Update FAILS on Windows 7 32-bit on Lenovo T400. Freezes at "0% 2sec..." with error message in status bar "??????????? %A???????????????"
Unfortunately both of these are hard to google since Google discards special characters like % and ?, so this is going to be a very tough error message for other users to track down.
Update succeeded using same instructions on Windows XP SP3 32-bit.
Signs of failure:
On Win7 32-bit, once "Start Software Download" is clicked, phone screen flashes twice and progress bar does not increase while 0% remains and time expired counts 0, 1, 2. Update software then freezes with status bar message as below. Left software to finish updating for over 3 hours on 2 attempts - update software never progressed and phone was inoperable.
On WinXP, at the 2sec mark the phone flashes twice, but the update software continues within a couple seconds - anything longer than this pause is a sign of Samsung's update software failing and bricking your phone.
It's very unfortunate Samsung's software doesn't at least provide a log for such a critical operation, nor a link or even email address to technical support in the update app.
It also doesn't make clear that the warning on the phone "DO NOT TURN OFF TARGET DEVICE" can be safely ignored as a normal part of the update process. (You pull the battery, put it in, start it in update mode, plug-in USB, and receive the warning on the phone; at that point the update software instructs you to turn off the phone, which you can safely do.)
You can debrick your phone by running the update again on a supported OS like Windows XP.
Unfortunately both of these are hard to google since Google discards special characters like % and ?, so this is going to be a very tough error message for other users to track down.
Update succeeded using same instructions on Windows XP SP3 32-bit.
Signs of failure:
On Win7 32-bit, once "Start Software Download" is clicked, phone screen flashes twice and progress bar does not increase while 0% remains and time expired counts 0, 1, 2. Update software then freezes with status bar message as below. Left software to finish updating for over 3 hours on 2 attempts - update software never progressed and phone was inoperable.
On WinXP, at the 2sec mark the phone flashes twice, but the update software continues within a couple seconds - anything longer than this pause is a sign of Samsung's update software failing and bricking your phone.
It's very unfortunate Samsung's software doesn't at least provide a log for such a critical operation, nor a link or even email address to technical support in the update app.
It also doesn't make clear that the warning on the phone "DO NOT TURN OFF TARGET DEVICE" can be safely ignored as a normal part of the update process. (You pull the battery, put it in, start it in update mode, plug-in USB, and receive the warning on the phone; at that point the update software instructs you to turn off the phone, which you can safely do.)
You can debrick your phone by running the update again on a supported OS like Windows XP.
