yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S III General] bugje123:
Can you give me some advice?

Can you please give some advice I am going to buy a brand new SGIII and this thread is making me curious,does it cover the insane chip or does samsung change the chips and attached a new motherboard already?
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
I think everything from December onwards comes with the new 0xf7 firmware which is unaffected
[Galaxy S III General] bugje123:
Thanks! :D

Oh thanks a lot! I am really excited to buy a Samsung galaxy SIII and I am really reading a lot of issues about it. but now I am satisfied about what you said! :good:
[Galaxy S III General] guerouig:
well it's not easy (for me) to make sure what bootloader I truly have. I remember a procedure through adb which returned that I had I9300XXEMC2 bootloader, which satisfied me. Hope I'm right or should I check ?
[Galaxy S III General] kadopt:
Ics bootloader does not have the exclamation mark in the top right corner when you root your device / have a custom recovery. Jb one does.
[Galaxy S III General] guerouig:
once I decided to root, I couldn't care less about the red exclamation mark. My to question to Pickandwhammy, was about identiifying what bootloader I'm on, since adb retiurned a lot of numbers and letters for which I don't have the slightest idea about; only untill the end could I decipher something like ro.bootloader : I9300XXEMC2; if it is the bootloader, then it is sds safe, if it's not, I need to check with a different procedure.
[Galaxy S III General] kadopt:
You can flash a bootloader just in case...
[Galaxy S III General] pickandwhammy:
You can check bootloader easily via an app called Android System Info (system > build infos [sic]).
[Galaxy S III General] lamkhatoco:
Thanks a lot! I am really excited to buy a Samsung galaxy SIII and I am really reading a lot of issues about it.
[Galaxy S III General] Kjc99:
Ever phone has there issues especially when you sell 50 million of them go for it and enjoy...... it is a great phone
[Galaxy S III General] Amy611:
In another thread a guy got a SDS after flashing ELLA via Odin, so that's weird at least
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Not really. Flashing via Odin if you have an unsafe bootloader, is very likely to cause SDS
[Galaxy S III General] guerouig:
thx a lot friend; this app makes life easier in getting al info related to system with a single click. It does confirm that my bootloader is I9300XXEMC2; which is probably the latest. So it seems, that for me, I can go on flashing and enjoying, at least untill Nexus five hits the shelves.
[Galaxy S III General] ixon2001:
Comfirmed I've just bought a new Galaxy S3 & it comes with the new 0xf7 firmware, also build quality is alot much better than my old one to, no gaps around the edges that collect dust thank god :).
[Galaxy S III General] St0nedPt:
Hi guys I think you might be of some assistance. I'm sorry if the questions I posed have been asked before but I tried to read most of the info posted and I didn't find any conclusive answer to them. So here they go.

Using "eMMC check" I've check my i9300 and it has an insane chip, I did this because although I had before knowledge of this problem I never faced any odd behaviors from my terminal. So some weeks ago some apps just randomly stopped work, the phone didn't freeze but I got the message "XXX app stopped working OK/Close". It happened with Facebook, Facebook messenger, Skype, Gmail, Google talk, etc (most of the Apps I use...).

My ROM is a stock Samsung 4.1.2 ROM although it is rooted, it has the XXELLA baseband (considered safe). After checking the chip sanity (it's insane...) I did the memory check (using "eMMC check") and it came back as a "Pass". I would like to add I never faced the 15-25min freezes mentioned on various threads.

Problem is, the apps freezing didn't go away... I also have a i9305 form 2013 (sane chip) where I never face such problems.

What I want to know is, can this "App stopped working" problems be related to the eMMC sanity or not at all ? Any way to stop this from happening ? Even thoug I'm at 4.1.2 atm I can downgrade and SD my phone right? So I have a "no questions asked warranty".

Can this be, in any way, related with the amount of RAM in both devices ?

Thanks for the help!
[Galaxy S III General] pickandwhammy:
Doesn't look like SDS - try clearing data for all apps and sign in again.
[Galaxy S III General] St0nedPt:
Well I did that and the problems it's still there (sadly). I did a new install of both the stock ROM and Kernel, as well as a Wipe cache. None solve the issue, but thanks for the reply !
[Galaxy S III General] pickandwhammy:
Check logcat, then. Try a non-stock ROM? If it happens everywhere, it's probably hardware and could be eMMC failing.
[Galaxy S III General] h3ndofry:
Hey guys (first post here), I've been experiencing constant freezing issues lately with my S3. I think it's related to the SDS fix, but can't really be sure.

