Can You Say Bricked? Thanks AT&T!

[rtg]

Well my wife's Rocket got the update today but it just stays at the white loading page with no progress line updates. Stays there for hours. Can not boot into 3e. Pulling the battery does nothing. I can put it into download mode via the jig.

Took to AT&T service center but they don't have a way to download an entire OS and boot loader. They don't have Odin. They had no Skyrockets in stock. So have to wait to have one sent by them and return this one.

FYI. There is a moisture sensor in the phone next to where the battery is located. White means the phone has been dry. There can be no scratches or dings on the phone to be in warranty. Must look like new.

Given that I can get into download mode I am sure I could load the stock tar but that would trigger the ROM counter. I verified that a count would void the "Samsung" warranty. So that is a "no no" for this phone. Also they will charge $479 for the phone if when you send it back and they find any reason the phone is out of warranty.

Isn't that special.

I got the BB extended warranty when I got the Note. I will be buying from BB going forward as long as they have a compelling ex warr.

Rob

 

[Juls339]

My phone did the EXACT same thing and I am not happy. I have so much info on it. I have a white screen with an empty loading bar. The girl at the ATT store said samsung rescinded the update because of this....great. If you have any solutions to offer please do...I am now phoneless.

 

[rtg]

If I did not care about the warranty. I would goto to XDA here:

[HOWTO][TAR] THE ODIN THREAD :: Return to stock, fix soft brick :: 11/13: Rogers TAR! - xda-developers

Following the software update process.

I believe this will put back to stock with the drivers and Odin installed. You also have to get the Stock Tar and the make sure you get the correct decompressor, 7RZ or something like that to unzip the stock tar.

FOLLOW the directions exactly!

If you can get into download mode you should be golden.

I almost went ahead and reflashed my wifes but since I got the Note and gave my son my old rooted Skyrocket seemed like might be a good idea to keep one untouched. The Note will be rooted if some decent ROMs become available.

FYI, since you may be flashing any way I would get it back to stock first. That will increment the counter once. Then root and I loved and still have a copy of the Cyanogenmod ROM found here:

[ROM]CyanogenMod 7.2.0 Alpha Version 4 12/19 - xda-developers

Takes a little work to get setup but it is the best ROM going, hands down for the skyrocket. The people that did this work were outstanding.

Good Luck,

Rob

 

[james27007]

WOW not cool. Glad I told my wife to skip the update. Reminds me of the OTA issues we had back with the Captivate

 

[Juls339]

Will doing the Odin thing void the warranty? I did download Odin but I'm not understanding how to install TAR...I have the proper extractor but I guess this is over my head.

I have so much stuff I need on this phone. I guess it's too much to hope some of it is on my SD card...

 

[Juls339]

OMG I did the Odin thing and my phone is fixed and exactly like it was... No loss of anything...even the settings are the same. So in other words it did not go back to factory settings. I am very grateful for your help, Juls

 

[Mr. Ed]

Have you guys called the warranty hotline at all?

1-800-801-1101

They are sending out my 4th att replacement tomorrow.

I have had no issues getting them to do so

 

[Juls339]

I did talk to the warranty hotline while at the att store. They wanted to charge me $14.50 to send a new one out right off. If I wanted to wait six-ten days they would mail it standard priority and ship it within 3-4 days. I told them this wasn't cool...they broke it and then want me to go over one week without a phone. In the end they agreed to expedite it and waive the charge. So I guess now I'll be returning the new one....Mine is working perfectly and Im still amazed that the above mentioned fix worked so well and without changing any data or settings. And they said a bricked phone wasn't fixable....

 

[rtg]

Mr Ed,

I did use chat to converse with ATT warranty. I never mentioned rooting since this phone has not been touched. However, when in the service center I asked about rooting and that is where I was told that "Samsung" voids the warranty for a rooted phone. I rooted the Skyrocket I gave my son and will root the Note when there are some worth while ROMs to load.

If I rooted my wife's phones and anything went wrong you can not image the grief I would get.... I would be hearing that it was bricked because of the rooting. She loves tech when it works but now ATT is at fault and not me.

Now the plan is to root her new phone because clearly I can do a better job of keeping the firmware working then ATT, with lots of help from others..... The plan is working now she will want me to root the phone.

Rob

P.S. - Why are you on your 4th phone? Were they all rooted?

