yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S III General] SiriusCybernetik:
3 month ago, when I first heard about the sds issue, it became clear that nobody could answer at least one of the following questions:

* is it caused by some kind of wear that slowly corrupts block after block?

* or is it a one time event that did not damage the phone prior to happening?

* does the alleged fix really prevent the sds from happening?

* or does it only slow down the decay process and then the SDS will occur some time later (after the warranty period)?

As I couldn't stand the idea of carrying with me a phone that may already have suffered from 5 month of use and without knowing if the alleged fix really saves from sds, I decided that I wouldn't install any fix at all and to let things happen.

The faster, the better, but I did not stress the phone on purpose to accelerate the event.

Three month later, one day I noticed some freezes and later that day, the phone went into a boot loop several times but after several hours it booted correctly. I quickly copied all my personal stuff to the external sd card, hoping that the phone would not reboot itself during this time.

I left it to charge overnight and the next day it was dead.

It was one of the "semi-sds" flavours where you are still able to boot to download mode but no way to flash anything from there.

Some people may not agree with me buy it definitely has become a paperweight, so the phone is dead.

Next day I brought it to the shop where I bought it, the customer support lady apparently never heard of sds before and she played :confused: stupid.

She even tried to blame some bad scratches on my phone of being the cause of the phones malfunctioning, until I showed her pictures of the phone with these scratches while it was still alive.

I took those pictures back in January, when I decided to let things happen, in order to protect my as* from this kind of rhetoric. I also took a picture of the humidity sticker with the phone lying on the day's newspaper before handing it in.

This way they won't be tempted to mess with me.

The download mode says that everything's original, except 'system', where it says 'custom'. And the device name is empty, which I suppose is a consequence of corrupt emmc.

Lets see if they will repair without arguing or if I will have to fight for my right.
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
I can't help you "force" SDS. There are legal and ethical ramifications of this. If anyone wants to tell you how to do this, hope they do it in PM.
[Galaxy S III General] RohanAJoshi:
But if you know, you can pm me please..
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
SDS is much more likely to occur on a pre-ELLA (and especially ICS) ROM. That's all I'm going to say. I'm not telling you to do anything, and in fact I discourage you from recreating an SDS scenario.
[Galaxy S III General] SiriusCybernetik:
As far as I am concerned, I have not the slightest ethical or legal worry with staying on an older rom and thus exposing my phone to a hypothetical threat. As long as I continued using my phone under normal operating conditions.

Don't forget that there is no official statement from Samsung urging us to upgrade to newer versions because of potential hardware failure.
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
I also don't care about the ethical implications of inducing SDS. Samsung is purposely ignoring this major issue and not replacing peoples' phones with fixed versions. There are no legal implications. You're running legitimate, official software.
[Galaxy S III General] drakester09:
If they were really ignoring them, then there wouldn't be a software update with a fix/workaround or statements by PR representatives about the issue (that lady that spoke about it, some European branch).

What's wrong in all of this is the lack of acknowledgement in several cases from support/repair centers when a SDS victim phone comes to repair.

That is very wrong, and if you meant that, then I completely agree.

A product recall is out of the question, but there should be acknowledgement and repair when a phone failure is caused by SDS
[Galaxy S III General] SiriusCybernetik:
You should not take a statement from a random branch spokeswoman for an official communication of a multinational megacorp.

The fix that is rumored to be part of xxella and later releases has never been officially acknowledged.

I am glad that my sgs3 died now while still under warranty and I hope that the replacement mainboard will have the newer, non-affected chip.
[Galaxy S III General] UncleBeer:
That's known as "cover up", or CYA (Cover Your Ass).

That's known as a "slip-up". Dollars to doughnuts she's now working in the mail room.
[Galaxy S III General] avi.laza:
install stock safe 4.1.2 rom + kernel + safe recovery like Philz and it should be ok
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
So you're ok with having a phone that may die at any given moment, after freezing for 15 minutes to an hour, multiple times a day? That's considered a fix?

