yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S III General] odoto:
nice :)

@everybody who tries this: please report back with your eMMC rev and production date and if you are affected or not

then we finally get some hard evidence on the theory that not all rev 0xF1 chips are affected.

I'm sorry I can't try the kernel myself right now... I'm not 100% decided yet if I'm gonna keep my device or return it, so I don't wanna mess with the flash counter yet :eek:
[Galaxy S III General] Pietrone94:
ok mate but according to what others say, also the siyah 1.8.7 recovery is safe...
[Galaxy S III General] qavro:
he just said: You can also "hijack recovery" from the Siyah STweaks tool. This will overwrite your current recovery with the Siyah recovery. And you will be protected whichever means of rebooting to recovery you choose.
[Galaxy S III General] Pietrone94:
he also said: -.-''

There is currently ONE known recovery that includes the kernel that fixes the SDS : philz recovery. No more.

anyway i thanked him
[Galaxy S III General] qavro:
he was refering to the only STANDALONE recovery at this moment.
[Galaxy S III General] pickandwhammy:
Quoted your nice and concise post here. :)
[Galaxy S III General] Pietrone94:
ok :)

anyway, i flashed 1.8.7 and his recovery...now i should be "safe"
[Galaxy S III General] T0xic4u:
Yes, but only if you hijack the other, maybe unsafe, recovery.

Taper di Tap with my S3 @182 days
[Galaxy S III General] qavro:
start praying :fingers-crossed::fingers-crossed::fingers-crossed:
[Galaxy S III General] EViollet:
Because it's the only official standalone recovery you can flash. You can't flash the Siyah recovery as a standalone. Gohkan didn't want his recovery to be used as an official recovery, but ended up adding the "hijack" option due to popular demand and regrets it.

This is why I started my message by saying no, and then explaining why. It's true that I'm playing with words, but I really believe it would be easier for everyone if folks didn't consider his recovery as a fully fledged recovery.

Regards,
[Galaxy S III General] Pietrone94:
oh yeah man!! ;)

yes now it's all clear, thank you!! :)
[Galaxy S III General] anilthomas26:
To check the eMMC chip details I ran the eMMCbrickbug app and found out that my eMMC is the VTU00M 0XF1 (affected chip). I have read somewhere in this thread that in S3 this app should be used only to check the eMMC chip details and dont do anything else. But by mistake :(, I ran the 'Check memory' test in the app and it took around 450 sec and I got the 'Test Successful' message. Will there be any problem ?
[Galaxy S III General] pickandwhammy:
Wrong thread, I know, but the CM thread is closed for cleanup and I'm too curious:

What the hell is this!?
[Galaxy S III General] odoto:
probably not... afaik all it does is trying to read all data from the chip via dd...
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Just boot into recovery and see what it says :)
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Looks like Koush testing some code then reverting it. The red bits have been deleted. In the link to the commit it reverses, these commits are green (added).

Strings.xml at the top is basically any Pre-defined text string in android. He has added a preferences section with menu items and then some code within preferences java that calls those items. What exactly teh code is doing, I cannot tell. Soemthing in calendar from teb Trebauchet launcher
[Galaxy S III General] pickandwhammy:
As far as I figured he simply added some random BS to the Trebuchet settings (that's where the other 'normal' list items appear) that are supposed to show up when it's 3 a.m. And the contributor's image was a trollface! So I thought we have a troll adding BS code to git/gerrit :p
[Galaxy S III General] Antony_McLovin:
I have a technical question...

As far as I understand the new sd fix, which is kernel related, just brings us a better NAND management. So this means that having a Galaxy S3 which is ~150 days old and nearly dead would probably die in near future... Also if it has the new sd fix. Maybe it would take a longer time with the fix but having damaged NAND memory, which was damaged continuously in the past, means that the NAND will die soner or later.

It would be the same effect as if I would use my SSD drive one year without the right controller and garbage collection which would destroy my memory. Even though I would activate the controller with all the functions, the ssd needs to run flawlessly, it would not change anything having destroyed the ssd by using it a year without the controller, having damaged the ssd too hard.

So in my eyes the fix is just adding the right controller in my example.

Maybe I should downgrade my kernel to provoke a sudden death to get a new motherboard for my damaged and half dead s3. Otherwise it would only delay the sudden death, maybe so far away in future where I have no warranty any more...