 

[rtg]

Glad it worked. I was 99.9% it would. However, did not expect the data to be intact. So that's a plus.

Please remember to hit the thanks button.

Rob

OMG I did the Odin thing and my phone is fixed and exactly like it was... No loss of anything...even the settings are the same. So in other words it did not go back to factory settings. I am very grateful for your help, Juls

 

[Mr. Ed]

Mr Ed,

I did use chat to converse with ATT warranty. I never mentioned rooting since this phone has not been touched. However, when in the service center I asked about rooting and that is where I was told that "Samsung" voids the warranty for a rooted phone. I rooted the Skyrocket I gave my son and will root the Note when there are some worth while ROMs to load.

If I rooted my wife's phones and anything went wrong you can not image the grief I would get.... I would be hearing that it was bricked because of the rooting. She loves tech when it works but now ATT is at fault and not me.

Now the plan is to root her new phone because clearly I can do a better job of keeping the firmware working then ATT, with lots of help from others..... The plan is working now she will want me to root the phone.

Rob

P.S. - Why are you on your 4th phone? Were they all rooted?

Yes they were...one even had two ticks on the flash counter.

All were unrooted prior to being sent back.

Ok...

1. exchanged at best buy-screen lines
2. Exchanged at best buy bad camera
3. Exchanged black for white
4. Warranty...stopped comunicating with network
5. Warranty....screen lines
6. Warranty....bad usb port


Also...depending on location..shipping isnt bad
The first replacement was sent standard shipping...arrived 2 days later
Second and third were sent priority at no charge...arrived next day via fed ex

I live near the warehouse tho


All that being said...if you can get into dload mode you can fix it

 

[rtg]

I did flash the stock tar and like Juls339 it came back with all data intact. My wife is happy. Now she wants it rooted. The plan is working.

When you got the replacements were they refurbs or new as best you can tell.

Tnx,

Rob

 

[Mr. Ed]

I did flash the stock tar and like Juls339 it came back with all data intact. My wife is happy. Now she wants it rooted. The plan is working.

When you got the replacements were they refurbs or new as best you can tell.

Tnx,

Rob

Most likely refurbs

I have not been able to find a way to tell

*06#* then call from the dialer displays imie/?number

I am curious if the ?number is times activated etc.

If so i am the third owner of this current one. newest one is sitting at hime now waiting on me

 

[rtg]

When I do that on my wifes post bricked phone I get:

"Connection problem or invalid MMI code"

Phone calls and data work fine....

This is also the same report on my other Skyrocket and Note.



Rob

 

[Mr. Ed]

When I do that on my wifes post bricked phone I get:

"Connection problem or invalid MMI code"

Phone calls and data work fine....

This is also the same report on my other Skyrocket and Note.



Rob

thanks!

I get the same info when I try on our other skyrocket.


oh...replacement I received today has screen lines :/

 

[rtg]

I remember reading about that in another post. Is that an obvious defect or a case where a certain condition must be setup to see. I never looked for it on either skyrocket and it is not obviously noticeable.

I told my wife it may better to keep the phone she has, the devil you know is better then the devil you don't.........

Rob

 

[rtg]

Found the post. It appears my wife's phone does not have the issue but the one I gave my son it can be seen. However, I never noticed it when I was using it and I doubt he will either.

I know you want the Note..... The one I have does not show it at all.

Ok, you can drool now......

Rob

 

[james27007]

Most likely refurbs

I have not been able to find a way to tell

*06#* then call from the dialer displays imie/?number

I am curious if the ?number is times activated etc.

If so i am the third owner of this current one. newest one is sitting at hime now waiting on me

I have to press *#06# and it shows the imei, if I enter *06#* I get a connection error

 

[rtg]

That works.....

One Skyrocket gives the IMIE/03

The Note gives IMIE/02.

Not sure the number after the / is the activation number.

Tnx,

Rob

 

[NativeTxn]

Most likely refurbs

I have not been able to find a way to tell

*06#* then call from the dialer displays imie/?number

I am curious if the ?number is times activated etc.

If so i am the third owner of this current one. newest one is sitting at hime now waiting on me

It better not be, because I bought mine brand new, and when I enter *#06#, the number after the slash is "03"

 

[james27007]

I know mine is 100% new as I got it at 10am the Sunday the phone was released from an AT&T store and I have a /02 so I do not think that number has anything to do with activations.