yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] krustybaguette:
Little Linux help

From the OP of the sticky in q&a...what does "connect the microSD card" mean?

I put it in an full sized SD card adapter and placed it in my laptop's built in SD card reader

Result of dmesg | tail is

[507412.308506] mmcblk0: mmc0:aaaa SU16G 14.8 GiB

[507412.311554] mmcblk0: p1

gparted shows it as /dev/mmcblk0p1

Item #5 and #6 seem to suggest that the debrick.bin is already on the microSD card, yet the Linux instructions that I'm following don't say anything about downloading directly to microSD, or copying it there. The Windows instructions say to use Win32diskimager to write the debrick.bin to the card. Is that step eliminated in Linux? Just copy or download it to the card? I have the debrick.zip file on my desktop along with the mounted SD card. Do I just extract the debrick.bin to the card?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] buhohitr:
"connect the microSD card" same as "put it in an full sized SD card adapter and placed it in my laptop's built in SD card reader". I did this right already :--))

The instruction for both Windows and Linux stated that:

1) unzip the debrick.zip. You now have debrick.bin some where on your laptop, just let say c:\debrick.bin

2) For Windows, use Win32diskimage browse to c:\debrick.bin and select write to SDcard

3) For Linux is the same, provide the path for debrick.bin (if=/path_to_debrick.bin then output to card (/dev/sdX)

dd if=/path to debrick.bin of=/dev/sdX
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] ace576831:
SD CARD

how big does the sd card need to be and does is work for the verizon schi535 version or has anybody tied
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] ThePagel:
Read the op again
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] ThePagel:
[MENTION=5179171]SpyroDazee[/MENTION] I just took a quick look and there isn't any clear way to tell what type of S3 this is for. Some people might come across this from a Google search and only look at the op and not know what section of the forum this is on. If you find time you might want to make it clear this is for the SCH-I535 d2vzw only. And you might want to rename the debrick.bin to SCH-I535_D2vzw_Debrick.bin so it can not get confused for a different phone. If you would like I could host it on my android file host account so it can stick around longer.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] az-dave:
In order for this process to work you need to use the correct debrick file.

If its pre Android 4.3 use the file in the video that the kid put up (he nails the process perfectly, but misses that it only works for pre 4.3)

If you were on 4.3 - you need "Debrick.bin" - its in an earlier post.

Now I need to fix my bootloader...
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] sanf415:
How do you extract debrick.bin after Unzip???? I was not able to extract the bin file and I tried using the win32diskimager to browse for the debrick.bin and could not find it.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Jackelope:
You do not need to extract debrick.bin.

In win32diskimager select your device then click the blue folder icon.

Then underneath the file name change the "Files of type:" from Disk Images to *.* by clicking on it.

After that the file will show up.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To OP:

Thanks a million! This method worked and saved my phone! :)
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] sanf415:
Thank You so much!!!! That Worked and Save My Phone!!!! I love you a million times...!!!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] TwistedPoet:
Same here az-dave. After I struggled mightily against such a simple set of instructions, I taking my time moving forward. I'm not frustrated now that as least have the device on.. :)

---------- Post added at 07:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:54 AM ----------

