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Help Factory reset won't fix galaxy s infinite boot mode.

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albokid2468

Newbie
Bought an unlocked galaxy s from E-Bay for about $230 for a cousin of mine over seas. I got the phone and installed a few apps for him, and checked to see if the att lock was gone, and it was. The phone was unlocked. I traveled to his country, and the phone worked perfectly.

He let his son use it, and apparently he was using att navigator and it shut down on him. Now the phone boots up to through the att logo, and the galaxy s logo. Then starts again with the att logo and the galaxy s logo once again.

I got into recovery mode and tried a factory reset and a cache delete, and it wouldn't work once more.

I tried taking out the sim, and trying the same thing, and nothing again.

I have no idea what to do now. I'm kind of limited on things to do. It'd be tough to exchange with the seller for a new one, as I'd have to pay shipping and other things. Also, here, it would be tough to try to flash some rom. I just wanted the basic rom with the phone. The guy isn't really tech savvy.

I told them to try to charge it, and to try to start it after its been charging for an hour or so.

If that doesn't work, I am truly at a loss.

Any ideas?

The original phone was ATT branded, and the card they're using is an Albanian company "Plus".

So this pretty much is a untouched phone, except for the unlock. The phone didn't look like it had a custom rom. I don't think its even rooted.
 
albokid2468 said:
So this pretty much is a untouched phone, except for the unlock. The phone didn't look like it had a custom rom. I don't think its even rooted.
Click to expand...

All you need to do is go into download mode and flash a Galaxy S stock rom

try this

do a battery pull first, reinsert battery, than press Volume Down hold + press Home hold + than Power hold till you enter download mode..give it a try

To enter recovery mode, shut down your phone and wait for it to be completely turned off then (do a battery pull) you hold the Volume Up + Home + Power and when you see the screen flicker with the B&W logo of SGS let go of the power button

so long as you can enter download mode , you only need to follow flashing rules and chose the correct rom for your region to get it booting again
 
Upon Factory Reset / data wipe via recovery, did you get some text lines in red color ?

Try flashing a stock ROM which has dbdata.rfs (something like that) in the .tar file. One such ROM is XXJVK, flash it via Odin and re-partition using PIT512 file.

Hopefully this problem should go away.
 
Ijaz Ahmed said:
Upon Factory Reset / data wipe via recovery, did you get some text lines in red color ?

Try flashing a stock ROM which has dbdata.rfs (something like that) in the .tar file. One such ROM is XXJVK, flash it via Odin and re-partition using PIT512 file.

Hopefully this problem should go away.
Click to expand...

Yeah. It was saying can't mount /data (invalid argument)

And I tried what you said, and it really screwed me over. I flashed 5 different roms, all stock, and none worked. Then I tried your method with the pit512 and a rom, and it fully bricked it. It's not starting up, and won't go into download mode. I have no jig.. I'm in Albania currently, there's not much of electrical devices, or stores that would have the tools to create a jig.

Wow, I'm really shit out of luck now.
 
albokid2468 said:
Yeah. It was saying can't mount /data (invalid argument)

And I tried what you said, and it really screwed me over. I flashed 5 different roms, all stock, and none worked. Then I tried your method with the pit512 and a rom, and it fully bricked it. It's not starting up, and won't go into download mode. I have no jig.. I'm in Albania currently, there's not much of electrical devices, or stores that would have the tools to create a jig.

Wow, I'm really shit out of luck now.
Click to expand...

ok try this method to enter download mode


1. Install Kies or USB drivers for your phone
2. You need ADB
3. You need Odin 1.3
4. Open adb in a command line shell (dos)
5. Start Odin
6. place Odin and adb windows so you can see both
7. type in adb "adb reboot download" and press enter
8. take the battery out
9. connect phone to your pc
10. insert battery
11. type in adb "adb reboot download" again, don't hit enter !
12. when the battery symbol appears, press power to start the phone
13. watch odin for the yellow symbol, when it appears press enter in adb

