Tl;dr:
Stock, not-rooted, not modded, SCH-1535. Bricked. Need to recover images/videos of recently deceased mother from the internal memory before sending it back to manufacturer. Power/lock button doesn't function, so recovery mode doesn't work.
Full story:
A few weeks ago I dropped my phone and the power button stopped functioning.
Popping the battery out-then-in made it turn on, so I didn't worry about it.
It wasn't ideal, but since my contract expires at the end of August I didn't sweat it.
Last week I recieved a notification that Verizon had finally released the OTA update to Kit Kat, so I saved what I was doing and went for the update.
This is when the phone went to shit.
Immediately after hitting 'install update now' the phone shut off and didn't turn back on.
I left it alone for about an hour hoping that maybe it was 'working on the update' in the background.
After an hour I popped out the battery and tried turning it on.
All that showed up was some small blue words in the top left corner of the screen "Recovery Booting....".
I spent the next day trying to troubleshoot, even opened up the back and tried cleaning the logic board and moving the power button out of the way.
I came across a brute force 'fix' of slapping the phone against something firm (my palm) to jiggle the power button out of the way.
I did that, and it worked! It began installing the new software, and I was happy.
For about 30 seconds.
Suddenly it shut off and has been a mostly-non-responsive paperweight since.
When popping the battery back in I get a slight vibrate, and then nothing.
I've tried all the troubleshooting I could find, and have gotten nowhere.
Cut to today:
I got my replacement phone in the mail and I have 10 business days to send it back or be charged nearly $100 (I almost couldn't afford the replacement, so I definitely cannot afford this charge).
I normally wouldn't mind just sending it back, and in fact, I was planning on backing up my data and doing a factory reset in the near future, but I never got around to it.
The dilemma:
A few months ago my mother passed suddenly, and I had not yet backed up the photos and videos of her that were in the internal memory, and I desperately want to recover them.
My questions:
Is there any way to do this with a power button that is completely non-functional and is in fact the problem?
Where is the internal memory physically located in a GS3?
Could I move the logic board from the dead phone to the new, functioning, body and recover the files that way?
I'm not shy about getting into the guts of the phone if I must, but I CANNOT void my warranty.
Stock, not-rooted, not modded, SCH-1535. Bricked. Need to recover images/videos of recently deceased mother from the internal memory before sending it back to manufacturer. Power/lock button doesn't function, so recovery mode doesn't work.
Full story:
A few weeks ago I dropped my phone and the power button stopped functioning.
Popping the battery out-then-in made it turn on, so I didn't worry about it.
It wasn't ideal, but since my contract expires at the end of August I didn't sweat it.
Last week I recieved a notification that Verizon had finally released the OTA update to Kit Kat, so I saved what I was doing and went for the update.
This is when the phone went to shit.
Immediately after hitting 'install update now' the phone shut off and didn't turn back on.
I left it alone for about an hour hoping that maybe it was 'working on the update' in the background.
After an hour I popped out the battery and tried turning it on.
All that showed up was some small blue words in the top left corner of the screen "Recovery Booting....".
I spent the next day trying to troubleshoot, even opened up the back and tried cleaning the logic board and moving the power button out of the way.
I came across a brute force 'fix' of slapping the phone against something firm (my palm) to jiggle the power button out of the way.
I did that, and it worked! It began installing the new software, and I was happy.
For about 30 seconds.
Suddenly it shut off and has been a mostly-non-responsive paperweight since.
When popping the battery back in I get a slight vibrate, and then nothing.
I've tried all the troubleshooting I could find, and have gotten nowhere.
Cut to today:
I got my replacement phone in the mail and I have 10 business days to send it back or be charged nearly $100 (I almost couldn't afford the replacement, so I definitely cannot afford this charge).
I normally wouldn't mind just sending it back, and in fact, I was planning on backing up my data and doing a factory reset in the near future, but I never got around to it.
The dilemma:
A few months ago my mother passed suddenly, and I had not yet backed up the photos and videos of her that were in the internal memory, and I desperately want to recover them.
My questions:
Is there any way to do this with a power button that is completely non-functional and is in fact the problem?
Where is the internal memory physically located in a GS3?
Could I move the logic board from the dead phone to the new, functioning, body and recover the files that way?
I'm not shy about getting into the guts of the phone if I must, but I CANNOT void my warranty.
