yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] sfhub:
It is possible it might be related to your case, but in the general case, I doubt it is the cause, as

1) people have had the emmc corruption/damage happen on their replacement units which are just a couple of days old

2) this emmc corruption/damage has never happened prior to ICS-based kernel and custom recoveries

3) the emmc corruption/damage has never happened when only ODIN is involved. There is always some component of ICS-based kernel and custom recovery
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] Kebetz:
yeah,

I figured that would be the argument. I guess it's out of the realm of possibility for some aspect of CWM or ICS being the catalyst for the corrosion actually causing problems???? For example:

Varying amounts of corrosion are common on car batterys but doesn't prevent your car from starting unless it's in juuuuuust the right place... Anywhere else, and it wouldn't be an issue. A simple example, sure... All things being equal, the simplest answer tends to be correct.

Or maybe overworking the battery is involved?? I seem to remember a couple mentions throughout the thread about overheating.

It seems like this is a common issue for us who see all of it.. but the tech had never dealt with a phone behaving like mine was... even though he claimed it to be liquid related and I'm sure has dealt with a million toilet texters.

Sorry, I only apprenticed in electrical it was a long long time ago... I don't remember enough. I just really feel like there is something to this. I'm gonna stay up a little late with my nose in a book brushing up on a few things. I'll let you know if I find anything supporting this wild, half-cocked, hair-brained idea...

Are the others who had the problem still around? Not to accuse anyone of anything, but it seemed like there was a little tip-toeing around the issue. I am curious how often they had been flashing what and how many had the common factor of at least one good overheating cook session. I don't want the story that was given to Samsung... OR SPRINT. I just want to know if you were 2nd 3rd time flashers or if you had flashed more ROMs than Janet Jackson had football fans.. I'm kinda gasping at straws here but we at least agree that this a physical problem, right? There must be a physical cause.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] *GalaxyDev*:
So sfhub or someone is there a way the emmc could be replaced and only or is it a fu**ed phone?!

Sent from my UNBRICKABLE YEAHH U.N.B.R.I.C.K.A.B.L.E! SuperHero using good ol' Froyo with XDA
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] sfhub:
If I reprogram your car to change from 4th to 5th gear at 10,000rpm instead of 5,000rpm and your transmission blows up, do you consider that a physical cause?

I consider it physical damage caused by software issue.

---------- Post added at 02:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:34 PM ----------

MobileTechVideos was working on replacing the emmc as a proof of concept rather than a paid-for solution, but didn't get back to us.

IMO your only real option is replacement. Now there are other forms of brick where you can recover, but if your /data is corrupt, then you are SOL, IMO.

You could theoretically remap /data to your /sdcard and I am confident you could get it working, but you probably won't like the overall restrictions.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] *GalaxyDev*:
HMMM damnit well no other solution then hmm well could you tell me how can I do this?! And what do I need?! Orr what sdcard do I need and is it only short term or it could last a bit and what restrictions?! Sorry for so many question I'm really quite sad :(

Sent from my UNBRICKABLEE YEAH U.N.B.R.I.C.K.A.B.L.E SuperHero using good ol' froyo with xda
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] sfhub:
You need to partition your sdcard (external if you internal is hosed as well)

Then create an ext4 partition.

Then repack the kernel init scripts to mount /data from your sdcard instead of emmc.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] *GalaxyDev*:
HMM okok I understood everything until the kernel part hmm someone already did right?! And sorry but what about the duration question?! Would it last?! What I'm thinking is that I can buy a $200 cracked but functional Epic and just change the screen or the outside
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] Kebetz:
Regional Manager of Operations? Really? For 1 phone? Get owned.

Well, here we go again. Two Sprint techs from different stores both confirm that my phone is corrosion free..

That's right, it never was corrosion at all... (Revel SFHUB... I hate admitting defeat! jk, but really)

The only store that can officially remove the flag is the store that flagged it.

I returned there to receive a replacement but they wanted to confirm the findings of the other techs. The tech there is still saying there is visible corrosion. On top of that... he friggin' broke it the rest of the way for me.

Hard brick now. No power but that of the blue LED. Sprint is giving me the playing the craziest runaround/pass the buck game I have ever heard of. "Yes, it can be replaced. Go to {whichever bs they fed me at the time} store and have them replace it" "Oh, you couldn't replace it there because it is already in the mail. Expect it in 3-5days" "It's not coming in the mail..." "you are insured" "you just activated on 4/2 and have no insurance" (I said "Great! Then I would like to exchange it per your within 14 days clause) "Oh, wait. You do have insurance. $100 please." Omg, it gets worse and worse but I'll spare you.

