yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] JBrian420:
semi bricked

So somehow I messed up my phone last night trying to from cwm recovery to twrp. I was running Slimbeam at the time. After I tried rebooting in Recovery my phone was dead and wouldn't come back on. I couldn't get phone to do anything. After using the jig I was able to get into download mode.

I followed this guide to the T and still can't get phone to startup into rom. I get a Lock symbol one my phone starts and then get System sofware not authorized by Verion Wireless has been found on your phone message

Does anyone have any suggestions. My phone seems bricked even though I can get to download mode I can't get anything to load.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] siouxhockey11:
You will have to Odin back to stock. I recently did the same thing and had to Odin back to stock to get the bootloader to unlock. Good thing is that you should lose root or recovery. At least I didn't.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] JBrian420:
I tried that 2 dozen times with no sucess. Each time Odin passes and completes and then upon startup I reset in stock recovery and each time I get the dreaded System software not authorized message. I followed 3 different guides I found that state how to odin back to stock including this one. Im starting to think my phone is bricked.

Is it possible to have a bricked phone that can still get into download mode and stock recovery?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] bablooroyal:
Hei,

In the OP, it is mentioned that the Root66 & bootchain files are only for Verizon.

Can somebody please tell me where I can get the files for I9300?

I'm facing the same problem mentiond here.

Regards,

Babloo
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] BadUsername:
You need to ask this in the i9300 forum, nobody here is going to know where to get them. Someone needs to pull it from a i9300 phone and host it somewhere.

---------- Post added at 05:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:12 PM ----------

I know you can get your official stock rom from sammobile.com
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] PeteBeast:
I have tried this method using an international S3 (I had no knowledge).

What can I do? It boots into the Verizon screen but wont let me continue for obvious reasons...

Help me out please.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] BadUsername:
It's a Verizon file...

You should use an international stock rom.

You need to ask this question in the i9300 forum and give them specific details of what you did.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] ¿GotJazz?:
I have tried downloading the bootchains from various mirrors. I see the following MD5 hash error when I try to install the VRALF2:

<ID:0/010> Added!!

<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..

<OSM> Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..

<OSM> Please wait..

<OSM> MD5 hash value is invalid

<OSM> BOOTLOADER-I535VRALF2-618049-REV09-user-low-ship.tar-2-.md5 is invalid.

<OSM> End...

Can anyone provide a valid VRALF2 file (or, am I doing something wrong?)

UPDATE: Apparently, I didn't need the VRALF2 bootchain - this time. My soft-brick problem was that the /system partition was stuck in R/O mode. I had quite a few issues getting my phone operational again (like, I couldn't get the VRALF2 MD5 hash check to pass). I also was unsuccessful in getting the NAND Erase All to successfully erase when attempting to install the root66 image.

Also, I usually didn't see "PASSED" during the flashing process in Odin. I usually only saw "RESET!". I would disconnect and restart Odin whenever this happened before going to the next step.

In the end, what worked for me was:

Open up ODIN

Select only the following box: F. Reset Time

Flash the VRALEC bootchain in the PDA section and wait for a RESET message

Reset ODIN

Unzip the stock.vzw_root66.7z file.

Put the stock.vzw_root66.tar in the PDA section

Select the following boxes: Auto Reboot and F. Reset Time

Start the flash process (This will take some time, about 10-15 minutes).

Once the phone reset, my phone powered up into the old VZW image initial setup and came up asking for my preferred language. I finished a minimal setup, adding my Google account to get into Google Play.

I downloaded the "aboot.img" unlocked bootloader from here: http://d-h.st/Piq, and put it into my /sdcard/Download directory.

I installed Terminal Emulator from Google Play, did an "su", and gave Terminal Emulator Super User permissions.

Inside Terminal Emulator, I restored the unlocked bootloader by typing: dd if=/sdcard/Download/aboot.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p5

I rebooted my phone, and made sure everything came up OK.

I then shut down, and came up in Download Mode to install TWRP 2.6.3.0 using Odin (TWRP 2.7.0.0 does not work for me - I can't create or restore valid backups)

After that, I could restore a previous valid TWRP Backup.

YRMV.