I've followed the instructions through here as to fix my phone - it won't update via Kies or OTA anymore, so I've been using Odin to stay on top of updates for my region (Australia - unlocked and unbranded, XSA). Firmware is stock, it has not been rooted.

I purchased my S3 outright from JB Hi Fi in August, haven't had any problems up til I installed the 4.1.2 firmware update back in December/January. Then my phone sporadically started freezing every so often. It's been getting worse lately. There was a period of time (about two weeks) where it didn't freeze once. Then when I rebooted my phone last week, it started again.

Today alone, it's frozen when:

- unplugging it from the charger

- when leaving the house and it changes from wifi to 3G. A note: it seems to freeze more often with wifi on, particularly when I come into range of a wireless AP that I automatically have access to

- even when just using Chrome

- and going into S-Planner to add events

- Lockscreen freeze - it becomes non-responsive

- Freeze on calling, when someone calls, the phone sometimes locks up

I should also mention that all these freezes have required me to pop out the battery and reinsert it, so that it will work again. But all in all it's been quite sluggish. I initially thought it was because of Nova Launcher, but I've used that in the past without any problems.

Firmware information:

Model number: GT-I9300

Android version: 4.1.2

Baseband version: I9300XXELLA

Kernel version: 3.0.31-836582 se.infra@SEP-97 #1 SMP PREEMPT Tue Jan 15 14:17:21 KST 2013 (tbh, not really sure about this one, but posted anyway)

Build number: JZO54K.I9300XXEMA2

eMMC check application (downloaded that earlier today upon instructions from this thread) results:

eMMC chip:

Type: VTU00M

Date: 05/2012

FwRev: 0xf1

SGS3 Sudden Death: YES. Insane Chip

I suppose based on this information I might have a SDS-prone phone...

Now, I'm still under warranty - there is no damage to the phone at all, I've looked after it well. Am I actually able to make a warranty claim based on this information, or am I stuck with a phone that will turn into a very expensive paperweight at any moment?

I do love this phone, I just wish it didn't have these problems.
[Galaxy S III General] dazza7111:
Does "eMMC check" require root?

I bought a blue S3 last week on ICS rooted it checked eMMC said something like fine or no,

Flashed MC2 using odin plus used triangle away and unrooted now eMMC says I have insane chip????? :crying:
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
If you have the fix, then it wont turn into a paperweight. The freezes are because you have v1 of the fix (read post 1). Update to a build with v2 to avoid freezing
[Galaxy S III General] tomuser:
After couple of weeks very often random reboots and constant freezing (even in safe mode) my phone half-died this night. I woke up in the night because of strange blinking in my room. It was my phone. Showing Samsung SIII 9300 text and black screen alternately. Only removing battery helps. I was in XELLA firmware and read from forums that this is causing problems for many people. Upgrading to newer did help them. Yesterday I noticed that my region XXEMC was available and had high hopes to get it today and get my phone back to normal but unfortunately phone decided otherwise. I had also insane chip so... maybe...
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
If it half died, removing the battery doesn't help. Even half sds doesn't boot
[Galaxy S III General] BossStang:
No firmware will change the eMMC chip on the phones PCB.

No, does not require root to just display emmc type and rev.
[Galaxy S III General] tomuser:
By half-died I mean I can still turn on phone but same scenario follows SIII 9300 text -> black screen -> text -> black screen -> text.... and to get rid of it I must remove battery and not turn on anymore. Otherwise again text->black screen->text...
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
right ok. Thats half SDS then.
[Galaxy S III General] h3ndofry:
Well, that's good. I'll have to look for a later build. According to sammobile, I've got the latest build for XSA, but I suppose I'll have to switch to another region for this fix...
[Galaxy S III General] nexiifan:
I'm getting the 32 GB version. Should that be affected?
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
No
[Galaxy S III General] MasterElwood:
Hi,

i am on OMEGA 43.1 based on I9300XXEMB5.

