yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] styles420:
The pit error indicates that you need to provide the pit file (pit stands for something along the lines of, "partition information table," which contains the size and location of the partitions). Without it, Odin and you phone have no idea which partitions to create or hire big they should be, etc.

The write failure could be because of the missing pit, or it could be because of physically damaged hardware that cannot be written to - if you still get that error when you provide the pit file, it might be a sign of bad news... but try including the pit file to see what happens (if you already are, then make sure you're using the correct pit file for your device)
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] bonsly16:
I included the pit file from http://d2tehp.chickenkiller.com:22222/pits/ and selected my model which is the (I don't know why it says sph-i710 instead of l710) sph-i710-16gb.pit. I ticked repartition in Odin and the PDA for the stock rom but I got an error which said something like Pit fail. Total Sectors: 0. I guess there is a worse state than a hardbricked, and I guess my phone is in it. :crying:

And here I am thinking, my phone could be fixed. :crying:
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] styles420:
So you have the 16gb Sprint version?

And it's not a definite dead phone yet - I'm not sure if the total sectors is referring to what Odin sees available in the phone, what it read from the pit file (which would indicate that you need to redownload the pit file), or how much it actually wrote (which would only mean that it didn't write anything, not that the phone is dead). There are still several possible explanations, so don't despair just yet
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] bonsly16:
There's no specific Stock ROM to flash with the .pit file right? I've been trying to flash the md5 file from this thread http://forums.androidcentral.com/sp...-30-2012-sprint-only-unroot-return-stock.html.

Maybe I need to use another pit file? Could someone with a SPH-L710 16GB provide their pit file?
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] killa2009:
i have flashed with linux. cygin doesnt work for me.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] styles420:
The pit file won't change

with different roms - regardless of what you flash, your internal memory is always the same size and layout (the possible exception is aosp roms - on my Epic, CyanogenMod resized some partitions because it didn't fit in the stock system partition... but we're dealing with stock here, so I only mention that for accuracy of information)

The i710 part might be the problem, I suppose... but I'm not aware of any Sprint phone with that model number (I'm fairly certain that sph indicates Sprint), so it could have been a typo. Is that the pit that the OP provided a link for? If not, use the one the OP suggested...

Also, when you mention the md5 file, how big is it? Before Odin, I believe that a file with the md5 extension was just a text file containing one or more md5sums, used to verify the integrity of downloaded files. Someone (Samsung? Sprint? An ill-informed independent developer?) started the trend of adding md5 to the end of Odin tar packages, causing confusion by recycling an existing standard instead of choosing something unique. So if your "md5" file is less than several hundred megabytes, that's why it's failing - you'd be trying to flash a simple text file rather than any actual android system files... but that's just another one of my speculations in an attempt to figure out what's going wrong

I must have mixed you up with bonsly on that detail... And here I was, hoping I'd found a possible weak link in the process :-/

I'll go back over everything you've reported to see if any other ideas come to mind
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] killa2009:
thanks
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] bonsly16:
I'm using the link the OP gave in this thread: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1848266

I guess it must be a simple typo.

The MD5 file I'm using is about 1 GB, so that might not be the cause of my problem.

When I try to flash the MD5 file alone, I'm getting a Complete(Write) failure error. Perhaps, I should boot into linux instead of using cygwin. :confused:

I don't know what to do... :crying:
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] styles420:
Well, it was worth double checking...

I suggest Linux instead of cygwin only because it's easier for me to help with tools I'm familiar with - I don't know the ins and outs of cygwin, but others have been successful with that method. But there's no harm in trying a different method, so if you're up for it then refer back a few posts to advice I mistakenly offered to killa about unetbootin (if you're not yet familiar with any methods of creating bootable usb drives). If you decide to try that route, I'll be around to answer questions and guide you through it - it'll be easier (for both of us) to clear up any confusion from the many existing guides online than to write a new one myself, lol
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] trinhtunglc:
Hi, I'm having a bricked S3 E210L (korean version).

