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Fried motherboard - Can I recover data?

J

jjkla

Lurker
Hi everyone. I have a Galaxy S6 Active that worked great for a year... until yesterday, when it started a system update (unprompted) at about 20% battery. Next thing I knew, it froze on the startup logo screen. I tried everything to reboot, to no avail. So I took the device into the Samsung tech at my local Best Buy, and they told me the motherboard is fried. They said this was probably due to the system update on low battery, but whatever the case... the main point is that I have a ton of precious photos and videos on that phone. I checked my backup accounts and the latest backup doesn't seem to include any of them. :'( I'm seriously heartbroken because I don't want to lose my photos! Is there anything I can do to recover the data from the phone? Please help!!
 
Try these two methods, hold volume down and power at the same time, it might or might not work.

Or even better who's the carrier?
With it off hold volume down, home button and power.

Let us know if either or method does anything
 
Hi James, thanks so much for responding. I've tried both methods you mentioned, no luck. The phone is completely frozen on the logo screen. It doesn't even display the green LED when charging. My carrier is AT&T, I went to them first for help but they told me I would have to go through Samsung because I own the phone. Any other thoughts?
 
If you used Google photos you should be fine, if not well....
Try letting the battery die, then hold volume down and home first then press and hold power with the other two buttons. If you get a warning screen, well there might be hope left.
 
I have been using Google photos, but for some reason my photos are only backed up through May. :\

So I tried the method you just mentioned, and this is the screen I'm seeing (photo attached). What next? Thank you again for your help!!
 

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jjkla said:
I have been using Google photos, but for some reason my photos are only backed up through May. :\

So I tried the method you just mentioned, and this is the screen I'm seeing (photo attached). What next? Thank you again for your help!!
Click to expand...
That's what we need to see. Active that's AT&T right?

Provide me the carrier if it's unlocked the original carrier. I'll see what i can do as far as splitting the firmware so we can get a no wipe tar.

Have you gone to Google photos on a different phone and checked the settings, like backup over WiFi only etc.

I'm working with several clients now but will look into the firmware.
 
Late reply. Ok with newer firmware files you get the 5 way split files or the 4 way split. The 5 way split being optimal due to the home csc file not wiping data.

Older firmware is either just one file or 4 files. You could remove the 2 files within the firmware splits that cause the data wipe and since you can get into download mode flash the files.

This would in a ideal situation get the device booted without wiping it, will it work? Hmm not sure. i would have to find my crash test dummy, (Samsung phone) lol and give it a go. So when i get up and motivated i'll try it as all i found for your device was the 4 way splits.

All said it's still a 50/50 chance the device would boot normally.

In your case i would say it's time to roll the dice.
 
James, you're awesome! I'm definitely not tech-savvy enough to figure this out on my own -- the stuff about firmware is honestly all Greek to me -- but I'm willing to bet I can follow directions if you provide them. :) Thanks for giving me a little glimmer of hope that there might be something I can do to recover my files... or, at least, the assurance that I'll be doing everything I CAN do in this situation. I'll stay tuned for what to do next.

And yup, my carrier is AT&T.
 
I downloaded the firmware late last night and took a look at it. I'll be online in a couple of hours and will do what's needed and post or p.m. you a link to the fixed firmware.

Once it's downloaded we can go from there.
 
Waiting on the files to be put into a tar format, i extracted them and removed the pit file and the param.bin file both which cause the data wipe.

Putting them into a single file that can be flashed via Odin 3.10.7
in the AP slot.

If the files take much longer to be converted i will just break them down into the 4 files and let you know.
 
Compressing the zip file then will be uploading to Google drive. I wanted to check the files a hundred times lol.
 
Link is being sent via p.m. invitation open for any mod that would like to look at the file.

Once it's downloaded let me know and i can connect remotely if need be.
 
Thanks sooo much, James! I'm going to check my messages now and download the files. Then what?? LOL. I might need a walkthrough on the install... You're a champ, man.
 
Hold volume down, home and power then press volume up at the warning.

It'll say downloading etc. Connect the phone. Each file says ap, bl.csc, etc.

Open Odin 3.10.7 and put the files in the slot. Pray and press start.
 
LOL. Alright! I'm willing to take a leap of faith and try this out. Did you say you tested this on a Samsung phone of your own?

I'm currently on the phone with Samsung trying to work out a replacement phone (for which I am currently covered), and of course they're informing me that if I work with a third party to find a data retrieval solution, they won't cover my replacement. Ugh.
 
No, all i removed was the param.bin and the pit file to stop the device from erasing itself like new.

The firmware will either work and the device will boot. It might fail, if it does it won't hurt anything.

Or it could be hardware failure.
 
jjkla said:
Hi James, thanks so much for responding. I've tried both methods you mentioned, no luck. The phone is completely frozen on the logo screen. It doesn't even display the green LED when charging. My carrier is AT&T, I went to them first for help but they told me I would have to go through Samsung because I own the phone. Any other thoughts?
Click to expand...
This !!!! It just happened to me & i lost 12000 photos & important doctor files i neeed to know as well !!!!
 
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