News - Captivate Update Bricking Phones

[qwertyaas]

If your download fully cancels in the middle, do not resume the download. When you try to resume - the phone will think you want to resume installation [it thinks the download is complete] and will update the phone with the partial firmware download.

For those phones that were bricked, that is what was said happened to them - myself included.

Now, why would the update not realize the firmware isn't complete and just abort the update is beyond me. Many of us ended up with paperweights from that. Had to go to AT&T to replace the phone last night.

 

[CrimsonPride]

mine happened slightly differently. as soon as it went to the download screen it said "download failed" "restarting phone" and its been black ever since. i called samsung and they are going to "fix" it, they believe its my battery that is the problem. but anyways im atleast 2 weeks without a decent phone and i dont know what im going to do

 

[qwertyaas]

Someone said that they tried another battery and still nothing. I still have no idea how this completely bricks the phone. No power gets to the phone at all - so can't flash back to stock.

Even more-so, how they didn't implement a check to only run the update if the full firmware package is there...

 

[CrimsonPride]

i have no clue but i lost all kinds of pictures i had on there, and videos, that i really would like back but thats not going to happen

 

[qwertyaas]

Yep, same here. I just went to at AT&T store to replace it and said forget about it. Had videos, pictures and all that... Not anymore.

 

[androiddawg]

happened to me... luckily my corporate store replaced it with a brand new unit, despite being out of my 30 day window... not planning on running the update anytime soon.

 

[CrimsonPride]

i bought mine at best buy and i really wish i had bought the protection plan. they just take it no questions asked but excuse me for being a college student and trying to save some money

 

[MarcMaiden]

the download does not cancel in the middle, you just had to be patient and wait about 3-5 minutes for it to resume.

 

[qwertyaas]

happened to me... luckily my corporate store replaced it with a brand new unit, despite being out of my 30 day window... not planning on running the update anytime soon.

I'm in the same boat. Weary of running the update now.

What sucks even more is my old phone worked great. The new one can't even get into recovery or download mode... GPS used to lockon very quick, now I have 8 satellites in view but 0 lockon....

the download does not cancel in the middle, you just had to be patient and wait about 3-5 minutes for it to resume.

The download fully cancelled back to homescreen. Either by user cancelling it or the download failing. Many times I pause an update in the middle and resume the download later - I didn't think the phone would not continue downloading it...

 

[RavenFox]

i have no clue but i lost all kinds of pictures i had on there, and videos, that i really would like back but thats not going to happen

Were they on an external micro SD? If they were you can use Recuva - Undelete, Unerase, File and Disk Recovery - Free Download. Just load it into a reader and run the software on it. Once you're not writing over the data they will be there.

 

[CrimsonPride]

Were they on an external micro SD? If they were you can use Recuva - Undelete, Unerase, File and Disk Recovery - Free Download. Just load it into a reader and run the software on it. Once you're not writing over the data they will be there.

no they were on the internal, i had already checked but i knew i never told it to put it on the external so i didnt think it would work

 

[RavenFox]

no they were on the internal, i had already checked but i knew i never told it to put it on the external so i didnt think it would work

Not sure but you can try setting up the phone as a storage device and try running recover on the internal drive.

 

[qwertyaas]

Not sure but you can try setting up the phone as a storage device and try running recover on the internal drive.

Won't work. Have to mount the drive from within the phone for that. The phone isn't recognized at all on the PC.

On a side note: Trying to run the update on my new Captivate, and now it just keeps getting stuck on the 'Communication in progress' part... Talk about being aggravated already over this phone...

 

[ShanghaiWillie]

I've read that there are users that are ending up with bricked phones when attempting an update.

Has anybody experienced this? If so, what circumstances occurred? Did you have a weak signal? Did download freeze/stop all together? Were you rooted?