Repair centers are third-parties; they're not owned or operated by Samsung. It's pretty hit-or-miss; half the people in this thread aren't getting their phones repaired due to "voided warranty" from damage that doesn't exist, or because the repair centers don't know that the bootloader will show "CUSTOM" even on stock firmware for half-SDS. If Samsung were serious about this, they would instruct all partnered repair centers to offer replacement motherboards (revised motherboards) and then reimburse them. But given that half the repair centers seem to know nothing about SDS, it's pretty clear that Samsung is covering their ass by keeping their mouth shut.

Repair centers don't know about SDS because Samsung is playing dumb. Sony, on the other hand, had the SAME EXACT ISSUE with the Xperia Z/ZL the other week and publicly acknowledged it.
[Galaxy S III General] jay_m3:
I believe that SDS symptoms start after several emmc full wipe..
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
That just speeds up the process. It's caused by just writing to the eMMC which happens as long as your phone is on (basically).
[Galaxy S III General] drakester09:
no and I have never mentioned that I'm OK with the SDS situation. What I'm saying is that if really Samsung was ignoring this, there would be no patch about SDS. See the brickbug issue for an example of Samsung not giving a damn. The real issue is that they are doing the bare minimum, as someone said, covering their assets.

Yes, and as I said in my post I agree with you. The situation should be acknowledged and addressed by Samsung to inform them to accept SDS victims regardless.
[Galaxy S III General] ereziel:
It seems that Samsung is shipping new models with fixed 0xf7 revision for emmc chip. I bought mu new i9300 one month ago, and emmc brick bug test apps shows me 0xf7.

Just for the record. :)
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Only since the end of 2012 ;)
[Galaxy S III General] mrm43:
I am having slow writes on my internal sdcard the past 2 weeks. Like when updating or downloading apps from playstore it takes so long for the download to finish but sometimes it just suddenly speeds up. I had freezes too but does not happen everyday. Is the slow writing a sign of SDS?

I am on 4.1.2 MA2. all stock never rooted.

I am on insane chip. Bought last November Thanks.
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
Well, it doesn't matter any more to me. I bought a Galaxy Note 2 (AT&T version, same specs as N7105) for $465 and I plan on selling my i9300. It doesn't have SDS or symptoms, but I'd rather not bother with this any more.
[Galaxy S III General] OrangeRafi:
I think Samsung shipped the S3's w/ oxf7 revisions last November. My brother bought an S3 on the first week of December and he has the oxf7 revisions.
[Galaxy S III General] max_mitsu:
this is bad?

My emmc date is from 2006
[Galaxy S III General] SiriusCybernetik:
And mine is from 1975 :D
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Yes
[Galaxy S III General] jay_m3:
hahahaha!! your GALAXY must be COMING from another GALAXY :)
[Galaxy S III General] goranbm:
I am sorry for not looking answer to my question, but please tell me, when I use google play app "eMMC Brickbug Check" with S3, what values should be if the phone doesn't have this fault memory chip ??

Thank you.
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
Anything other than VTU00M 0xF1 is safe.

It's all over this thread. Just read next time.
[Galaxy S III General] goranbm:
Thank you very much.
[Galaxy S III General] goranbm:
The phone i was looking has eMMC: VTU00M and FW Rev: 0xF1 :( So what does that mean, can it be fixed, with 4.1.2 or that will bring more problems ??
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
The trick here is to read post 1 then apply it to your situation. This way you will find the answer to your questions.
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
4.1.2 (Starting from ROMs that end in ELKC and later) is supposed to prevent, or at least minimize the risk of it occurring.
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
ELKC

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2091045
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
Fixed.
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Hey while we're on this, do you know for certain which releases first saw update 8 fixes (the ones with less freezing?) I Know MB5 had it and MR2 didn't. What do you know about MB2?
[Galaxy S III General] goranbm:
I see on SamMobile site that for my country and my carrier there is Croatia (T-Mobile) 2012 December 4.1.2 I9300XXELLA I9300CROLL1 This one enters inside of this list with fixes, right ??
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
Not sure :/ On top of that, I have an AT&T Note 2 now with a completely different eMMC model (MA-something something). I plan on selling my i9300 on Swappa if anyone wants to buy it (my name on there is Frederick S.). It has the affected chip, but the board was replaced for a separate issue and it so it has no symptoms because it came back with update firmware. I'll still post here and there on the i9300 forums, but it's no longer my daily driver.

