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michaelmurfy

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#114173 11-Feb-2013 03:20
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My phone is now dead due to "Sudden Death Syndrome" - it couldn't be revived even with a JIG Cable which is rather depressing - I thought I'd share how to tell if your SIII is about to kill itself since it's the 200day mark for quite a few SIII's out there now:

Read more: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=36499838

1) Your phone, it's randomly freezing bro:

You're happily playing "The Impossible Game" when you're almost through the level and your phone suddenly freezes, you can't turn it off, you can't reboot it, the only course of action is to rip out the battery and lose your hard work (that's what has happened to me ugh)

2) After freezing, you think this might be an application causing it?

That's what I thought too with my phone, so I did a factory reset only to find that it was freezing within 10mins even with no apps installed, I knew there was something up.

3) Must be my ROM then?

Ah, so you're like me who was running a custom ROM at the time? I thought it was the ROM too, so I updated it, restored it, did a head twirl and still, nothing, it kept freezing, I was scratching my head, I was distressed, my whole... life... is on this wee device of mine in otherwords... Crap.

Things I've tried:
Restoring to stock.
Installing Cyanogenmod 10.1, Android Revolution HD
Custom Kernels "with the magical fix embedded" - Perseus, Siyah
Different Flashing Tactics, Mobile ODIN, ODIN, Heimdell, CWM

All
tested over the course of a week

So this sounds like me, what the hell do I do?
Send it for repair, it's the only way bro, don't waste your time. Crashes can happen randomly, if you're running some kind of custom rom or are rooted and notice your phone freezing restore to stock - else you'll wake up one morning and your phone just won't turn on or do anything.

Samsung claim to cover you under warranty since this is a manufactures defect even if you're on some other ROM but if you get the chance just restore to stock to prevent our local repair companies from trying to take all of your hard earned cash unless if you argue.

Oh, and if you're on a custom ROM you'll need this before restoring to stock: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1494114


----

Update: I got my phone back from "repair" with the software just reflashed, as soon as I read the ticket I should have just demanded them to take it back except I was in a bit of a rush, Samsung reflashed my phone with the latest software and called it fixed. Since this is a hardware fault they're either needing to replace your mainboard or in extreme situations replace the whole phone. When sending the phone back for repair if they've done this to you include a screenshot of the "eMMC Brickbug Check" app running on your phone (if possible) along with the note "See image, please replace mainboard, sudden death syndrome"

I've noticed that Telegistics know what they're repairing and never seen a phone come back without having the mainboard replaced (kudos to them!), since my phone was bought online from 2Degrees they've made me deal with Samsung direct.

In the meantime, the ultimate fix was buying the Nexus for me.




Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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jeffnz
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  #759288 11-Feb-2013 07:29
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mines over 200 days and fine.

I think some of your advise is misleading, if your phone is on custom and starts to freeze going back to stock won't help it. Here in NZ we are also covered by the CGA so if you can't use one use the other.

Sounds like you flashed the right kernel but not the recovery.




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freitasm
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  #759289 11-Feb-2013 07:36
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You failed to mention "What happens if I take to my [telco store] and the guys say it's because of [water damage|custom ROM|whatever else they can think of] and tell me it's not covered by the warranty?

You mentioned restoring the default ROM, but you know, sometimes this is not possible. Is three a sure way to getting this fixed without complications?





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michaelmurfy

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  #759354 11-Feb-2013 10:48
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jeffnz: mines over 200 days and fine.

Sounds like you flashed the right kernel but not the recovery.


Recovery was fine, was one with the fix in it, same with the kernel.
I did take care to make sure the Recovery kernel had the fix in it too since I didn't want to degrade my flash chip anymore.


freitasm: You failed to mention "What happens if I take to my [telco store] and the guys say it's because of [water damage|custom ROM|whatever else they can think of] and tell me it's not covered by the warranty? 

You mentioned restoring the default ROM, but you know, sometimes this is not possible. Is three a sure way to getting this fixed without complications?



Liquid damage is liquid damage at the end of the day, if that sticker on the back of your phone is pink (or purple in some) you've got no warranty. In NZ we're covered by the CGA even if a phone has a custom rom on it if it's a hardware fault (of which sudden death is) - Pretty-much all you need to say to the sales rep is "It's the hardware, not the software and the hardware didn't meet up with my expectations of being a quality product. As you can see it's not impact damage, this sticker shows it's not liquid damage so I would like you to send it away" they can tick a box to be repaired under the CGA if a valid case is presented to meet their obligations.

If your phone has the real Sudden Death syndrome it will just stop working all-together - so you're handing the person a paperweight :)




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webup
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  #759355 11-Feb-2013 10:49
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My rooted S3 was playing up for awhile and turning itself off/freezing etc also dropping calls.

I recently flashed the latest 2degrees rom back onto it then a full factory wipe, thinking I would take it back to the shop for warranty but it hasnt done it since.
Makes me think it was something with the rooting process perhaps or an app I had installed.

