Samsung S4 Overheated and now not working please help...

[George782]

Hi there,

I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 GT-I9505 and the other night it got really hot for some reason and when i finally noticed it the screen was frozen. I removed the battery and let it cool down. But now when i replace the battery and turn it on, it will get to the boot screen and then usually freeze or reboot again. The screen looks ok but occasionally some colours will flicker before freezing. Ive played around with it a bit and i notice if i apply a little pressure like bending the phone i can get it to boot all the way so that i can view messages etc. But it will only last less than a minute before freezing. I tried a friends battery and it had no change so im wondering if the motherboard overheated and is stuffed?

I have another friend who has a s4 GT-I9500 that has a cracked screen. I was wondering if i can swap the motherboard out of hers and put it into mine? And if so can i retain my data,or is it impossible to swap the memory storage out of mine into hers? Id love to get my phone running again so any help on this would be much appreciated!

 

[Hadron]

I can't tell you whether a motherboard swap will fix it because I don't know what's wrong. If pressure makes a difference that suggests that something is making a bad connection, but that may not be the whole story.

Internal storage is fixed to the motherboard, and you won't be able to remove it from one and replace it on the other.

 

[George782]

Yeah ok, i really just want to get my files off it again atleast. Is there a way around accessing them atleast even though i cant boot the phone? Thanks for your reply aswell, cheers

 

[Hadron]

Your only way of getting the files off it is if it will stay booted long enough for you to do so. Any software that can copy the files needs an operating system it can interact with, so if that freezes or the phone reboots that's that attempt at retrieval over.

If you had a custom recovery then it might be possible to take a backup in recovery mode, if the phone would remain stable in that mode, but I'm assuming you don't. So otherwise it's a matter of what you can get copied (to the removable card, over USB, or whatever) before the phone freezes or reboots.

If the problem was purely a contact you might hope that the pressure trick would keep it working long enough with a bit of luck. If it were overheating again then chilling it (without getting it damp, including condensation!) might help. But it's very hard to say precisely what is wrong here (beyond "something, and badly").

 

[George782]

Yeah ok... sounds like a lost cause then lol. Thanks for your input anyway, appreciate it!

 

[nu2andy]

The circuit/logic boards will not interchange between i9500 and i9505. Unless you had Google sync and sent data for storage - as Hadron said you need a working unit to get the info. Your Micro SD card should be OK. How did it overheat? Did it get covered by a cushion/pillow/warm material? Sounds like the unit may be distorted/twisted internally which will cause numerous bad connections/faults. Too much heat could melt soldered connections and the bottom line is unless you can purchase cheap parts and do it yourself - save up and buy a new phone.