Yes, but if you're on a recent custom ROM or stock firmware, you're most likely safe.
[Galaxy S III General] goranbm:
I don't know exactly on what firmware is phone right now. I am trying to buy it. But i know that eMMC chip is from 07/2012 ... If this phone is on some older firmware, can update fix it, or should I stay away from it ??
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
If you're buying it used, ask the person selling it to tell you what version of Android it's running (Settings -> About Device -> "Build Number"). There's no definitive way to tell if its been affected or not. If the phone, even on stock firmware, freezes for 15 minutes or more at a time, then the eMMC is probably damaged. But if it's already on recent firmware and it's running fine, it's probably ok. That's the thing about SDS. You never really know how to tell unless you've seen it or experienced it yourself. There's no 100% accurate way to tell whether a phone has it or not until the phone just dies.

Worst case you end up with a phone that freezes here and there. But is it new or used?
[Galaxy S III General] nm8:
If I were you I will stay away from it. Make sure when you buy second hand, ask the seller to give you the first 3 digits of the imei... it must be at least 355 or higher - this is from my own experience. I have handled about 6 units with imei from 355 and they all have 0xf7 chips... and to make sure, ask if they can install emmc checker from google play and ask what the FwRevision is.
[Galaxy S III General] goranbm:
The phone is used. It is bought 23.1.2013. 4.1.2 is now.on the phone and guy says he didn't update anything it came like this. He never has frezze problems in this three months.
[Galaxy S III General] ereziel:
I have a safe eMMC chip, but I have a question for those who not: With official fixes, it does not brick, but does it cause freezes/sudden reboots or something else?
[Galaxy S III General] SiriusCybernetik:
Hush! You art about to give away confidential insider information!

:eek:
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Correct, except MB5 and newer (not sure about MB2) no more freezes (competitively)
[Galaxy S III General] goranbm:
And if it starts with 353 ?
[Galaxy S III General] Kjc99:
Mine starts with Imei 353 and it is the affected chip OXF1 bought in august
[Galaxy S III General] ereziel:
Mine starts with 356 and is unaffected so seems yes >=355 seems safe eMMC chip
[Galaxy S III General] goranbm:
I am very confused now. If I have affected chip can it be "saved" with 4.1.2 xxella firmware or is it doomed for break ?
[Galaxy S III General] SiriusCybernetik:
If I was you, I would stay away from a used SGS3 with 0xf1 chip. You know nothing about the history of this phone, even if it is now on a supposedly safe firmware, you don't know for how long it wasn't.

Except if it was a real bargain, let's say <150€, I wouldn't touch it.

If you should still want to buy it, ask the seller to hand over the original invoice and a written statement where he confirms that he sold this device to you on D date for an amount of x $. Handsigned! This is what you need in case of warranty claim.
[Galaxy S III General] silentsunami:
I just change SIII mb in local samsung service centre, they will change for you if the mb is affected with sds
[Galaxy S III General] CSeb95:
Yes but for the phones that has been "repaired" as the motherboard has been changed and IMEI still be the same ;)

Mine has a 353.. IMEI with 0xf7 chips (MB change)
[Galaxy S III General] eujanro:
To have luck it's a great feeling,...

Hi all SGS3 users,

I was dreaming for long time to get this "marvelous piece of technology" and

before

discovering this thread, I ordered (16GB Amber Brown model) the phone from my carrier (Vodafone RO). The phone arrived in my town, and i didn't go to pick it up from the courier. Discovering the SDS problem, I waited an entire month after; I was reading entire month, tons of hours, saved webpages, forums about SDS but in the end I didn't resist and after the courier warned me for sending it back to carrier, I took my chances an picked the phone. I didn't want to buy any other phone that Vodafone offered. (no model has all the specs of S3 in the same "entity")

To be honest, I don't have words to describe the feeling when I found that I'm not affected. I would like to share my phone details for others if they are searching like me. After reading a lot i belive that most affected models are the Blue and Wite colored models

16GB, Amber Brown

IMEI starts with 355....

eMMC chip app say: VTU00M, Date: 12/2012, FwRev: 0xf7, Sane chip

*#12580*369# is giving me: I9300XXELLA, I9300BUELL1, I9300VFGELL3, RF cal: 2013.1.23, HW Rev.: MP 1.500

I would like to say thanks to everybody who has shared and discussed the problem looking for a solution.