SW

 

[Infiniti35GT]

Eventually that notification will go away and not give you the option to update any longer. The update is not bricking enough phones to make it a serious risk even if it does then take it back to AT&T threaten to cancel and demand a replacement since their OTA released update destroyed your phone.
Rooted the phone and took AT&T apps off the phone
When I first got this phone I didn't think it had lag everyone else talked about - I still did the lag fix.
I never experiences any GPS issues - the update made my good GPS better.
I will say the call clarity has been slightly improved also.
I didn't notice a difference in speed but right now the phone hits a (just ran) 2332 staying above 2200 all day long. Where before it hit no more than 2000-2100. Factory quadrant was consistent around 907

 

[roush611]

Please search before you post. I know I am a noob on this forum but holy cow there have been several threads on the same thing.

 

[3gAndroid]

Here's the latest on the update:

Samsung Captivate Update (GPS Fix) Bricking Phones? | WWWery

How many of you are affected?

 

[lovemyned]

I started my update on Friday evening. It displayed something like "update failed" then it said "rebooting". It turned off and would not turn back on. I then looked it up and found others were having issues and became educated on what a "bricked" phone was. I went to AT&T yesterday am -- they are mailing me a phone. I was quite irritated that they wouldn't replace it in the store as it was *their* update that broke it. :/ I also had to pay $12 for a rush delivery.

 

[artvandalay22222]

That sucks.

 

[BumpySig]

A few phone calls to at&t yesterday (partial install) finally got me to someone who seemed to be in the know. She told me because of all of the calls and complaints they have received they are recommending that you do not install the update. Supposedly they are looking into it.

 

[mnemonicj]

I performed the update on my Captivate, but I was still having problems with the GPS as well as a couple other issues that I had (shut down while idle and search screen popping up when I didn't hit the button) that weren't fixed by the software update. I did an exchange for another Captivate and the phone I have now has the JF6 version of the firmware and I have not been prompted to install it yet.

Right before I posted this, I decided to manually check for an update and the phone started downloading the update. I canceled the download because I don't want the update, but I wanted to check if it was still available.

I will be watching on these forums for when the next update is available and then I will check for updates again. Hopefully, I won't be required to install the update.

 

[baddress]

Leave it to AT&T and Samsung, the two worst companies in the world, to release a firmware "update" with no CRC checking before firmware application, no GPS fix, no lag fix, no Froyo, but lots of new lockdowns and feature removals

 

[RavenFox]

Leave it to AT&T and Samsung, the two worst companies in the world, to release a firmware "update" with no CRC checking before firmware application, no GPS fix, no lag fix, no Froyo, but lots of new lockdowns and feature removals

We have a right to get pissed on devices or services we spend our hard warned money on but I wouldn't go that far.
I laid my phone down on a table plugged in and initiated the update. Walked away and let it do its thing. I also made darn sure those 3G bars were not low. Would it had been better doing it tethered? I personally think so but many many phones are now getting update via wireless so this will continue to happen and even though I give folks the benefit of the the doubt having them setup the device on the PC is an extra option that most do not want to do. I do not think Samsung or AT&T are doing this to lose money or you as a customer.
On another note, if I went through 2 or 3 of these phones I would have surely taken it back and moved on.

http://androidforums.com/samsung-captivate/185812-jh7-firmware-upgrade-successful-through-kies.html

 

[Bearsyzf]

I'm in the same boat. Weary of running the update now.

What sucks even more is my old phone worked great. The new one can't even get into recovery or download mode... GPS used to lockon very quick, now I have 8 satellites in view but 0 lockon....




The download fully cancelled back to homescreen. Either by user cancelling it or the download failing. Many times I pause an update in the middle and resume the download later - I didn't think the phone would not continue downloading it...

where do you go to see how many satellites it picks up on , all i ever see is the icon but it doesnt say how many satellites its picking up on ?

 

[sremick]

where do you go to see how many satellites it picks up on , all i ever see is the icon but it doesnt say how many satellites its picking up on ?

GPS Test - Android app on AppBrain