yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S III General] Scarface1991:
What firmware and kernel were you running?
[Galaxy S III General] leroytorner:
LOL
[Galaxy S III General] T0xic4u:
And what Firmware/Kernel were you running?

Taper di Tap with my S3 @182 days
[Galaxy S III General] tcpma:
where is the truth?

This thread say: stock XELLA or custom rom with custom kernel Perseus Kernel V30.1+custom recovery PhilZ Recovery V4

An other thread ( [Important] Sudden Death Fix - Are you covered?") says: stock rom from XXELKC to XELLC without root or stock rom from XXELKC to XELLC with root and one of 5 custom kernel and custom recovery PhilZ Recovery V4 or custom rom based on stock rom from XXELKC to XELLC
[Galaxy S III General] aalvico:
Unfortunately I have the problematic emmc (04/12) and I had the 1st leacked 4.1.1 until 1st 4.1.2 from omega than moved to turkbey which last update was ELKC ...now changed kernel to perseus and recovery to phil (so think I am "safe" but totally exposed).

I checked that last official update from samsung here for unbranded phones still is 4.1.1 on October and from my carrier same on November

I still didnt find any problem reported from devices made in Brazil (probably the components come from same place so I think that would not matter)

Considering there is no official update for 4.1.2 sounds safier keep what I have now (or go back to official ics :/)

Is weird to know that being that problem so serious why even for unbranded phones there is no update here ?

Anyway here should be or will be the paradise of broken phones.... hopefully I will think that there is more involved than think samsung is so lazy that prefer fix phones than update.
[Galaxy S III General] invinciblecc:
Guys what setting in yanks kernel is safe for ac current charging I have it set to 1100 is it safe to change to 1200
[Galaxy S III General] Jay794:
Not sure about endlees loops or sudden death, my S3 does get a lot of freezing and random reboots, I think its due to overheating 46°c seems pretty hot for a phone
[Galaxy S III General] marvi0:
Having read most posts am convinced it's mostly the launch day devices that suffer from this syndrome because I bought mine launch day, it was running latest siyah kernel and omega 34,the latest and I noticed in the last 2 days before it packed up, the phone was having random re boots that could not be cured by wipes, until I started getting error catch in cmw and then I could no longer boot the gadget, not impressed to find this is now becoming a common phenomena, i hope they replace mine with at least a 32gig model.
[Galaxy S III General] b0gd4n:
Hey guys.

Here's my case:

I left it charging over night, in the morning pulled it out - battery 100% - and play on it for about 5 mins.

After that I simply left the phone on the table, and after a couple of hours, when I picked it up to make a phone call, the phone was shut down.

I tried to turn it on - nothing. Tried the 3-button combinations, nothing! I pulled the battery out and everything - nothing.

I then left it for charge for about 10-15 mins and then tried again - nothing (

Left it charging for a couple of hours, also tried with a other 3 chargers and cables - nope!

I went to a samsung store and tried a new battery, same same

EDIT: on Syah 1.8 + Omega v34

EDIT2: any ideas on how to make sure the mobo is dead so that they wont see if I have a custom rom on it? :D
[Galaxy S III General] Mister B:
So anyone had the Sudden Death symptoms (not bootloop) on later new colour models (brown/grey etc) & do all the later models seem to have revision 1.400 mainboard ...

1yr warranty & weak nand or other board or charge control issue is a serious buyer concern ...

S3 ticks a few critical boxes for me such as removable batt & sd card slot but risk of crap hardware in a close to 600USD handset & having experience in Sammy's sh1t3 service centres & "blame you" support makes me want spend elsewhere or at least do some serious research prior to a purchase.
[Galaxy S III General] pedropac72:
Is there any solution to boot loop? Because when I suffered it I didn't find anyone using Odin.

Enviado desde mi SGS3 reparado tras la Muerte Súbita usando Tapatalk
[Galaxy S III General] sodeknetters:
There's no-one in this thread actually reporting a boot loop... seriously

Boot-loop is what happens if something goes wrong in the ROM, causing the phone to boot, develop an error, reboot, works until it runs into the error again, reboot, ad infinitum.

In most of the cases described in this thread (like mine) the phone doesnt even start to boot, and freezes at the logo screen.

Boot-loop can be fixed by flashing a stock rom through download mode. If the download mode says Product code (empty) etc, forget it. the phone is dead. And it happened suddenly (except for 1 person here who reported complete general power failure after first warning signs).

