yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S III General] jay_m3:
am on XXELLA and i'll keep it until i get an update for 4.2.2, hope nothing happens in between :)
[Galaxy S III General] Scarface1991:
Hey guys I didn't visit this thread for quite some time and I'm interested if by now there was a case where a person suffered a SDS even with the fix included? Last time I visited there was no case like that to my knowledge.
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Nothing that can be substantiated / fully qualified as being SDS
[Galaxy S III General] SiriusCybernetik:
Just out of curiosity, is there anybody watching this thread, whose S3 is older than 10 month and is on "non-safe" firmware and has not yet suffered SDS?
[Galaxy S III General] jay_m3:
Me :D
[Galaxy S III General] SiriusCybernetik:
Unless you are the only one left who watches this thread, you should be experiencing sds very soon. That is from a statistical point of view.

Do you keep regular backups of your pictures and other stuff on internal SD card?

Edit: or if you don't mind having a phone that may have suffered non-recoverable wear for over 10 month, you could also consider upgrading to a safer firmware... :rolleyes:
[Galaxy S III General] jay_m3:
Oh sorry mate! Been a little bit tipsy when I answered yr post!:p in fact am on the safe firmware since it was released.. I thinh the elkc.. now am on xxella since January I guess.sorry again cuz I d I didn't read all yr post
[Galaxy S III General] - JaY -:
Hey guys, checked my emmc. And it is the faulty one. Been using the phone without problem till today. The phone repeatedly freeze permanently and the only way to reboot is via hold power button(10sec) or remove the battery. Tried factory reset and even flashing new ROMs and still the same.. Planning to go for warranty claim. May I know which part causes this? The motherboard or the internal memory? Or should I replace both? Thanks..
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
You will struggle getting anything replaced unless its dead
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
Which is a reason I went to the Note 2. No symptoms on my S3 but I don't feel like waiting.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 2
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
I wanted a note 2 before SDS I just couldn't afford to make the switch.

Already suffered sds. I'm not bothered by it now. I'm patched up safe.
[Galaxy S III General] Ivanovic:
A friend of mine got the sds but it's really weird. It boots only into download mode. If he tries to boot it up normally then he gets snowy noise(no reception on analog tv) on the screen. Anyone had this before?

On the road using my HOX
[Galaxy S III General] - JaY -:
I can get it replaced, just need to know which part is broken.. any idea whether is the memory or motherboard?
[Galaxy S III General] lokhor:
Is there a way to force sds if you know your device is on the way out?
[Galaxy S III General] SiriusCybernetik:
May I ask what firmware you are on?
[Galaxy S III General] - JaY -:
I am on RootBox v3.9.1 stable. previously tried Omega latest ROM and it wont go pass the "welcome to android" setup screen. it will just freeze there permanently and even after reboot still stays the same, so i flashed back my old rom which is the rootbox. initially going ok, and now it happens again. the problem occured randomly, when using/not using the phone.
[Galaxy S III General] Amy611:
Congrats to the release guys!
[Galaxy S III General] veteran_troller:
Which release?

Sent from my GT-I9300
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Well for you, no part is broken. You have buggy firmware in your eMMC that could have led to excessive wear of the eMMC but you're using safe kernel so its unlikely to happen. This is why you'll struggle. Very few (if any) have managed yo get anything replaced BEFORE it broke
[Galaxy S III General] sewer56lol:
He could have been affected before SDS patch.
[Galaxy S III General] RohanAJoshi:
If you are in warranty, Better you flash official 4.0.4 firmware and let your phone go to death, then you will get replacement..

Better to do fast, me also waiting for freezes..

Else use freeze free firmware..
[Galaxy S III General] veteran_troller:
I used the emmc check app and , it says I have insane chip . Then I did the memory check and it passed . I am using philz recovery and latest Emc3 firmware and sds patched kernel ... what is my situation?

Sent from my GT-I9300
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
What bootloader?
[Galaxy S III General] veteran_troller:
Sorry but how do I check bootloader version?

Sent from my GT-I9300
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=40600770&postcount=2471
[Galaxy S III General] veteran_troller:
Omg thanks man!! Its XXELC

Sent from my GT-I9300
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
XXELKC?
[Galaxy S III General] veteran_troller:
Oh I missed one l its xxellc

Sent from my GT-I9300
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
OK that's pretty old but it's new enough to be "safe". Not being safe here would mean you should not use Download mode, but you should be OK.

