yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S III General] Toadeh:
What happened:took it out of me pocket, nothing

What ROM/Firmware:standard

What kernel:standard

OC or UV:nope

Where phone was made:first batch so no idea

Where battery was made:no idea

Annoyed about this :(
[Galaxy S III General] firephoenix1985:
I think It'll be very interesting if affected people put here they date of purchase :)
[Galaxy S III General] Toadeh:
Launch date UK if that helps :)
[Galaxy S III General] PjotrFias:
Could the hard brick (totally dead) and soft brick (download mode works) be the one and same just with different degrees of error?
[Galaxy S III General] Dean-xXx:
something like 0.1%
[Galaxy S III General] LenAsh:
Source?

(That's over 30000 units)
[Galaxy S III General] madscientistdam:
Hey guys I just want to say that 2weeks ago my phone was lagging real bad especially on the home screen then it started rebooting by itself maybe 3-4 times for the day it was freak in me out,so I performed several factory resets hoping it would fix the problem but it never. But however a few days ago I connected the phone to kids and there was an update available the version is i9300XXELLA so I installed it and BINGO its like it blew life back into my phone because now its running perfect like brand new again:) oh I love in the UK I forgot to also mention the firmware also has a new kernel too.
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
So maybe the fix is in the kernel. That would make more sense since a bootloader is responsible for turning on the device while the kernel is responsible for actually running it.
[Galaxy S III General] Thin_Bezel:
Hmm thats a very good sign...this MAYBE means that samsung has fixed the sudden death issue or has made a progress..because this fluidity means that the new firmware has a new control over the mainboard"the chip" "This is my opinion".I also was on XXELKC and my phone was lagging very baddly.touch screen was very unresponsive till I flashed XXELLA..now also my phone is a lot smother..it even scores 6100 points on quadrant without overcloking... Your thoughts??
[Galaxy S III General] kire.htc:
I try already to flash 4.0.4 via Odin and it won't boot now, so don't waste your time.

I don't know in which firmware i can find old bootloader and try to flash.
[Galaxy S III General] madscientistdam:
I'm not sure where the fix is but like I said since updating the phone it runs like new now no lag what so ever and the random reboots have stopped and my battery life is even better than b4 ELLA may just be the fix guys.
[Galaxy S III General] NorthernNoel:
I'm on stock rom but mine kept resetting to 1 after rooting and I kept getting the exclamation mark. Once I installed the siyah kernel it went back to 0 without me doing anything else.
[Galaxy S III General] Thin_Bezel:
Just 1 nooby question:if the fix is on the kernel, does it matter if its rooted or no?
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
We need someone whose phone is about to die (so a phone that has a lot of lag and rebooting issues) to flash at least the kernel (and maybe the ROM) but not the bootloader.
[Galaxy S III General] yahyoh:
hmm :rolleyes::rolleyes:

and rooting has nothing to do with kernels :)
[Galaxy S III General] Blue_Nexus:
Question

Hi Folks,

Just a thought, the handset is only part of a mobile phone contract, whilst the handset is away for repair it could be said that the service portion of the mobile contract is not usable. However, we all still pay for the service contract wither we have a usable handset or not (in my case £36 per month).

The question -

Could we conceivably claim compensation from Samsung to the value of "lost service time" ?

eg- my phone has be away from 21st Dec, thats 15 days to date, the compensation would work out to £18 give or take. Not a large amount of money for me as a single user, however if everyone was to do this and the failure rate is as low as even 0.1 percent as someone suggested thats over 30000 handsets thats £600,000 in total would be claimed back from samsung (assuming an average payout of £20).
[Galaxy S III General] Thin_Bezel:
Well,my phone was very very very lagy with XXELKC firmware...everything was slow and touchscreen was very unresponsive, so I flashed XXELLA firmware via mobile odin and my phone was back with all its glory and speed.but I noticed that the bootloader was the old one because looks like mobile odin didnt flash the new bootloader....so my phone was fast again without the new bootloader....but then why in the world did samsung update the bootlader?? Its the first time they do so

P.s:is my bad english improving :P

---------- Post added at 06:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:17 PM ----------