Phone stuck at boot screen (Samsung Galaxy SIII logo)

I cannot enter recovery mode.

I can use download mode but I cannot flash anything with error: There is no PIT partition.

I've tried to search some PIT file but all of it is for S3 I9300, I9305... but not my model. And many people said that don't to try flash the PIT file?

Does anyone got this problem before or know a way to fix it

Thank you,
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] bonsly16:
Only one thing to do...

Yeah same thing happened to me. Hate to say it but the on board memory has been damaged and it'll need a motherboard replacement. Flashing the correct pit file hadn't worked for me. :(
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Azeedc:
I think that there is some confusion here.....

Yes, the inability of flashing or writing to memory or flash areas of the logic board could indicate some physical damage to it, but I have to mention

that working with motherboards and logic boards, sometimes the problem is the way the operating system and/or storage media got damaged.

The flash error could be related to the state of the device being in ' read only ' mode and not in ' read write ' mode like we need it to be.

I do not know if the de-brick file, pit file or stock rom file have the ability to reset W/O or R/W status of devices, in this case memory or flash.

I would suggest waiting a little longer to see if someone thinks of an alternative solution in this forum before giving up on the repair.

Before discarding the logic board, I would consider low cost JTAG for the device as a last resort since it is able to write to de device even

when other methods fail.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Wired66:
Yup, I'm convinced if we can just get into Recovery mode we could get our internal flash to work properly. I even made a full 16gb image and put that on my SD Card But I still I can only boot into download mode.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] styles420:
Maybe try "adb devices" from your computer while they phone is connected and in download mode - if that shows your device, try "adb shell" to see if you can get to the command prompt on your phone... If that works, we might be able to access something that can help solve this mystery... I'll try it on my phone, but that will be will be from the built in download mode so it might not work exactly the same... but it's an idea with exploring
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Wired66:
No unfortunately adb doesn't show any devices connected. I'm thinking this threadhttp://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1840030 might hold the key to fixing the problem to our phones but we just need the boot chain files made specifically for the SPH-l710.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] styles420:
I think adb was equally as useless in download mode on my Epic, but it was worth a shot. I'll check out the thread you linked to and see if any ideas come to mind...

---------- Post added at 01:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:34 AM ----------

I just had another idea, but rereading your post gives me cause for doubt... So to clarify, when you tried the full 16 gb image, do you mean that you made a full copy of the internal memory from a working device? And if so, when you say you could still only boot into download mode, am I correct in assuming that you tried to use the full image to boot into custom recovery from the sd card? That was the idea I had (more for adb purposes than for flashing, since flashing a rom won't fix the internal memory's download mode), but if you already tried and it didn't work...
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Wired66:
Yeah, I made a full copy of the internal memory from a working phone. I Still could only boot into download mode with it. But, the phone only had stock recovery installed I will try again in the morning with a CWM based Recovery.

Edit: Made a 8gb image this time with a CWM based recovery. Was not able to boot into recovery mode. I doubt it will be of any use but if anyone wants a copy of the 8gb file just let me know.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] styles420:
The recovery wouldn't make a difference - if you couldn't boot into the stock recovery that was on the sd card, then you won't be able to boot into a custom recovery that way either :-/

It wouldn't be at all surprising if the phone is only capable of booting the download mode from the sd card - the only reason to boot from the sd card at all is to recover from the worst case scenario. If they had designed it to be able to boot the recovery partition as well, that would make it too easy to root the phone and install custom roms without even needing to install a custom recovery to the internal memory, and much easier to return to stock without leaving any trace of modifications - it would make it even more difficult for them to void warranties for damage caused by unsupported unofficial roms.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] styles420:
Just had an idea that might explain the difficulty some have experienced - the recovery image we're using for Sprint came from [MENTION=4645794]CNexus[/MENTION] - perhaps those of you with trouble have devices that were manufactured much later than his, to the extent that hardware revisions render his image incompatible with newer devices?

