[Galaxy Tab 2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Jaman42:
Sounds very similair to what I am experiencing with my P5110. Over time it got slower and slower, then sometimes it wouldn't boot and sometimes it would suddenly restart. Then eventually it got to the point where it is just showing the Samsung logo at boot.

I have managed to flash a custom recovery a couple of times out of a couple of hundred tries I imagine. But during the first 10 seconds of flashing a custom rom or stock it shuts off.

I have tried on 4 different computers with all the USB ports, three different cables (one new), with windows and with linux, I tried all versions of Odin I could find, Heimdall, even tried compiling from source on both linux and windows, I tried flashing stock and custom firmwares. Now it shows the "Firmware upgrade encountered an issue".... screen.

As a last effort I thought I might try to re-partition with a pit file, some of the Odin versions doesn't show any error message 3.07 for example but it's not working. Can't seem to be able to write to the EMMC.

After a lot of tries I found a strange behavior. If I try and re-partition it fails, but after that I can enter download mode. Try to flash another recovery which fails and I am back to the firmware upgrade encountered an issue message. I can re-boot hundred times trying with download mode and recovery and nothing. Then if I try and re-partition which fails I can enter download mode again, odd.

I usually never give up until I am certain about what's causing the issue but this time I have to make an exception I think. I'm ready to announce the death of this p5110 and get another tab, my son was not to happy about him not being able to play Minecraft, but then again, he is five so it might be time for a laptop instead.

*Edit: For example when I try to flash with Odin 3.07 it doesn't tell me that it fails but I can see that the progress bar on the tab stops about 15% on the way. Odin happily continues thou. With 3.09 Odin lets me know it has failed about the same time the progress bar stops on the tab. So the fact that it doesn't fail seems to be a software glitch.

Odin 3.07

<ID:0/013> Added!!
<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..
<OSM> Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..
<OSM> Please wait..
<OSM> P5110XXDMI1_P5110OXXDMJ1_HOME.tar.md5 is valid.
<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..
<OSM> Leave CS..
<ID:0/013> Odin v.3 engine (ID:13)..
<ID:0/013> File analysis..
<ID:0/013> SetupConnection..
<ID:0/013> Initialzation..
<ID:0/013> Set PIT file..
<ID:0/013> DO NOT TURN OFF TARGET!!
<ID:0/013> Get PIT for mapping..
<ID:0/013> Firmware update start..
<ID:0/013> system.img
<ID:0/013> NAND Write Start!!
<ID:0/013> boot.img
<ID:0/013> cache.img
<ID:0/013> hidden.img
<ID:0/013> recovery.img
<ID:0/013> MLO
<ID:0/013> param.lfs
<ID:0/013> Sbl.bin
<ID:0/013> RQT_CLOSE !!
<ID:0/013> RES OK !!
<ID:0/013> Removed!!
<ID:0/013> Remain Port .... 0
<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 1 / failed 0)

And with 3.09

<ID:0/013> Added!!
<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..
<OSM> Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..
<OSM> Please wait..
<OSM> P5110XXDMI1_P5110OXXDMJ1_HOME.tar.md5 is valid.
<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..
<OSM> Leave CS..
<ID:0/013> Odin v.3 engine (ID:13)..
<ID:0/013> File analysis..
<ID:0/013> SetupConnection..
<ID:0/013> Initialzation..
<ID:0/013> Set PIT file..
<ID:0/013> DO NOT TURN OFF TARGET!!
<ID:0/013> Get PIT for mapping..
<ID:0/013> Firmware update start..
<ID:0/013> SingleDownload.
<ID:0/013> system.img
<ID:0/013> NAND Write Start!!
<ID:0/013> FAIL!
<ID:0/013>
<ID:0/013> Complete(Write) operation failed.
<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 0 / failed 1)

*Edit2: For a brief moment I could flash the X-loader (MLO), PARAM (param.lfs), SBL1 (Sbl.bin) using 3.09 without any errors, then I got the Samsung logo boot again so I got my hope up. When I tried to flash any of the other partitions it failed, and now it's back failing even with a single one of these. As you can see I have a hard time admitting defeat :). Although the inconsistency is worrying.