yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Cobra11Murderer:
So I got a problem I can boot to dl and twrp but I believe the partition table corrupted... I left it on for weeks on end (not the screen but just running) then it crashed sometime and decided to destroy the partition table. If I try to clear anything it says invalid.. any help?
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Cobra11Murderer:
anyone have the stock file needed?
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] deadlydecision:
I got it working. Yay! Now onto the bad part, I cannot ODIN anything because my charging port is broken. Are there any alternatives?
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Ragnar:
Well power+home+vol down should get you into DL mode. I am sure you are doing power+home+vol up which is what takes you into custom recovery.

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[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] nconfer13:
So how can I tell if my card is a class 10?

---------- Post added at 04:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:09 PM ----------

Ok, so I found out that I have a Class 4 SD Card, (16GB). Will this process still work? if not, why does it have to be a Class 10?
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Azeedc:
azeedcdroid

Hello everyone, my first time ever dealing with android phone, I bought this phone used and worked for a few months, then it went dead.

I followed the procedure on this pages to un-brick ??, I think that's is what you call it, my Sprint SPH-L710,

created the SD card 5 times in case it did not loaded properly, (SanDisk 16GB class 10), start the phone and boots...

Very tiny text on screen but I can read most of it... almost :)

Boot Recovery Mode .... green text

Copy from T-Flu.....

Boot Recovery....

Write 159480 sectors....

FLASH WRITE FAILURE ..... red text ERROR

something Mode ..... red text cant see very well

PRODUCT NAME: SPH-L710

CUSTOM BINARY DOWNLOAD: No

CURRENT BINARY: Samsung Official

SYSTEM STATUS: None

QUALCOMM SECUREBOOT: ENABLE ...... grey text

It will not get past this point.

Does anybody have any idea what the problem could be, is this repairable or needs JTAG box.

Note: I proceeded to install stock rom with ODIN, it sees the phone and the port shows up and stops with error:

" PIT partition not found ", is this partition table information and can it be repaired/restored ??

Any help would be appreciated
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Ragnar:
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=44665727

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[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Azeedc:
azeedc

Let me just say this is a great forum, and thank you guys for putting up with noobs like me.

Thanks for answering edfunkycold, went to link included and I had already read the thread and the importance of the partitions,

but I still do not understand why the error when the SD card is booting, is that normal and then the stock firmware is recreating the

partitions ??

I downloaded the correct image file for my phone indicated on the page " debrick_sph_l710.img.xz ", unpacked and sent to SD card

with following command : dd if=/cygdrive/c/Users/Alex/Desktop/debrick_sph_l710.img of=/dev/sdc" , without errors.

Then I got the error when booting " Flash Write Failure ", I guess because missing partition, but I was hoping ODIN will create the partition,

and load the stock firmware, but again error.

I do not see or understand the problem but I'll try downloading the stock firmware again from different website
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Tromatic:
Ha! I get to try this tomorrow. I need a 16g SD card and a reader. Hopefully it works for me.

I killed mine trying to install SuperNexus with TWRP. OT, but for the love of Zod, can someone give me a link to download the Cyanogen kernel as a zip file to flash in recovery? GitHub, Goo, the CM page, scoured all of them looking for just the freakin' kernel.

Azeedc, what do you mean by "unpacked"? If you are doing something to the de-brick file that might be the source of your problem.

"I downloaded the correct image file for my phone indicated on the page " debrick_sph_l710.img.xz ", unpacked and sent to SD card

with following command : dd if=/cygdrive/c/Users/Alex/Desktop/debrick_sph_l710.img of=/dev/sdc" , without errors."
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] nconfer13:
Alright, I'm not getting anywhere. Is there something I'm missing? I read on here that there is a file table on the SD Card that I need to have? How do I manage to set that up, or at least get it to work.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Ragnar:
Just a reminder for everyone trying this method. Your SD card that your going to use has to be equal to your internal storage size. If you have a 16 gig device you need exactly a 16 gig sd card. Not smaller not bigger. Class 10 preferably. Same if you have 32gig.

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[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] jmxc23:
You're missing the fact that it might not work for the Verizon GS3. I really do appreciate you being the Guinea Pig for the Verizon community as I am curious to see this can work for other devices.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] nconfer13:
You're welcome, I have to take my 32 GB SD Card back because I just learned that the SD has to be the same size as your Galaxy S3's Internal Storage. So my S3 is a 16GB, I have to have a 16GB SD Card to "mirror" the internal storage.. which sucks because I have to take back the 32 GB SD Card back to Walmart.. It was on sale.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] styles420:
The xz at the end of the download file indicates that it is compressed in an archive (like a zip or tar file). I would be surprised if the image was supposed to remain compressed when writing it to the sd card, but I can't say that it's impossible...