So I'd like to take a small poll - please share in what month/year you got your device, and even better would be to include the device info such as hardware revision (from device info in l about phone" in the settings menu, if I remember correctly). Comparing this info to CNexus' might reveal a pattern with the devices that aren't taking the recovery... And if that's the case, perhaps we'll simply need to get someone with a compatible hardware revision on a working phone to rip their bootloader to provide an image for newer devices... it's just a theory, but we've tried just about everything else, so why not?
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Tromatic:
July 2013, L710.14

I hard-bricked trying to install SuperNexus before I learned that this phone will (apparently) not run AOSP ROM's. I don't know why the hard-brick occurred, as subsequent installs of AOSP ROM's just resulted in a hung boot. Anyway, this unbrick method worked like a charm for me.

ETA: Reading through this thread again, it's become a bit of a mess. Seems to me the people having trouble are using way too many bits and pieces of the various methods of doing this. If a ham-fisted clod like me can do this, I have no doubt you can too. I'd recommend going back to the very beginning, pick a method for setting up the SD card recovery image (Cygwin or Linux), and then follow the directions EXACTLY. Note that I needed several tries, and I had to reformat my external SD card before it worked. This will only work one way if your phone is not totally screwed. Read the directions, re-read and then try it again.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] bonsly16:
July 2012, SPH-L710, Was running on CM 10.1.3 rc2. The phone became "bricked" when the phone lost battery (my fault) when it was booting up and was "optimizing apps" after a Wipe cache/dalvik from recovery.

Experiencing multiple issues, the debrick sd card boots me into ODIN MODE , not the regular download mode accompanied with a FLASH WRITE FAILURE. Receives a "There is no PIT partition when trying to flash stock rom in Odin.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] styles420:
One point of clarification for everyone - I just checked my built-in (internal memory) download mode, and it also has the red text stating Odin Mode - so that is completely normal, and it is download mode
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] bonsly16:
I see I see. Though, why a few others experience this mode while the rest are able to boot into the Download Mode with the Android robot is quite peculiar. Why the difference...
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Tromatic:
Is there some confusion on what you should see?

Power + volume down + home gets you the screen on the left. Then volume up gets you the screen on the right.

The "Downloading" message is there all the time. The image on the right is what you need to see when flashing. These are the things you CAN"T get to with a hard-brick. If you are there after booting with the recovery SC card, that's progress.

ETA: Have you guys who are having trouble tried the one-click MD4 restore after you get it to boot to "download" mode?

ETA: For those having fun with PIT files: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1916936&nocache=1
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] SixT7VDub:
32 gb sd card

Thank you so much! It work using multiple methods mentioned above!

By the way, It worked with a class 10 32gb sd card.

Sticky for sure!
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Tromatic:
The password you need to gain access to "root" in Linux, like "Administrator" in Windows, but with super-powers. It lets you destroy things at will. Whatever flavor/version of Linux you download should tell you what the default root password is somewhere. If you are a Windows person, I HIGHLY recommend trying the Cygwin method before you fire up a Linux disk just to do this. It's just a matter of a wrong key-press in a Linux terminal to destroy your hard drives. The most complicated part of this whole mess is getting the rescue SD card set up. Don't make it worse trying to use Linux at the same time!

>>>Sudo su

(Enter your password here)
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] joshjunskorean:
I have a 32 GB version of the GS3 and nothing lights up or anything even when trying to charge. Anyways, I have a problem with my 32 GB sd card using Windows and cygwin. So when I try to put the commands and everything my result ends up with this:

$ dd if=/cygdrive/c/Downloads/debrick_sph_l710.img of=/dev/sdb

dd: writing to `/dev/sdb': Input/output error

26053+0 records in

26052+0 records out

13338624 bytes (13 MB) copied, 82.0024 s, 163 kB/s

I know that the recovery file is like 21 MB so I was wondering if anyone know how I can fix my input/output error so that it can write the whole file on there. Thanks.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] deBricker:
Thank you to all the people that came and helped the others who needed help unbricking their S3. I am currently in Naval Aircrew Candidate School and I haven't earned the privalege of using a laptop so I do not have access to a computer to help any one else out.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] CNexus:
For reference, I got my phone roughly around April of this year.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] SixT7VDub:
Try writing the file to the SD card using win32diskimager. I can't post links so just do a Google search for it.