Your situation is good. Just don't flash anything old onto your device :)
[Galaxy S III General] veteran_troller:
Thanks man! I was wondering if anyone on 4.1.2 had faced sds? Also I should consider myself safe from sds if I stay updated ?

Sent from my GT-I9300
[Galaxy S III General] - JaY -:
What does this means? Just about time my phone goes dead? Cause I can get it replaced due to close relationship with the Samsung Service centre. I just need advice on which part to be replaced.. is it the motherboard or the memory storage? or need to replace both? Will be reflashing back to stock ROM and remove the flash counter.
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Its the firmware on the eMMC. Ones that have been repaired have usually had the entire motherboard replaced.

No, you need to use triangle away, however if you have a bootloader that came with 4.1.2, you would need to reset with triangle away and then interrupt the boot sequence immediately after reset (otherwise counter goes up again) - Then boot download mode and flash
[Galaxy S III General] - JaY -:
so it is the motherboard.. how do i check which bootloader i had? my initial plan was flash triangle away and then flash stock official ROM. mind giving me step by step as i am kinda confused by ur statement if you dont mind. :)
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Check bootloader, read one page back. Triangle away is an apk.

No its not the motherboard. Its the eMMC
[Galaxy S III General] - JaY -:
so i should ask the Service Centre to change/reflash my eMMC? are any parts damaged? cause i've been force restarting via hold power(10sec) and remove battery for like 30-50 times this week alone. thanks, youve been very helpful :)

EDIT: btw my bootloader is I9300XXBLH1
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
That bootloader needs no special attention . Reset counter in triangle away then bootdownload mode and flash stock rom. That could cause SDS though.
[Galaxy S III General] - JaY -:
will do. Thanks alot! any special note i must tell the SC to focus the repair on?
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Not really, not all Samsung acknowledges the issue. You have buggy eMMC firmware which means the eMMC needs to be replaced, which may mean they need to replace the motherboard, but whether or not you can get that, I don't know.
[Galaxy S III General] cereal86:
My bootloader is XXBLFB, do i need to do something?
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Read all of post 1 here

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=36499838

Its a sticky thread, how did you miss it?
[Galaxy S III General] andrewilley:
Darn, looks like my game of Russian Roulette backfired. :( I knew I'd got the Insane chip and was looking around at ROMs which would fix this, but was holding off for some software I regularly use to be updated so I could go from 4.0.4 straight to 4.2.2. There are millions of S3s out there, what are the odds of it hitting me, eh?

Then I leave my phone on charge overnight last night, and guess what? Dead as a dodo this morning, no charge light, nothing when I press power, and still dead when I put in my spare battery. :( Phone call to Samsung service on the way this morning.

I also just remembered that these things use micro-SIMs rather than just mini, so I can't just pop my current SIM back into my old HTC Desire Z without getting an adapter. Darn.

Andre
[Galaxy S III General] jay_m3:
matter of fact, it is possible to replace eMMC, even you can find it at market and 16 Gb cost about 15$, but problem is the replacement, you will need an infrared station with 50 % of chance of success

http://www.google.tn/imgres?sa=X&hl...bnh=159&tbnw=306&start=0&ndsp=18&tx=168&ty=64
[Galaxy S III General] tshoulihane:
100%, as I understand, with the old kernel. Not wishing to blame you for making the mistake, but hoping to save anyone else from making the same mistake. The reason it hasn't affected most of those millions must be down to people accepting the pushed firmware updates or never having updated (I think very early firmwares were also safe?)

Bottom line - Don't wait, kernel update is critical.

Hope you get some luck through warranty...
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Possible is one thing. Economically viable is another.
[Galaxy S III General] andrewilley:
Don't worry, no one else to blame but me! I shouldn't have waited after knowing that I had the insane chip issue, given the ROM that I was using - I just didn't want a JB ROM on that device as yet. Oh well, gonna get one now anyway.

