GS3 sudden death!

G1032

Custom recovery now SDS safe.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=34379030&postcount=1

Chet T16

G1032 wrote: »

Custom recovery now SDS safe.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=34379030&postcount=1

Flashed. Mobile Odin is great for doing stuff like this from the phone

G1032

Chet T16 wrote: »

Flashed. Mobile Odin is great for doing stuff like this from the phone

Ya. I always use mobile odin too. Well worth the few euro. That and TI Backup.

Ste05

waynegalway wrote: »

Update:
Fonfix has confirmed that it will fix the S3 under warranty even if it is on the 3 network. They said to post it directly to them. So if you are on 3, I suggest thinking about this route instead of going back to 3, getting a jiffy bag off them to send the phone to fonemenders, waiting a week to find out fonemenders aren't qualified to fix it, waiting for fonemenders to send it to someone who can fix it, taking another 5-7 days for it to get back to fonemenders, and another day or 2 for them to post it back out to you. Jusy sayin'

I'm with 3. No problem at all, although I didn't want it filled with the 3 bloatware, so I told them it was Network Unlocked when I bought it and they still fixed it without even a blink of an eye. They had responded to an email I sent them before hand saying to make sure I told them it was with 3. When I got it back it didn't have any 3 bloat and I presume it's network unlocked still, I've already rooted and restored my last backup. (FWIW: Mine actually was already unlocked as I got it on release day and 3 hadn't locked them yet)

waynegalway

Ste05 wrote: »

I'm with 3. No problem at all, although I didn't want it filled with the 3 bloatware, so I told them it was Network Unlocked when I bought it and they still fixed it without even a blink of an eye. They had responded to an email I sent them before hand saying to make sure I told them it was with 3. When I got it back it didn't have any 3 bloat and I presume it's network unlocked still, I've already rooted and restored my last backup. (FWIW: Mine actually was already unlocked as I got it on release day and 3 hadn't locked them yet)

I would have thought they'd know the network provider by looking at the IMEI number? In your case, that wouldn't matter as it was unlocked, but I'd say in my case they'd know it was on 3.

BogManInc

Fear & trepidations.

PogMoThoin

Just got mine back and I can see from my router it's got a new hardware address so they've replaced the board. Man, I hate Touchwiz and Vodafone crap.

Anyone got a link to the latest CWM so I can get some Jelly?

Ivefoundgod

Just got a phone call from Meteor who told me there is damage/fault to the main board and that it'd cost €150 to repair it. Pretty pissed off with Meteor right now. She tried to tell me I dropped the phone and thats why It stopped working, when i told her I'd never dropped it and it wasn't working when I took it out of my pocket she just asked did I have insurance. I'm getting it sent back to the shop and i'm going to ring Samsung to send it off to them. Really annoyed with Meteor, it's obviously this problem and yet they're trying to screw me.

McDermotX

Another one bites the dust (and this one with the latest fixed stock rom)

Annoying.

waynegalway

McDermotX wrote: »

Another one bites the dust (and this one with the latest fixed stock rom)

Annoying.

Hope you get sorted quickly. If you're with 3, don't bother reporting it to them. They'll send it to fonemenders, and they can't fix the board. From what I've read on this forum, call fonfix and they'll do it under warranty.

Interesting to hear the new firmware hasn't fixed the problem. I spoke with a tech support guy in Samsung during the week and he said the new firmware was definitely going to fix the SDS. I guess a new board with the new firmware has a decent chance of fixing the problem, more so than just new firmware, so hopefully the repaired phones that people(me included) are getting back from Samsung should be fine

PogMoThoin

I got my phone back from the shop yest, it was freezing within 10 mins and it bricked itself within an hour. Dropped it back to the phone shop earlier. This is with a replaced motherboard.

Chet T16

Bricked as in SDS?

PogMoThoin

Chet T16 wrote: »

Bricked as in SDS?