Worked like a charm and I used a 32gb card as well.

Make sure you format the card first.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Azeedc:
This errors happen if anybody tries to write a compressed or zipped file to the SD card, 21 MB is the compressed size.

Please read my previous posts, recovery file ' debrick_sph_l710.img.xz ' is 20+ megabytes only because it is compressed / zipped.

You can not, I repeat, you CAN NOT just remove/rename to .img the ".xz" extension and then write to the SD card, you will get many error.

The file must be first unzipped with "7-zip"' utility, it is free.. After unzipping the file size will be 81+ megabytes and the extension will be ".img"

Now you can write the image file to the SD card using Linux or Windows Cgwin.

Check my previous post guide on how to do it in windows Cgwin or OP deBricker on first page, great guide, to do it using Linux.

If everything fails, try new/another USB cable, different USB port and lastly, try using another computer to exclude antivirus/software or hardware problems.

if this helps say Thanks.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] joshjunskorean:
Ok thanks for clearing that up. So after I extracted the file it did turn out to be about 81 MB and so I redid the cygwin process, and this is the result:

dd: writing to `/dev/sdb': Input/output error

24612+0 records in

24611+0 records out

12600832 bytes (13 MB) copied, 71.0025 s, 177 kB/s

What is happening?
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] SixT7VDub:
Same thing happened to me. Just install the ROM and select format SD card from the settings menu in the phone.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] joshjunskorean:
Will that fix the input output error?
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] SixT7VDub:
I used win32diskimager.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Tromatic:
Try formatting the SD card. I used this (not affiliated): http://www.partition-tool.com/?gclid=CJD984X55rkCFevm7AodJX8AMA
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Azeedc:
Still could be damaged de-brick file, damaged SD card or write protection.

Are you sure you have identified the SD card letter properly, what size are you using ?. Must be 16GB or 32GB class 10.

Insert the SD card, make sure it shows under Windows explorer. Re-download the de-brick file just in case it is damaged.

If Windows says that card is unformatted, re-format it to FAT32.

Make sure that micro SD card holder adapter is not write protected. Adapters have a small tab on the side that slides.

run the "partitions" command again under Cgwin..... cat /proc/partitions

Post result after you get the info
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] monac66:
cygwin? What would the steps in cygwin be?
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] billard412:
I don't think the command changes. Can a dd if command not be run in a cygwin terminal? its been awhile since i used it. The original post where this unbrick came to be is here http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=43305728&postcount=21

i assume cygwin is the "dd like tools for windows" he's referring to
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] monac66:
Thanks for the info. I will so some more research and see if I can "magically" fix my hubby's brick!
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] par05is:
if i was on josh beach verson 15.6 and i flashed a international kernel for the i9300 would this message work. i have access to another working s3 with the same rom. can any one help? i know how to do dd like commands. but i was wondering is the kernel messing up the firmware?
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] stm827:
Thanks

OP Thank you so much!!! After I figured Ubuntu out your steps worked like a charm to fix my phone. THANK YOU FOR SAVING ME LOTS OF MONEY!! :D
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] billard412:
CYGWIN

Tried this on cygwin and the steps were pretty much the same. With the sd removed, start the cygwin terminal as the administrator by right clicking on it and hitting "run as administrator".