I've already spoken to the local warranty service centre and will be dropping it in to them this afternoon. They say they will replace the main board, which is fine by me as that way I'll get a non-bugged eMMC chip (I've got a nandroid backup from two weeks ago, and a Titanium incremental from two days ago, so no biggie; I can actually revert to my ICS setup if I want to, or just stick with JB and Titanium restore).

Andre
[Galaxy S III General] jay_m3:
that's absolutely right, but am talkin abt a dead phones without warranty so ownres can give a go as they have nothing to lose anyways
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Good point. I'd ask one of the engineers at work to try it :)
[Galaxy S III General] f(x)THaxxorX:
Happened to me huhuhu last :/
[Galaxy S III General] jay_m3:
would you explain how?
[Galaxy S III General] coolacrille:
Let's say I just bought a brand new S3. These issues hould be ironed out right?
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
If not by using an updated eMMC firmware, then by having the latest samsung Builds on there, it will be yes. It would be hard to buy a new S3 that was from November last year so the former is most likely the case now.
[Galaxy S III General] goranbm:
I have a question, i have fault eMMC chip, but i am on XELLA firmware now, and i don't have any freezes or problems, yet. Should i update to XXEMC2 when it arrives for my operator, or should i stay with XXELLA ??
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
It's always best to update. The latest Samsung builds have a better SDS fix than older versions of 4.1.2 based Samsung builds.
[Galaxy S III General] jay_m3:
i have same case, as long you are covered, so dont worry, may be you would like to wait and update to 4.2 straight away
[Galaxy S III General] nm8:
Any idea when the 4.2 update will be? Or is it just rumours and speculations again?

I'm really thinking of selling my S3 and getting a shiny S4, but I asked a simple question and my thread got locked...don't know what I missed, maybe someone posting something not nice...

In fact I have preordered it from amazon but cancelled it, now I want to order again but amazon has closed preorders... maybe in the next couple of days...
[Galaxy S III General] jay_m3:
many sites, insiders, are talking about S3 update 4.2 and 5.0, anyway, am pretty sure that its coming in the air

about S4, i dont think it is worthy because it didnt really bring somthing "wow!" personally i would wait for the next flagship
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
Yeah. Aside from a spec jump, it's nothing special. The S3 i9300/i9305 are powerful as is. I'm sticking to my Note 2. Might skip the S4 or buy one far into its life. Or I'll see if the Note 3 brings anything new.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 2
[Galaxy S III General] rgschr:
Hey guys, I need help with my samsung S3. My phone has been freezing up for the last month and I tried to read this thread to find the solution but Im even more confused :( I called samsung and they can't fix my phone (I live in canada but I bought it in qatar) so im freaking out. Can someone please tell me what i need to do to fix it??
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Update to the latest OS version.

All builds after MA2 have V2 fix which doesnt cause freezing.
[Galaxy S III General] rgschr:
I checked for an update but it says I have the latest one (4.1.2) and sorry but Im not a tech savvy person so I have no clue about these things...
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
In which case, you will have to wait for a newer release. Not every carrier has the latest yet
[Galaxy S III General] andrewilley:
Well I can't fault Samsung's Birmingham UK service centre (run by Intercity Mobile). I dropped my S3 in to them this morning, and had a call about half-an-hour ago to say it's ready, motherboard replaced and slightly loose back cover clip fixed while they were at it. Nice!

I won't quite be able to get back to them in time to pick it up before they close tonight, but excellent service anyway. :good:

Andre
[Galaxy S III General] rgschr:
And pray my phone doesnt die for good before, right?? My bootloader is XXEMA2 does that mean my phone has a high risk of dying soon?? Thanks for your help btw
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Its not going to die probably. You have the fix, just only V1 of the fix that has symptoms of freezes. The freezes are the fix working so dont worry about dying.
[Galaxy S III General] rgschr:
Oh really??? Thats great!!! Thank you so much !!!!
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Then V2 of the fix freezes much less.
[Galaxy S III General] rgschr:
and the V2 only comes with the update right?? i think i get it now.. Thanks a lot ^^
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Yes.

So

XXELKC (means 2012 December, revision 12)

to

XXEMA2 (means 2013 January, revision 2)

Has v1

XXEMB1 (means 2013 February, revision 1)

to

Date

Has v2
[Galaxy S III General] jay_m3:
Ok. Saying am on XELLA , which is revision 1, and I never had a freeze or crush, does this mean am not bothered to update my s3 to revision 2?
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
I'm using "revision" for samsung rom/kernel builds. Lets use "version" for the fix.