I get the Samsung white screen and can get to download mode, but not recovery. Tried Odin and it sees PIT is fubar, dead NAND

Chet T16

PogMoThoin wrote: »

I get the Samsung white screen and can get to download mode, but not recovery. Tried Odin and it sees PIT is fubar, dead NAND

A simple yes would have sufficed, Number One. :P

waynegalway

PogMoThoin wrote: »

I got my phone back from the shop yest, it was freezing within 10 mins and it bricked itself within an hour. Dropped it back to the phone shop earlier. This is with a replaced motherboard.

Which repair shop did it? PM if you'd rather not name and shame. Just curious.

PogMoThoin

waynegalway wrote: »

Which repair shop did it? PM if you'd rather not name and shame. Just curious.

It was through the local Vodafone shop to Fonfix. It just shows they are replacing the boards with identical ones that will suffer the same problems. It's a hardware fault, it's not fixable through software no matter what they say. The firmware update is just to void warranties and save them money on repairs. I've lost my respect for you Samsung. I've decided ill be selling it once I get it back, going getting my sisters in the States to order me a Nexus 4.

Chet T16

What makes you think its pure hardware? I haven't seen it said elsewhere

PogMoThoin

Chet T16 wrote: »

What makes you think its pure hardware? I haven't seen it said elsewhere

Because the NAND memory chips are dying, software shouldn't be able to kill it, cause it to lock up needing a reboot, maybe, but not kill it. It's a major hardware flaw and they're just bracing themselves hoping to replace those that break until the warranties run out. Like I said, the firmware and bootloader is just to void warranties and save them money on repairs.

I've seen this type cop-out before from Nvidia, there was a major flaw in the 8 series gpu's where they were overheating. Instead of recalling them, they rode the storm by releasing a firmware that turned up the fan. I've handled so many laptops that were affected by this.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2008/09/nvidia-sued-over-notebook-gpu-failures/

waynegalway

Why would a new firmware that they are providing as a "fix" void the warranty?

PogMoThoin

waynegalway wrote: »

Why would a new firmware that they are providing as a "fix" void the warranty?

It' not the firmware, it's the bootloader. It adds an identification mark to the initial Samsung boot screen if you have flashed a custom ROM.

waynegalway

Okay, but I still can't see how changing the boot loader can void the warranty if its samsung that are making that change and advocating it as a solution. It's not like going on a solo run with sme dodgy software that you wrote yourself and then bricked it. If they fix it under warranty and it bricks again without you making any modifications, then surely it goes back to them under warrant again?

PogMoThoin

waynegalway wrote: »

Okay, but I still can't see how changing the boot loader can void the warranty if its samsung that are making that change and advocating it as a solution. It's not like going on a solo run with sme dodgy software that you wrote yourself and then bricked it. If they fix it under warranty and it bricks again without you making any modifications, then surely it goes back to them under warrant again?

You have it mixed up, the new firmware doesn't void the warranty, it's purpose is to detect void warranties. They added changes to the bootloader in this firmware that will detect if you have flashed a custom rom. This gives them an avenue to void the warranty. This may not work in Europe where consumer law says the warranty is on the hardware for 2 years, but it may be a huge cop-out in other places.

waynegalway

PogMoThoin wrote: »

You have it mixed up, the new firmware doesn't void the warranty, it's purpose is to detect void warranties. They added changes to the bootloader in this firmware that will detect if you have flashed a custom rom. This gives them an avenue to void the warranty. This may not work in Europe where consumer law says the warranty is on the hardware for 2 years, but it may be a huge cop-out in other places.

Okay, I think I have it now!

So, what you're saying is that if you flash a custom rom onto it AFTER you get it back from repair with the latest firmware, then that firmware will effectively make a note of what you did and of it ever has to go back, Samsung will know that you were messing with and give you 2 fingers? Is that it?

In that case, an easy solution is just to stick with the Samsung rom, but I know a lot of people don't like that, and it kinda goes against the open nature of android. I'm not into custom roms myself, but I did flash an official Samsung firmware onto it to get rid of three branding at an early stage

PogMoThoin

waynegalway wrote: »

Okay, I think I have it now!

So, what you're saying is that if you flash a custom rom onto it AFTER you get it back from repair with the latest firmware, then that firmware will effectively make a note of what you did and of it ever has to go back, Samsung will know that you were messing with and give you 2 fingers? Is that it?