So yeah.. Suddenly, Dead.. sound almost like sudden death.

What we have seen so far are just different versions of sudden death:

1) really dead - doesnt do anything, screen stays off leds stay off -> general power failure

2) giving false hope, still dead - goes to initialise logo screen, can open download mode, but trying to reflash anything fails -> NAND memory fubar

Both are serious, hardware related problems
[Galaxy S III General] pedropac72:
Thank you very much.

That is I was meaning. There is a boot loop way that is a Suddenly Dead, the same you described. It was what happened to me. Boot loop but no solution at all. Only mainboard change.

Enviado desde mi SGS3 reparado tras la Muerte Súbita usando Tapatalk
[Galaxy S III General] ntheother:
SG3 won't even flash stock using Odin3

Hello,

What happened:

The screen stopped responding a few times, so I had to restart the phone. After a while, the screen would hang on the Samsung logo screen. I tried leaving it for a while, but it still wouldn't continue booting. Kies wouldn't pick up the device so I thought it would be pointless and I might as well flash a stock ROM. I tried Odin3 but it continued to fail. The only screen I'm able to get to is the Odin Mode. I was reading on another website that the partition table could be corrupted and I should flash a pit file. After doing some research and reading all the "don't go near a pit file EVER" threads, I stopped in fear of going to a point of no return. I'm completely dumbstruck and unsure where to go from here.

What ROM/Firmware:

Unrooted Stock 4.1.2 (not sure.. maybe it was 4.1.1)

What kernel:

Don't know.

OC or UV:

No idea what this means.

Where phone was made:

No idea, I purchased it from the Carphone Warehouse UK in May.

Where battery was made:

Made in Korea, Assembled in Vietnam
[Galaxy S III General] PjotrFias:
Sorry, service center is the only way to go.
[Galaxy S III General] DevilDuck81:
I had the same problem like (b0gd4n) Today .. My SGS3 was in my pocket with 30% left in battery and 5 minutes later, I wanted to make a call and found it off .. black screen and won't turn on .. I removed battery and put back, nothing .. I kept it on charger for over an hour, nothing .. I connected it to PC thinkin it just might turn on or show any kind of hope !! Nothing !! .. I'm on stock JB .. I guess I have to use the warranty !
[Galaxy S III General] Obagleyfreer:
You really can't make that assumption.

The S3 is one of the most popular smart phones at the moment with over 30 million sold. I bet 95% of people who own an S3 don't even know that XDA exists (look at how many members there are across the whole of XDA), let alone what rooting and customs ROMs etc are.

Both my parents own an S3, many of their friends, my Father in law and even my Grandmother. I can tell you that none of them know about XDA and just use their phone "normally".

Basically what I'm saying is that the cases of "sudden death" reported in this thread probably don't even make up 1% of the actual cases worldwide.

what we need to do is compare with another popular device on this forum....the S2?

Does the S2 have a "sudden death" forum? Not that I know of.

So this really is a big issue in my opinion, especially for a flagship device that isn't cheap.
[Galaxy S III General] InfX:
After a quick doze of Google... - http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1876232
[Galaxy S III General] Obagleyfreer:
In that case lets hope Samsung sort out their quality control for the S4!
[Galaxy S III General] Motogp1:
Another one to join the sudden death club.

My phone is totally stock (uk) running official jb Rom.

Same as most really coming home from work phone is on charge in the car and it disconnects from bluetooth I think nothing of it as this occasionaly happens, gave its minute phone was totally unresponsive so I pull battery out and all is ok on reboot.

Phone on charge during the night pick it up this morning and its dead nothing I do works , download recovery ect it is fried.:(
[Galaxy S III General] b0gd4n:
I am going to take my s3 to the repair centre this Friday. I just read on the site that they will charge £50 diagnostic if the phone is out of warranty, and then tell you the actual price of the repair :(

If they manage to turn the phone on and check the flash count, I'm kinda' screwed...

Any ideas on how to make sure that they will not be able to see the flash count, but not void the warranty in some other ways?

:( sad days! :(
[Galaxy S III General] Mister B:
You could zap it with a stun gun, lol ...

After reading this thread & doing some google research S3 is off my shopping list.

No way I am taking the risk on a close to 600USD device ... I need a device with good chance of 3yr lifespan & not living in fear every time it needs a charge will be it's last one ...

