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Help Galaxy s6 bricked, unresponsive, IRREPLACEABLE photos

D

Desperate Dad

Guest
Let me start by saying I'm sorry that this is long, but I'm trying to be as detailed as possible. I'm in a bit of a panic, as I've tried everything I have found so far online, aside from downloading some sort of 3rd party software or a taking it to a shop.

I have a perfect condition (never damaged in any way) completely unresponsive, black screen Samsung Galaxy s6 (model SM-G920VZKAVZW). No LED, no vibration, nothing. It was at full charge upon death. It's been this way for 24 hours.

I brought it to my local Verizon store today, only to have them try a few steps I already have, such as charging it and holding combinations of buttons. I was told the only thing I can do is replace the phone. The phone is the least of my concerns. It contains over 2 years worth of photos and videos of my 2 young children. Things like their first steps.

I would do just about anything to retrieve this data. Anything that could help would be greatly appreciated. I'm absolutely desperate and terrified of losing these memories. thank you!

Here's what happened:
- Last night while using my phone, it completely froze (In hindsight, I'm assuming because the latest android update was initiated).
- After waiting 5 minutes with no response, I pressed the power button and shut it off. (big mistake)
- Upon turning it back on, it remained frozen on the "Samsung Galaxy s6" opening screen forever. Unresponsive to the PWR button. Nothing.
- After waiting about 15 minutes and some online research I realized it was stuck in "boot loop" of sorts and I just needed to hold the volume DWN and PWR button to force a restart. So this is what I did. It worked. the phone shut off.

FOREVER

As I said before, now my phone is basically "bricked". Black screen. No signs of life.
It's been on a working charger (the original it came with) for 10 hours.

Again, thanks for taking the time to read this, and thank you greatly for any help or suggestions you have. My TOP priority is just getting these pictures of my kids, nothing else matters, but if I could also salvage my otherwise PERFECT condition phone, that would be nice, too. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
 
I can't suggest anything you or the Verizon store staff haven't already tried. But just for a visual, all your personal data, including those photos, are stored on a chip soldered to the motherboard inside your phone, shown here highlighted in red is the NAND flash chip:
S6_mobo.jpg
Just speculating but it does sound like a hardware failure of some sort. If it's something like a battery failure that would at least mean those photos are saveable. if it's some component on the motherboard that could be a real problem. But you might want to send it in to be see if it's repairable, and emphasize very clearly about the retaining the data part. Another option is to send it to a media restoration company like DriveSavers. They'll evaluate it for no charge and give you a solid estimate but the actual recovery of your data will definitely be a serious expense.
https://www.drivesaversdatarecovery.com/

If you've been regularly sending out photos of your kids to friends and family, maybe some photos are still retained as attachments in your email. Also, if you've been posting them in services like Facebook check those too.
It's too late now but on your next phone, be absolutely sure to set up an automatic backup solution. Take a look at Google Photos, which functions as a basic photo gallery app but includes an automatic backup and syncing function, so you'll have your photo library on your phone and also an exact duplicate saved into your online Google account.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.photos&hl=en
 
The S6 doesn't have a card slot, so that wasn't an option (and an SD card doesn't help if the phone is lost or stolen, so isn't an adequate backup solution anyway). And many people don't choose to use cloud storage because they don't want to give all of their photos to come corporation (and others don't do it because it doesn't occur to them). So I agree 100% that backups of important data are essential, but that doesn't help now.

All I can do is second what @svim has said: if the phone won't respond there is nothing you can do. There are companies who will probably be able to get the data back, though it won't be cheap. Don't just hand the phone over for repair though, because it's very likely they'll replace the motherboard, in which case your pictures are gone forever. Even if they don't, it's standard practice for official repair centres to reset the devices, which you also don't want. Try to get the data retrieved before getting the phone fixed or replaced.
 
What happens if you put the phone on charge & hold down the power button for over 30-60 seconds?

That will force a 'battery pull' which may bring it back to life.

Then backup everything ASAP. I'd be inclined to ensure you have Google photo backup switched on in the photos app if you want piece of mind for irreplaceable pics.

It may already be turned on. Check your Google account online.
 
Are galaxy phones known for permanently self-bricking? Seems kind of odd.

I'm participating in this thread because I have a similar problem:

I have a dead nexus 5 that I Gronk-spiked on a cement floor in a fit of rage, which contains many photos of my youngest, seconds after birth and for first few weeks after. Same problem... No SD slot and many photos possibly sit on the on-board memory. I have experience fixing electronics, and the motherboard was obliterated despite looking like there's no damage. I still have all of the pieces and have hopes I can get them back. Chances are, if your phone was not compromised before it bricked, that your photos are way more likely to be salvageable than mine. But I'll watch this, maybe with more help we can make it happen.

If you didnt root or modify your OS there's gotta be an easy way to get them back.

Good luck!

~spec
 
I had read over the thread yesterday and couldn't think of anything that hasn't been tried.
If battery is known to be good and charged and there is no response from the phone while trying to power up, flashing LED, vibration or sound and no charging animation when first connected to charger, my guess would be the motherboard is toast.
With the S6 not having a removable battery and being glued together makes it hard to swap and try different components.
 
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