I would still update. The v2 fix improves freezing but no doubt it improves other elements of prevention.

I'm not saying to rush and upgrade outside of your natural update cycle, but no need to avoid updating
[Galaxy S III General] pgregg:
Sadface

So, I had never heard of this issue - until today, when I woke up and lifted my phone to check email like I always do. Instead of the lock screen I'm looking at the Boot splash (Samsung Galaxy SIII GT-I9300 in white text on a black background, not the swoosh animation).

Tried Soft reboot, hard reboot, battery pull... 2 minute battery pull. Same result. My phone is now an advertisement screen telling me its name.

Googling led me here, to find this is a known problem (I think, because I can't find anyone explicitly detailing the symptoms of the sudden death).

My phone was bought in September, so it is 6 months old - almost 7 months. IMEI begins 353 and I think it got the stock JB update soon after it was released. I haven't had a software update in months I presume because the phone is/was rooted for Titanium Backup; but it was on Stock ROM. If Samsung had pushed a fix for this, they were not giving it to me because they refuse to offer OTA updates for rooted phones. In this case, I'm in the UK and both UK and EU law has me covered - so Samsung will have to fix this under warranty. I just hope it is done quickly.
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
If its rooted, samsung wont fix it under warranty. That EU directive you mentioned does not enforce the extended warranty Samsung provide over and above the warranty from where you bought the phone.

If the phone came from a carrier or shop, you should return it there because they're the true warranty givers. Samsung have denied EVERY rooted phone warranty. Even when people mention the EU directive.

You may have more.luck with the carrier but even this is difficult when citing the EU directive.

I sincerely wish you the best of luck
[Galaxy S III General] nm8:
I have noticed in the past few days, when I disconnect from the charger, the charging light takes a while for it to ho off and my phone does not respond untill the led light is off, is this a sign of sds? Btw mine is 0xf7 chip ... im a bit scared now.
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
No its not and you have the unaffected chip;
[Galaxy S III General] andrewilley:
If the phone is a 100% brick due to the eMMC Sudden Death issue, I'm wondering how they would ever know if it had been rooted or not? If they need to simply replace the main board, surely that's basically a whole new phone as far as memory/firmware/etc are concerned?

Andre
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
They can't tell if its a 100% brick. The person I replied to has a 50% brick though (or half SDS as its become not-so-affectionately known).

In the half sds, you can still boot into download mode and see the flash counter.

What's even worse is that half sds screws with the bit of the emmc that download mode checks to see if its official. In other words, half sds makes even UNROOTED phones "custom".

Almost all half sds victims have had warranty denied. I'm not sure if anyone had half sds fixed under warranty - including unrooted users
[Galaxy S III General] jay_m3:
Ok then, which version you advise :)
[Galaxy S III General] ereziel:
It is useless to cite EU directive. Instead, you have to look if that directive is implemented in your contry. That is the only way to assure a proper assistance.

For example, in Spain you have two years warranty per hardware, so if hardware is faulty it is illegal to claim a software change as a reason not to repair it.
[Galaxy S III General] andrewilley:
Just picked up my S3 from the service centre and they have replaced the main board. The eMMC check now shows that I have a Sane chip - eMMC VTU00M, 12/2012, 0XF7. :good:

Long term, I want to put in a new AOKP 4.2.2 ROM, but given the above info am I safe just re-installing my nandroid backup of ICS 4.0.4 (Lite) in the meantime, as I just want to restore a working setup for now. Or should I stay with the 4.1.2 bloatwared JB that is now installed and just root it? (Build JZ054K.I9300XXEMC2, same baseband, kernel 3.0.31-1042335, 11 Mar 2013)

Andre
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
You're safe.

I would just root and backup what you have now, then go straight to AOKP without setting things up. Little more pain at the beginning but cleaner in the long run.
[Galaxy S III General] andrewilley:
Thanks. I was going to root and nandroid backup this supplied stock 4.1.2 anyway, just in case. I might yet restore my 4.0.4 just to get me running quicker, as I won't have much time for messing until the weekend and it'll give me a chance to tidily save settings for desktops/widgets, etc before migrating (although I think Nova Launcher setup will probably fully restore via Titanium anyway, unlike the stock launcher, so might not be much of an issue).