As simple as these instructions are laid out; I spent several hours trying to achieve success removing the hard brick from my i535. I achieved my goal but again, I spent several hours just following those simple set of instructions. Is there anyway to clarify this further so that I can finish restoring the stock boot loader and stock recovery and regain my full sd card. Thank you in advance for helping me and pardoning my noobishness. (I just making up words now.) Thanks again. :confused:
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Jackelope:
What part are you stuck on? If you want I can help over IM. Just let me know which Messenger if you want to.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] ThePagel:
well I see why people think they need to extract the debrick.bin after they already unziped it "Unzip the debrick.zip and extract debrick.bin"
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] TwistedPoet:
It was a little confusing for a noob like myself. Thankfully, I met some good people that were more than willing to lend a hand. :good::victory:
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] WNThinks:
Does my SD Card have to be a bootable one?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] buhohitr:
No, basically, you execute the command to install the recovery image.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] krustybaguette:
In the OP there is this reference to JTAG. I've since solved my problem with [MENTION=4725496]ThePagel[/MENTION]'s debrick method using Odin but before finding that information I went to my local Verizon store and asked a knowledgeable tech support person about JTAG and she didn't have any idea what it meant. Is JTAG an acronym? I googled it and found no explanation. I'm guessing it's some kind of jargon. After hearing all that I had attempted up to that point (including this debrick method) she took my phone "out back" for a few minutes and when she came back she proclaimed my phone unrecoverable and explained an option to add insurance via "open enrollment" and get a replacement phone (S4) for a $100 deductible. I was tempted, but was also considering dropping Verizon and going back to T-MO under their bring your own phone plan. I still have a perfectly good t-mo G2 (aka Desire) which is rooted and running either ICS or early JB. Anyway after that I went home and discovered how to

properly

enter odin Download mode and from there I was able to use [MENTION=4725496]ThePagel[/MENTION]'s method to flash via Odin.

All of the above is just to ask if you can explain the term JTAG. :o
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Ruslan_S:
Guys, this method will work with my i9305?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] krustybaguette:
Right on page one of the thread:

Verizon Galaxy S3 is i535 and i've seen debrick methods for others. What is the i9305? What version of Android was it running before it got bricked? Rooted? Here's a link I found at Droid Report with maybe five minutes of searching that appears to have your anwers. I cannot guarantee anything as I do not have a Galaxy i9305.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] diamondcanopy:
Kind of an aside here, but is there any reason the SD card has to be done in Windows or Linux? Why not a mac?

Also, does having a locked bootloader forever after this mean that I will be stuck with samsung stock forever, even if I get the phone back up and running? Because.... that's barely running, really, at this point (Still very grateful to everything you guys here have done).
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] krustybaguette:
If by done in Windows, Linux, or mac you mean FORMATTED it doesn't matter as long as the card is formatted as FAT or FAT32.

If you are on a Verizon Galaxy S3 and have received the 4.3 update your bootloader is locked. However there are workarounds. I had been attempting to use safestrap and bricked my phone. However following the instructions in thePagel's thread I was able to flash the stock ROM back. This yields a fresh clean install of stock ROM. Previous to bricking my phone I had the 4.3 update but the phone was horrible, especially as far as battery life. At present I am still on stock ROM and have rooted using saferoot. I'm debating about whether to safestrap or just debloat my stock ROM since I now know that I can always return to stock if Verizon releases any updates, especially chocolate flavored ones. ;)

You can root the phone using saferoot

Using the safestrap apk give you the ability to flash another ROM alongside the stock ROM but you can't just flash any ROM you might like. It must be based on the stock TW ROM.

Go back over this thread from the beginning to learn the details.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] diamondcanopy:
Thanks so much. Here's hoping I can resurrect my brick. I had pretty much the same experience as you re: 4.3
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] kcoble24:
Help please!!!

Okay,

so i followed the steps and it worked, but i used my regular sd card that had all my data on it, now it says its broken on my s3 and when i try to open it on the computer it just says img, i know you posted the format program, but i read the manual and that says it deletes everything off of the sd card, how can i get my information off the card before i format? please tell me there is a way! i read through your whole post and didnt see anything about losing my data so there has to be a way, thanks in advance!!!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] buhohitr:
You can search on Google for "sd card data recovery software" and use the software on your pc to recover your data.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] krustybaguette:
Glad you got your phone back but I'm puzzled by why the SD card would be wiped unless you have a device where /sdcard refers to the

internal

storage. I have an HP Touchpad like that. It has no external storage but internal storage shows up in a file manager as /sdcard.

In the future, whether you get the data back or not, there are a couple of things you can to to protect what you have stored on a microSD card.