Stock Kernel:

----------

3.0.31-996085

se.infra@SEP-89#1

SMP PREEMPT Mon Feb 25 11:49:05 KST 2013

----------

my S3 died in november. Got a new motherboard - and have an insane chip AGAIN :(

So - am i save now?

Thanx in A.
[Galaxy S III General] mrbully:
SANE?

S3 running Sotmax v18 and boeffla 2.9 kernel.

App says sane chip.

All this means i am safe, right?
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Please read post 1. We cannot continue to answer the same questions that are already answered in first post over and over again. The answer is there, so please read it.
[Galaxy S III General] h3ndofry:
Just thought I'd let you know that I've updated my S3 to the latest BTU build (XXEMC2), and it feels like a new phone again!

It seems that v2 of the fix has made things a lot better, and it's also looking like I'm going to stick with this build for the foreseeable future.

Thanks for your help, if it weren't for this thread I wouldn't have an idea what to do with my phone.
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Yep the latest builds are much cleaner with the fix. It makes a lot of difference.
[Galaxy S III General] Moopow:
i have the same bass band which is xxemc2 and my phone runs great ... i noticed however after flashing with sotmax v18 rom and yank555 kernel i sometimes see my phone freezes and other times it reboots itself ... what do you think maybe the cause of that ??? other persons are welcome to answer the question as well ... thanks in advance
[Galaxy S III General] TheCyruxx:
Hello guys, I'm having trouble with an S3 (not mine). (stock rom and not rooted)

The problem is that yesterday the phone "rebooted" and does not go past "Samsung Galaxy S3 i9300" black screen.

As i watched on the forum for any help i found that it might have SDS.

Recovery mode does not work and in Download Mode it sais on left top corner :

"Odin Mode | Product name: (blank) | Custom Binary Download: no | Current binary: Samsung Official | System status: Custom "

I have tried to flash CF-autoroot + Pit file for 16gb version, a stock firmware from sammobile, a ressurect ROM and if i don't tick Repartition(in odin),it does not flash and says that i must tick it, but when i do that, it says "Repartition Failed" .

The question is: Can it be fixed somehow or it's dead and cannot be saved?
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Needs service centre repair
[Galaxy S III General] TheCyruxx:
any NBAwren

Thank you so much for your fast reply, sadly the phone does not have warranty.

Do you think the guys from the repair centre will repair it (not for free ofc)?
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
You can try... depends why there is no warranty
[Galaxy S III General] KayKrate:
So if im on 4.1.2 stock , im safe right ?

Because its seems that i have the fix as my phone is freezing like 1-2 times a day or maybe never ... i think itll increase :S Anyway to fix it ?
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
There's an ultimate freezing thread somewhere
[Galaxy S III General] stevae:
so if you are above 1, or later than 1, you don't have to worry about this thing? i am on 4.1.2 and have a number of 7.
[Galaxy S III General] bugje123:
4.1.2

so I already bought a GS3 and suddenly I've got suprised when it got the latest firmware 4.1.2 is it legit?
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Why wouldn't it be?
[Galaxy S III General] bugje123:
well I've got confuse becuase my friend said that he has a 4.0.3 when he bought a new 1 and now mine has a 4.1.2. does samsung updated some of the new manufactured phone?
[Galaxy S III General] sherlock5545:
The newer S3s are manufactured with 4.1.2, there's nothing wrong. He probably bought the phone months ago or got one from an older batch.
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
The first S3's came out with 4.0.4, 1 year ago. They released 4.1.1 and when it was released, all future S3's were released with 4.1.1 on them. When 4.1.2 was released (last year also), they started making S3's with that on too.
[Galaxy S III General] bugje123:
Thanks for the information! and last question does it affect any freezing when it last longer? even though i have a FwRev: 0xf7?
[Galaxy S III General] sherlock5545:
You're with an unaffected device, so don't worry. Consider yourself lucky :)
[Galaxy S III General] Kjc99:
[MENTION=2872010]rootSU[/MENTION] my GT-I9300 is 255 days old and had a question I do have affected chip and I'm guessing Samsung won't release any information about SDS... Since I don't have enough money to upgrade now to S4 or something else my question is how long can my phone last if I stick to safe kernels My SII was given to my girlfriend which had an insane chip and it is still going strong, but I think the S2 had a different type of sudden death. I'm just hoping that my GS3 can last me through the contract period and I know that maybe a hard question to answer... Thank you for all your help in this thread I think you have prevented many phones from dieing prematurely
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
I expect made safe s3's to die naturally of something else
[Galaxy S III General] Kjc99:
Thanks for the response and also safe to assume all upcoming releases and official 4.2.2 (when released) should be "safe"..... Hate to be paranoid about a phone :confused:
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
I don't see any reason why they would remove the fix, so yes.
[Galaxy S III General] aasimkhan30:
Cm10