Time to go on a 4.2.2 hunt anyway; I wonder if Infamous AOKP is available for the S3, as it's very nice on my 10.1 tab.

But the important question was am I safe to mess around with kernals/etc risking eMMC issues, so thank you for that.

Andre
[Galaxy S III General] Konnichy:
In my case, I could access download mode (although repair service failed to reflash the ROM). So this seems to be what you call "half SDS".

The phone was not rooted and I don't remember whether download mode said it was original or custom. But I had no warranty problem.
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
That's good. It may be they didn't check. Or maybe they appreciate the problem more now? At worst, its a good result for you!
[Galaxy S III General] stalion:
im scared!

first of all, please excuse my poor english...

im scared as s**t! im i unsafe? 4.1.2 omega ROM 43.3, Boeffla kernel 2.10 beta2...

BOOTLOADER i9300UBELL6

OR

should i flash this on ODIN?

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=36198777&postcount=187

or may be the XXEMC3 bootloader from here http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2189063

last question: flashing a new bootloader will factory reset my phone?
[Galaxy S III General] goranbm:
Did you even read the first post ?? Did you check your eMMC chip revision ?? That is the way to see if you are safe or not... So do it first....
[Galaxy S III General] stalion:
already do it, thats why im posting here...

VTU00M

0Xf1

SI. CHIP CON PELIGRO

yes, its the unsafe chip... but here in the post everybody are talking about fix... so... im i in risk? already post a screenshot

please dont punish me...in spanish i can read all the things you want... and yes, ive read almost all the post but still unsure
[Galaxy S III General] f(x)THaxxorX:
eMMC :).. Sir..
[Galaxy S III General] TomWis97:
Bootloop

Yesterday, my (one week old, stock) S3 decided that it wanted to go in a bootloop. I went to the Samsung service center, and all they did was doing a factory reset.

I woke up with an LED flashing blue and white, just the same as when you boot up.

Again a bootloop.

I ain't going to do a factory reset by myself, now I can show them it's wrong again. I don't have the insane ship that causes trouble, and this is my software version (screenshot made when it was not in a bootloop for a couple of hours):
[Galaxy S III General] SamGold:
Sudden Death

I was charging my phone overnight, woke up and it would not turn on.

Tried taking out the battery

tried hard reset

nothing worked

A very frustrating experience
[Galaxy S III General] effepas:
Do you have the "insane eMMC chip"? Did your phone were stock or rooted / modded? In that case, what firmware (stock or custom) you were using? Which recovery / bootloader?

I'm really sorry for your phone, but sharing information could be useful for others to prevent the same issue on their phones.

Let us know if you find a solution.
[Galaxy S III General] jay_m3:
I bet you weren't aware about this topic until you got your phone dead, sorry about it mate, would you please share with us your eMMC & rom version if you remember them ?

---------- Post added at 02:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:04 PM ----------

OK, it's eMMC, but we wanna know you were on which rom version wen it happened :)
[Galaxy S III General] kevinoxy:
unfortunately, I have the insane chip in my unit.

eMMC: VTU00M

FW Rev: 0xF1

OMG! Luckily it isn't dead yet. phew. I have installed the latest Nightly of CyagonenMod 10.1 in it. (last week's actually)

That is CM 10.1 Nightly 2010426.

And according to this thread right here, I am safe (since I got the fix integrated in the custom kernel provided by CM, right? )

Here's the section that I'm referring to the said thread:

I was relieved in reading this.. But I'm not 100% sure that I am really really really really safe.. Can you give me the confirmation for this thought guys? Thanks!
[Galaxy S III General] wertk1:
My phone died yesterday...

Huh..my phone died yesterday while charging. I have seen it with red LED on and that's it, it was unresponsive to any other action.

No download mode..no recovery mode..absolutly nothing.

I wonder if this will work : http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=41037524&posted=1#post41037524

Some people is telling me that i need to change the motherboard..this is the only way to resolve the problem.

I don't have warranty ...i have buyed it from eBay..so...i need to resolve the problem with my pocket or with my brain.