-> download mode should start


or you can make your own Jig

you need to connect pin 3 and 4 on the micro B usb slot ( these are the last two pins closest to your headphone jack ) with a 303 ohms resister and you will enter download mode
 
xsenman said:
ok try this method to enter download mode


1. Install Kies or USB drivers for your phone
2. You need ADB
3. You need Odin 1.3
4. Open adb in a command line shell (dos)
5. Start Odin
6. place Odin and adb windows so you can see both
7. type in adb "adb reboot download" and press enter
8. take the battery out
9. connect phone to your pc
10. insert battery
11. type in adb "adb reboot download" again, don't hit enter !
12. when the battery symbol appears, press power to start the phone
13. watch odin for the yellow symbol, when it appears press enter in adb

-> download mode should start


or you can make your own Jig

you need to connect pin 3 and 4 on the micro B usb slot ( these are the last two pins closest to your headphone jack ) with a 303 ohms resister and you will enter download mode
Click to expand...

Let's say I do get into download mode (I have a jig coming on the 7th of July.) And I'll try that method uptop. What would my next course of action be?

I think it was mainly my fault for bricking it. I flashed a rom that contained only a dbdata file, which was what the error was saying. Anyways, because I repartitioned, I assume that there is no actual android OS on the device now, so I'm not sure it even knows what a download mode is (know what I mean?) The dbdata file was like 7 mb, while all other roms are 150+ mb.

Anyways, I hope download mode can still come about without a real android OS.

Thanks for helping me with this, btw.
 
albokid2468 said:
Let's say I do get into download mode (I have a jig coming on the 7th of July.) And I'll try that method uptop. What would my next course of action be?

I think it was mainly my fault for bricking it. I flashed a rom that contained only a dbdata file, which was what the error was saying. Anyways, because I repartitioned, I assume that there is no actual android OS on the device now, so I'm not sure it even knows what a download mode is (know what I mean?) The dbdata file was like 7 mb, while all other roms are 150+ mb.

Anyways, I hope download mode can still come about without a real android OS.

Thanks for helping me with this, btw.
Click to expand...

once you get into download mode, if must play it save, download a stock firmware that is meant for your version with a pit file ( meaning kind of beginning) , the pit will ensure that you will be repartition to rfs ( samsungs original partition)

IF you fail to do this you will be heading in the wrong direction again.
 
Okay so I had access to the phone today. I tried the adb method but adb didn't detect the phone. I was ready to call it quits when I tried both volume buttons and it booted into download mode. I flashed different stock roms and none of them worked. There was one that was an att Odin stock one click. And it booted up faster. But after it booted up it was a black screen with the bottom buttons lit up. Also I just realized this... but the phone is a captivate and I wrote this in the galaxy s section. (I realize the captivate is a galaxy s model) but there's also a captivate section. So I'm not sure. I don't know if that changes things. I've tried totally stock roms from samfirware and nothing will work. They all give the data error. I have 8 different roms and they all give the data error.

This was written with my phone sorry for grammar or spelling errors.
 
albokid2468 said:
Okay so I had access to the phone today. I tried the adb method but adb didn't detect the phone. I was ready to call it quits when I tried both volume buttons and it booted into download mode. I flashed different stock roms and none of them worked. There was one that was an att Odin stock one click. And it booted up faster. But after it booted up it was a black screen with the bottom buttons lit up. Also I just realized this... but the phone is a captivate and I wrote this in the galaxy s section. (I realize the captivate is a galaxy s model) but there's also a captivate section. So I'm not sure. I don't know if that changes things. I've tried totally stock roms from samfirware and nothing will work. They all give the data error. I have 8 different roms and they all give the data error.

This was written with my phone sorry for grammar or spelling errors.
Click to expand...

for data error, you need to flash dbdata.rfs.tar to the sgs in recovery mode

dbdata.rfs.tar - 4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download
 
xsenman said:
for data error, you need to flash dbdata.rfs.tar to the sgs in recovery mode

dbdata.rfs.tar - 4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download
Click to expand...

So I flashed a rom that worked (stock rom). And I'm pretty sure it should be working.

