yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] dr.ketan:
Evidence of brick bug on 4.0.4

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=28663829

Evidence 2 on face book

Edit :

And now 3rd in few hrs

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=28665957
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] Final5k:
the brick bug makes my Note loses its value to me and make me scared at times when flashing! this has never happened for every past phones I have owned!
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] wonsanim:
Bad news brick bug still alive :(
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] Asrafiel:
i feel exactly the same.
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] abhijit038:
I myself have wiped from stock recovery (non-rooted) on xxlrg after flashing it. I didn't get bricked. You forgot to mention that he wiped after installing cf-root with cwm..Perhaps this adds credence to the fact that CWM seems to falter on ICS when it comes to wiping.
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] dr.ketan:
Not necessary every wipe cause brick

It happens about once in 200 wope or like this

I think it was bricked by wiping from stock

Wat i understand by his statement is

He.flashed.4.0.4 and wipe (here damaged shud happen) -flashed.cf root -wifi not worked -he said forget to wipe (means no wipe on cf root) -flash ics and damage qhich happened previously reflected.

So i think it was from stock recovery
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] abhijit038:
His statement :

He wrote an ambiguous statement which might be interpreted otherwise. Nonetheless, as far as I can understand he got bricked after installing cf root and cwm. We should investigate further, and ask him to clearly specify what he did actually. By the way, can cf root for xxlrg be regarded as safe? I mean do they have that command disabled?
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] sangalaviral:
Looks like thats a soft corruption of the system partition and can be fixed with cm9 kernel.
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] garwynn:
Just an update for those not reading the E4GT thread. ICS came out today for Sprint, source yesterday... and was still not fixed despite many complaints to both parties.
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] Entropy512:
If it were, he'd have problems flashing /system (factoryfs) - doesn't sound like it.

Hanging when he tries to wipe /data sounds like eMMC corruption to me.

The question is - did he use an ancient version of CF-Root? Any recent repacks, especially one for 4.0.4, are built with MMC erasing disabled, and thus won't cause damage. Also, the way he writes his steps, he never wiped when on CF-Root, but wiped after reflashing stock ICS. Someone should specifically ask - did he wipe on stock recovery or CWM? I find it unlikely he experienced damage from CF-Root CWM unless it was an old release (and all of those releases have been flagged as dangerous for over a month.)

I'm beginning to wonder if stock recovery and the kernel are interacting in a way Samsung didn't expect I need to run an experiment tonight when I get home or tomorrow with my "neutered/instrumented" erasetest kernel.

Edit: After the XXLQ5/XWLPM fiasco over in I9100-land, I am SO glad I played it safe and turned on BOARD_SUPPRESS_EMMC_WIPE for CM9 builds for I9100 and I777 a while ago in addition to N7000...
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] dr.ketan:
I have confirmed with exchanging PM with him. and i believe damage was by stock kernel.

Step was like this

- was on ICS LPY

- flash ICS 4.0.4

- wipe cache and data (what i believe is he has got damage at this stage)

- flash Cf root kernel

- he was having wifi issue (he clearly said " i forget to wipe data this stage")

- He had reflashed 4.0.4, it was successfull ( as he had currupt at level of data.img sector, and 4.0.4 is non wipe ROM )

- He tried wipe data and error started.. (now if damage happen at this stage, still he was on Stock ICS again)

Hope this can help you, to understand issue better.

Regards.
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] linker3000:
Any chance we can keep posts on topic and just for commenting on Samsung/dev's progress with this.

Speculation, me toos, requests for help with flashing and moans are just cluttering up the place.

Thanks.
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] becosemsaida:
Still confused,

So people are confusing things too much i think.

On GB, no Emmc problems because it wasn't able to act. It was disabled in the kernel

On ICS LPY, somebody forgot to disable this or at least check it before launching it to the world.

On ICS LRG, seems that it is still present??

Come on how is this possible?? Aren't there any devs at samsung aware that with a new software version it should have been solved?? I also checked the SGII section and they have problems too (i mentioned this before it was available for the note !!)

After all the hard work from Entropy and others it should have been solved BEFORE releasing another one to us...

So, on 5 million international notes sold we have sooner or later 5 million bricked devices if this problem isn't solved. If we do a wipe on every update there will be problems with this device and samsung will have to replace a lot of MB :laugh::laugh:

I find all of this very difficult to understand: known problem, reproduced the error several times by xda members, no word from samsung and no solution..... At least they could have tried to understand cm9 since it isn't affected. Oh well i'm just a noob..............:cyclops:
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] Entropy512:
Sounds like another brick from stock recovery... They claim it's safe, but clearly there is a nonzero chance of damage.