In that case, an easy solution is just to stick with the Samsung rom, but I know a lot of people don't like that, and it kinda goes against the open nature of android. I'm not into custom roms myself, but I did flash an official Samsung firmware onto it to get rid of three branding at an early stage

Samsung ROM, I'd rather eat my own head, yuck. Fcuk that, that's why I'm changing to a Nexus 4

waynegalway

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Samsung ROM, I'd rather eat my own head, yuck. Fcuk that, that's why I'm changing to a Nexus 4

Fair enough.

My only issue with the original set up was the three bloat ware. So I put an un branded version of touch wiz and that solved my issue.

But if your needs go further than that, I can see why you'd be pissed off.

Craigels

I'm so annoyed back in December I had to have the charging port replaced all was working grand and now it's gone again it not under warranty as they told me last time it's physical damage which it wasn't I'm very carefully and epically after the last time now I will have to sent it to be repaired again

kingtiger

although not released yet Siyah Kernel will have the sudden death fix included and dual boot looks fixed :cool: (hope it dual boots with supernexus)

Release notes on Siyah's main page

SiyahKernel s3-v1.8.7
Posted on January 13, 2013

Changelog

rebased on i9300 update7 sources (sudden-death issue is supposedly fixed in this source drop)
reverted temporary fix for exynos-mem exploit as i9300-update7 sources already fix that
cm10.1 is now supported in dual-boot configurations

*released on http://www.gokhanmoral.com/

projectgtr

Craigels wrote: »

I'm so annoyed back in December I had to have the charging port replaced all was working grand and now it's gone again it not under warranty as they told me last time it's physical damage which it wasn't I'm very carefully and epically after the last time now I will have to sent it to be repaired again

who told you it was physical damage? if it was phonemenders or phonefix or any of them, ask your provider to bypass them and have it sent direct to Samsung, had the same issue with my Nexus , every time they said it was water damage, and every time Samsung said it wasnt water damage and that it was a manufacturer fault and fixed it. Those contractors are just out to make money.

Before you send it off give the port a quick clean with a fine brush, Samsung ports have a tendency to get clogged, a quick clean fixes 90% of issues

Craigels

Phonemenders said It was physical damage and wanted 200 to fix it I said no and got a phone repair shop in town to fix it

looder

projectgtr wrote: »

who told you it was physical damage? if it was phonemenders or phonefix or any of them, ask your provider to bypass them and have it sent direct to Samsung, had the same issue with my Nexus , every time they said it was water damage, and every time Samsung said it wasnt water damage and that it was a manufacturer fault and fixed it. Those contractors are just out to make money.

Before you send it off give the port a quick clean with a fine brush, Samsung ports have a tendency to get clogged, a quick clean fixes 90% of issues

Got mine back today. Fonefix initially tried to charge €150 until they were told to go and get fooked and fix it under warranty.

Came back as faulty mechanical component which I'm presuming was motherboard failure.

waynegalway

I've been lead to believe I will have mine back from fonemenders tomorrow, so that'll be a total of 3 weeks since Samsung was informed of the problem.

That is nowhere near quick enough service, but I survived, and if the phone comes back fixed and doesn't break down again, I'll be happy.

waynegalway

looder wrote: »

Got mine back today. Fonefix initially tried to charge €150 until they were told to go and get fooked and fix it under warranty.

Came back as faulty mechanical component which I'm presuming was motherboard failure.

Not an expert, but would a motherboard be considered a mechanical component?

From my experience, fonemenders are not able to fix the board themselves, it gets sent to another service center in Dublin if the board is at fault. Do you know for certain that they fixed it in-house? if so, it wasn't the board.

looder

waynegalway wrote: »

Not an expert, but would a motherboard be considered a mechanical component?

From my experience, fonemenders are not able to fix the board themselves, it gets sent to another service center in Dublin if the board is at fault. Do you know for certain that they fixed it in-house? if so, it wasn't the board.

It was fonefix, not fonemenders (If that makes a difference, I'm not sure).

I'd say it was fixed in house as it was last Friday before I'd everything sorted with eMobile about the warranty and it arrived this morning so I doubt they'd time to send it away to be fixed.