Im annoyed I cant restore data to the apps Ive had to reinstall without rooting.
Something to back these up without needing titanium/root would be great.

Im happy my phone is working (at the moment) as it should but miss my extras I had on the rooted device.

michaelmurfy

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  #759366 11-Feb-2013 10:52
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webup: My rooted S3 was playing up for awhile and turning itself off/freezing etc also dropping calls.

I recently flashed the latest 2degrees rom back onto it then a full factory wipe, thinking I would take it back to the shop for warranty but it hasnt done it since.
Makes me think it was something with the rooting process perhaps or an app I had installed.

Im annoyed I cant restore data to the apps Ive had to reinstall without rooting.
Something to back these up without needing titanium/root would be great.

Im happy my phone is working (at the moment) as it should but miss my extras I had on the rooted device.


I have to take mine to 2degrees today, it won't even power up anymore.

It powered up for a wee while on the 2degrees rom, worked, froze and then wouldn't reboot. It's a shame really. It's not caused by root at all but if you notice your phone doing all the above it's just best to take it in and leave it with them to sort.

If they've fixed it they should be replacing the mainboard.




Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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ajobbins
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  #759371 11-Feb-2013 10:57
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I've just got my phone back from Samsung after getting sudden death (At 224 days old). Was away 6 days (Excluding drop off day) and it came back with a new motherboard. Mine was completely stock. No root or custom ROM.

The issue seems to be dead NAND flash - but there have been mixed reports of Samsung denying warranty when they can see the phone was running non-standard ROMS. That said, if you have FULL SDS (As opposed to your phone being stuck at the boot logo) then they can't tell anyway.

There is speculation that this fault was caused by dodgy code in Samsung's 4.1.1 release (code from which also made it into several custom ROMs). Essentially dodgy software causes the hardware to fail. This is exactly why Samsung can void your warranty if you use non-standard firmware. In this case however, it seems to be accepted by Samsung that the dodgy code was their own and therefore warranty applies.




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michaelmurfy

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  #759373 11-Feb-2013 11:00
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ajobbins: I've just got my phone back from Samsung after getting sudden death (At 224 days old). Was away 6 days (Excluding drop off day) and it came back with a new motherboard. Mine was completely stock. No root or custom ROM.

The issue seems to be dead NAND flash - but there have been mixed reports of Samsung denying warranty when they can see the phone was running non-standard ROMS. That said, if you have FULL SDS (As opposed to your phone being stuck at the boot logo) then they can't tell anyway.

There is speculation that this fault was caused by dodgy code in Samsung's 4.1.1 release (code from which also made it into several custom ROMs). Essentially dodgy software causes the hardware to fail. This is exactly why Samsung can void your warranty if you use non-standard firmware. In this case however, it seems to be accepted by Samsung that the dodgy code was their own and therefore warranty applies.


Hah! Funny you say that, when I flashed 4.1.2 that's when the problems arose within a month.




Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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  #759375 11-Feb-2013 11:11
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Perhaps you should mention its mainly 16GB phones that have this problem, larger flash storage models are mainly uneffected. Can anyone confirm this?

ajobbins
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  #759377 11-Feb-2013 11:26
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Yes, this seems to be exclusively 16GB phones. As well as the S3, the Note 2 seems to have started having the same issue.

Samsung is said to have 'fixed' the problem in 4.1.2, however increasing numbers of people are reporting on XDA that their devices are failing on 4.1.2 anyway. This COULD be use to damage already done to the NAND while they were on 4.1.1, but no one knows for sure.




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Xile
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  #759394 11-Feb-2013 11:50
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webup:
Im annoyed I cant restore data to the apps Ive had to reinstall without rooting.
Something to back these up without needing titanium/root would be great.


Try this: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.koushikdutta.backup

P1n3apqlExpr3ss
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  #759563 11-Feb-2013 15:29
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Mine did the fell asleep and never woke up trick. Sent it away via Noel Leeming a week or so ago and haven't heard anything back yet

mattwnz
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  #759599 11-Feb-2013 16:08
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Anyone having trouble with google maps after the 4.1.2 update? When I try to locate an address, it just hangs on 'finding address', and never loads the address, so can't use streetview. Clearing the cache doesn't help.

michaelmurfy

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  #759622 11-Feb-2013 16:41
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I was running a unaffected OS / Kernel / Recovery combo and it still happened to me. Maybe this is to force you into getting a SIV?




Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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Gilco2
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  #759628 11-Feb-2013 16:55
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michaelmurfy: I was running a unaffected OS / Kernel / Recovery combo and it still happened to me. Maybe this is to force you into getting a SIV?
well it wouldnt work with me.  I would switch to HTC or Nokia




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  #759659 11-Feb-2013 17:49
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Am I correct in thinking (without doing my own research) that the issue is most likely caused by a bug in the firmware writing to/reading from the memory so much (continuously while the device is on?) that the memory "wears out" after ~200 days rather than lasting 10 years plus as expected?

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