Nah I dont think so...if you want to claim a compensation from samsung I asure you that it will be just a endless story :/ "my opinion ofcourse" at least if your phone dies you can replace it but I cant because I bought it in south korea and I live in france
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
See? It's like I and others have said before! The new bootloader only seems to be there to void warranties and reduce Samsung's repair costs! So you can flash the kernel and/or ROM and it should be ok (hopefully). It's not a definite fix but it seems to have at least fixed your S3.
[Galaxy S III General] SpudULike:
My phone has died also, Samsung UK refusing warranty

My phone 16Gb White GT-I9300 died yesterday, bought direct from Samsung back on 29th May. When I turn the phone on it gets stuck at the initial Samsung boot screen, though I can still get to the download menu.

The phone had been rooted back in June, mainly to run Titanium Backup. I never got around to running any custom ROMs, up until the holidays it was still running XXLG8. I had frozen the OTA update application – all this talk of 4.1.1 and some spare time over the holiday saw me unfreeze. I took the 4.1 update and rooted again with CF-Auto-Root, which ran for a further 5 days. Phone died while at work, while charging on USB – spontaneously reset, in front of my eyes, and never recovered.

Have just spoke to Samsung support – they are refusing to help. They asked me to go into the download menu and read the screen :-

ODIN Mode

Product Name:

Custom Binary Download: No

Current Binary :Samsung Official

System Status: Custom

at which point the first line support called foul play. I admitted that the phone had been rooted, but advised him that EU Law states that this should not void warranty. I also mentioned that problem has already affected numerous, to my knowledge 50, people, according to these fora. He passed me onto second line support and they remained fixed in their position that rooting had voided any claim.

I have asked them to confirm their position in an email, and I intend to take it further. Not tonight though, even if I receive the email, I'm feeling too sick.

Maybe there are some things I should have done differently. Lying wouldn't have helped, they would have refused the claim on receipt. I have read that further flashing of a phone would leave even the download menu unavailable, denying any further diagnostics while on to customer support and avoid the argument. First line support also suggested that my phone's symptoms were not typical of this current problem, stuck on boot, but still able to access download. Should I have tried to kill the download screen? If so, how? Any other suggestions?
[Galaxy S III General] Thin_Bezel:
Yep and it is very strange because I tried every possible firmware and my s3 was still very laggy but everything changed after flashing XXELLA.and its a lot stranger when thinking that my s3 is just 1 week old!!!!!
[Galaxy S III General] lukaaa47:
i flashed over odin ella downloaded from sammobile.. so , is this new or old bootloader and whats the differrence, i read i shouldnt update?

heres pic htt*ps://ww*w.dropbox.com/s/h0kpe7wgs3vwzv1/Screenshot_2013-01-05-18-51-29.png
[Galaxy S III General] Thin_Bezel:
Cant open the link
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
I'm not blaming you for the douchebaggery of Samsung but never, ever admit to a company that your device has been modified. They're not ethical human beings. They're bureacracies run by stupid rules.
[Galaxy S III General] camil:
it's the new bootloader - XXELLA
[Galaxy S III General] nfribeiro:
Please confirm if you recieved the ELLA OTA update? Because if you did it means that samsung did not fix sudden death. ..
[Galaxy S III General] emelsk:
Make sure they understand that your Product Name is blank. You'd have exactly the same output even if you weren't rooted - as soon as Product Name goes blank as a result of flash failure, System Status will always read 'Custom'.
[Galaxy S III General] blyx21:
They know your rooted because you system status is custom
[Galaxy S III General] sak500:
Is there a difference between old red exclamation mark and new one? You dont like the new exclamation mark and want the old exclamation mark and hence looking for older bootloader? Is that your question?
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
I don't know what exclamation mark you guys are talking about on the old bootloader. Maybe it's because I used TriangleAway a long time ago, but I've never seen ANY exclamation mark on this phone EVER in my entire time owning it.
[Galaxy S III General] sodeknetters:
Wrong answer my friend.

User before you gave the right info.

All phones that semi-brick show this product blank + status custom info, even the ones that were 100% untouched by flashing rooting etc.