Am I right? Or fully mistaken?
[Galaxy S III General] qavro:
i think you are
[Galaxy S III General] pickandwhammy:
Remember ideal gas vs. real gas? If we lived in a world of ideal gases, yes, your assumption would be correct. But there are some underlying assumptions that may or may not be true in the 'real' world:

1 - This is the reason for SDS and the update 7 patch is the fix

2 - There are no other reasons for SDS at all

3 - Reverting to old kernel will cause SDS, that too within the warranty period

and so on.
[Galaxy S III General] Antony_McLovin:
bad news :( so I think I'am gonna downgrade and let my S3 rest in peace in order to get new NAND with fully working controller...

---------- Post added at 04:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:23 PM ----------

You are right. I'am no developer for Android at all but still computer scientist. I'am just adding 1+1, where I see a lot of S3 die by an increased number from now on. For me the logical consequence is NAND scuffing, trying to repair it by software.

Maybe I'am wrong. Probably Only Samsung knows by now
[Galaxy S III General] brouwerchris:
From post #1 :

Recap

So to recap, if you checked you have VTU00M 0xf1 with EMMC check , you need to ensure:

If unrooted (never rooted / modded), you are on one of the "Stock" ROMs listed above

If rooted, you have one of the "Custom Kernels" OR "Custom ROMs icluding kernel" AND one of the "Custom recoveries"

For those rooted and wish Triangle Away to be fully functional,there is the following option : use Mobile Odin Lite / Pro to flash only the stock XXELLA kernel and stock XXELLA recovery .
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Yes you're right. I did see sboot.img where phil actually wrote boot.img

I do understand the differences.... but I was confused as to why sboot had the kernel. But now it makes sense that I imagined the s....

Yes on the s3 I'm aware that the kernel is within the boot.img, unlike htc devices where they are within /system.

Believe it or not, I'm an ex aosp developer :)

Edit .. and also national technical lead in my company for IT ;)
[Galaxy S III General] bitubo:
thx for this topic and link for the files
[Galaxy S III General] mjb:
No worries, I was actually a bit confused about why you got that muddled, so you don't need to back up your experience ;)
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Was just hoping you didn't think I'm as stupid as my posts sometimes suggest :) sometimes I misread and get confused easily for that reason ;)
[Galaxy S III General] ducky1979:
well ive just received my phone back from repair with 4.1.2 and LL5 installed including the sboot, so ive rooted, flashed the ICS sboot to enable me to keep my flash counter at 0. ive flashed philz recovery and perseus kernel. so as long as everything works as it should.i should be safe!!..........shouldnt i?????/
[Galaxy S III General] mjb:
Did you check the model/fwrev of the emmc chip?
[Galaxy S III General] ducky1979:
No I didnt, what am I looking for?
[Galaxy S III General] IRoN MaN9:
helllo guys

i read many threats about sds and they said the sds related with the bootloader not with the kernal thats why i installed the new bootloader with omega36 which cause me the commeon red spot when i loggin into recovery and now i can't make the binary download to a 0

so, the new bootloader recomended to fix the sds or installing the latest Perseus kernal enough ? in the other hand if i install the (philz_touch_4.00-b04) will that gonna fix the red spot and the binary download counter ??

and another question is there a certain way to know if my phone will facing the sds

last question

if i back to old bootloader(to remove the red spot) or to another rom with diffrent pda ex:I9300XXELL5(compatible with my region) is installing only Perseus kernal will be enough ?? or what ??

i hope you read all the replay so you can answer all my Doubt . if there's any item of my question don't understand plz tell me to be more clear

best regards
[Galaxy S III General] thegh0sts:
well, it's not a fix in the bootloader as previously thought: it's a kernel fix.

so it appears the problem was how android/recovery was writing to the EMMC and that caused it to wear out too quickly and fail with the result being a dead S3.

also waiting for CWM to incorporate the fix into its kernel as it also writes to the EMMC.
[Galaxy S III General] ducky1979:
I just used the emmc app and it's says sane? Does that mean it's ok?
[Galaxy S III General] T0xic4u:
Sane means nothing. Check the Details and then watch First post.