Based on various reports and other things - stock recovery (non-secure erase) is far safer than unmodified CWM (secure erase).

The thing is, in a situation like this, "safer" is not acceptable. The only thing that is acceptable is "unambiguously safe" - the only way to ensure this is to block erase commands in the kernel, which they did for months with I9100. Removal of MMC_CAP_ERASE from the MSHCI driver guarantees complete and total safety while that kernel is running.

Then, with XWLPM and XXLQ5 for I9100, a previously safe device was put into danger.

The small performance benefits of wiping data on reset using MMC ERASE are not worth the risk of what is currently unrepairable damage. Even if it becomes repairable, the repair process is going to be difficult and unreliable.

BTW - everyone who still can access their EFS partition should back it up to a safe location ASAP.
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] acompta:
DOA unit from the Emmc bug

Hi all,:laugh:

I have not posted much before but here is what happened to me.

I had ICS Stock LA1 from South Africa. I had flashed German LQ2 with no wipe and all was fine..

I mistakenly without thinking flashed German LRG (as we wait months for an ROM updates in SA and are still only on 2.3.6 due to our useless operators) and ticked "repartition"

Well all hell broke loose. :crying: I must add all were non-rooted ROMS and stock standard.

I tried all methods from recreating the partitions using the adb method, using custom PIT files etc.

Eventually I got it working albeit for 2 days, and then it just went toally dead. Cannot even get it up using the JIG or a black boot screen. It is totally DOA...:crying:.

I handed it in at my service provider and they have agreed to repair under warranty... Should have it back or a replacement unit in 5-10 working days....:good:

My advice would be to make sure your custom binary counter is reset to 0 ASAP if you have this bug, otherwise you will have no warranty... It seems if you have this bug it will eventually end up in a dead unit.

Just my experience for what its worth..
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] reinbeau:
Thread cleaned yet again

Gentlemen, this isn't a chat thread, or a support thread, it has a narrow focus, communicating with Samsung and working on the Emmc brick fix. Do not post if you aren't involved with that specific subject. Your post will be removed.
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] Entropy512:
That's not eMMC damage, you just messed up your device by repartitioning. Not a bug, you just screwed up.
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] alvinasnow:
All eyes on Sir Entropy :) Fingers Crossed, waiting with a huge brick in my hands....
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] REAVER117:
Ditto. Not to prod or anything, but are we talking weeks from a JTAG fix or months? I've been using a dumbphone ever since my Note bricked and I'm almost at the point of picking up a replacement device.

Thanks for all your hard work Entropy!
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] Entropy512:
No clue. I'm getting SOME sort of information this weekend, but what I'll get and how much - no clue.

Also, anyone who is capable of booting a kernel and has an intact EFS partition - BACK IT UP TO A LOCATION OFF OF YOUR DEVICE.
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] linker3000:
Oh please DO clean this thread ASAP.
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] Young Cardiac:
When can we expect to hear back? I'm sitting on a bricked note :|
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] sangalaviral:
He has already mentioned 27th july as the date of meeting.
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] Young Cardiac:
He said that he might hear something this weekend. Debating whether I should just sell my bricked note or wait this out and hopefully they release a fix.
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] shoey63:
If it is just superbricked, u can try this http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1667886

(That is, of course, until a REAL fix comes along)
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] Young Cardiac:
Thanks but my phone is hard bricked. Doesn't even get into download mode.
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] Spiralzz:
Isn't the Samsung customer care helping? It should be under warranty, and if your custom counter is something other than zero, they have no way of knowing it since its been hard bricked.... or am I missing something?
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] Young Cardiac:
I'm in Canada with the n7000 so there is no warranty here for the phone. :(
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] Spiralzz:
Well... let's just hope entropy's "some information over the weekend" offers hope to you ;)
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] bidboy:
So I take it this bug is in a chip on the phone & the only way to avoid it is to install a ' so called ' safe kernel. So the only way for owners who prefer to use stock firmware & to avoid this bug is for Samsung to replace the faulty chip. So is this why Samsung have been so quiet as its going to cost them money ?. :confused:
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] :
Samsung isn'tgoing to do or replace anything. Gingerbread kernels are safe to wipoe on. Don't wipe on an pics kernel. You can downgrade to gb to wipe if you have to then uogrqade back to ics
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] kersh:
Hi

Is it the bug only present when we make a wipe? Can you make nandroid backups without problem?

So, we could wipe with a gb kernel, then flash the ICS kernel, reboot CWM, flash roms or anything from the new ics kernel and be fine without worrying about the bug, and later if we want to wipe, go to cwm, flash a gb kernel, make a wipe, reboot and then flash a ics kernel again without problems?
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] bidboy:
Yes, I think we all know GB firmwares are safe. But why did Samsung release ICS firmwares that can brick your phone ?. It's ok for guys like us that come to sites like XDA & know a bit about phones. But what about joe public that take it for granted that their phone is going to work as it should do & when they do a factory reset there is a good chance they will brick their phone ?.