Next time I will buy also a lottery ticket... :)
[Galaxy S III General] UncleBeer:
Hard to argue with that kind of logic. ;)
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
He's not wrong. All black ones were 32GB (not affected), all red ones are US models (not affected) and brown ones came later so yep, most of the affected ones are blue or white.

Knowing that doesn't help anyone though ;)
[Galaxy S III General] jay_m3:
not in my case, mine was bought on last June, got the fix since 1st release, i never had any kind of problems and it works a 100 % fine

---------- Post added at 11:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:15 AM ----------

i have the affected one and am on same rom (XXELLA) since 3 months roughly and it's ok, no problem at all!! :)
[Galaxy S III General] ereziel:
By the experience reading this thread, I would recommend you to still double check it. This bug may trigger or may not, being safe an amount of time seems to tell nothing and give false security sensation.
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Indeed. Just because the bug hasn't hit YET, doesn't mean the bug WON'T hit later.
[Galaxy S III General] nm8:
Not all black ones are 32gb. The ones on amazon UK are 16gb.
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Well that's a new development which also makes no difference then :)

Thanks for sharing though.
[Galaxy S III General] nani67:
Hi,

mine is garnet red galaxy s3 19300 16GB,

purchased in september 2012, manufactured in august 2012

my phone didn't have SDS but soon after updating to 4.1.2 ELLC version, my phone used to freeze a lot,

i have taken it to service care and they said it was a software problem, but even after updating the software the problem continued.

then i was told the motherboard needs replacement and am still waiting for more than 15days...

the service care didn't recieve spares...

so.. to my guess, color has nothing to do with this issue..

may be as some other posts said,, IMEI starting with 355 or greater may be safe

mine starts with 353..
[Galaxy S III General] veteran_troller:
What if my phone gets sudden death and it was rooted ? I don't have Europe model nor I live in Europe ? Is there a way to go to stock after sudden death? Do people get sds even after having flashed all the recommended kernels roms and recovery?

Sent from my GT-I9300
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Again I thought only verizon had red.

Still since s3 manufactured before december 2012 = sds and after = no sds....

Most i9300's are white or blue before December 2012 ergo most sds are white or blue ;)

Simple statistics
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
Sudden Death is when the phone dies completely. Doesn't turn on at all. Nothing can save it. It's the same effect as running it over with a car or throwing it off a cliff or using it as a paperweight.

And judging from your signature, you most definitely have the European (aka international) model. That's the GT-i9300.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 2
[Galaxy S III General] veteran_troller:
Yes I have gt-i9300 .. but I am from india and brought this phone in india ? How does it become European?

Sent from my GT-I9300
[Galaxy S III General] ponepo:
This may help resolve the doubt.

http://opensource.samsung.com/reception/receptionSub.do?method=search&searchValue=I9300

I think that the better fix until now, or the "fix 2.0", arrived with the Update8 (from XXEMB1)

Enviado desde mi Nexus 10 usando Tapatalk 2
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
It does indeed. Thank you.
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
It doesn't matter where you bought it from. You have the international model. If you had a US Or Canadian model it wouldn't be the international model, but you have it.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 2
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
International version is international. Europe, Australia, Africa, most of Asia (small pocket of weird models in SE Asia).

Basically everywhere except the Americas
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
Exactly. The only different ones are the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean models (on top of the US and Canadian variants). The i9305 is the international LTE variant.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 2
[Galaxy S III General] eia2088:
I just heard of SDS today and I am on my 13th day with my galaxy s3.

I am in a panic mode since I still have until tomorrow to return this phone if I dont like it, as per replacement warranty period.

i am new to android and I am enjoying the experience so much that I am hesitant to return this phone.

I just wanted to know if my s3 is in the risk of this SDS:

IMEI is 353...