@rootSU

Would it mind you to put an Info about the tool and its results in first post

Taper di Tap with my S3 @177 days
[Galaxy S III General] ruskin0611:
The OP hasn't mentioned Siyah 1.8.6 in the Custom Kernels section. But according to the change log, it looks like Siyah 1.8.6 is protected. Has this been omitted from the OP (because it may be a different implementation to AndreiLux) or is Siyah 1.8.6 still at risk?
[Galaxy S III General] thegh0sts:
CM10.1 just fixed it in the 20130109 build.
[Galaxy S III General] T0xic4u:
@ruskin

It is not. Exynos and SD are different things

Taper di Tap with my S3 @177 days
[Galaxy S III General] Animor:
Hi,

I have a custom ROM based on XXELL5. I want to install XXELLA stock kernel on top of it, in order to be safe from SDS.

What is the easiest way to do it? Should I extract somehow boot.img from XXELLA stock rom? Or is there another way, via Odin perhaps?

Thanks!
[Galaxy S III General] thegh0sts:
if it's wanamlite then you can just flash over the current install.
[Galaxy S III General] T0xic4u:
Get mobile Odin. Copy full XXELLA to SD. Start Mobile Odin. Klick on open file. Load XXELLA. Uncheck everything and let only Kernel be checked. Klick Flash.

Taper di Tap with my S3 @178 days
[Galaxy S III General] Animor:
Thank you.

My ROM is not wanamlite, it is another ROM which is not updated yet with the new kernel.

Is mobile Odin is the only way? Can it be done via Odin v3.0.4? I'm asking since mobile odin cost money, and I prefer a free method of burning the kernel.
[Galaxy S III General] T0xic4u:
Mobile Odin Lite is free. But I guess you will loose Root with it. I'm not sure, as I'm not an expert. But anywhere in www is a flashable zip wich contains only the XXELLA kernel. User Perka uploaded it anywhere.

Taper di Tap with my S3 @178 days
[Galaxy S III General] IRoN MaN9:
Hi guys I install the new cmw and the perseus kernal with omega36 and before that I installed the new bootloaer.

Then after doing all this I check my phone with emmc checker and here the result

There's no change

Any suggestion ?

​
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
To be honest, I would recommend flashing an older sboot such as ALF6 (ics) for triangle away
[Galaxy S III General] pickandwhammy:
Yeap. It's all summarised here.
[Galaxy S III General] rlorange:
Guys we don't know enough to say for sure that previous faulty wear leveling has already dine damage.

According to the best informed guess by Entropy. The faulty wear leveling firmware causes a brick only when it decides to move a critical data to fresh block which GOES TERRIBLY WRONG somehow.

Wear leveling works by keeping track of read/write cycles for data blocks. The faulty emmc controller is guessed to have a bad block address move as part of it's wear leveling which causes the failure.

There is no evidence that the brick happens because of too many read/writes in one place which eventually fails. Rather if and when the wear leveling controller moves a block there is a bug which screws this up somehow.

Assuming the kernel patch prevents the emmc wear leveling code from triggering the buggy block move then it really will prevent the affected NAND chips from ever failing.

We don't yet know for Sure but Entropy seems to think that the failure event is triggered during normal wear level block moving which goes wrong and does the damage then. Not the other scenario of the wear leveling actually never moving blocks thus after time eventually "wearing a block out" due to too many read/write cycles.

I hope this helps
[Galaxy S III General] skorzo:
@rootSU

I see that you edited the first post, thank you.

Just one observation:

I think you miss an important option: Be on safe kernel and then root without changing that kernel.

If you root with CF Autoroot the kernel is not changed, so If you had a safe kernel, you will have a safe kernel after rooting.

But caution, because Autoroot flash a UNsafe stock recovery !!

So, to recap my observation: A custom safe kernel is not always mandatory after rooting.
[Galaxy S III General] pickandwhammy:
Understood, but if that's true (and even if excessive read/writes exist, they have not caused any SDs, it's a double-edged sword.

1) Update7 is obviously not a fix - multiple cases reported

2) Chances of SDS are a lot lower - it's actually "luck" based rather than "just a matter of time"

---------- Post added at 09:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:42 PM ----------

I didn't get it, why not?
[Galaxy S III General] brouwerchris:
I 'm on stock XXELLA,rooted to de-bloat ,used Mobile Odin to flash stock XXELLA recovery to make sure that I am SDS safe and used Triangle Away,Just in case disaster strikes in the near future and I need my warranty.
[Galaxy S III General] Scarface1991:
Thanks to flatronics I have managed that in Download mode everything is official and no exclamation mark although I`m using a custom ROM and a custom Kernel. (UltimaROM 8.1 and latest Perseus). Note that you need the old ICS bootloader for this because the JB Bootloader seems to block the reset of the flash counter etc.