I have been so persistent that the next person on the ladder that I'm waiting to hear from is the "Regional Manager of Operations" who I am confident is way too busy to deal with petty retail disputes and will have someone give me a phone while firing whoever bothered them with such a small problem.

Bottom line: Play it safer than I did.

If you can't resist ( Like me :) ) and do end up with this special irreparable brick make sure you have all your ducks in a row.

If you don't have insurance (which they cannot yet decide if I do or not.. funny really...) and they claim it as "water damage" make them physically show you the the damaged area. It is unlikely that a phone this new will SHOW corrosion making it an invalid claim on their part. This is their get out of jail free card but if they cannot see corrosion it is only speculation.

If you DO have insurance and put up a little bit of an unsatisfied customer act you will most likely get it replaced without further question and with no fee.

Bite the bullet. Have insurance.... and then find a reason to use it.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] Kebetz:
I"m curious if anyone who had the problem actually attempted anything like this.

I would do it myself if they hadn't finished breaking it for me.

I've already printed out a technical manual on partitioning MMC/SD memory and a map of the default partition layout with an editing program attached from my roommates PC and will attempt this myself if A)They let me keep the broken phone....and B) a USB Jig get's me up and running (respectively) so I can ADB into this paperweight.

If it works then we will have taken one more step toward actually owning our devices and freeing ourselves of our corporate masters.

Thanks again, sfhub, for all your help.

If I may ask, is there an area that is more so your "expertise?" I am a proficient trouble shooter as far as logic goes and I am fairly innovative when need be but have difficulty learning from manuals when trial and error isn't an option.

If you have any experience with partition mapping and think you can give me some helpful advice it would be much appreciated. You know, the type of information that always exists and makes these things more simple but is guarded by lock and key so that We the People may not fix our own things....
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] timmetal6669:
Man just read through all the posts and i believe initially you may have been a little apprehensive about it getting stuck on the boot up. I'm sure it was installed correctly but it always takes a little longer on the first boot of a new kernel/rom. Anyway since sprint finished it off there might be o one more wadi to save you. Get on google and look up mobile tech videos jtag repair. It will cost you 50 bucks plus shipping. I'm sure they can repair the bootloader. Its cheaper than the sprint deductible for a refurb!
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] garwynn:
Please don't repost the same thing over and over again, you can edit your post.

As it has been mentioned several times already,

JTAG cannot always fix the issue, especially with this particular data.img issue. The person who runs the site you mention has said so in this thread. You can find his post by clicking here. As he has been posting any updates I am confident that he will once the status has changed.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] timmetal6669:
My bad about the triple post-didn't realize it did that so thank you i just edited it. I am aware of the mobile tech videos post about getting hung on the data img issue. Its still a 50\50 chance that they can jtag repair it. He just said he hasn't been able to fix all of them. Just trying to.give him some hope and let him be aware of all options. I'd say if mobile tech tells him they can't fix it to try sprint then. But would you agree its worth a shot? I've seen a few posts where he could fix it when it got stuck on the data image.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] digweed4me:
I just got email from mobiletechvideos that they couldn't fix my blue lite of death bricked phone and refunded my 35 dollars. So the question is has anyone had luck sending their phone to Samsung since we have 1 year manufacture warranty.?

No I don't have insurance
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] Kebetz:
Yes, some have had luck with Samsung warranty, others have gotten a replacement through Sprint for 35$ I believe. As far as I know, I am the first for Sprint to turn down. I don't really want to involve Samsung or insurance if I can avoid it. It's really your call which way to go about it... but I'd recommend starting at a non-corporate Sprint store. They care the least.

P.S. Play dumb. Even if your tech seems flash-friendly. Good luck.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] digweed4me:
even without insurance
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] Kebetz:
Yes, without the insurance.

Insurance would be a 100$ deduct.

Sprint has been doing it for 35$

I just finally got them to give up after 5 days and will be receiving my new phone on Thursday via UPS at no charge.

No insurance deduct. No charge for a new device... and it's not refurbished. ( but I'm an accomplished salesman :P )

PS: Samsung warranty has nothing to do with insurance. But if you take that route you may need to reset the custom binary count first. Samsung frowns on modified content...but I haven't heard of them turning anyone down.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] digweed4me:
my phone doesnt even turn on just blue light of death so how can i reset the counter?so did u go to store or call sprint to get that exchange after paying 35.00?
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] Kebetz:
I did not pay anything but you may have to. Take it to a NON-CORPORATE Sprint store and say it doesn't work. You shouldn't have issues.