Amazing how hard it is to buy a decent phone these days even for serious cash !
[Galaxy S III General] Raghav_K:
Mine just died today morning... Was on charger from 10pm, unplugged at 3am,was working, and i found it gone when i woke up at 6am again..

Boo... Was rooted n was on custom rom n kernel... Just wishing d motherboard is gone so sammy service cannot find out that i ve rooted..

Sigh!!
[Galaxy S III General] NetCopAD:
Another one bites the dust

Mine died this morning also.

15 minutes after checking my mail it would'n unlock so I tried to reset holding the power button - did not work. Battery pull didn't help either. Plugged into charger - nothing.

It's off for repair.

i9300 white 16GB no OC running Omega v34 (not that the software matters anyway)
[Galaxy S III General] aureum:
Wow.. i'm **** my panties read all abot this :(

Maybe this is something related to the Samsung Event "Something New Is Coming January 2013"... Maybe they installed a suicide switch to kill our galaxys to convince us to buy s4?!

But i have some sympthomes too...

My phone starting after update (poland 4.1.2) loosing service (no service randomly appears on notification), disconnecting from pochet data in one minute 3 times...

Have some problems with notification LED.... When i charge it sometimes black, sometimes red... And it not showing Green one when it's fully charged...

Something big is coming to my phone...

Ps. Also 2 times my phone get really hot, just laing on the desk i take the phone and it was hot like 50 C deegree.. I turn it off wait to cool down and switch again.. Battery stat showing mediascanner that it my battery...
[Galaxy S III General] Motogp1:
I called Orange (uk) apparently they have had quite a few die like this.

A new phone is on its way to me delivery between 6-10 tonight ,let's hope this one last a bit longer.
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
I know you're not picking on me ;)

One thing though, we have a unrooted, stock user with XXELLA who reported SDS, so if Entropy's Educated guess about the wear leveller hitting a block and triggering the bug is correct, then these fixes do not work.

My only point being, we cannot start to say whether the SDS fixes even work until we have seen factory units shipping with 4.1.2 not SDS'ing

But then they probably changed the firmware date anyway...
[Galaxy S III General] pickandwhammy:
Wait, this user WAS on the faulty firmware without a patch for some time, wasn't s/he? Regardless of root.
[Galaxy S III General] T0xic4u:
What User are we talking about. There are so many and after a bit Investition we found out, that they weren't covered because of using unpached kernel.

Taper di Tap with my S3 @182 days
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Quite probably. But if the wear levelling triggers a bug at a certain point (as per Entropy's idea), and the fix stops the bug triggering, predisposition wouldn't actually exist. There is no build up. It's either "bricked" or "Not bricked"

Think its a different case.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2089302
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
Uhh...because it's true? A bootloader can only be flashed through ODIN on PC.
[Galaxy S III General] pickandwhammy:
Checked the thread

1) He's apparently been using his phone for over 6 months - that's a lot of wear before XXELLA was flashed, if I'm not mistaken?

2) He managed to fix it :eek:

Even if it was a death, doesn't point (1) justify it?

And point (2) sort of eliminates the possibility of this being SDS, doesn't it?
[Galaxy S III General] qavro:
From what we know SDS cannon be revived, so i doubt that he had an SDS. But some people here on XDA should really read what DEATH means. Most of them associate death with faint, coma, semi-death and other similar idiotic ideas.
[Galaxy S III General] kaiur:
This user (ApresVu) is not very reliable. Review the entire post.
[Galaxy S III General] pickandwhammy:
LOL! :D
[Galaxy S III General] cybdani:
This is not totally true.

I've made a zip CWM Recovery flashable to downgrade bootloader to ALE8. Here https://www.box.com/s/ghacs6og9sb9ggdoa3c0

And works fine.
[Galaxy S III General] qavro:
This is a bit "around the corner", but how can we have CWM without odin in the first place?
[Galaxy S III General] cybdani:
:good:

But you cannot downgrade bootloader using odin pc if XXELLA or XXELLC bootloader is installed, because are blacklisted. Or is it possible?
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
Somebody had SDS and was able to use a USB Jig (like the ones from the GS2) to get into download mode and then flash through ODIN. I don't know if it was real SDS, but he said his phone wouldn't power on at ALL, just like people who had it. If my phone dies from SDS, I'll try it because I have a jig, but to my understanding, it shouldn't be possible.
[Galaxy S III General] KPlax:
Like Brain neurons , once the chip is death is unrecoverable unless the manofacturer have some special tool for this.
[Galaxy S III General] cristian274:
according to my knowledge, SDS does not affect S3 for US market. so peace your mind:good:
[Galaxy S III General] Plymouthbiker:
RIP Blue S3 29/05/12 to 12/01/13

Another one bites the dust..... 16gb pebble blue i9300 UK

Put on charge Friday night

Only boot screen Saturday morning... then after removing battery... nothing....