I understand why smaller cards don't work, but why not a larger storage device? As long as it contains a single 16gb partition, any computer should see it as just a 16gb device...

I try a lot of Linux distros by booting them from my usb drive. While it is a 16gb drive, using dd to write a 2gb installation iso causes it to be seen as a 2gb device - lack of room in the case of the smaller card would be a problem, but extra space that isn't seen should have no bearing as long as the correct partition is present...
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Ragnar:
Idk Styles that was the recommendation of the person who pioneered this method and I believe the one who wrote this guide confirmed that. There was on individual who had tried with larger card and did not work once he used an equal size card it worked. Sometimes the logical doesn't work. I am not about to brick my device in order to test all this out. Maybe if someone wants to donate a brick i don't care if esn is any good just to test all this out. :D:D

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[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] CNexus:
But sdcards don't come partitioned into 16gb blocks. It's all one big chunk of memory

Plus, how do you tell the device to read the first partition on the sdcard? Or to skip it and boot from the 2nd partition instead?
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] styles420:
I'm with you on not breaking a working device just to see if it can be fixed, lol - that's why I'm speculating in the thread instead of trying my theories like I would with most things.

I remember the guy that tried a larger card, but I also remember that most people are finding it necessary to make multiple attempts at dd'ing the image to their cards due to corruption - I think there is a good chance that that corruption issue is what sank his attempt with the bigger card, not the card size itself (if he had kept trying, I think it would have worked about as reliably as it has for others with 16gb cards).

I guess the main point that comes to my mind is that the phone would have to ignore the partition table in order to even see the extra space - I can't say that that's impossible with this type of recovery, but it goes against everything I've learned about how computers are supposed to work when they work correctly, lol
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Azeedc:
Azeedc

I meant to say Unzip, since the de-brick file has the .xz extension.....

anyhow, I got nowhere with the procedure since I'm getting the errors during de-brick as well as trying stock rom with Odin, partition table errors.

---------- Post added at 08:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:37 PM ----------
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Ragnar:
Nconfer13 just posted on Verizon thread his phone just vibrated and powered on. As soon as he went to the 16 gig class 10 sd card. I'm sure he will be here telling us about soon. :thumbup::thumbup:

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[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] nconfer13:
Hello forumers, fantastic news, this process works. I will be reporting back with a link to all who helped and a video to my channel so that I can explain what I did, and actually, I altered the form at which I unbricked my phone.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Azeedc:
azeedcdroid

Hi guys, again great forum even for a newbie like me

I asked before, but I think since this de-brick procedure is recent, people with bricked devices have not come across al the errors..

I re-created the 16GB SDHC with the de-brick image SPH-710 a few times, still getting the error:

FLASH WRITE FAILURE, if I use ODIN with stock image I get FLASH READ FAILURE and PIT partition not found.

PIT file did not help either or I'm not applying it properly.

I start to think that this problem could be hardware or have the local shop try using JTAG.

If anyone has any ideas, thanks in advance
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Ragnar:
Ok your placing the image on the SD card then placing the sd card in the phone with the phone connected to computer and attempting to power phone up into download mode?

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[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Azeedc:
azeedcdroid

Hi edfunkycold, yes, the phone does not boot without the SD card. If I insert the card and I press the power button, the phone starts booting

immediately to the point were I get the error message mentioned on my previous posts " Flash Write Failure ", after that it quits with the info

of my phone model and other info.

If I proceed and try using ODIN, I get the error " Flash Read Failure " and missing PIT partition.

I try using ' Repartition " with ODIN using the correct PIT file for SCH-710, I get ' fail connection to device ' even so ODIN shows Port6 connection.

This error make me think that something could be wrong with the internal memory, but I'm just guessing.

Thanks again for answering
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Tromatic:
Holy Jeebus! It worked!

SanDisk 16g MicroSD card. Had to re-format the SD card, as something appeared to go wrong with the first write of the image. Phone did nothing, and Windows Explorer showed a 60mb disk with all sorts of garbage. Re-formtted to FAT32 using EaseUS partition manager, used Cygwin to flash the recovery image extracted from the XZ file with 7Zip.

I used the Cygwin 64 bit (Windows 7) installer to get the Terminal Emulator and then followed the instructions from the post on page 3. My phone was DEAD, not even a charging light. Battery in, connect to PC, insert SD card, power + home + volume down. Bzzzzz! Download mode!

Flashed the one-click MD4 restore, and........ :victory: :highfive: :victory: :victory: :highfive: :victory:

The two dudes involved with getting this working are now my heroes.

