[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] MrBrickedPhone:
Hello all,

First I must congratulate all of you technically minded people who've guided me through rooting and custom rom-ing my G1, S2 and now S4, but it seems now that I have a phone beyond repair.

Background

I have a GT-I9505 from the 3 network [h3g] here in the uk.

A couple of months ago I used CF auto root to give root privileges to install ad-away to remove those pesky advertisments yet all was not well.

Around once a week main core processes would hang or crash the phone completely and when the phone was rebooted or powered on, it would hang on the 3 logo.

Booting into recovery and wiping cache and data would fix it, as would a re-flash of the CF auto root using Odin.

A week ago, after a call, the phone hanged - i did a hard reset, removing the battery but the phone was stuck on the 3 logo screen again.

After becoming annoyed by this happening every week i decided to revert to stock rom.

What I have done

I flashed I9505XXUBMEA_I9505H3GBME3_I9505XXUBMEA_HOME.tar.md5 via Odin.

Odin said it was successful although the phone still wouldn't boot.

I went into recovery mode and attempted to wipe data and cache, but wiping of the cache failed.

Repeated efforts led me to flashing a PIT file with the above ROM and again ODIN said it was a success, but still the phone hung on the 3 logo.

Booting into stock recovery, again the phone failed to wipe cache,

How my GT-I9505 is now in a worse state

After stock recovery failing to write cache i downloaded TeamWin recovery and flashed it to my phone and attempted to write cache. Again failed.

Now i did something stupid - i saw in the recovery menu something along the lines of "reset permissions", thinking this would let me delete the cache I applied it and proper bricked my phone.

I cannot boot into recovery - I am stuck on the TeamWin logo.

I'm not sure the battery is charging. (Grey battery icon with a 'refresh style' logo, no animated charging(

I can boot into ODIN mode.

Since this, I've been reading around and tried GT-I9505-Factory-Firmware-Full-Wipe-DBT

When attempting this, Odin gives:

<ID:0/025> Added!!

<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..

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

<OSM> Please wait..

<OSM> PDA_I9505XXUBMF8_I9505OXABMF8_I9505XXUBMF8.tar.md5 is valid.

<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..

<OSM> Leave CS..

<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..

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

<OSM> Please wait..

<OSM> BOOTLOADER_I9505XXUBMF8_I9505OXABMF8_I9505XXUBMF8.tar.md5 is valid.

<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..

<OSM> Leave CS..

<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..

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

<OSM> Please wait..

<OSM> MODEM_I9505XXUBMF8_I9505OXABMF8_I9505XXUBMF8.tar.md5 is valid.

<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..

<OSM> Leave CS..

<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..

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

<OSM> Please wait..

<OSM> CSC_FULL_WIPE_I9505XXUBMF8_I9505OXABMF8_I9505XXUBMF8.tar.md5 is valid.

<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..

<OSM> Leave CS..

<ID:0/025> Odin v.3 engine (ID:25)..

<ID:0/025> File analysis..

<ID:0/025> SetupConnection..

<ID:0/025> Initialzation..

<ID:0/025> Get PIT for mapping..

<ID:0/025> Firmware update start..

<ID:0/025> aboot.mbn

<ID:0/025> NAND Write Start!!

<ID:0/025> FAIL!

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

Download mode says

ODIN MODE

Product name: GT-I9505

Current Binary: Custom

System Status: Custom

CSB-CONFIG-LSB: 0x30

Write Protection: Enable

START [224, 1440]

But of course, the blue bar to show progress has barely started.

When trying to write stock rom with PIT file, Odin v3.07 displays this:

<ID:0/025> Added!!

<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..

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

<OSM> Please wait..

<OSM> I9505XXUBMEA_I9505H3GBME3_I9505XXUBMEA_HOME.tar.md5 is valid.

<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..

<OSM> Leave CS..

<ID:0/025> Odin v.3 engine (ID:25)..

<ID:0/025> File analysis..

<ID:0/025> SetupConnection..

<ID:0/025> Initialzation..

<ID:0/025> Set PIT file..

<ID:0/025> DO NOT TURN OFF TARGET!!

<ID:0/025> Get PIT for mapping..

<ID:0/025> Firmware update start..

<ID:0/025> boot.img

<ID:0/025> NAND Write Start!!

<ID:0/025> recovery.img

<ID:0/025> system.img.ext4

<ID:0/025> FAIL! (WP)

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

hen flashing just the pit Odin says

<ID:0/025> Removed!!

<ID:0/025> Added!!

<ID:0/025> Odin v.3 engine (ID:25)..

<ID:0/025> File analysis..

<ID:0/025> SetupConnection..

<ID:0/025> Initialzation..

<ID:0/025> Set PIT file..

<ID:0/025> DO NOT TURN OFF TARGET!!

<ID:0/025> Get PIT for mapping..

<ID:0/025> Firmware update start..

<ID:0/025> RQT_CLOSE !!

<ID:0/025> RES OK !!

<ID:0/025> Removed!!

and phone reboots to samsung screen but progresses no further.

So this is real squeaky bum time and i really don't want to do anything else without advice as a true hard brick is not something I want nor can afford.

I've used the original white USB cable and other official samsung cables, I've tried different usb ports and computers with ODIN, all with the same results.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to unbrick this marvellous yet expensive phone, I will be truly and forever grateful and may buy you a pint if you're ever in Nottingham or perhaps do some statistics for you!!