Will Cm10 (not cm10.1) Based roms prevent sds
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
I do not know if they retrospectively put the fix in CM10 or not. Are there any compiled versions of CM 10 After January 9th?
[Galaxy S III General] aasimkhan30:
I dont think so
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
I guess that answers the question then.
[Galaxy S III General] joancolmenares:
Hi all... after reading all 253 pages of the thread (yes I DID read them) I still have a couple of questions and I hope you guys can answer...

I updated my s3 to XXELLA not long ago and it has been working fine, everything stock (kernel and recovery)... I rooted it and updated the kernel (boeffla) and put Philz recovery, according to the first post, I'm safe from SDS because I'm on V1 of the fix ... is that right?

Now, of course when boot I have the annoying red exclamation mark because it has been rooted and kernel/recovery are not stock... I'm downloading XXEMC2 to flash via odin tomorrow... That of course will put everything back to stock (kernel/recovery)... That would make me safe right? ( I dont care about losing root)

By flashing XXEMC2, will the annoying red exclamation mark dissapear?

Can I leave the phone with the stock kernel and recovery without having to flash new kernel and custom recovery?

Thank you so much for your time...
[Galaxy S III General] pickandwhammy:
I'm not sure if ODIN will reset the bootloader counters, best use Triangle Away while you have root. DO NOT reboot after resetting counters, otherwise the whole exercise will be futile. Reset counters, pull out battery, flash via ODIN.
[Galaxy S III General] padraigdoran:
Does CM 10.1 have version 2 of the SDS fix?
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
I'm not even sure if it was implemented in the same way, but there are no freezes on latest CM10.1 releases if thats the reason behind your question.
[Galaxy S III General] padraigdoran:
I'm still getting freezes (5-25 mins) randomly, no response while freezing. Random reboots sometimes. Running latest nightly. Ran Dummy File Generator and LagFix Premium. I had Philz safe recovery and now latest safe CWM. Going to try this next. Even with a full wipe of everything (inc /system) and installing a clean CM10.1 with no other apps (no gapps either) it still was freezing.
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Doh. I dont use cm kernel ha ha

Try siyah or devil
[Galaxy S III General] effepas:
Sorry but I have continuos freezes with every CM 10.1 nightly (I update my firmware everyday). I think that is not a problem of CM but their fix, maybe, could work in a different way.

I consider this. Is not normal this behaviour in a "flagship" phone (700 euros for a new one when it came out). Is it enough for asking a substitution or a better customer care?

Could we ask to Samsung to release a patch or a fix flashable via recovery?

It could be so strange if we ask them for the source code of their fix?
[Galaxy S III General] aasimkhan30:
Kernal

If samsung updates 3.0.x kernal to 3.4 or so that means we will be free from sds
[Galaxy S III General] kadopt:
Your eMMC nand flash may already be quite damaged. Sds fix was included in samsung update v7 and newer and that's what cm team and others are using. I have no issues what so ever using Temasek's CM10.1 and his custom kernel.
[Galaxy S III General] catanzaro27:
Why?
[Galaxy S III General] effepas:
Thank you. Effectively I got an insane eMMC chip. The problem, actually is to understand how the official fix work and try to make it work on other custom roms.
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
The source code is available. samsung have released the fix. Post 1 my friend
[Galaxy S III General] effepas:
Thank you my friend. Sorry for missed it in the first post.

I'm going a bit crazy with freezes, believe me.