Got this from virgin mobile canada

White 16gb

Model SGH-I747M
[Galaxy S III General] eia2088:
I am backreading on this thread at the moment but I just want straight answers while I find some useful answers myself. Thanks guys.
[Galaxy S III General] Kjc99:
Don't worry about it... It looks like you have different S3 not the international quad core GT-I9300 which has the Sudden death issue so have fun with it there pretty sweet phones
[Galaxy S III General] aalvico:
You are safe
[Galaxy S III General] eia2088:
Oh god. That was a relief. Well not completely though. :p thanks guys.

---------- Post added at 12:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:43 AM ----------

This is insane. (Well literally the chips are insane, not all.) You know how it's like you're in American Idol and then the judges say "You're safe!" And you are like WOOOOOH!!!!

THANKS AGAIN guys.
[Galaxy S III General] goranbm:
I bought yesterday 16GB white S3... IMEI starts with 353, and iz has thah fault cjip, but I have 21 months of guarentee, so i will go for it. 4.1.2 XELLA is on the phone. Wish me luck.
[Galaxy S III General] MalboX:
Do not forget to use the hashtag #gs3suddendeath ;)
[Galaxy S III General] dzigy:
Back from service

Hello all!!

My phone is back from Offical service after 20 days, and it's repaired. They sad motherboard has died and they replaced it for free.

So my story is happy ending. :cool:

Good luck to all of you!! :)
[Galaxy S III General] leijonasisu:
What happened: Working like an absolute dream one minute, dead the next [Explained in detail below]

What ROM/Firmware: AHDR 17 (Android HD Revolution)

What kernel: Pegasus 23 (the Pegasus one inc. with AHDR aroma installer 17)

OC or UV: None of that, stock voltages.

Where phone was made: Finland (AFAIK) was a DNA issued one on a plan.

Where battery was made: Cell made in Korea, Assembled in China (it says on back of Battery)

Detailed explanation:​

I was using a custom rom AHDR 17 (Android HD Revolution) for 3 weeks without a single issue.

Last night I went to bed with the phone on 88% battery and woke up 6 hours later to find it completely flat beyond belief. I couldn't believe this because with AHDR I could let my phone stay idling for 3 hours before losing a single 1% of battery.

After plugging it in and letting it charge, I booted it up to find that half my widgets and etc. had been removed and half of the apps I had set up weeks ago no longer remembered any of the data that I had put in them.

I set up a few of the widgets again and then went back to sleep for an hour.

I woke up again to find it off, but fully charged and now it won't boot at all. It never gets past the 'Galaxy S3 GT-I9300' screen etc.

I tried flashing AHDR 17 again from Clockwork Recovery after doing a wipe cache, factory data reset and wipe dalvik cache.

The aroma installer won't get past 0% before it reboots straight back to that 'Galaxy S3 GT-I9300' screen.

I then tried flashing over Slimbean but the same thing, it won't get past 0% on aroma no matter what options I choose.

I then tried flashing via ODIN an Official Stock ROM: I9300XXELK4 but I got this error:

So I tried again with a different Stock ROM: I9300XXELL4

but I got the same error.

Then I tried flashing this stock ROM: GT-I9300_XEO_I9300XXALEF_I9300OXFALEA_I9300XXLEF

with an included .pit file that was supposed to work and allow a repartiton but I got this error this time:

So no matter what it seems I am unable to repartiton my device and/or flash anything either via Recovery or via ODIN.

Does anyone have any info as to what my options could be? My download mode shows that I have an 'Official' Samsung binary. So I am not sure if my warranty is void or not. But I am not particularly in the mood for returning my device 7 days before Chrstimas as I probably won't get it back until late January next year.

I am stumped as to how this could have happened and I no longer care how my phone went from working better than I had ever had it work in its entire life, to suddenly as dead as a door nail.. I just want it working again.

Thanks will be given to any replies and I will consider absolutely everything, unless it involves microwaving my phone LOL!
[Galaxy S III General] Runeha:
317 engesso

I'll add mine.

What happened: Notification blinking, did not wake up when pressing home button. (not in charger)

What ROM/Firmware: CM10, late Nov nightly.

What kernel: Default CM10.

OC or UV: No.

Where phone was made: No idea.

Where battery was made: No idea.

Purchase date: 26.06.2012, Norway.

No download mode, no response when plugging inn charger.

Sent to service 10.12.2012, arrived today in mail. Motherboard replaced on warranty.