Samsung are so busy thinking about the next phone that is going to make them loads of money that they ignore owners of previous phones. This is a stupid move that will cost them dearly in the future.
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] chickentuna:
That's correct. Wiping on GB is the safest way. You can do nandroid backups just fine but do not attempt to restore them on the stock ICS kernel or else you will end up with a $600 paperweight.
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] :
As long as you don't WIPE from anything aside from GB you are safe for emmc brick... but be careful not to software brick too of course...

Some people use abyss instead of gb to wipe

And as earlier stated NEVER do nandroid on stock ics many have bricked...

Dr. Ketan has a forum on this. Chainfire has a forum on this.. we should stop flooding this one and save it for updates from Samsung.

Here is the link... http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1693704
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] Entropy512:
I am sooo fried after the meeting. It was quite long.

Bad news: It turns out that the repair process turns eMMC chips from "damaged" to "completely toast" pretty often. As a result Samsung understandly does not want to release the info to the "wild" as it can easily kill a device if used improperly. Example - if a user thinks they have eMMC damage when they don't, and then tries to repair it - they have a high likelihood of making the problem worse. I strongly recommended that they talk to the RIFFbox team and a few JTAG repair specialists so that at least they have a chance of bringing these devices back - JTAG repair services have the technical skills and equipment to make a reliable determine on whether to perform a "last resort" attempt of fully wiping/resetting the eMMC.

Samsung is 100% certain that non-secure erase as implemented by their stock recovery is safe. I still have concerns that in rare cases it can do damage, but unfortunately, every user that has reported eMMC damage caused by stock recovery has either sent their device back for warranty service already, or fell silent when asked for more information. There are also simply not many reports of this - maybe 4-5 on Note, and 4-5 on other devices two weeks ago when a bunch of ICS updates went out to other devices. Without more evidence, there is simply nothing I can do here.

There is of course, the issue of kernels permitting secure erase commands through when they shouldn't - I think they finally realize how many ways that a secure erase command can be triggered, and how it is critical that secure erase is blocked by the kernel. They are working on deploying a fix to newer kernels that will take secure erase commands and replace them with nonsecure erase, so at least protection will improve.

I would feel more comfortable if erase commands were completely blocked, but there is simply not enough evidence of problems with non-secure erase to have Samsung change their opinion on its safety.

What is interesting is that there seem to be a lot of issues with internal communication within Samsung. In some cases it could be language barrier issues. It was apparently never clear to my contact that this was seen as long ago as December/January by the Epic 4G Touch community. Also, at least some of their engineers are swearing up and down that MMC_CAP_ERASE has always been enabled in the I9100 - even though we know without any doubt that it has been absent in I9100 builds previous to XWLPM and XXLQ5. There's a possibility this may have been a miscommunication somewhere - because someone saw MMC_CAP_ERASE in sdhci.c, they said the kernel had it - but what matters is whether it is present in mshci.c

In general, I think this whole mess is a no-win situation for everyone involved. The only really good thing to come out of it is - my contact at Samsung is working with the XDA administrators to open up more communication channels so that if something like this happens again, it'll be caught earlier.

I still have a bunch of followup I need to do in terms of getting them some additional information... but for now, I'm exhausted.
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] :
that is simply a lie by samsung. "Samsung is 100% certain that non-secure erase as implemented by their stock recovery is safe". If that was actually posted somewhere by samsung directly, they could be sued for fraud.
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] PoisonWolf:
Sounds like.....Samsung ...after weeks of waiting.....are simply saying that nothing is wrong with their software but will work to block the command anyway in their future kernels? How odd....considering that they are "100%" certain that their recoveries are "safe".

Sounds like they are trying to make sure they are not caught in any potential legal aftermath here....while still trying to fix the issue quietly.

I may as well just get rid of this phone and get a Nexus device from now on.
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] musashiro:
so this means that once they release a fix on newer kernels that issues a nonsecure erase, this emmc debacle will be finally put to rest?? correct me if i understood it incorrectly..

will they provide the fix on 4.0.4 builds? how about the source? will they openly announce that the problem is fixed?
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] :
fix on kernel is not truely fixing bug, its work around and as entropy posted earlier they reintroduced it it in kernel for device which didnt have that in earlier versions of kernel. Thus its no guarantee that work around will even stick in future kernel versions.

they need to fix where it originates, not cheap workarounds. Its a recepy for disaster
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] musashiro:
so you are suggesting that they recall all the devices with the faulty chip then return it with the new one? lol...