Cheers,

¿GJ?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Dartmouth70:
:good: Thanx! Worked great! I did have to get root66 from the Torrent & the VRALF md5 didn't check, so i didn't use it - but I'm up & running
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] nybelle:
Should this work with the battery out? I took mine out at some point but the phone stays in Download mode so long as it's plugged in to my PC...
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Mystique:
Not working for me..

I tried to follow the VRALEC.bootchain.tar.md5 then the stock.vzw_root66.tar.. when odin is through with both files and the device tries to boot into recovery..

I already have the 'Custom' screen; which I think I should not.

Device boots into recovery on its own; as it should.. complains about /dev/block/"things" not being there.. (15,17,etc)

wiping data and user files gives more errors and rebooting leaves the Samsung Galaxy S III on the screen..

Open to suggestions.

# EDIT #

Last time this happened.. I found this:

KIES_HOME_I535VRBMF1_1152558_REV09_user_low_ship.tar.md5

I'm looking at the vzw 4G LTE bootani now.. so this is more than before..

# EDIT EDIT #

I killed a phone..

KIES -> Casual 795 (steps 1 and 2) -> copy cwm touch 6.0.4.5 to /data/local/tmp -> dd to recovery -> reboot to recovery -> flash philz latest d2lte -> reboot -> nothing

take battery out and plug in the phone; red light comes on.. nothing else..

Suggestions?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] bestfil:
Hi!

Could it affect /preload ? I'm trying to figure out where is the problem - bad partition?

is there any chance to help GT-I9305 users with similar problem? I cannot repartion with PIT and triple file ODIN stock ROM

Thank You in advance!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] vinylgruve:
Same issue here but flashed TWRP instead. After flashing and reboot...well it didn't reboot. pulled battery, plugged in and red light comes on temporarily. Nothing else going on. Would really like to recover this.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] GatorsUF:
Ever single file failed to flash on my GS3. The md5 check was fine on all of them, but they failed to write every time.

VRALEC Bootchain

VRALF2 Bootchain

Root66.tar

What is the deal?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] SlimSnoopOS:
Which OS was installed on your S3? Each of these would fail if you are on 4.3 or 4.4.2 touchwiz.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] GatorsUF:
I was on 4.4.4 aosp, never took the 4.3 ota
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] cali4nia831:
Help! My GS3 gets stuck while trying to flash the vralec bootchain. It gets to "NAND WRITE START" and gets stuck there. It's still stuck there 30 minutes later and I dont know what to do. I don't wanna unplug it if it'' brick my phone!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Thompcd:
I'm getting stuck at the NAND write on the bootchain too. I'm digging and digging but have found no mention of it.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] cali4nia831:
Tried everything and couldnt get it to work... Some people suggested the emmc memory failed though mine is not an international version.. Ended up switching the motherboard from another gs3 i had with a broken LCD and got it to work that way....
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Thompcd:
I found out that I could get into Odin mode every 3rd or 4th battery pull. I was actually doing it for somebody else. They said they'd deal with a locked bootloader, so I just Odin flashed stock back to it and it worked fine, but that damn bootloader. :/
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] ansart83:
HI, i'm not able to download the Root66.tar: file, have you a new link?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] dodgebizkit:
I believe this to be the problem with my note 3 (n9005 btu ) any idea how I'd fix it?

After flashing stock, it doesn't load past the Samsung logo... Nothing works :(

------------------------<SiG>------------------------

Custom ROM for my house phone? why not?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] jammychap:
Hi there, if your still active on this thread could you please help me, i am trying your method but odin seems to be hanging on NAND START WRITE!!!

Thanks Graham.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] schizo666:
can somebody help providing me this files?

haveRoot66.tar (or any updated file that might have replaced it.)

VRALEC bootchain

VRALF bootchain

PIT file

specifically for SAMSUNG SCL22 NOTE 3 SM-900J AU KDDI

i can't boot my note 3 to recovery even when flashed with default,CWM and TWRP. maybe, this is my best shot to "Wipe data/factory reset" and "Wipe cache partition" based on this thread (http://xdaforums.com/show....php?t=1840030).

hope someone can help me.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] RamHa:
Is there A egzact files and way to do id for S2, or similar one?????
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] dercncplaner:
What are the bootchain files? they are new for me!