This is how:

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=36703684&postcount=206
[Galaxy S III General] JKM2247:
Let me apologize if what I am asking has been replied to earlier because I might be able to read through all posts. Mine came with ICS 4.0.4 which I rooted with CF Root 6.4. I later upgraded via ODIN to jelly bean 4.1.1 XXLDB and Rooted with CFRoot 6.4. When the Polish XXELKC was released, I flashed through ODIN and then Rooted by CFRoot. Can my phone be considered safe?
[Galaxy S III General] Kobrax:
On my EMMC Check I have the same rev and fw that is flagged in this thread.

Earlier I read about the ones affected being the ones which had an April date. I have an S3 I got just last weeka and the date on the EMMC check is 09/12.

Does the date have any effect (just to clarify) and would a device with a later manufacture date still be affected if it has the VTU00M 0xf1 ??
[Galaxy S III General] Antony_McLovin:
but why are all the sudden deaths comming now in big crowds? There was no update in a long time which could have brought this bug, wasn't it?
[Galaxy S III General] gadgetcraze:
Though I have perseus kernel and philz recovery. I ran the emmc check. It reads the chip number as VTU00M 0xf1

But then it says no bug, sane chip. Does that mean anything at all?
[Galaxy S III General] pickandwhammy:
Same questions. Please read this.
[Galaxy S III General] Scarface1991:
It means you should read the first post of this thread.

This app was developed for the S2 originally to check for the eMMC BrickBug. The only purpose of this App for the I9300 is to find out what eMMC Chip you have, so that you know if you are vulnerable to the SDS or not. This: no bug, sane chip means nothing at all on the S3.
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
depends what recovery you have. If you used CF AUTO root, it doesnt change recovery. If you used CF Root, it does. If you have CWM recovery, its not safe.

For info on EMMC Check

Pay no attention to any dates. They are the date of eMMC manufacture not the date of the firmware btw.

What crowds? Where are these?
[Galaxy S III General] rlorange:
Because there would be a set sequence to move data to new blocks. I imagine one of these data moves was to a block with a faulty address.

Assuming all affected devices follow the same wear leveling sequence, after a set period of use this bad block move from the emmc wear leveller will happen triggering the death

This is just a guess.
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
This is based on Entropy's guess. Fact is, none of us know anything for sure on this.

However as I said earlier, if Entropy is right about it, if we ever see an SDS on stock 4.1.2, that means the fixes dont work.
[Galaxy S III General] Scarface1991:
Until now luckily that wasn`t the case although the poll shows otherwise of course but since no detailed reports are available the poll is no evidence at all.
[Galaxy S III General] pickandwhammy:
Haven't some reports of SDS on patched kernels already come in?
[Galaxy S III General] gsx-r:
1. To be safe, we must flash the safe kernel and safe recovery. But what should we flash first, Kernel or Recovery? If flashing recovery first , will kernel overwrite the recovery and reverse?

2. How do we know that the kernel is included the recovery or not?
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
I've not seen any on Custom Patched kernels. There are rumours about official kernels, but I haven't seen too much in the way of conclusive evidence.
[Galaxy S III General] JKM2247:
Thank your for your quick reply. What's my way forward. Since I wish to remain as close to Stock as possible, if I reflash XXELKC with ODIN and then root with CF AUTO Root[in order to use Titanium], will I be "safe"?
[Galaxy S III General] Scarface1991:
@rootSU

Is it possible to change the poll, so that we can see, who voted for what?
[Galaxy S III General] gadgetcraze:
Hmm. This is tricky. I don't have a 4.1.2 released in my country. So if I don't root and install custom recovery as well as kernel, I am exposed to SDS. On the other hand in doing so I void the warranty and if this is not the fix and the phone dies, I am in a soup.