It is NOT a problem for your warranty repair
[Galaxy S III General] LenAsh:
First time after flashing my tits off for the past 3 months on the S3 - ELLA (Odin complete) kindly gave me the red exclamation mark.
[Galaxy S III General] sodeknetters:
Before mine died I had not seen it either. First time it showed up was after I got it back with a new pba and put cwm + cm10.1 on it
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
Well, I currently use Omega ROM 33.3 (ELK4) on my device. I'm going to do a full wipe, even though it doesn't require one, and flash v36, which is based on the new update (ELL5) and includes the ELLA kernel and modem. I refuse to flash the bootloader though.

I still stick with the theory that Samsung is trying to void warranties.

Most of the people whose phones have died can still get to the bootloader screen and download mode.

The bootloader screen will reveal whether or not a device has been rooted, and Samsung will refuse to fix it if that's the case.
[Galaxy S III General] Thin_Bezel:
Well then its the kernel who should fixes the sudden death problem or no????
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
That's what I'm guessing. A bootloader, in general, is extremely important. It's sole task is to start a device by initializing all of the components and also telling the device where the OS is. It has nothing to do with actually running the device. That task is up the kernel. I'm guessing that the solution may lie in the kernel or a combination of the kernel and the ROM itself. So I'll go to the stock ELLA kernel, and wait until the custom kernels update their bases to use it as well.
[Galaxy S III General] Dr.Love:
You have I9300XXDLIH bootloader but still get red exclamation on boot screen. I think because after flash newest bootloader XXELLA, SS black list all version of JB bootloader with red exclamation. XXDLIH is a JB version. You have to flash back to ICS bootloader XXALEF to make red exclamation disapper totally. Just following link at my signature. Topic has the link of old bootloader XXALEF.
[Galaxy S III General] iArmghan:
I am using Ultima Rom v8 based on XXELLA ... how to make sure that i am running a XXELLA kernel?
[Galaxy S III General] Thin_Bezel:
Just go to settings/about phone and see the version of your kernel! :)

---------- Post added at 08:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:25 PM ----------

Yeah but still, how come that the devices are dying after 200-250 days and only the 16 gb models????? And most of the devices were charging overnight
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
It could be that the degradation of the chip was the same rate across all affected devices. They don't all die on 200 days FOR SURE. Like you said, it's usually a time frame of 200-250 days.
[Galaxy S III General] Thin_Bezel:
See? Thats not the kernels fault!!!! It means is a hardware problem. But still doesn't explain why my phone started to die only after 1 week
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
This is why I'm saying that we need to really fight Samsung hard on this one. We need to keep submitting this to websites and the media. The Verge, Engadget, Gizmodo, etc. They all have a "Tip Us" button. The phones don't just die. Mine lost the ability to make and receive calls on ANY modem, kernel, or ROM (out of the blue). Twice. I got the board replaced the first time, and now I got I might have to get it replaced again if the problem resurfaces (it went away randomly yesterday, but it's an issue that requires a new board and will probably resurface).

I checked the date/version of my board using the 1258390 dialer code on the first page, and it shows that it's from 05/2012, which is pretty much the first revision and the same as my original board. So they replaced my problematic board the first time with a new board of the same kind -_-. I had problems the first 3 months, and now again 3 months after it was replaced. It's definitely a hardware issue but nobody knows if the problem can be solved with a software update or not unless Samsung says something.

If we don't make this a big deal outside of the forums, Samsung isn't going to pay to fix anyone's phone. It's ridiculous that a phone of this cost (I paid $650 for mine) messes up and dies after not even 1 year. There's strength in numbers and we need to speak up!
[Galaxy S III General] SpudULike:
I can't confirm exactly what the update was because it is lost in the remains of my phone, all I can say I updated on the 30th Dec and was left with a 4.1 version ROM.
[Galaxy S III General] Thin_Bezel:
You're absolutely right.This problem should spread on the all well known websites...the date of my board is 07/2012 though....