Are there different for every device or brand? I have vodafone device from germany and have this really really big problem:

http://xdaforums.com/galaxy-note-10-1/help/help-n8020-restarted-stay-logo-dont-t3206969

Which similar files I need? I have the stock rom, but what is about the bootchain?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] ryanallaire:
Doesn't seem like this method works if you have a locked BL....
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] jgorton123:
Lost!!!

I am lost and need help......earlier i had the take your phone to verizon and power off error and now.

stuck in odin mode "firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please use software repair assistant and try again."

odin 3.07

sch-i535

verizon

4.4.2 (was)

rooted (was)

phone keeps connecting and disconnecting from pc

windows 8.1
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] lifeisgood210:
hi.. do you know if this will method will work on the international version of galaxy-s3.? is there specific files for the my device.. thanks
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] gilles1394:
Hi sorry if the question is stupid but can we use the Root66, VRALEC bootchain and VRALF bootchain files with another device like a Note 4? Thank you
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] ImGalo:
Please Help

Hey My samsung galaxy s3 verizon 4.4.2 just got bricked and i dont know what brick does it have but there is no screen showing when i hold the power button it is working and thee is a vaibration but no screen i was playing on it yesterday and suddenly a blue screen just came i removed the battery and re plugged it but there was no screen when i tried to turn it on can you help me :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Droidriven:
Digitizer may be dead. It the digitizer is dead you'll boot normally, you won't have anything on screen but everything is running in system. Try figuring out if you can connect the device to PC or a TV and share the phones screen to the other display, then use a USB mouse to navigate the device. If you can do that then you probably need to replace the digitizer.

Ink'd from my KrAkEn'd S3
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Fernet7475:
FAIL

I received message FAIL also changing com port: solution? Thanks
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] JustMJ:
Hello can someone give me a direct link of Root66.tar, and also can I use this method for my GT-I8190?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Droidriven:
The method is usable on your device but you'll need a file compatible with your device model number, the files in this thread are for the Verizon S3 only.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] JustMJ:
Can you give me the link for the files i needed in GT-I8190? Thanks.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] BadUsername:
You need to ask in that forum or look elsewhere, we can't pull those files unless we have a gt-i8190.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] bpga:
Fails at first step

I have soft bricked my Verizon S3 but can still get to download. Using Odin to flash VRALEC.bootchain.tar.md5 in the first step I receive a fail notice with the following messages:

<ID:0/004> Added!!

<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..

<OSM> Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..

<OSM> Please wait..

<OSM> VRALEC.bootchain.tar.md5 is valid.

<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..

<OSM> Leave CS..

<ID:0/004> Odin v.3 engine (ID:4)..

<ID:0/004> File analysis..

<ID:0/004> SetupConnection..

<ID:0/004> Initialzation..

<ID:0/004> Get PIT for mapping..

<ID:0/004> Firmware update start..

<ID:0/004> aboot.mbn

<ID:0/004> NAND Write Start!!

<ID:0/004> FAIL! (Auth)

<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 0 / failed 1)

Any ideas? Thanks.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Droidriven:
Flash the same stock firmware that was on your device before you flashed it with custom the first time. It can't be an older version, only exactly what you had or newer, downgrading will brick the device.

Try the stock, if it doesn't work come back and post here.

If the flash is successful but you get a bootloop just boot to stock recovery then factory reset and wipe cache partition then see if it will reboot to system.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] bpga:
Thank you.

A couple of background items. I am pretty sure I was 4.4.2, and I have read (after the fact) that anything above 4.3 is locked down. I flashed TWRP and attempted to flash SlimRom, and that is when things broke down.

I'll google stock 4.4.2 and see if that works. Would that replace TWRP with stock recovery as well?

BP
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] bpga:
Thank you, this worked. Flashing the one file with Odin fixed it. After following multiple tutorials without success I was afraid it was unrecoverable.