im pretty sure that a safe kernel from samsung is easier and faster to do.. and avoids bad PR
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] Young Cardiac:
Damn so looks like I'm out of luck. Would JTAG be my only option? Note doesn't turn on not matter what I do. Can't get into download mode or any other modes. The light doesn't even turn on when I plug it in.
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] :
If it is an hard brick the only option is to get a new motherboard! Jtag just works on EFS revival :D
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] Entropy512:
Right now JTAG is not an option for devices that suffered eMMC damage - however I've recommended to my contacts at Samsung that they work with the Riffbox team and Mobiletechvideos to:

1) Get a pile of devices with eMMC damage for analysis

2) Deploy a solution to those people - The JTAGers have the knowledge to make a decision on whether to apply the "last resort" eMMC damage fix.

That's the issue - we've seen so many situations where a user encounters a minor problem, freaks out, and makes things worse when they try to fix it. The repair method for eMMC damage has a strong chance of leaving the device permanently and totally trashed, but you know that if it's generally available, some user is going to experience minor filesystem corruption (such as the CWM mounting-system-too-early issue I fixed a month or two ago that caused some to claim they "lost root"), decide (improperly) that it's eMMC damage, use a "fix" for a problem they don't have, and utterly trash the device.

The JTAGers, on the other hand, are going to know when a device is so far gone that even traditional JTAG recovery methods don't work - that's the time they would use the last-resort eMMC reset fix.
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] Roy_W:
Big Thanks

The meeting may not have brought forward a means to recovering bricked devices but I think it is important that Entropy returned with information that quite clearly defines the situation. It removes some doubt and uncertainty from the equation even though maybe not every question found an answer.

What's definately a very strong and positive point though is the opening of a communications channel. I understand it will be future development, rather than existing, that will benefit from this but it is still a very large step forward. The fact that they have opened even a small door is actually a very priveleged situation for XDA, it is important that this door now remains open for as long as possible.

Well done, Entropy.:)
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] Pika007:
While i feel bad for all the people with bricked devices- what about working ones?

When will i be able to update my SGN to ICS without fear that it could brick my device?

I am stuck with a "premium" 500$+ phone that can't be updated to the most recent software version simply because it can kill it.

This is a mockery of every SGN owner around the globe.

Also-

I understand samsung needs devices with that particular kind of damage (bricked after using only stock recovery) to analyze, but what about the user?

Does someone really expect him to send his 500$ phone to be analyzed and not replaced? Meaning he will stay with no money and no device?

I swear, if someone tells me that after my device bricks using only stock recovery i'm getting a replacement if i send my device in for them to analyze it, i'll start to flash official roms one by one until the damn thing bricks so samsung will have something to chew on.

I understand how angry my tone of writing seems, but this is all pure frustration. Why after purchasing such an expensive device do i need to dread software updates?
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] Entropy512:
Well if you brick on a 100% stock configuration you'll get a replacement. However, it would be nice if the next person that is 100% sure they bricked from a stock configuration gives my contacts some days to arrange for the original device to be returned for analysis in addition to the replacement you'd get at a service center.
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] Pika007:
I'll have to pass in that case, no service center in Israel, and frankly, nobody gives 2 bits about us. I had to open up my phone to get a mysterious screw that fudged up my speaker because samsung didn't really care to give a proper response when i reported a brand new in-box device with a manufacturing defect. (i tried samsung USA, UK and Israel)

I'm afraid the same thing will happen if i brick my device, even on 100% stock.
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] Roy_W:
Pika007,

* The update process is NOT what triggers the bug unless you add steps that are not required.

* It is very easy to return to GB if a full wipe is needed.

* Whether you are on GB or ICS it remains an excellent piece of equipement. Having the latest Rom will not suddenly make you any richer or any better looking :D:D believe me I know....

* Entropy's meeting also allowed us to learn that Samsung have not given up but that no miracle cure is to be expected. They themselves do not believe that the Stock Roms are so risky and statisically they have received very few bricked devices. ( People on this site do a lot more with their devices than simply install Stock Roms:cowboy::cowboy:)..

The only person putting you under pressure to update is yourself..........................think about it, then laugh about it. Life is too damned short to worry about "GB" or "ICS".......

All in good faith

Roy
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] @denny:
the real problem here is that it is always

someone from our community that is bricking their phone , nine times out of ten its help i flashed this or i rooted this and now i am bricked, i was one of the first to brick my note on stunner and had no warranty but sammy replaced the board without charging me , so i think they knew they had a problem even at that early stage, what we need is communication with ordinary note users , those that dont know about xda forums and others like it..maybe through social media asking anyone to contact us who has a phone that wont turn on any more etc..