yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S I9000 General] tarambuka:
Totally agree! The situation is getting out of control. Today I was offered dumb old loaner phones only, which is outrageous. We all pay for expensive data plans which come with the SGS phones and they don't care about this simple fact, giving us dumb phones which wouldn't allow us to even check our email. And on top of that, for these dumb piece of crap you even have to pay them.

I think the situation is a holy grail for an experienced class action suit lawyer.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Frostshock:
Waterloo has a corporate store? I went back home to send in my phone because the Bell at Conestoga Mall wanted $20 just to send the damn thing in, on top of the $35 deposit.

You can certainly call customer service and see what they can do for your bill because you don't need high data charges when you'll be on a dumbphone for weeks. Customer service was making deals and reducing bills for September when Bell had no service, they should do the same for being stuck on a loaner phone that doesn't use all the features of your plan.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] yhdks:
I go to UWaterloo as well and I sent mine in at the Bell store at Conestoga Mall and they charged me ~$45 as a deposit. -_- I thought the reason I got the issue with my internal SD card was that I flashed all different firmwares a lot of times but I guess not..? ugh anyway, I'm gonna sell mine as soon as it gets back to me.

Also, they said it's gonna take 2-4 weeks but apparently they were lying? cuz people here seem to be waiting for more than a month...
[Galaxy S I9000 General] kevinhu.ca:
I am in the same boat... only few days of froyo, and can't boot up any more...:confused::confused::confused:
[Galaxy S I9000 General] TriC_101:
hmmm.... odd I can install apps and write to my SD card from ADB shell.. but it says its not mounted.. odd... def a software issue.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Jordiharrison:
Haha I actually emailed Engadget and Gizmodo today about it.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] yongwanee:
UW

I meant the store in Conestoga Mall. Maybe corporate store is not the word. I meant to say that it's a stand-alone Bell store instead of a third-party store like Best Buy, Futureshop, or The Source.

They didn't say anything about $20 to send it in when I was there. Just wanted a deposit, which I'm not certain but believe was like ~$40...

And wow I didn't know about reduced deals for September... I thought it was just me who was getting no reception around campus. I guess I'm too late for that, but I certainly will try calling about my SGS and this loaner phone.

Glad to see another UW student. Did they have a loaner phone for you in Conestoga? Because when I went there, they said they were all out.

That's why I had to go all the way to Fairview Park Mall... Just to get this dumbphone that can't use data even if it wanted.

Yeah internal SD problem seems to stem from a fundamental flaw with the Bell SGS. I didn't do any rooting or lagfix, and it died on me just the same.

And I heard the guy at Bell saying they were shipping it to FutureTel. That seems to be where EVERYONE in the GTA area seems to be sending their SGS for repairs, and judging by how long they've been waiting, I wouldn't get my hopes up...
[Galaxy S I9000 General] hotdoggie:
Just to give people an idea, I dropped off my SGS @ a Bell Store in Vancouver on the 13th and it was just an hour or so before closing. On the 14th, I tracked it on Bell's site and it said it was in transport to the repair facility. Then, on the 15th, the status has been updated to "Phone is being inspected/repaired".
[Galaxy S I9000 General] namzahoy:
I agree. I'm not the best hacker by far, but I was able to load various ROMs onto the phone after it "died". Plus, the guts of the phone are almost the same as the rest of the world (mb, chipset, etc.) so how could it be a hardware issue? Did they send all their faulty internals to Bell?:confused:

It would be nice if someone could get FutureTel's repair procedures for the community, but then they'd be out of a job.;)
[Galaxy S I9000 General] betaboy00:
which Bell store is this? and are you a Bell customer?

thanks
[Galaxy S I9000 General] cytherean:
Great Idea..Just posted the following on Engadget's site.