The file took a while to find, so I'll leave this:

Verizon Galaxy S3 stock 4.4.2

I535VRUDNE1_I535VZWDNE1_I535VRUDNE1_HOME.tar.md5.zip

https :// www androidfilehost com / ?fid=95857557620392036 (added spaces)

BP
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Droidriven:
OK. So, you've got a locked bootloader so you can't flash TWRP/CWM or AOSP/CM custom ROMs but you can use Safestrap recovery and modified stock ROMs.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] ryanallaire:
I have been trying for i don't know how long to get this stinkin phone working, this file fixed it!!! 100 thanks to you brotha!!:good:
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] unpause:
When you flash this through Odin, do you want to select BL, AP, CP, or CSC? Also which checkboxes do you want to check on the left? Sorry if these are dumb questions, i'm pretty new to this..
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Noob3118:
Hmmm.... I've got a SGH-T889 that's soft bricked REALLY BAD no matter how many firmware i download odin just can't seem to flash it, not even the pit file is able to flash.... do you think this method would work foor me?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Droidriven:
Can you get to download mode correctly and did you have USB debugging turned on in settings before this happened?

What did you do that caused the issue to begin with.

I DO NOT GIVE HELP IN PM, KEEP IT IN THE THREADS WHERE EVERYONE CAN SHARE
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Noob3118:
Yes I can get to Odin mode just fine, However, I purchased this phone from someone thinking it to be a simple soft brick issue, and I have no idea if they had USB debugging enabled or not.......

P.s sorry for the late response...
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Noob3118:
Hello????
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Droidriven:
Hmm.. That's kinda tough unless the device happened to be rooted or had TWRP when you got it, if so you might be able to use adb to pull a copy of your build.prop and then edit the build.prop to enable debugging then push the edited build.prop back on the device. Then you should be able to flash via Odin

I DO NOT GIVE HELP IN PM, KEEP IT IN THE THREADS WHERE EVERYONE CAN SHARE
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] eryfilho:
Unbrik tb 2 gt-3100

.....

Hello, I have a tab 2 gt-p3100 that I can not make any changes to the tab, I suspect that may be the same problem, can I use this same method to try to solve the problem? If the answer is yes, where can I find the correct files for my tab 2?

Sorry for my english, I'm using google translator.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Droidriven:
If you can't find them with a Google search for:

"Odin flashable bootchains for (your model number)"

And

"Stock rooted .tar for (your model number)"

Then they probably don't already exist.

Your files will have to be pulled or created from another rooted tab with your same model number and stock firmware or ectracted from the stock firmware and converted.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] tbclandot:
Droiddriven I recently found a recycled VZW S3 running 4.4.2 and I know the boot loader is locked of course because VZW! I have a Samsung 15 emmc and an exploit for that chip allowed various galaxy boot loaders to be unlocked but I see nothing about the S3. I asked jrkruse a well known dev for the vzw S5 and he said someone tried it for the S3 and didn't work.... wonder why? I'd be happy to use my S3 as a dummy device to test things!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Droidriven:
If you're trying to unlock the bootloader then the only chance I know of is to use a JTAG, JTAG has been used on bootloader hardbricked verizon S3 to recover the device, the bootloader is usually unlocked after the device is recovered with JTAG.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] tbclandot:
Shouldn't the Samsung emmc boot loader exploit theoretically work if it works for so many other various Galaxy devices? You know what I'm talking about right? I'm sure someone could port it! It has been ported to many devices starting from the VZW S5!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Droidriven:
I'm not familiar with what you're talking about but I'm gonna check it out, I've got a Straight Talk S5 with a locked bootloader, it's SM-S903VL, a rebrand of the Verizon S5 so it will probably work on mine, the Straight Talk S3 and Verizon S3 could use the same recoveries and ROMs so maybe the same is true with the S5.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] tbclandot:
Right on the VZW S5 xda there is a post about the exploit and instructions!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Koala23:
stuck on erase on s3 mini
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Entropy512:
Does someone have a link to your recovery.rc?

If recovery.rc automatically mounts /system before starting CWM, you can sometimes wind up in a state where /system is mildly corrupted (needs an fsck), but can't be fscked or formatted because it's mounted - and in some cases, filesystem corruption causes it to be difficult to umount a partition to. Somehow this even derps up flashing to the partition in question using Odin (I guess it does some sort of partition checks before writing?) - this last symptom would often cause people to think they had suffered eMMC damage when they hadn't.