Once it starts type "cd /". Then type "cat proc/partitions" and you'll get a response similar to this

________________________________________

major minor #blocks name

8 0 156290904 sda

8 1 29295616 sda1

8 2 102400 sda2

8 3 122007552 sda3

8 4 4881408 sda4

8 16 0 sdb

______________________________

Then plug in you sd to your pc and run "cat proc/partitions" again. This time you'll see additional partitions(your SD) pop up. So it'll look something like this

______________________________

major minor #blocks name

8 0 156290904 sda

8 1 29295616 sda1

8 2 102400 sda2

8 3 122007552 sda3

8 4 4881408 sda4

8 16 0 sdb

8 32 1959936 sdc

8 33 1959936 sdc1

_________________________

sdc is the sdcard. so to dump this image type the following

"dd if=(as soon as you type = stop and drag the file into the window) of=/dev/sdc"

example: "dd if=/cygdrive/c/Users/User/Downloads/debrick_sph_l710.img.xz of=/dev/sdc"

this will take a few minutes. When you recieve a response like this:

"41222+1 records in

41222+1 records out

21106140 bytes (21 MB) copied, 193.389 s, 109 kB/s"

you can remove the sd. That should be it.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] jaymaj:
I believe you need to unzip the .img file first.

Total bytes should be 81M not 21M.

Can someone please confirm you UNZIP IMAGE FIRST...
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] billard412:
You're probably right on that. I just assumed it wasn't compressed because i have no idea what the "xz" file extension is (or how you would decompress one) or why the hell you wouldn't just put it in a zip file like a normal person. My post was more to prove cygwin could be used for the job, i figured they could iron out the rest of the details
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Seanydizzley:
I would like to say thank you to everyone who contributed in this. Thanks to this great community, I don't have to revert back to my Nexus S4G! You guys saved my life! Thanks a million times over!
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] bonebeatz1234:
Could someone kindly make a youtube video of this . Im having a hard time with what to type in the terminal. Im using ubuntu the same as the op.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] jaymaj:
Success

A very special thank you to DeBricker and gTan64 for these guides. The process worked on a Hard Bricked S3.

I have been playing around with my bricked S3 for about a week, bricked due to the stupidity of flashing an international rom.

Few things I noticed:

A 2G and 8G Sd card were no good. The Boot image creates a partion table that must mirror the internal memory.

When I finally flashed the image on a 16G Class 10 card the process worked perfectly.

(Please note DeBricker does suggest that in the OP)

After inserting card, I noticed that the power button needed to be held down to restart phone.

The phone will boot into recovery when started. It will actually let you flash a ROM if its in Internal Memory. Please note that this will work, except the boot table is still on the SD card. Again, as stated, you need to reflash a STOCK ROM via ODIN. Basically start fresh. If you do not, the phone will not work without the BRICK-FIX SD.

But the process works to get you into a soft brick state, without JTAG or replacing your phone.

THANK YOU SO MUCH.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] beserker15:
Worked like a charm. I spent more time downloading Ubuntu and burning it to a disc than getting my bricked S3 back up and running. So awesome!
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] jaymaj:
That is the truth!
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] CNexus:
I think we should really give props to gTan64

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2345860

Sure, a guide is great and all, but it wouldn't be possible without the original method.

Sent from my buttered S3
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] DrGit:
I wouldn't have gotten anywhere without your eMMC dump, CNexus. Thanks where it's due!
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] styles420:
Has anyone tried flashing a rom from internal memory and then using Odin or Heimdal to flash a partial image to fix everything that isn't included in the rom (but without overwriting the flashed rom with stock)?

As long as repartitioning isn't part of the process (I don't think it was mentioned in the op), it might even be possible to flash just the boot and custom recovery from the PC, then reboot into recovery to flash a custom rom, bypassing the trip to stock...
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] CNexus:
That wouldn't work unfortunately. When you brick your phone, you write junk over your bootloader so the phone no longer knows how to start up

The point of going back to stock is so that you can restore to a functional bootloader by temporarily booting from the bootloader on your sdcard. Hence flashing a boot.img and recovery.img would not solve the issue
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] styles420:
Which part of the process actually restores the boot loader? I thought it was the Odin flash

(My suggestion was not an alternative to the method in this thread, in case that's what you thought I meant)