However, after the boot up screen it turns black, with the bottom keys lit up.

So Boots up, then the galaxy s screen. Then it turns black. I can hit the home keys and back and search, and they press and lit up, but nothing on the screen shows.

I'm with the computer now, the same thing happened with a different firmware that should have worked, but I thought the rom was bad.

The phone charges while off, and it goes to recovery and download mode. In recovery I can wipe cache and data, (which I tried). And no error about dbdata. But it still doesn't work.

Any help with this? lol.. :(
 
albokid2468 said:
So I flashed a rom that worked (stock rom). And I'm pretty sure it should be working.

However, after the boot up screen it turns black, with the bottom keys lit up.

So Boots up, then the galaxy s screen. Then it turns black. I can hit the home keys and back and search, and they press and lit up, but nothing on the screen shows.

I'm with the computer now, the same thing happened with a different firmware that should have worked, but I thought the rom was bad.

The phone charges while off, and it goes to recovery and download mode. In recovery I can wipe cache and data, (which I tried). And no error about dbdata. But it still doesn't work.

Any help with this? lol.. :(
Click to expand...


go onto recovery and wipe device and cache partition...this is a must when ever you flash a new rom and also you should have formated your internal sd card prior to flashing a new rom, to avoid conflicts from past flashing
 
xsenman said:
go onto recovery and wipe device and cache partition...this is a must when ever you flash a new rom and also you should have formated your internal sd card prior to flashing a new rom, to avoid conflicts from past flashing
Click to expand...

I wiped the device and cache, before AND after I flashed a new rom.

Also, I've never inserted an SD Card in the device.

Any other ideas? It seems like this is the end. I looked online, and people with this problem were told to flash to stock with a certain rom (which I did) and it still gives me the black screen.

I brought the PC and the phone with me, so I could flash any rom I currently have again, or maybe its something else
 
albokid2468 said:
I wiped the device and cache, before AND after I flashed a new rom.

Also, I've never inserted an SD Card in the device.

Any other ideas? It seems like this is the end. I looked online, and people with this problem were told to flash to stock with a certain rom (which I did) and it still gives me the black screen.

I brought the PC and the phone with me, so I could flash any rom I currently have again, or maybe its something else
Click to expand...

There is an Internal SD card embedded in your phone , which need to be formatted before flashing, anyway try this rescue kit Hotfile.com: One click file hosting: SGS_Rescue_kit-13-1-2012.rar
 
xsenman said:
There is an Internal SD card embedded in your phone , which need to be formatted before flashing, anyway try this rescue kit Hotfile.com: One click file hosting: SGS_Rescue_kit-13-1-2012.rar
Click to expand...

That file is for an i9000. I flashed it, (it didn't work) my power button won't work, but worst of all, now Odin can't detect my phone to flash back to the semi working stock..

I managed to fix that through reinstalling usb drivers.

I flashed a rom that included cwm recovery. And through that I tried wiping stuff, and I reformatted the SD card. And when I tried to do a factory reset through the cwm recovery it gave me an error about mounting /data. Almost all supposed stock roms give the error about /data. Except for one.

Now what?
 
albokid2468 said:
That file is for an i9000. I flashed it, (it didn't work) my power button won't work, but worst of all, now Odin can't detect my phone to flash back to the semi working stock..

I managed to fix that through reinstalling usb drivers.

I flashed a rom that included cwm recovery. And through that I tried wiping stuff, and I reformatted the SD card. And when I tried to do a factory reset through the cwm recovery it gave me an error about mounting /data. Almost all supposed stock roms give the error about /data. Except for one.

Now what?
Click to expand...

Your Phone is not I9000? Is your working alright? cause you can get a data error at first boot after an installation of a new rom, it will be ok after your boot-up again in recovery and do a wipe and clear partition.
 
vladyandrew said:
go into download mode and flash a Galaxy S stock rom or flash with samsung kies
Click to expand...

I've tried this a million times.

I'm now at the point where there are no errors about data or cache. However, when the phone boots, after the boot up the screen turns black, and the bottom buttons light up.
 
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