First of all, when you are flashing a ROM, remove the card from your phone or tablet. Second of all, copy all the data to a space on the hard drive of your personal computer or some other secure location away from the device. Since a microSD card cannot be read directly by a PC you need an adapter that looks like a full-sized SD card but has a slot for the microSD card. Many, perhaps most microSD cards come with an adapter nowadays. If your PC doesn't have an SD card reader slot they you'll need some kind of USB card reader that can accept the full-side SD card adapter.

I hope this basic informaton is what you are asking about.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Quickpaw:
Fix Confirm!

This fix brought back my friend's dead Verizon Galaxy S3.

In a nutshell, either Safe Root or EZ-Unlock 1.4 killed it. Brought it to a Verizon store, and they said it was dead as well. We all thought it was a hardware issue.

Anywho, I followed the directions in the OP exactly, but I originally used the 2GB microSD that came with the phone (this is a newer model). No luck. I switch it out with a 16GB Class 6 SanDisk card, held the power button for a few seconds, and it booted!

I then downloaded Android Terminal, and ran the script from the OP. The debrick.bin copied to the phone's internal SD, and now it boots with no issue (I then formatted the external SD card, just to make sure).

Thanks for this awesome method! The S3 is question has now been nicknamed "Frankenstein."

EDIT: Didn't mention this, but the phone was on the stock 4.3 update.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] ThePagel:
It was most certainly ez unlock. Safe root is about as safe as it comes for acquiring root but as I am sure you are now aware of there is no unlocking 4.3 boot loader.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] krustybaguette:
Agree with thePagel. Brick was not via saferoot. That's why it's call SAFE root :) His unbrick thread is what I used to resurrect my S3 and just like you I had brought mine to a Verizon store where the tech rep and her manager couldn't do anything with it.

I can't emphasize enough how important it is to correctly press Vol. down + Home and then press the power on button in order to get into Odin Download mode. Since I succeeded in reflashing the stock ROM I used saferoot to gain root again. I've also learned about another tool Jodin that can be used to flash in Linux.

Now that you've got the phone back what have you done to make the 16GB SanDisk card back to useable status for your extSD card?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Quickpaw:
Yeah, I have been reading up on EZ-Unlock after these events. Last time I used it was with Synergy ROM, and not Stock 4.3. Oh well, live and learn.

As for the 16GB SanDisk, all I did was after I copied debrick.bin to the internal SD card, I ran the extSD through SD Formatter 4.0, and back it went.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] krustybaguette:
Oh yeah, I read about that when I was trying the SpyroDazee method of debricking. I run Linux, so I ended up going through a lengthy gparted exercise of repartitioning and deleting and unmounting untill I eventually had cleared the entire card, then formatted it as FAT32.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] nicklittle:
I had CWM, and PACMAN 4.3 (01-20-14 nightly) on my phone, i rebooted it, because i felt like it, and it didn't turn back on. i went through all the options (button combos, charge overnight, leave the battery out overnight, throw it as hard as i can into the street then slowly roll over it with my car over and over again until it is at a molecular level and safely returned to mother nature). before i got here. I feel like i am getting somewhere now.... before it was like it was dead, but after i did the debrick (pre 4.3) it would vibrate after i pushed the power button but no screen, so i tried the after 4.3 debrick, same effect, i push the power button a few seconds and it quickly vibrates but nothing else. (yes, i have tried all the button combos to get it to boot into download mode).

i see all of the posts here pertain to stock- rooted roms, is the process different for a custom rom/ recovery?

also am i on the right path (with the vibrations)?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] ThePagel:
What is the last thing you remember doing to you phone? Modding wise.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] nicklittle:
I left PACMAN to try OmniRom 4.4 KitKat for a few days, then went back to PAC. i installed BMS 12/31 Kernel along with PAC and PA 0-day gapps 4.3, and my phone was stuck in bootloop, so i got back into recovery and tried KT747 4.3 with PAC and 0-day, that had somewhat similar effects, just kind of wonky once it booted, so i went back to recovery and did PAC and 0-DAY with no custom kernel. I did full data wipes between each flash session.