More than 50% of the phones in this poll are failing and there has been no official response from Samsung or the carrier (Bell) on how they will handle the problem. Meanwhile all the customers are without phones and the ones that are "fortunate" enough to get their phones "fixed" with band-aid solutions will probably end up heading back to repair shop. What ever happened to customer satisfaction and corporate responsibility?
[Galaxy S I9000 General] johnnyboy1:
Here's my question how many users that voted that it was working then didn't work are still in the"still working" list. Theres no way to change there vote rightafter they voted right? So there could be way more of a percentage then we think . I for one am not voting you'll I hit day 5 then I'll vote

I think at this point we need to find out who's phone is working after the upgrade I'm on day 3 with no signs yet *knock on wood

I will keep ya updated but I imagine it'll die like the rest of them

But serious who can we cal to start some legal action
[Galaxy S I9000 General] hotdoggie:
Oakridge Centre. No, I am not.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] aquenne:
Apple did a few things significantly different.

First they held a press confrence, publically aknowledging the problem.

and second they extended the offer for who purchased an iphone 4 there money back, if they wanted.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] que3jxp:
ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This issue is no longer unique to canada and bell/virgin customers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1589959
[Galaxy S I9000 General] robinsonj:
I9000M from Bell on Rogers service???

I've been reading this thread for a few days and getting nervous...

Just skimmed through again and I'm forced to ask...

Is anyone on Rogers with this phone getting bricked in the same way?

I really don't understand how the carrier could be the issue, but it seems like most of the people posting who have unlocked this handset and run it with Rogers seem to be saying the same thing... still working after the Kies Froyo update...

It could be wishful thinking on my part, but I would be VERY curious to hear other people's experiences... Mine is still working fine after 6 days and installation and uninstall of multiple apps, and rooting, and lagfix...

Maybe add a carrier subset within the poll?
[Galaxy S I9000 General] YG007:
Yes, mine bricked 3 times already!! First time was a reflash, lasted 3 days. Second one was a mobo replacement, it lasted about 2 weeks. ...and now its in again for repair. I sent it back in November, still no word back.

I'm on Rogers. It doesn't matter what carrier you're on. Its the fact that its the Samsung Galaxy S FROM Bell thats the problem. They're all bad somehow... :(
[Galaxy S I9000 General] nalinbhatt:
Same Problem But FIXED

I had the same problem. I was getting force close errors. Rebooted by phone twice then did the factory reset and now its working fine (for now). I Hope that it continues to work just as it is working now.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] JJustin:
I haven't voted yet because my phone seems like it is about to die but hasn't yet. Never rooted or used any lagfixes. I installed froyo via kies on Dec. 9 and it started getting a bunch of FCs Dec. 15. A few of my programs stopped working (like doubletwist) stopped working and will not reinstall. I have a feeling the internal SD is about to go soon.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] TriC_101:
ya alot of the phone have come back with just a re-flash... I wonder how they are doing this.. now some are having the Motherboards replace but in most cases its just a re-flash.. but they are doing this some how different and to a lower level... I know I can see my SD card from ADB or CWR but android will not see it.. and 3 other ones I looked at were the same.. so it looks to be a software issue.. in my case and in most cases.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] billypg:
This would mean that if we flash back to 2.1 it should work right? (no sd card caching).

I remember once i messed up and formated the internal sd card using rom manager (thinking this was needed to store a backup of the current rom and thinking this would be done on the EXTERNAL sd). But Android would still boot. I did get an error message about not being able to mount the sd card. I just went into a configuration option and formatted the card.

Has anybody tried to flash the stock 2.1 firmware?
[Galaxy S I9000 General] astralmind:
Well Futuretel just emailed me my tracking number, I should get my phone back soon enough. Mobo replaced according to them. In theory that would still mean Eclair 2.1 and I'll flash Doc's Bell Rom for sure asap. No point in "playing safe" and having the phone die 2 months from now..
[Galaxy S I9000 General] nemethb:
I just called the Samung Service Centre in Montreal. The receptionist said that it is know to be a software issue. I don't know how much of this is true...but the important thing I got out of the conversation was that they would ship the repaired phone back to me if I dropped it off. So those who are near Montreal and want your phone fixed, drop it off and tell them to ship it to your house.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] pavbul:
Thanks a lot for this summary, I will post links to it everywhere. It's really strange this issue was not yet spread around IT comunity
[Galaxy S I9000 General] yhdks:
They had only one loaner phone which wasn't even a smartphone.. (I think it was a touch-screen Samsung/LG feature phone) I didn't take it because I have an unlocked nokia n97 mini.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] dannyphones:
My friends galaxy s died after he updated to 2.2. I flashed 2.1 with odin and it still didn't work. Same cannot mount error.