Ivefoundgod

looder wrote: »

Got mine back today. Fonefix initially tried to charge €150 until they were told to go and get fooked and fix it under warranty.

Came back as faulty mechanical component which I'm presuming was motherboard failure.

Just wondering did you deal directly with Fonefix? Only asking cos Meteor rang me to say the exact same thing, €150 and not covered under warranty. I'm getting it back from them and sending it off to Samsung, presumably they'll get it fixed under warranty?

waynegalway

Ivefoundgod wrote: »

Just wondering did you deal directly with Fonefix? Only asking cos Meteor rang me to say the exact same thing, €150 and not covered under warranty. I'm getting it back from them and sending it off to Samsung, presumably they'll get it fixed under warranty?

I reported mine directly to Samsung, thinking they would deal with it themselves, but they just got fonemenders to do the work. I was disappointed with that, as I was expecting to deal direct with Samsung.

Edit: When I say they got fonemenders to do the work, what actually happened was fonemenders got the phone off me, spent a few days figuring out they weren't qualified to do the repair, then they sent it to someone that was able to do it, then they got it back "for testing", and I believe it's in the post right now and I should have it back today. 3 weeks after reporting it to Samsung. So don't hold out too much hope that dealing direct with Samsung will make the experience any quicker or better. That is what I thought, so I didn't bother going back to a Three shop. I thought I'd cut out the middle man, but Samsung put the middle man right back into the picture themselves.

Ivefoundgod

waynegalway wrote: »

I reported mine directly to Samsung, thinking they would deal with it themselves, but they just got fonemenders to do the work. I was disappointed with that, as I was expecting to deal direct with Samsung.

Edit: When I say they got fonemenders to do the work, what actually happened was fonemenders got the phone off me, spent a few days figuring out they weren't qualified to do the repair, then they sent it to someone that was able to do it, then they got it back "for testing", and I believe it's in the post right now and I should have it back today. 3 weeks after reporting it to Samsung. So don't hold out too much hope that dealing direct with Samsung will make the experience any quicker or better. That is what I thought, so I didn't bother going back to a Three shop. I thought I'd cut out the middle man, but Samsung put the middle man right back into the picture themselves.

Yeah I realised Samsung are just using a 3rd party to fix them, I'm just curious if Meteor sent my phone to the same company. I'm annoyed that I gave the phone to Meteor expecting them to sort it and almost two weeks later I haven't got the (unrepaired) phone back yet. I'm just glad Samsung aren't going to try charge me to fix their own problem.

Fonemenders/Fonefix seem to be chancing their arm with a few people by asking for €150 to repair it. I'd feel sorry for any technophobes who had a problem with their S3 and paid the €150 even if it was mechanical fault.

ld50

Ivefoundgod wrote: »

Yeah I realised Samsung are just using a 3rd party to fix them, I'm just curious if Meteor sent my phone to the same company. I'm annoyed that I gave the phone to Meteor expecting them to sort it and almost two weeks later I haven't got the (unrepaired) phone back yet. I'm just glad Samsung aren't going to try charge me to fix their own problem.

Fonemenders/Fonefix seem to be chancing their arm with a few people by asking for €150 to repair it. I'd feel sorry for any technophobes who had a problem with their S3 and paid the €150 even if it was mechanical fault.

Seems fonfix also change the price when they feel too. They quoted me 160 to replace main board saying it was not under warranty.

looder

Ivefoundgod wrote: »

Just wondering did you deal directly with Fonefix? Only asking cos Meteor rang me to say the exact same thing, €150 and not covered under warranty. I'm getting it back from them and sending it off to Samsung, presumably they'll get it fixed under warranty?

Hey,

Sorry for the delay I'm only after getting on laptop now.

I dealt with eMobile and brought it to the nearest eMobile store.

When eMobile rang to say it was out of warranty I basically told them they were having a laugh and asked how does a phone that's out with 6 months run out of a 12 month warranty.

eMobile also spouted some bull**** about eMobile not having access to my receipt "due to data protection" which I called their bluff on too but eventually got sorted thanks to the Talk to eMobile forum on Boards and got the receipt to FoneFix.