after getting stock PAC on my device, it was all good, i had it running on 01/20 nightly everything was like peanut butter and jelly, i was in my car getting my blue tooth hooked up, and it kept connecting then disconnecting, so i thought, "hey, just restart it, that usually fixes little things like this", well it did the re-part, but not the starting part. besides the bluetooth not connecting it was smooth, good data, wifi tether was perfect, the phone had been on for a couple days with out restarting or dying.

it really doesn't make since why it would brick, and now with the debrick.bin file it just vibrates, like a very short intense vibrate, and then nothing. it vibrates when i plug it into a power source, or when i hold any (hard) key down.

i hope that's enough info, just want my phone back. especially since PAC is about to drop 4.4!!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] ThePagel:
Could be your power button. A lot of us are having power button issues. Mine fixes for a few weeks if I smack the button (only the button) on a table corner or something similar. Others have luck just wracking the entire power button side on the table. If you do try that make sure you pad the table with a mouse pad or something. Last time I did this it took a solid 50 hard smacks to get the button to work and power up without automatically tuning off before or shortly after Samsung logo. A good way to tell if this is your problem is take the battery out and back in. If it tries to power up without you pushing the button welcome to the club of phone abusers. Oh don't hit to hard or else you might crack your screen.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] nicklittle:
Are you serious... ?!?! my phone doesnt try to boot when i put the battery in though.

I really cant tell if your messing with me or not, im so desperate for this thing to work, i almost believe you, but at the same time that sounds ridiculous.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] ThePagel:
I am dead serious but if it doesn't try to boot on battery insert its not your problem.

---------- Post added at 09:36 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:18 AM ----------

I thought it sounded stupid as well but I don't have insurance on my phone and its past warranty so I was desperate to get it to turn on. It really doesn't sound like your power button is jammed but if you can't figure it out in a week what's the harm in trying.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] nicklittle:
haha yeah true, well luckily im still under warranty. so i cant slam the thing around. hopefully they dont get it on themselves and see what ive done to the thing.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] lgfuad:
First of all I just want to say that this guide is a real life saver. I hard bricked my new S3 and was sick about it. Thank you everyone who contributed to this!

I did the same thing droidshadow did. The only difference is I used version 1.2.

i went to redownload the EZ-UNLOCK app i saw that there was a version 1.4 so i thought maybe i could use that to unlock my 4.3 OTA update (stupid i know!) but i never remember seeing v1.4 before so i thought maybe it was an update.

After running EZ-Unlock it said the bootloader was unlocked and i tried restarting my phone and it would not power on!

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=49037699&postcount=37

I'm still really new to this, so please forgive my ignorance.

I'm having a few problems still. My phone is up and running and it's rooted using saferoot. Which is all good, but now I can't get into recovery mode or download mode. They both start up. When I enter recovery mode I get the blue text in the top left hand corner, but then the phone just starts up like normal. When I enter download mode the screen flashes the screen for a second before turning off and starting the phone normally.

Also, when I connect my phone to the computer everything works like it should, but when I enter Odin while it says it adds my device when I try to install the stock rom it never connects to the phone and installs it. It just hangs there waiting for the connection.

I have a question about restoring the bootloader and recovery image as well. I downloaded the debrick file and it shows up with the bin extension, but for some reason it wants to use VLC media player to open it. I wrote it to the 16 GB card and it shows up on the card as a folder called "image" with lots of files in it. Nevertheless it worked and my phone booted up.

Then I follow the directions, as best as I can with my inept knowledge of all this. I put the stock bootloader and recovery image on the card (not at the same time) and then put the code in using Terminal Emulator. Here's where I'm confused though.

The first time I moved the debrick folder and the recovery image manually to the phone storage and then entered the codes. Again, one at a time.

The second time I put the files on the external 16 GB card and left them there. Then I put in the codes and then I plugged the phone back into the computer and deleted the originals on the external card.