Bought direct from T-mobile UK. Given to my local Carphone warehouse today and they said they would send it away for repair. (14/01/2013) and said it would most likely be a free repair or replacement and have had a few in (although they wouldnt tell me if others have the same issue)

It is a standard phone and not changed in any way.

Used quite heavily and not had samsungs latest update as I didn't know there was one ready.

Born (bought not delivered) 29th May 2012

Died 12th January 2013

Aprox 230 days, give two weeks from them emailing me.
[Galaxy S III General] hermeson:
It does so Cristina, mine was bought in Miami, after 4 months SD =/
[Galaxy S III General] pickandwhammy:
I think his nick is "cristian", and he meant the NON international variant. You seem to be using the I9300?
[Galaxy S III General] fmtrx:
Let's not be pessimists, there is always the option to activate the alternative power route from the reserved cell, as in Terminator 2!
[Galaxy S III General] cile381:
Each of the S3 16 GB model has eMMC chip VTUOOM with firmware 0xf1, better check the HW rev. MP 1.x00,although it is a relative thing.

A 500k dead phones (surely not that much) is only 1% of the total sales of the S3 ... :D so relaxed, and enjoy your phone! Even if he dies I bought it, and not on me :)
[Galaxy S III General] hermeson:
Sorry, mistyped the nick, and I borrow my cousins S3, coz of my work. Sent mine to service center, let's what they say
[Galaxy S III General] yahyoh:
OMG don't play with BL in CWM u can brick ur device then u will need Jtag

the safest way to flash bootloader is Odin or ota
[Galaxy S III General] htcsnap93:
LOL you are replying the exact same thing as i wrote up earlier in this same thread.

I quote myself

This number is made up, im guessing that the actual Number is 20 to 40 thousand, but also that number is made up.

Let me help you explain how quality control works.

Im an engineer whom make machines to weld car parts. Those company's have insane quality due to human safety AND more important (for the big boss) to maintain a stable production. Time is money

I heard samsung made 40-50 million S3's. Lets pick 50. I also ASSUME that Samsung does NOT have a Triple A status. That means that 0.08 % is faulty IF this bug only exists in a batch of 40,000 S3's.

Most companys work with AQL (accepted quantity level) methods to accept or decline a specific batch.

Assuming this problem has not been discoverd by Samsung whilst making the S3's and assuming they flag the sudden deaths as a single batch that went faulty. They have NO reason at all to make a press statement. .08% of 50 million is not that big deal for Samsung IF all those people wont complain. And they wont, becayse we are not all XDA's. Common folks ask for warranty, get a new phone and never complaining again. .08% is an acceptable value for a electronics company.

I read that 250 persons on XDA had SDS. Assuming they are complaining their lungs out. For samsung that is 0,0005 percent of all S3's.

Long story short

So what they are doing (IN MY BELIEVE), is fixing this bug on the background so the common folks wont know and wont complain. Also I do believe that Samsung knows that this is a big problem but they are just holding the fire in the matchbox.

Ever wondered why Car companys as Toyota yell out loud when they have a recall for a few thousand models? Exactly, triple A status combined with very narrow AQL levels.

Trust me i'm an engineer !

(Don't, actually)

End of quote.
[Galaxy S III General] mjb:
Right - I assumed (probably incorrectly) that BL updates can be performed from OTA updates as well.

Earlier, when you stated "WHAT'S THE PROBLEM" - this is it - we don't know if historic usage has any bearing on SDS.

It either:

1) does and previous 'bad wear' cannot be corrected by a fix

2) doesn't, and the fix is just stopping a specific set of circumstances from causing SDS - In this case, the same amount of wear is occuring, it just won't trigger a bug anymore.

I'm banking on #2. Read Entropy's post again.
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Yeah ota can update bootloader.

Im Still not sure on case 1/2.

I think it could be either and we dont know for sure. It just seems odd that I and a few others have noted particular circumstances in the time leading upto our sds.