My phone also had the "blue light of death" but I dealt with Sprint so I was not worried about the flash count as they had no way of seeing it.

Samsung would be able to but may or may not care. Better safe than sorry.

Do not admit to rooting.

You shouldn't have to lie... just ask questions. "what is rooting?" "Huh, should I have done that?"

If Sprint turns you away go to another store.

If you get turned away again try customer care.

Samsung warranty = last option, option.

This is my opinion. You don't have to do anything you do not want to. Good luck.

Again: Non-Corporate location.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] leonn:
Guys, it's hopeless to solve this problem,y?(
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] Kebetz:
Does that other post exactly describe what is happening to you now?

What exactly happened/is happening?

A couple of guys around here are pretty friggin smart and if anyone can help, it's them.

Hold on, if I remember right, sfhub made a new thread for this. I'll post a link if I can find it.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1644364

If there is help for you, it is there.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] garwynn:
The link from Kebetz, even if it turns out to be *the* fix cannot correct itself after corrupted. Please follow replacement suggestions as previously in this thread.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] Kebetz:
I was merely providing a positive and productive link. I do not know enough about phones to give such advice so quickly.

What if his problem is less severe and can be fixed with the proper guidance??

Just sayin
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] caspersfi:
Hell I just want this thread to go away. Lol.

Every time I see it revisited or linked I'm reminded of my FB09 brick.

I've learned a TON since I opened this thread so thats good anyway. :-)
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] Kebetz:
SORRY CASP!

I probably annoyed the crap out of you then :/

I for some reason cannot bring myself to unsubscribe to it though...
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] caspersfi:
Lol.... No its all good. Hopefully a lot of us learned from this thread.

Sfhub truly is the man tho. Somewhere in this this thread he said he wasn't satisfied with the outcome and was going to figure this thing out. He is still at it.

Were so lucky to have him.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] Kebetz:
I agree. That's why I pointed that new poster in his direction...thinking maybe there has been progress or something...but I was apparently wrong.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] caspersfi:
Nah, its true that the only fix right now is to get a replacement. Its cool that you posted that link to let poster know its still being worked on.

Who knows.... maybe the poster will want to hold out and see if a fix is created in the near future.

Never know.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] Kebetz:
Lots of posts about a fix, could be unrelated, could be Epic.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] garwynn:
Unofficial word is that there is a fix now in testing for the E4GT and will make its way into OTA. Based on what we know at the moment there's two possible solutions: Find the difference in the erase method between GB and ICS and go back to GB method; or apply the firmware patch code which will avoid the lockup causing most of these bricks. The benefit of the second is if that code is released it may be able to save devices that can boot... time will tell.

(Hints are being dropped by thirdcoastraising, reddragon72 and others.)
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] Kebetz:
Im talking about a fix people could do at home, today. Supposedly. (hints are being dropped everywhere that maybe i know the difference between blue and magenta by me)
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] forest1971:
a guide for repartition

There is already a guide on how to do re-partition workaround to fix the faulty partitions (at least for the time being) for Galaxy Note, which could probably be used for EP4G, or as a starting point. It maybe no more useful now since already too late but in case someone is without guarantee and still holding the device with a faulty partition, then it guess maybe no harm to try this workaround.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1661590&page=2

cheers
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] ReaganElephant:
Has anyone created a working .pit file that moves the /data partition away from the corrupted segment of the drive? I'd like to try it if it can be shared. It seems people are having some luck getting their bricked Galaxy Notes back using the custom .pit files created and attached to that thread. Ill give up some storage space to get my phone back.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] garwynn:
Comment removed due to possible inaccuracies.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] IRepTheKing:
subscribing in case a fix is found...
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] garwynn:
Please follow this thread instead, OP hasn't been updated with current info:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1644364
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] Houndog101:
I called them and they told me to run Kies.. :confused:
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] forest1971:
What you try to say about what hg42 is certainly untrue. He is still very passionate and made more PIT files to help people dealing with different cases. You can say anything about this method but should not try to attribute your position to someone in a misleading manner. Are talking people into paying money to get it fixed by ss? I would appreciate if you could point me to the quote of what hg42 says.

From few dozen feedback from people who have unbrick their Note using repartition: For most, it works perfectly and they are so happy. For some there are some problems like random freeze and most of them solve that after change rom and finally find a rom that works. Some people have large damage to sdcard that they find it hard to live with and try to remove all traces of custom roms and then seek repair through warranty. That is about it.