Galaxy Note (International - N7000) users had this problem on occasion and mistakenly called it "lost partial root".

Solution was easy - don't automount /system in recovery - https://github.com/CyanogenMod/andr...mmit/c362ad689ad24c4f64b58c7cada956808555ec21 was the solution there.

I've never seen this happen to /data before though... Although the GS3 has unified internal storage which could make this... interesting. Probably could be fixed by IMMEDIATELY doing a wipe data/factory reset. On a device with unified internal storage, navigating to /sdcard (linked to /data/media) for any reason would mount /data

Another option might be to try running a fsck from an ADB shell.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] psycopanther:
I do not believe it relates to recovery specifically. But still looking into it. Since this thread is a way to fix this, I would not worry to much. It happens rarely but sometimes the result could technically be cause by user error as with anything.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Breezer23:
Thank you so much! I just came for the Galaxy Nexus, thought I had teh bootloader unlocked but apparently not. I was stuck on that Unapproved Software screen. You fixed it. Thank you sir/ma'am.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Hero:
Sir, lol. Glad to know you got your phone back. Anyone else who fixes their phone by this method, please post here.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] BeansTown106:
thanks couldnt boot for hours this worked!!!!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] ker2gsr:
this was my same issue with odin was trying all day to it with no luck till i saw your post your steps works still big thanks to all who have help us and who came up with this fix h3llsdroid and pure motive you save me
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Helpercell:
I have a soft bricked sgs3 verizon but the links to the files in this post dont work. Can I please getting working links.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Hero:
I'm going to add these steps to the OP. Thanks for your help.

The links are working.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] droidstyle:
Edit* found my answer thx.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Attreau:
Hey all.....this post just saved my Galaxy S3. I made the mistake of trying to restore Bean's ICS Rom after having moved to the CM 10 nightlies and yes, I had unlocked the bootloader. Was getting a non-boot situation where it would just show the Galaxy Samsung screen and never continue past it. Performing the above and rather than installing the stock Verizon, I installed the rooted Verizon and did not do the "NAND erase all". I am extremely happy I brought it back to life!

Thanks,

Attreau
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] tekrhino:
Big Thanks to the OP and all involved

This thread saved my SGSIII from brickedom!

Big THANK YOU to the OP and everyone involved in putting this thread together!

My Device was soft bricked when I messed with the NFC thread.

And all I did was edit my Build.prop file and attempted to reboot.

Thanks again!

:cool:
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] punwik:
Just wanna say thanx for the know how to get this done! I had tried to flash a cm10 rom and for some reason it did the same thing as the OP and changed my mounting to where my phone wouldnt boot! I tried everything with odin and CWM to know avail until I found this thread! Except in my case the first 2 files would not pass for me for ****! I finally said **** it I dont care if I brick it or not and I put the root66 file in the bootloader slot and hit start and it went through the whole install process and bingo it worked for some reason! Many many thanx to all the work put in on this!

Saved My A$$...
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] psycopanther:
so glad this is helping many of you guys (and girls). remember to give thanks to OP
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] drbobmd:
Nobody EVER forgets to thank the developers... Where do you think we are, Apple support? ;)
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] eameda:
I need some serious help here guys. I softbricked the phone because for some reason the ez unlock app didnt unlock the bootloader and I tried using this method to fix the error but everytime I get to the part where I flash root66 odin flashes boot and then recovery but once it gets to system.img.ext4 it fails. I (like the idiot I am) pulled the battery hoping it would flash again but not when i boot into odin mode on the phone it says "firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery mode in Kies and try again." I have no idea what to do. I am wondering if the file is corrupted or something. I also tried downloading it again but the only place i could find it was via the torrent. Any help would be appreciated.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] drbobmd:
Did you verify the md5 sums?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] eameda:
How would I go about doing that?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] droidstyle:
You dont need this method for your issue. Flash the stock kernel, then flash root66 in odin. That should bring you back to life.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] h311sdr0id:
I was wondering if you had gotten everything working. If you are still stuck, let me know. I think I might have something that might also help.