He even bought that garbage protection plan and he still got a crappy dumb phone as a loaner.

apparently bell has NO smartphone loaners available in the gta.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] que3jxp:
Like a crazy man.....

It does not work :(

It seems that it is a fate for all owners that this phone sucks. There are only a scant few that are now at the 7+ day mark since updating to 2.2.

I was lucky to get a free loaner from the store where I bought my SGS but it is a Samsung Omnia II running WM6.5 so it will be a painful time while waiting for it to come back...

It kills me to say this but every day that goes by, I think more and more that I should have either waited for an HTC device or just caved and got an iPhone...

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[Galaxy S I9000 General] yiannisthegreek:
I am one of these few lucky ones so far... KNOCK ON WOOD!!! I flashed 2.2 last Thursday evening (Dec. 9th) and although I had experienced a few FC's, it seems to have figured itself out and has been running very smooth for at least 5 of the 7 days since I updated it.

I am sad for all of you who are having this problem and I really hope that my phone does not decide to "crap out" on me anytime soon / at all.

Hopefully my posting does not jinx me... Just in case though... How many Bell users in this poll are in the Edmonton area? Anyone? I wonder sometimes if it could be a regional thing as MOST of the issues seem to be in Eastern Canada...
[Galaxy S I9000 General] 7210:
Just a quick update on my phone. I dropped it off this past sunday and I just checked the bell warranty site and i get this message now.

The current status of your repair is:

Phone is being processed for shipment to the store.

Thank you for visiting bell.ca.

That was quick!! They originally quoted me 4-6 weeks for repairs but Futuretel is like 5 minutes away from the Bell store i dropped it off so thats probably why the turnaround was so quick. Hopefully everything works when i get it back!
[Galaxy S I9000 General] jcdsilva:
Edmonton here. Upgraded to Froyo last Thursday evening. Saturday started getting FC's. Tried a reboot Sat night and it never came back. I took my phone into the Bell store in Kingsway on Sunday and got a Dext as a loaner. At the time the staff there hadn't heard anything about this issue.

One of the guys I work with has a Vibrant as well, but he hasn't had any issues at all. He also upgraded Thursday.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] yiannisthegreek:
Well... Nice to see a fellow Edmontonian here anyways but I wish it was under different circumstances.

I really hope that mine is ok and I hope you get yours back swiftly and in PROPER WORKING CONDITION!!!
[Galaxy S I9000 General] An Droid:
Just checked the status of my repair as well:

"Phone is being processed for shipment to the store."

If it was fixed (i.e. if they didn't deem it non-warranty), it sounds like a software fix (reflash)...I have a suspicion that it's just a matter of properly reformating the internal memory before reloading the firmware...

We'll see...
[Galaxy S I9000 General] got_milk:
Looks like someone got through to Samsung...

http://www.facebook.com/samsungmobilecanada/posts/166184006757332
[Galaxy S I9000 General] neiu:
I emailed samsung using the email they provided on their facebook page. I'll let people know what they say about this issue
[Galaxy S I9000 General] irietek:
Hello, I emailed them too but I'm not sure how much they can help..

Is this issue only happening to Bell customers? I did a quick search and to my knowledge it looks like it's only Bell customers.