---------- Post added at 09:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:10 PM ----------

I sent an message to the verge about this problem via tip us button..I think everybody should send a message
[Galaxy S III General] zziggy:
No, thats wrong. Sudden death is total brick, No bootloader screen or download mode, Nothing.
[Galaxy S III General] qavro:
i bet the new ella bootloader is fixing exactly sh.it. how in the world a new bootloader is going to fix something that looks like a hardware failure? the new bootloader looks more like a "control" solution to me than a fix. and it looks so much more with every post i read here...
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
We need EVERYONE to submit it. And really complain about it. They want to hear from people who've experienced it. Mention that Samsung is denying warranties for living in certain areas (like the US) and that they're giving you a hard time because you're rooted, yet it's their own hardware issue.

Well then call it "Partial Death" or whatever you want, but people can't re-partition their devices or flash anything or get it to boot.
[Galaxy S III General] lukaaa47:
what?where? give some link..
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
http://engadget.com ----> Click "Tip Us" in the top right and link to this thread. Specifically mention that Samsung is denying warranties and that there are a ton of people having different issues with their devices, ranging from components failing (not being able to make or receive calls) to the phone completely dying.

http://theverge.com ----> Click "Tip Us" and do the same

Email tipbox@gizmodo.com and do the same (for http://gizmodo.com)

And any other tech site. A lot of these websites already know the bug exists, but they don't know that Samsung is doing nothing to help us. Our goal is to get Samsung to come out and say "yes, we screwed up" and start an exchange program or something. It's not right that they're doing this and claiming "it's only affecting a small number of devices."

Please, spread the word. I've posted this before and people ignored me, but I see people are starting to get the big picture now. There is no reason why we should be running scared in this thread, when Samsung knows about the issue and how to fix it and keeps denying there's any wrongdoing. If they won't talk about it, we will.
[Galaxy S III General] Thin_Bezel:
http://www.theverge.com/tip-us
[Galaxy S III General] SpudULike:
Even though it's not directed at me I'll accept blame, if the mistakes made are lessons for others.

My fear was, if I didn't admit the true state of my phone and it was sent it away I'd be liable for costs when the truth was discovered.

I would be interested to hear from those who did get a repair under warranty - does my case differ from their's?
[Galaxy S III General] Thin_Bezel:
MAYBE, WHO KNOWS?? Someo e was able to get the phone to the samsung logo, someone was able to go to download mode, someone couldnt even turn on...so....we are screwed if samsung doesnt fixes this
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
This is why we need to take the fight to them. It doesn't matter where you bought your phone and where you live. You shouldn't have to pay shipping costs and repair costs for something that's not your fault. It's not impossible to get a company to take action.

HTC repaired and replaced the One X because it had a widespread signal issue. They didn't care where you bought it or where you lived. I have a friend who bought the UK One X and lives here in the US. He even opened up the phone and tried soldering a wire to fix the signal issue. He even had is bootloader say "MODIFIED". THEY STILL FIXED IT FOR HIM PROMPTLY.

Take it to Samsung's Facebook pages too! Let other people know. When HTC locked their bootloaders I was one of the hundreds of people who flooded their Facebook page with posts warning people about what they were doing. A week later they changed their mind.
[Galaxy S III General] :
Now that I think about it, on CM10 my device had all the "sudden death" symptoms - lagging, random reboots, casual SoDs... But on CM10.1 I have none of it. :D

Android 4.2 saved my device? :rolleyes:
[Galaxy S III General] whitebait:
Samsung are talking rubbish. Mine died in exactly the same way, got stuck in the bootloop. It had exactly the same System Status (and product name etc) and I'd never rooted or installed a custom ROM. They replaced the mainboard and sent it back to me. Call 'em back and just don't mention rooting and they'll take it back. Or fight for your consumer rights, your choice :)
[Galaxy S III General] sdc77:
Im on my second s3 .. which I got today. The first died yesterday with no warning whilst charging overnight (which it had always done). Found it in the morning stuck in a bootloop. It wasnt rooted. Odin wouldnt do anything with it.

In fairness it had not led a gentle life and for the last month it had been locking up every so often when typing ..

Anyway .. still a great phone and im so glad it was backed up.