What I'd advise you to do is get in contact with eircom/emobile/Meteor (maybe even here: http://www.boards.ie/ttforum/1293 as they are the same company) and demand a receipt is emailed to you. Then send this receipt to FoneFix.


FoneFix are chancing their arm.

PogMoThoin

European law says you have a 2 year warranty from the manufacturer no matter what they say

BroLo

if you have your box and all that came in it it says you have a two year manufacturer warranty, but the phone companies only offer a 1 year warranty.

Basically if a manufacturer fault happens in the first year, go back to the shop, within the second year, you'll have to go to Samsung support.

ld50

I'm just wondering about rooted phones. I've seen somewhere that Samsung is honoring the warranty regardless of the system because they know it's a hardware fault.

_Whimsical_

BroLo wrote: »

if you have your box and all that came in it it says you have a two year manufacturer warranty, but the phone companies only offer a 1 year warranty.

Basically if a manufacturer fault happens in the first year, go back to the
shop, within the second year, you'll have to go to Samsung support.

You also need proof of purchase to enforce the manufacturers warranty. Well some people have seemed to get on ok and not been asked for it but Samsung T&C say you have to have it,as do their phone reps.

danniemcq

ld50 wrote: »

I'm just wondering about rooted phones. I've seen somewhere that Samsung is honoring the warranty regardless of the system because they know it's a hardware fault.

you're ok don't worry!

handed my shiney s3 into 3 here in Letterkenny on Saturday. Its both rooted and has a custom rom on it (AOKP) and just got a call saying its in the store ready for pick up.

I just wonldn't mention it in store when you drop it in! IMO its the same as changing the engine on a car and the back door then falling off

elderlemon

Well they can't see that its rooted because the motherboard is dead - it won't even start up so how can they tell?

ld50 wrote: »

I'm just wondering about rooted phones. I've seen somewhere that Samsung is honoring the warranty regardless of the system because they know it's a hardware fault.

elderlemon

No you don't. When was the first S3 released? Less than 9 months ago which means every single s3 ever made is still under warranty. You think they would claim that your S3 is over 2 years old so is out of warranty?

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

You also need proof of purchase to enforce the manufacturers warranty. Well some people have seemed to get on ok and not been asked for it but Samsung T&C say you have to have it,as do their phone reps.

ld50

danniemcq wrote: »

you're ok don't worry!

handed my shiney s3 into 3 here in Letterkenny on Saturday. Its both rooted and has a custom rom on it (AOKP) and just got a call saying its in the store ready for pick up.

I just wonldn't mention it in store when you drop it in! IMO its the same as changing the engine on a car and the back door then falling off

I share those thoughts too. Only problem is, as I found out this afternoon, is that Samsung's repair agent Fonfix don't agree. I even rang Samsung and they confirm this.
They won't fix under warranty for a rooted phone. Crap!

Mh.

looder

ld50 wrote: »

I share those thoughts too. Only problem is, as I found out this afternoon, is that Samsung's repair agent Fonfix don't agree. I even rang Samsung and they confirm this.
They won't fix under warranty for a rooted phone. Crap!

Mh.

Don't worry.

They fixed my rooted phone.

PogMoThoin

ld50 wrote: »

I share those thoughts too. Only problem is, as I found out this afternoon, is that Samsung's repair agent Fonfix don't agree. I even rang Samsung and they confirm this.
They won't fix under warranty for a rooted phone. Crap!

Mh.

Don't let them fob you off with that shít, your warranty is on the hardware regardless of what they say

http://piana.eu/root

danniemcq

ld50 wrote: »

I share those thoughts too. Only problem is, as I found out this afternoon, is that Samsung's repair agent Fonfix don't agree. I even rang Samsung and they confirm this.
They won't fix under warranty for a rooted phone. Crap!

Mh.

well i just picked mine up from three, 0 cost to me done in 4 business days and warranty still valid.

don't mention its rooted when you hand it in?

waynegalway

Just got mine back.

It's on 4.1.1 but not the ELLA version. Any idea where to get it?

If I power off, it looses the setting for SwiftKey as the default keyboard and goes back to stock every time. Bit of a pain.