I always recommend to people: if they can have warranty covered then go for it no need to try re-partition. For those who is not covered, this method can give them a way out. That should be the sensible way of advice.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] sfhub:
Whatever works for you. There are limitations though. It isn't a universal fix and for most people it is simpler to use warranty. If they don't have warranty, then it is a decision point what they want to do.

As to paying Samsung, they are not charging for the warranty repair. You just need to send it in and wait a week. The $35 is for "advanced replacement" through Sprint, where you get a new phone same day or in a few days if they need to order.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] mremale:
This is what exactly happened to me two days ago. I am NO professional but i would say that you are hard bricked. I tried everything and could not get passed the samsung galaxy screen. Data img would hang using one clicks and i could odin with tar and that would work, yet flashing, recovering, wiping didn't fix the problem when i could get process to work. I Just ended up, Odin 1.85 to EL29 Stock Not Rooted tar and heading off to sprint. I didn't have insurance but i told them that the hardware failed and never did any exchanges. They charged me 35 dollars and gave me a new galaxy.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] garwynn:
Clearing up the record

Forest, please check your PM. Won't go back and forth on things on threads when it's not necessary. Until then I will remove my mention of hg42 in an show of good faith.

*Edit* In place of my previous post I will just say that I agree with the post by sfhub above me and forest's posts (both above and below.)

Perhaps it's time for me to take a step back from saying anything at the moment - I'm not trying to piss anyone off.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] forest1971:
That is sensible! I agree

---------- Post added at 10:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:39 PM ----------

Thanks for the nice response! I guess we are the same just try to give some help with the hope it is useful for people, and perhaps find some joy in doing it. Let's just move on.

cheers,
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] Houndog101:
Got refurb'ed phone today.. all's well. :good:
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] Oscar_david:
Wow... this thread has been exhausting to read. I have this problem with my phone unfortunately, and read the whole thing to see if there was a solution.

After taking a hint from one of the more recent posts, I have gotten my phone to boot. But it's not a permanent solution. AND, I have only been able to do it because I installed a temporary boot of EL29 a while back. So this solution won't help anyone that doesn't already have that, OR is unable to put it in their device.

To see what I'm talking about, check out QBKing77's video about it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rdx-kIxpitg

It has the links you need to accomplish it as well. and while you can Odin the kernel required, you might not be able to get the multiboot folder onto your device. If anyone with this problem cares to try this, I would suggest getting a hold of an SD card adapter that you can use to plug into your computer and place the multiboot folder onto the micro SD, and see if it will run from there. I placed it on the internal SD myself, as per QB's instructions, so I'm not certain it will run from the external SD.. but it might.

As stated though, I don't consider this a permanent solution... especially since there are limitations to what you can do with this install. It is intended as a temporary boot to update profile and PRL.

So my real question is: Could I now try to reformat the /data partition while I'm booted into this temporary mode? if so, does anyone have any insight as to how I might do that?

Any further help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks to everyone that has attempted to help thus far, especially SFHUB.

and thanks in advance for future efforts.

cheers.

edit: so at least my phone is functional. but I just realized this temporary boot does not allow root privileges, so that might create a problem in trying to format /data, I'm thinking. *sigh...

edit2: one last thing before I catch some zzzz's : I copied the multiboot folder over to external SD and have verified that it does boot. Also, changes are saved; I thought I would lose data such as installed apps etc.. but this temporary boot acts just like any normal install-- just that it's stock GB (bleh)..
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] forest1971:
HI: If your phone is having problem with data partition due to the eMMC bug, then try to format it will not help. So far only re-partition workaround seems to help.

cheers,
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] AndroidRocksSocks:
Hi, the only workaround I've found was for the galaxy note. I got up to the umount part to unmount some things but after, idk. Is there a guide or thread for the e4gt or do I go by the note guide?
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] forest1971:
Hi: The address of the emmc should be the same, so you should be able to run parted (using the command line provided in the Note' guide) and print the partition. The partition table of Ep4g is different from Note's as we can see it from Drnull posts in this thread.

The procedures to scan to check if the partitions have errors are also the same.

So you just need to make some intuitive adjustment when creating new partitions.

It should be noted that the kernel attached in the guide is just to provide the partition tools. So, after re-partition you will need to flash a good kernel for Ep4g. Then use that CWM for Ep4g to format system and data partition to convert them from ext2 to ext4 format before installing rom.

Once done with partition you can flash rom using CWM or odin or restored backup if you still have one store somewhere in your PC. (for some reasons using CWM to install custom rom.zip or restore backup has more chance to work than using odin to flash roms.tar).

I guess Drnull certainly can throw in help if he has time.

cheers,