If what I say is right, which of the two should I choose?
[Galaxy S III General] Scarface1991:
You can reset the counter in download mode with Triangle Away, that way if your phone dies of SD, you still have warranty ;)

Except of course you are so unlucky and something bad happens while rooting the phone or flashing the kernel but that is highly unlikely.
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
I tried but I can't seem to find any options. Tbh, id happily get rid of it
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
The stock recovery is useless. There's not a lot of point staying too close to stock. It really depends what you want to do with your phone but yes, flash official then auto root would be one option.
[Galaxy S III General] cammel:
What recovery does cf-auto-root flash after rooting?? I know it is the stock one, but which one??

Enviado desde mi GT-I9300 usando Tapatalk 2
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Either way, if you suffer sds, they can't tell what you have. You just have to hope whatever other fault you may get will allow you to flash back to stock.

Check you can get your existing version from sammobile before making a decision
[Galaxy S III General] Prodepressiva:
I've read half of the thread and couldn't find ANYONE who wrote "yes, I did run XELLA/XELL4 and got the SDS"

Did anyone say this out loud?

No?

Then why do we have so many people vote yes??

I would delete every post except the ones claiming they had the SDS on this firmwares.
[Galaxy S III General] Scarface1991:
Well the poll is also weird for me but the people who voted for XXELLA could be on that firmware but still run a different Kernel like the old Siyah Kernel without the fix. Last days I heard of several reports of devices being dead while running a XXELLA based ROM and the old 1.8.6 Siyah Kernel.

Like this one:

and
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
I've read the whole thread to the same result. As soon as I pressed save on the poll, I regretted it. The votes are pointless. We're in a forum where someone felt the need to rate this thread 1 star, so what does that say?
[Galaxy S III General] xanthrax:
you may contact a moderator to remove the poll ... you were there when i said is useless but you didn`t listen to me ...

the 1 star rating might come from an user with a dead phone , angry and frustrated but unable to tell us his story .

stay strong ! let`s continue until all this sds/failures will be fully clear for everyone interested to understand .
[Galaxy S III General] JKM2247:
Thanks rootSU again for your help. Being an average user with enviable skills to do things like root and flash :laugh:, I have a motto that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Coupled with my knowledge of how warranty issues are handled in my country; gladly declined at the slightest excuse, especially now with the current risk of facing sudden death or half death. Since there is really nothing I don't do with JB Stock, Stock it is for me, for now. During the days of Galaxy S1, with all those lags and crappy battery life, it made sense for our types to look for solutions in custom ROM's. For S3, other than for adventure, I honestly don't know why I need different. Anyway, I like CWM which CFroot provides for backing up my entire phone regularly and seamlessly, since good old KIES is so unpredictable. So, since CF Auto did away with CWM, for my needs what rooting options do I have?
[Galaxy S III General] guerouig:
I'm on official xella, then I flashed philz recovery and latest siyah. I'm about to dual boot cm10.1. can I say I'm running only on fixed gear or are there any loopholes still????
[Galaxy S III General] Scarface1991:
This is the closest report that I read where a user had XXELLA Stock installed but still had a SD but his phone was already having the SD symptoms when he flashed XXELLA, so this still doesn`t really count for having XXELLA with Stock Kernel installed and still having a SD:

But look at the last sentence, he was running XXELL4 before he flashed XXELLA. I thought that XXELL4 Kernel also is supposed to be fixed?

I will contact him to be sure, maybe he was running a custom kernel.
[Galaxy S III General] geus:
The greatest post about that subject.

Thanks
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Its not really about listening to you. You said it was useless in a reply to someone who is completely different to me in a thread I didn't even know existed on the day you posted it. If my not being psychic means I don't listen to you, then yes you're right
[Galaxy S III General] xanthrax:
i didn`t want to sound like that ! no ! i`m not accusing you ! :angel:

i just wanted to post like that for those who are still hanging up with this poll ...

we/you must focus on REAL things not on suppositions

i`m not that good on finding things but at least i don`t want to hijack the discussion to a dead line ...

i can imagine how much stressed you must be , trying to find answers and good conclusions for us .

-=-=-

and you`re right , you weren`t there , it was a different thread but on that day everyone was crazy about the SDS findings i guess ...

thanx !
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
OK no worries.
[Galaxy S III General] montage mahal:
Don't need an old sboot. And flashing one is very risky. Im on LLA stock rooted with original kernel and recovery and the phone status is normal. Its an easy work around. Check the mobile odin thread
[Galaxy S III General] dimi22:
Anyone has a method for ROOT the stock xella rom without changing the kernel or recovery.

the important things are keep the sds fix and the stock kernel.