For example, I was witnessing strange behaviour (that I immediately attributed to the failure, the day it failed) for about 10 days

As a desktop support engineer, the day it failed and the 10 days leading up all seemed like a storage failure
[Galaxy S III General] yahyoh:
he probably didn't have SDS :rolleyes:

maybe its just a SOD :p , cuz SDS is probably not recoverable by jig IMO ( cuz MMC will be totally ****ed up ) :cyclops:
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Yes it was sent off for repair.
[Galaxy S III General] mjb:
Ahhh.. yes, I understand where you're coming from then.

Here's another theory: buggy wear leveller hits a certain threshold where it starts overwriting critical blocks on the eMMC. The first few start to cause the behaviour you saw, until a few later, a super critical block is overwritten that causes the phone to exhibit SDS. So, perhaps it's in this window that flashing a fixed kernel isn't going to help - you'll still get the bad behaviour, but perhaps you won't experience SDS - but given reports, perhaps it is that the fix only stops the wear leveller from hitting that first point, so you will experience SDS. On the other hand, if you flash a fixed kernel before the initial point, the amount of wear will have no effect.

This leads to another idea - using a known 'good' kernel to resurrect a device from SDS (by flashing a .PIT file). Getting that kernel to boot could be fun, but using AdamOutler's work to boot from SD card, I could imagine this could work.... UNLESS the wear leveller has actually overwritten the internal wear leveller data structures, which I think is probably what actually happens.
[Galaxy S III General] liamR:
^ Nice theory but how do you explain the physical damage (burned components) ?
[Galaxy S III General] hermeson:
How do you know they damage the components?
[Galaxy S III General] liamR:
There're several reports from users that open the S3 after the SD and spot burned components, also similar reports from users that sent their S3 back for warranty claim and got motherboard replaced or new device because of components damage.
[Galaxy S III General] XVSBL:
So basically if i have the kernel bofella and the pliz recovery I'm sds safe??
[Galaxy S III General] XVSBL:
Is mine sds safe?
[Galaxy S III General] nidalius:
Sorry man but the answer is No you should cross your fingers and use new kernel
[Galaxy S III General] anubius:
I think if I see another screenshot of eMMc check app in this forum I myself will have SDS.
[Galaxy S III General] InfX:
Hmmm, should we check it? I can post one!!
[Galaxy S III General] jackie1234:
Is this safe
[Galaxy S III General] yahyoh:
the app need root to read the eMMC firmware :cyclops:

but better to flash safe kernel and recovery to be in the safe side ( if u are stock guy u can use XXELLA or XXELLC ) :)
[Galaxy S III General] jackie1234:
Hoi

But i have root
[Galaxy S III General] offgrey:
His screen might have been on but the bootloader might not have been working, that's why a USB jig worked. Frankly I can never tell if the screen is off or if it's just showing absolute black unless I'm in a really really dark room.
[Galaxy S III General] pickandwhammy:
Wow, congratulations.
[Galaxy S III General] Kjc99:
If I'm using regular CWM without patch I'm only vulnerable if I'm in recovery right.....? Assuming philz patched CWM helps

Galaxy S3

Omega Rom V36
[Galaxy S III General] pickandwhammy:
Yes.
[Galaxy S III General] jackie1234:
Sorry now i have root i im infected

****
[Galaxy S III General] invinciblecc:
In such circumstances of the SDS would bit be wise to use 1100 ac current for charging Onsted of stock 1000 un yanks kerbel ifbi keep the battery temp in check or should I return to 1000
[Galaxy S III General] kofiaa:
Being rooted doesn't make you vulnerable to sds. Use the eMMC check app and see if you have a vulnerable cost, then flash a safe kernel and recovery.

There hasn't been any relationship between sds and charging level. Do bear in mind that if anything charging at a higher level could damage your motherboard.
[Galaxy S III General] gsw5700:
If we Flash new pit file, does that reset wear status? If so, couldn't we flash pit then restore using new kernel fix meaning bag blocks are now managed correctly?

Sent via TCP/IP
[Galaxy S III General] pickandwhammy:
PIT file is just for ODIN to figure out where to flash what.
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Its possible I suppose. What we really need is confirmation of the trigger and the actual result from Samsung. Otherwise I doubt we'll ever know.

These "burned spots" people mention, that's new to me
[Galaxy S III General] Fallen04:
Got my main board replaced under warranty on running the emmc application it looks like that Samsung replaced the main board with the potentially defective emmc :(
[Galaxy S III General] kofiaa:
Could those with repaired phones extract their kernels for the devs to see if the magic code is written in it.