---------- Post added at 11:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:32 PM ----------

Ahh, these procedures are for the Samsung Sprint SPH-L710. If everything works, you should not have to do anything beyond what is shown on page one or three.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Ragnar:
You

Yes sch is not sprint... You don't have a sprint phone? If you have a sprint phone your odining the wrong tar file.

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[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Azeedc:
azeedcdroid

OOPS!......got mixed up with my other galaxy s3, thanks for the correction, Model : Sprint SPH-L710
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Ragnar:
I would still say your not using a full restore to stock tar file. Let me get you a link. Here use this to odin back the phone http://www.hotfile.com/dl/161492098/9fa8372/L710VPALEN_L710SPRALEN_SPR.zip.html it's an lj7 but it will work then you can let the OTA update or root again and flash another rom. You've doe the hard part and that is getting the phone to boot with the sd card.

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[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Tromatic:
When you insert the MicroSD card into your reader, what does Windows Explorer show for the size of the SD card?
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Azeedc:
As you mentioned on your previous post, it shows 63.9MB with 21.7MB free, that is in Windows Explorer. Explorer only shows FAT partition.

If you go into Windows Management you will see the rest of the space divided into many partitions (non FAT), 16GB formatted.

I think the de-brick image file creates all these partitions, I tried many time, got the same result.

Anyway, I do not think the booting error " FLASH WRITING FAILURE " is normal and my guess is if the Download Mode boot is not complete,

when booting from SD card, ODIN will not be able to continue loading the ROM file properly.

I'll will try from a different computer, I'm using a Sandisk ULTRA, I do not have a class 10, I hope that is not what is creating the problem.

I'll put some more time into it.

Thanks again

---------- Post added at 02:19 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:30 AM ----------

Downloaded and used ODIN to flash phone, same results, see ODIN messages............

<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..

<OSM> Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..

<OSM> Please wait..

<OSM> KIES_HOME_L710VPALEN_L710SPRALEN_618049_REV03_user_low_ship.tar.md5 is valid.

<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Successfully..

<OSM> Leave CS..

<ID:0/006> Odin v.3 engine (ID:6)..

<ID:0/006> File analysis..

<ID:0/006> Setup Connection..

<ID:0/006> Initialization..

<ID:0/006> Get PIT for mapping..

<ID:0/006>

<ID:0/006> There is no PIT partition. <<<<< ERROR

<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 0 / failed 1)

Same results. Since I already get errors during Download Mode Boot, I do not think the boot is complete, maybe that is why ODIN fails.

Since I'm new dealing with all of this, I could be not analyzing the problem properly.

I'll try another computer, I just ordered a Class 10 16GB card in case mine has problems.

Thank you again for your help
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Ragnar:
Redownload the debricking file and try again. Then it could just very well be the sdcard. The user on the verizon side had problems also as soon as he went with the 16 gig class 10 it worked right away. The fact that you can boot means your in the right direction. There has to either be something wrong with the debrick image you downloaded or the card.

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[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Tromatic:
Cant post freakin' links. Search for this "SPH-L710_MD4_1130792_Stock_Restore.exe" from Rwilco12's site.

Download, double-click to extract, then run the file with the phone in download mode and connected to the PC. No need to use Odin, it's a stand-alone restore.

If you can get your phone booted to the download screen, you have gotten past the hard brick, correct? Should be easy from there.

If I can do it, you sure can! What are you doing, from start to finish?
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Azeedc:
Downloaded file from Rwilco12's site, got same error as with ODIN :

<ID:0/006> Added!!

<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..

<OSM> Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..

<OSM> Please wait..

<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Successfully..

<OSM> Leave CS..

<ID:0/006> Odin v.3 engine (ID:6)..

<ID:0/006> File analysis..

<ID:0/006> Setup Connection..

<ID:0/006> Initialization..

<ID:0/006> Get PIT for mapping..

<ID:0/006>

<ID:0/006> I THINK AT THIS POINT IS WHERE ODIN CAN'T FIND " PIT Partition "

<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 0 / failed 1)

Running out of answers. I think is between incompatible SD card or possible memory/hardware issue.

I'll wait for the card and post results.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Ragnar:
[MENTION=5368133]nconfer13[/MENTION] has made a video on this process. He did his verizon phone using this method. So you can watch this video but use the files provided here by gTang, deBricker and Cnexus for your Sprint phones. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU5H8NJ7vTM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Thanks to Nconfer13 for the video.

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[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Azeedc:
video no longer there : Youtube : " Sorry, Video has been removed by the user "
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] xtreemgreen:
Will this method work if the partition is missed up? I installed the wrong version is cwm and ever since that my phone will not do anything. The red light comes on when you plug the charger in and that's it. I was told the partition got messed up and need new mother board.

Sprint s3 Wicked Purple
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Ragnar:
Yes this is exactly what it fixes.