I rooted my S3 and I decided to try CM 10.1 because the battery on my stock phone has 4 hours due to the "media battery drain" issue... and now I'm struggling with freezes. It is not a lucky phone. :)

I never expected those problems on a high end phone.
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Try Siyah Kernel or devil Kernel. No freezes for me
[Galaxy S III General] elbildozer:
Thankssss

Thanksssssssssssss
[Galaxy S III General] jmaciak:
If it's 255 then you've got one day left until the day counter overflows and the phone dies... Nah, just joking :)
[Galaxy S III General] spuddle:
My friends s3 has just died after 3 months, just wondering if anyone knows will Samsung still fix it with a smashed glass front?
[Galaxy S III General] kadopt:
Nah, they will say the device was damaged from the "crash".
[Galaxy S III General] joancolmenares:
Well.. after reading all this thread (which I found inmensely helpful), I decided to update from the XXELLA to XXEMC2 and here's my story, maybe this can be of some help to others who are as paranoid as I am about SDS on this really expensive piece of hardware (in Venezuela, 1US$ = 23 Bs).

After rooting XXELLA and installing a custom Kernel (BOEFFLA) and custom recovery (PhilZ) as recommended in post 1 everything was great... However, I kept getting the red exclamation mark on the top left corner and of course the status read MODIFIED and the counter was already at 2. I'm not up for guarentee claim since that does not work here in Venezuela for phones that have not been bought here so I didnt mind.

After reading about the freezes, I decided that I would update to a newer version of firmware as mentioned in post 1 so that everything with SDS was in the past for me.

I downloaded XXEMC2 and proceeded to run TRIANGLE AWAY to reset counter. All went well... then using ODIN, I set XXEMC2 to flash while I took a shower. When I checked the phone again, ODIN said FAIL half way through (the progress bar in Download Mode was almost in the middle). I almost had to shower again because I literally crapped myself when I saw that... I decided to unplug it and pray so that it would go into download mode again. I tried turning it on and it showed the firmware error so I got into download mode and used ODIN again and this time it worked...

After everything restarted, it was as if I had just updated, no files were deleted (weirdddd) and it still said MODIFIED and I still had SU although I was no longer rooted. I went into recovery and I wiped factory/data and cache and all was perfect once it rebooted. It says ORIGINAL and counter is ZERO.

So, by using stock rom XXEMC2 with stock kernel and stock recovery, that means I'm safe from SDS right?

The only problem I have now is that when I go into recovery the Android character is lying on its back with a red triangle with an exclamation mark. My options are there since it's STOCK RECOVERY, but it just worries me... After reading here and in many other pages, the opinion is divided. Some people say that the recovery like that is NORMAL in JB and others say that I need to root it and change it...

My question for this is: Will that recovery thingy affect me somehow? Is it normal that the android is lying on its back with the triangle?

Sorry for the long post... I just wanted to explain all the steps I did to see if something was wrong...
[Galaxy S III General] sherlock5545:
It's the stock recovery supplied with the firmware. You don't have to worry. Your kernel is the stock one too, now, so you are safe. Don't need to root again.
[Galaxy S III General] KayKrate:
Same thing here , i updated xxella to xxemc2 but ota not odin , it updated successfully but im worried if it had the sds fix or not ...
[Galaxy S III General] kadopt:
Did you read post 1?
[Galaxy S III General] KayKrate:
I did , doesnt mention XXEMC2 xD couldve just answered my question
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
It doesn't mention it explicitly. But if you read the "where is it fixed" section, the answer is there.

No way am I going to tear down every kernel to look for the fix just to make a pointless list. They will NOT remove the fix.
[Galaxy S III General] joancolmenares:
XXEMC2 came after XXELLA so we're on the safe side when it comes to SDS...
[Galaxy S III General] omega_:
Just thought I'll share my experience and augment the information in the first post

I finally got my motherboard replaced and the eMMC came with a non-SDS-prone firmware 0XF7 specifically instead of the 0XF1.

I got more freezes after updating to the latest Samsung ROM, which is not surprising since the patch is sort of a workaround which prevents complete damage to the eMMC which causes the SDS. If you are still getting freezes after writing large amount of data (as recommended in the first post), I would highly recommend getting the board replaced if you're still under warranty.

The patches seem to prevent complete failure (thus getting a brick), instead of completely solving the problem entirely. So, don't be surprised if the kernel fix don't resolve the problem entirely.