Either way the phone works. Mostly. I have a feeling I'm doing something wrong and that's why recovery and download mode won't work.

The instructions also say to keep the debrick.bin file on the external card. Do I keep the actual image folder on the card or the file as it was downloaded? Because even after I deleted the debricked image folder off the card it says there isn't any room on there for the file. I formatted the card at a point but when I put it back in the phone it was bricked again.

I hope someone can help me with this. I'd really appreciate it!

Regardless, the phone is running and I can't thank the creators of this guide enough for that!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] cjthompson:
Awesome post! Thank you for this guide. my phone was Hardbricked due to bootloader issues (it apparently doesnt like being messed with).....

Between this post and other members of XDA my phone is now de-bricked!!!!! im still not sure which part bricked it in the first place....

*EZ Unlock (at that time i didnt know about the 4.3 bootloader lock issues)

*Trying to update supersu binaries

it had to be one of those two things. because i didnt have time to mess with trying to install roms or anything before it happened.

Anyways, ive been trying to say thanks to everyone that contributed to helping me with my now-working phone.

So, Thank You.

---------- Post added at 01:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:47 PM ----------

Hey Pagel, im pretty sure you were helping me out on a thread i started the other day about this same issue. Just wanted to say thanks for the help, trying to thank everyone that helped me out.

Im almost 110% sure EZ Unlock is what is bricking everyones phone......i donwloaded that and after i unlocked and tried to reboot my phone is was bricked. same thing, no power no lights nothin. all i could get was a red led if i took the battery out and plugged it into the computer.

the only other thing i thot it could have been was when supersu tried to update the binaries?? is that a possibility? Im too scared to try to update them again.......

Anyways, thank you for your help. my phone is now working again!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] robv60:
Issue restoring bootloader

This worked for me as well! My phone is up and running but I can not restore my bootloader or recovery using the method described. I moved the files (debrick and recovery) to a spare sd card and tried entering the commands as shown but get an error saying "can not open for read, no such file or directory exists". I assume its because for some reason I do not have the directories on the sdcard those commands require. :confused: I was thinking I would just reflash back to stock and reroot but I am unsure if it will work if I do not have my stock bootloader and recovery restored in their proper places. Any insight?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] krustybaguette:
lacking information

You don't specify if your phone is a Verizon Galaxy S3 I535 with the stock update to 4.3. If so, you need to re-read the entire thread(s) on this issue. Basically your not going to be able to have an unlocked bootloader and the best you can do is follow thePagel's (or other) thread to debrick your phone and restore the stock ROM. After that the only "customization" possible is root (use saferoot) and if you choose (safestrap) which lets you load other ROMS based on the stock ROM. It's a sort of dual boot but IMHO it isn't practical since you can accomplish pretty much the same thing by using one of the methods to "debloat" the stock ROM. I've been down this road and decided to use Titanium Backup to freeze and hide all my unwanted Samsung and Verizon apps. Now I don't get notifications for available updates for apps that I didn't want in the first place. :laugh:
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] robv60:
Sorry about that, My phone is indeed a Verizon SGS III i535 that's running 4.3. I had rooted with saferoot before i screwed everything up by stupidly trying to unlock the bootloader. Live and learn. The OP got me back up and running. As mentioned above, I WAS unable to restore my bootloader and recovery but I have since resolved that issue. I came back here to update my previous post and saw your reply so thought I would address it.

Anyway, my issue was that my SD card was not located at simply /sdcard but rather at /storage/extSdCard. Once i realized that I was able to restore both files to internal memory and have so far been able to boot the phone fully as well as booting into download and recovery modes using the phones internal memory rather than the SD created to unbrick. I believe I should be able to restore to stock 4.3 and re root/debloat but I may forego the process right now as I am currently running 4.3, rooted and debloated so why flash back to stock at this point? Not being able to leave well enough alone is what got me here in the first place.

Thank you all for your help and creating this post!