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---------- Post added at 11:34 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:31 AM ----------

He must have moved it around i edited the link in my post, try again. [MENTION=5396870]Azeedc[/MENTION]

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[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] styles420:
I remember a couple of times where I had a failing dd flash to an sd card and a thumb drive - since dd was originally created before those types of storage (flash media) were created, the default block size is more appropriate for standard computer hard drives - changing the block size did the trick in each case...

Maybe the class 10 requirement is based on incomplete information - it's possible that a lower class card would work eventually, but the faster read and write speeds of the higher class card could be mitigating the occurrence of corrupted data to allow a successful flash in less time... but if the correct block size is used (assuming my theory is correct), it might eliminate the failed image flashes even for lower class cards - has anyone tried changing the block size for the dd flash?
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] deadlydecision:
I used a 16gb Class 4 card and it still worked.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] xtreemgreen:
Just found out that my internal sd was ruined.

Sprint s3 Wicked Purple
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] nick benedetto:
I feel bad for the people who use a 64 GB sgs3.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] djinnerman:
I've had my bricked S3 phone for a few months dreading that the JTAG service was my only option. That day I messed up my phone, I went to Sprint and upgraded to a Note II. Now I had this beautiful paperweight S3 in my hands and had no idea what to do with it.

This method worked flawlessly. The youtube video was more informative. I dual boot to linux and the linux approach was a bit more excruciating. So I booted to windows and used that "God of all programs" Win 32 Disk utility to flash the img file. It worked in one shot.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] gica69:
Great thread need update on the other s3's

Is there anything on the non CDMA phones like SGH-I747M or is thos exclusively for those type of phones. Thanks in advance
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Tromatic:
This particular thread is just for the SPH-L710. Having said that, give it shot! It can't get worse (much), and if you can get it to boot to download mode, you're in!

Disclaimer: I don't have a clue if this will work or not. The de-brick file is probably very device specific, but if you can get it to boot at all.....
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Ragnar:
There is no reason why it would not work. You would have obtain the dump for your specific device from a working phone.

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[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Tromatic:
Is this "hard-brick" the worst you can do to the phone? Other than physical damage, this method of recovery should save you from just about anything, correct?
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Ragnar:
This will recover your device should you be not paying attention to what your doing or just are clueless and flash an international rom. There a lot of mis information out there. A hard brick is when your phone does nothing it does not power on, does not vibrate and literally is just as good as a brick. If your device boots, or turns on but freezes at the samsung logo or just turns on to recovery mode these are not bricked. This just means something else may be wrong and you can solve most of these issues quite simply.

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[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Tromatic:
Mine was a hard-brick. Perhaps I should have asked "Is this hard-brick I recovered from the worst I can do to the phone?"
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] styles420:
For this phone, a hard brick is pretty much the worst damage you can do and still recover from without replacing hardware.

But to answer the question you actually asked, the worst you can do to the phone is submit it to the "Will It Blend?" website for testing... ;)
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] deihak:
Is there an image for GT-i9300? I 'm in the same situation. I wan't to give it a shot.From what I read, it works
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] CNexus:
On these phones with the newest EMMC's, yes, that's the worst you can do because of all the fail-safe mechanisms that are in place.

On older generation phones, if you hard-bricked, it was truly a brick and it would be time to get used to using your phone as a paperweight.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Tromatic:
Thanks!
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] IDontKnowMang:
i dont wanna sound like a noob but i dont wanna **** up. whats different between md4 and md5. do they mix? is anything gonna happen if they swap. all my odin files thus far were md5 but idfk what any of my specs were before hardbrick is there a way to tell by the board?

---------- Post added at 07:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:50 PM ----------

scratch that its sph-l710 for sure i didnt know that was carrier specifics ima try this before i go pay out the wazoo for a jtag service

i mean what could it hurt right

---------- Post added at 07:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:02 PM ----------

im not sure if anyone knows, but from download mode do i just need to flash stock jellybean or do i need to odin in the stock kernel too. shouldnt the stock rom include it?
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Ragnar:
Flash the complete stock tar via odin. I think they are in the OP as well

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[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] IDontKnowMang:
do i need a bootloader and pit file and all that? or just the tar file

---------- Post added at 09:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:26 PM ----------

i just saw that odin makes a one click recovery in the op as well

---------- Post added at 10:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:34 PM ----------

i got my sd made ill post my results as soon as i get it in my phone
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] IDontKnowMang:
so got a red charge led when i plug it in WITHOUT the battery first other than that still nothing maybe it does need a jtag
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Azeedc:
Maybe, but the good news is the phone is not totally dead.

Red light without the battery is normal. If you leave the battery in, does the red light stays on or not ??

Did you prepare the SD card and followed the instructions by deBricker on first page ??