• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Help Samsung Galaxy S3 Stuck in Factory Mode Please Help!!!

C

cadenjanzen

Newbie
Hi guys just to let you know this is my first post. Anyway I have been having battery problems with my s3 where it won't take a charge or tell me when the battery gets low instead it just shuts off. Also when I get the batttery to work after around an hour it goes into FACTORY MODE I have absolutley no idea what this means and I need some help getting rid of it. It just went to it I haven't tried to mess with my phone or anything. Also since I know pretty much nothing about roots and all those things try to do step by step explanations if possible. Thank you.
 
Welcome to the forums!

Sorry to hear about your issues...could you elaborate on factory mode though? What does it say, exactly? I've never heard of the issue before, myself.
 
It shows a picture of the android guy and says Downloading... Do not turn off target or something along those lines its hard to explain cause I can't get my phone on long enough to really see it. Also in the corner it says FACTORY MODE and shows some specs about my phone, its similar looking to odin mode. It looks similar to these pictures, this is not my phone in the picture by the way. Samsung S2 "Factory Mode" download? - Android-Hilfe.de
 
Okay. Have you Rooted at all? Flashed anything with Odin? Any firmware or Roms or anything of the sort?
 
Here we go I got it back into the factory mode screen. this is what it says

FACTORY MODE
PRODUCT NAME: SPH-L710
CURRENT BINARY: Samsung Official
SYSTEM STATUS: Official
QUALCOMM SECUREBOOT: ENABLE
Warranty Bit: 0
BOOTLOADER RP SWREV: 2

After this it shows the android guys and under him Downloading... Do not turn off target!!

To answer your questions I don't think I rooted it or flashed anything with odin, although I did go into odin mode once but i didn't do anything but turn it off. Also do you think a regular factory reset could fix this.
 
You could try it, but I'm not sure....

I found this:
In order to exit from Factory mode the phone has to be rooted so that you can access the /efs partition.

You'll also need a file manager (ex. ES File Explorer http://market.android.com/details?id...gs.android.pop) that allows access to the system folders.

Navigate to /efs/FactoryApp and edit the file 'factorymode' - change 'ON' to 'OFF' (or vice-versa, depending on what yours currently shows - mine showed ON when it WASN'T in Factory mode, and OFF when it was - go figure). Then reboot the phone and all should be good.
Click to expand...

I'll see if I can find anything else though, and I'll see if any other staff members might know. Hang tight, we'll figure it out!
 
Ok thank you guys for the help. I have the file manager but i am gonna need some help rooting the phone. Also the phone does boot up but it doesn't really take a charge very well so I have to use as little battery charge as I can also if the battery is low it will just shut off, I am getting a new battery in the mail soon.
 
I would highly recommend that you get the new battery before attempting any type of modification to the file system.


...Here is the solution I found at XDA

exit the factory mode
1.install a terminal emulator from google market
2. Type su
3. Then enter the following after the #
echo -n ON > /efs/FactoryApp/factorymode

I would read this:

XDA S3 Factory mode..Oh noes!!!!
 
Thats probably a good idea but right now it is successfully charging so once i get it to full I should have a couple hours to do this. New battery should be here tommorow.:)
 
Good luck! Like Sol said, it is probably best to wait for the battery. However, in the meantime, you can read up on rooting your device, what to do, what NOT to do, etc.

Knowledge on rooting is never a bad thing :)
 
Sol the terminal emulator didnt work it gave me a weird not found message and also do you guys think that this factory mode thing and battery problems are at all related
 
I wouldn't rule anything out exactly...but from what I'm reading this is a corrupted EFS partition. Which you need to root to fix. I'd wait though until you get your new battery, just to be on the safe side.
 
Well, I don't know about a factory reset...but that's all I could find pertaining to the solution. I didn't find anyone who said a factory reset would fix it.

Honestly, if it IS a corrupted file partition or something like that...I don't think a reset would fix it, and I wouldn't recommend it. Just in case something else breaks along the way.

Here's a question though...if you don't feel comfortable rooting, are you under warranty still?

Edit:

Also if you tried what Sol advised, and you aren't rooted, that is why it didn't work.
 
I don't know about the warranty is it through sprint or samsung because I switched from sprint to Ting mid contract but I've had the phone less than a year. Do you think that someone at a phone store could fix this.
 
I don't think someone at the phone store could. It couldn't hurt to give them a shout, though.

it all depends on what they know how to do. You could always try samsung as well.
 
Okay I just got my new battery and i'm ready to give rooting a shot, but when they say to backup files how and where do you do that?
 
You can use adb to backup the files if you have it installed. but if you're just flashing a rooted thing...as long as your battery is above 50% for a quick root, you SHOULD be fine. just don't unplug it while its doing its thing, and read the directions very thoroughly.

Just make sure your new battery actually works though before you attempt this.
 
About how much battery life do I need to do this cause I got my new battery and it's not taking a charge very well, which makes me think the battery problems are due to factory mode. Also my computer isnt recognizing the device anymore even though it did a couple days ago. Also do you have any idea what factory mode is for and how I turned it on?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom