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Help Car Ran Over Phone!

D

dollerprod

Newbie
Sorry for double post...

(Galaxy S3)
Car ran over phone. Screen is obviously shattered. I need to recover what is on the phones memory by any means if at all possible. Specifically, a text conversation between a contractor and I, regarding an issue that may need to be resolved in court. This is not on the SD card, it's on the phones memory.

Do I have the correct understanding that there is no hard drive to remove, rather that there is a memory module that cannot be removed and installed in a different device? If that is correct, is there a guide that can show me specifically how to inspect for damage to the module? How can I recover this text conversation, and other things on the phone?

  • Phone turns on, I can feel it vibrate when pressing power on. Nothing appears on the screen, only black. There is no tactile feedback when touching the screen. I did hear a text come through. The small led light does illuminate when a notification comes in.

I am desperately hoping someone can help...
 

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Depending on your phone, almost everything is SoC (System on a Chip) now. So there is no memory module that is separate from the main CPU, GPU, modem, radio... etc. It's probably all on one chip now. It would take a depot-level expert to disassemble both phones (old and new, identical) and put the SoC from the old one to the new one. And then you run the high risk that the SoC was damaged in the... uh, incident.

I have no idea where you might even start with this, other than calling the manufacturer directly, explaining the situation, and hoping they have some sound advice for you. This could not have happened at a worse time, I agree with that. Good luck.

EDIT: Reading your post again, you may be fortunate enough to get a replacement screen and everything else work. Just make sure - REALLY SURE - that the repair technician understands that the phone cannot, under any circumstances, be reset to factory defaults. Doing so will erase all user data, including your texts. Good luck again :)
 
The_Chief said:
Depending on your phone, almost everything is SoC (System on a Chip) now. So there is no memory module that is separate from the main CPU, GPU, modem, radio... etc. It's probably all on one chip now.
Click to expand...
That's only partially correct. In comparison to a desktop computer's hardware configuration a SoC is a highly consolidated collection of CPU, GPU, cellular-WiFi-Bluetooth radios, audio, including memory (as in system memory. RAM) but the 'storage' memory is usually a separate chip on the motherboard.

As far as a Galaxy S3, scroll down to step 9 and the SoC is highlighted in orange and the NAND flash memory is highlighted in yellow.
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Samsung+Galaxy+S+III+Teardown/9391

dollarprod, that NAND flash is your phone's internal storage. As it's soldered to the board at the factory you can see it isn't a trivial task to remove it. Since you mentioned you can hear your phone start up, it just appears to be the screen is dead there's a good chance the motherboard wasn't damaged. You could possibly just buy a used S3 on ebay or wherever (paying attention to get the exact some model of S3, they vary by carrier), and have the motherboards swapped, ending up with a working phone to rescue those text messages.
And even though The_Chief emphasized this quite clearly, I'm just going to be annoying and repeat it again -- whomever works on your phone cannot, will not be allowed to do a Factory Reset.
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Samsung+Galaxy+S+III+Motherboard+Replacement/12696
 
Supposed that your phone still works and the screen is dead, a good repair shop can use another screen to see what's left in your phone's memory, the screen is connected to the mainboard by a flat cable. Otherwise if the mainboard itself is cracked I doubt that would be the end, unless you are determined to go as far as it would take and pay whatever you'd need to pay.
 
dollerprod said:
Sorry for double post...

(Galaxy S3)
Car ran over phone. Screen is obviously shattered. I need to recover what is on the phones memory by any means if at all possible. Specifically, a text conversation between a contractor and I, regarding an issue that may need to be resolved in court. This is not on the SD card, it's on the phones memory.

Do I have the correct understanding that there is no hard drive to remove, rather that there is a memory module that cannot be removed and installed in a different device? If that is correct, is there a guide that can show me specifically how to inspect for damage to the module? How can I recover this text conversation, and other things on the phone?

  • Phone turns on, I can feel it vibrate when pressing power on. Nothing appears on the screen, only black. There is no tactile feedback when touching the screen. I did hear a text come through. The small led light does illuminate when a notification comes in.

I am desperately hoping someone can help...
Click to expand...

Find a good repair shop, they can put the motherboard into another case and recover what you need.
 
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