Ill stick the old one on ebay and try and get some cash back for it.
[Galaxy S III General] jarule08_2008:
This problem can happen to s3 new colors ( black or titanium grey...) and can happen with new activated phones . need answer plz
[Galaxy S III General] UncleBeer:
Apparently it is for user SpudULike, who was refused warranty service for this specific reason.

Theorize all you like, but this guy was refused warranty repair by Samsung. That's the reality of it.
[Galaxy S III General] LenAsh:
Nobody knows.. on here. Nothing official has been stated, therefore anyone making "statements" is lying.
[Galaxy S III General] sodeknetters:
He was refused warranty repair, not because the phone showed status: custom, but because he admitted to the callcentre guy that he had rooted/flashed/whatever.

Obviously, that is a very dumb thing to do. It's simple: DO NOT EVER admit to an after sales guy that you flashed anything to any device, period.

By now it is well known that the custom status is present also on auto-bricked unrooted phones, so the service centers know its nothing special. Just don't make them any wiser than they are, especially not the first line guys who only know their calling scripts and nothing else....

Best solution is to physically go to a service point. Dont say anything about what you know from this thread:

- Rooting? What is that, sir?

- Download mode? Yes before I could download stuff but now its broken! Can you fix it??

- Custom status? Caused by a custom rom? What is that, sir? I don't know, but does that fix the phone for me now??

In short: act as braindead as the average smartphone user and you will be OK :)
[Galaxy S III General] Thin_Bezel:
Made my day
[Galaxy S III General] mjb:
I'm currently at around 200 days, and have some minor lagging issues - no sign of reboots yet. Not 100% convinced that the lagging I'm seeing is symptomatic though.

Considering flashing just the kernel from Perka's stash, to see if I get the immediate lag reduction that others have seen.
[Galaxy S III General] Thin_Bezel:
Install it and tell us ok???please :)
[Galaxy S III General] macuis:
My Galaxy S3 I9300 just died 1 hour ago. Was downloading the Astro File Manager app from the Play Store, then poof, the phone just shut off. Nothing will power it back on. Just this past month, I've noticed the phone acting really slow, and sometimes the bluetooth will connect, and sometimes not. I did a factory reset to see if that worked, but it wasn't as buttery smooth as I used to remember. Anyways, not too sure what to do now. I originally pre-ordered the phone from expansys.ca and I'm pretty sure the phone is the UK model. Any thoughts?
[Galaxy S III General] bbathome:
Got the phone back yesterday - HW Rev: REV0.1 and I9300XXELL4 firmware

It was rooted before the "sudden death" - but of course I did not mention this to anyone.
[Galaxy S III General] Thin_Bezel:
What firmware were you using? How old the phone is?
[Galaxy S III General] mjb:
I will wait a day or two, possibly until I get a random reboot. But yes, I will report back when/if I do.
[Galaxy S III General] iridaki:
Reminds me of an incident a few years ago.

My desktop PC's motherboard somehow got fried.

The store where I got it from had a policy of placing a warranty-sticker on the back of the tower to prevent the users from tearing the PC apart.

Of course I have broken the sticker and tried to see what was wrong with it the minute it stopped working. Upon realising it was the motherboard and I had to pay to get it replaced, I ran to service center and I acted naively.

The fact that I am a girl helped me be even more persuasive.

-Miss, the warranty sticker is torn.

-Oh, where is that? Could it be broken because I've been opening and closing the DVD a lot? I really like movies! :silly:

Mission accomplished, motherboard replaced for free. :good: :laugh:

Anyway, while I am sure that some may argue that it is not ethical to not disclose information that could affect the status of an item's warranty, especially in issues regarding smartphones, at least 95% of the times, root and custom ROMs/kernels do not cause hardware failure.
[Galaxy S III General] roguefan99:
Whilst I agree with this idea, it would be interesting to see when they drop into download mode (which a lot of these bricks can do) and see it say Custom Binary (and the number of counts there). I know mine says this. I also know that Samsung will cross check my serial number with their lots and realise it was an imported model so would never touch the phone because its not "one of theirs" (yes thats what they claim, they do not work on international products in Australia!)
[Galaxy S III General] SpudULike:
I'd prefer nieve.