?
After uninstalling it wireless charing stopped working or what did you mean by cant charge the phone?
Did it fully resolve the green screen issue?
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Click to collapse
When we disassembly NFC Module, the phone will give LOW TEMPERATURE warning. And make us cant charge the phone

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