Does this mean that Bell was mucking around with the firmware?
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Jsick:
I'm with Sasktel and the problem is happening with them too.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] bentonius:
Just to let you guys know I've gotten to the "Phone is being inspected/repaired" point. Dropped it off last Saturday, may get to see my phone by Christmas! I really hope it doesn't die again.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] TriC_101:
this is very good news... they are likely almost ready to release a fix.. last time they said something like this it was just under a week and the fixed the 3 button combo issues.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Singhman:
I emailed Bell about this issue, and they simply said that its not their problem, its samsung's, and to contact them! They said that they are not responsible for products not working properly! Really Bell? so you can sell us POS phones, and wipe your hands clean? I knew samsung sucked...but now Bell has joined them too.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Singhman:
Here's what they wrote to me:

I wish to clarify that Bell Mobility is a cellular network provider, and

not a device manufacturer. Bell Mobility is willing to facilitate access

to its mobile network for its clients by providing an assortment of

mobile devices designed by various manufacturers. However, Bell Mobility

is in no way responsible for the performance or maintenance of devices

sold in its stores, as the manufacturer is the only party legally

responsible for its own product.

They cant even pressure Samsung for a proper fix? *******
[Galaxy S I9000 General] got_milk:
Considering Bell sells the defective phones I would think that it's their problem as well. Oh well, what do I know!?
[Galaxy S I9000 General] TriC_101:
Wow.. I just called Samsung and they do you about the issue.. they will send you a shipping label.. to send the phone in to some place in the Toronto area called service absolute.. and they turn around time is 5 days.. and they have just set this up for this issue with the bell phones and its a very low level re-flash.. they are also working on a software fix for customers.

He also said that all the phone reps do know about the issue and their is a document just for our issue as well.. this is all new today he said.. they even pulled the reps aside at Samsung and made sure they knew about the Doc. and the issues. So it does look like Samsung is scrambling for a fix.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] arr0ww:
well i had filled in the poll as Froyo 2.2 w\ lagfix and it was working..

now my phone is dead...off to bell to get it replaced, wish me luck.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] got_milk:
That's a solid foundation for a comeback. ;)
[Galaxy S I9000 General] got_milk:
Interesting...Google doesn't return any hits for "Absolute Repair" in the Toronto area.

If all it requires is a low-level flash, could we not perform such a function with Odin? I would think a re-partition and re-flash of the firmware is about as low level as one can go.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] radeon_x:
Well that's one of the bigger loads of **** I've heard from a telecom company lately.

That statement will make sense when Bell starts selling the devices unlocked, unbranded and without any kind of service commitment required.

Until then, Bell's just as guilty as Samsung in this whole fiasco.

Incidentally... My phone's motherboard has been replaced and will be ready for pick up soon. So about 4 week turn around time in BC. But I'm not going to stop bugging Bell/Samsung about this issue...
[Galaxy S I9000 General] TriC_101:
sorry it was "service absolute"
[Galaxy S I9000 General] jpaik:
This is nonsense, and this reasoning would never stand up in a lawsuit. It's like saying Sears is a medium for selling shirts and takes no responsibility if all the buttons fall off.

Bell sells phones. If Bell is solely a cellular network provider, then all handsets which are able to connect to their network should be sold anywhere: your favorite convenience store; The Bay...anywhere. Bell would merely activate the device for free and contract us for service. Bell would NEVER be selling handsets.

My ISP and cable provider does not sell tv displays.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] cytherean:
Hi Guys, it might be "Service Absolut", it is in Montreal. That is where my phone is getting serviced.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] TriC_101:
did you call bell or Samsung to get it serviced?
[Galaxy S I9000 General] kevinhu.ca:
I am fido user, and I am facing the same problem with other buddies, so since fido and rogers using the same network, and most of the same setting, you are lucky. Enjoy your SGS.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] evil-doer:
this is what i was afraid of. they are just low level formatting the memory. if its faulty memory hardware that means this problem will just come back again in a few months.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] archangelz:
So with this low level reflash thing, should I be sending it off to get serviced if my phone isn't getting any issues yet. From what I understand right now its some kind of issue with the way 2.2 does the sd caching and updates to the RFS so its just a matter of time before my phone bricks again anyways because of the faulty hardware no?

I'm already on my second phone about a day into the 2.2 flash.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] TriC_101:
I just want this software they are using... to do this.. also I have flashed my phone like 30times and its just JK4 that gave me the issue.. btw JK3 works great and does not seem to have this issue. but their are 2 issues there is a hardware issue.. but the major one is the software issue.. if you search the internet for the dev/block/mmcblk0p1 error their are alot of other phones that have 16gb SD have this issue not just the i9000m
[Galaxy S I9000 General] TriC_101:
Looks like Samsung has pulled JK4 from Kies.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] fast1fred:
I was on JK3 and got the internal SD card error after a few hours. Never had a chance to get on JK4. Still in repair shop.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] evil-doer:
right. i dont believe theres issues with jk4. its just that it was an official update, therefore so many more people updated to it at the same time. thats why theres so many errors now.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] got_milk:
Doesn't really explain the fact that some people can adb push and pull files off their supposedly "dead" SD cards. If the chips are actually faulty when the phone dies that chip should either be inaccessible totally or nothing writes to it.

This very well could be a software issue, and while I don't doubt people are having hardware failures, I think that number may be far smaller than we think right now.

As for right now though, I don't know whether I should stick with JK4 or flash back to JH2. I have Odin and the firmware ready-to-flash, I just need to decide to do it or not.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] TriC_101:
thats what I have been doing I can install apps but I have to push them with ADB.. now it would not boot until I used a 3rd party kernel.. but its very odd that Android will not install the apps says I don't have space or an SD card but ADB will let me push and install them... very odd.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] got_milk:
That definitely sounds like an Android issue there.

Have you tried flashing back to JH2 with Odin and re-partitioning?
[Galaxy S I9000 General] TriC_101:
yep... still nothing with JH2 It just boots in a loop at the Samsung I9000M screen.. its just with a custom kernal I can get into android.. but as soon as I reboot all my settings are gone that I put it... so in other words it looks to be just running on Ram.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] samsunggsv:
happened to me yesterday. phone just went black, tried to reset, splash screen then blank. didn't upgrade to froyo.

good thing I purchased a 3 year product replacement plan at costco for $50. The guy said he'd replace it. I'll know tomorrow.

I want to know if there's a way to get my data out before I return it.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] plei4d3s:
Fixed after bricking - long story short, did a factory reset successfully.

Full story:

I bought my Vibrant outright from Futureshop and have been using it on Virgin's network without having to unlock it. I updated to 2.2 a couple of days ago. Everything was working fine until today when an app was freezing. I turned off the phone and when I restarted I got the Samsung 'S' and then a black screen with the back and menu buttons lit up and random vibration.

I read somewhere here that a factory reset wouldn't work so I didn't try it until I went to a Bell store, then a Virgin store, then Futureshop and got the expected ringaround.

Called Samsung, did a factory reset (Hold Power, Volume Up, Home Key) and everything seems to be working. I've turned it off and on again successfully.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] TriC_101:
For most people its not that simple.. you are just lucky thats all.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] evil-doer:
cool story. i expect to see you back in a few days saying it died again and now the restore isnt working.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] cytherean:
I brought it into Bell first thing on Sunday morning, you can check the status of the repair through Bell's website if you get a repair order number. It seems pretty accurate as mine is on it's way back to the store.

http://www.bell.ca/support/PrsCSrvWls_MgAcSrMobility_Eform.page

Hopefully I can pick it up today.

Per the service center "...I see that the issue is because you updated to the 2.2, when you receive the phone, i would strongly suggest to wait for the next version since there is a lot of issues with the new version."

We'll see how long it lasts before crapping out again.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Samdroid_G_S:
Lucky you I guess your SD was not toast then , just a software problem. As my SGS has been gone for nearly 2 weeks and when I check the status it says parts are required to fix mine and they will not have them till January 3rd.

As far as the service centers comment if they know this how come they have not pulled the update then? I believe they do no want to admit that they gave us shoty hardware is all.

It's like here's a bowl of ice cream don't it eat though just watch it melt.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] archangelz:
I thought they pulled the upgrade already, some people are reporting they can't upgrade using kies anymore
[Galaxy S I9000 General] jpaik:
Yes, it's been pulled. The upgrade is no longer available.