SoftbrickedNote3
Lurker
Hello. I have a US Cellular Samsung Galaxy Note 3. A week ago, I agreed to a software update, but that update never finished. The phone boots, gets to a screen saying "Optimizing apps 'N' of 257", counts up to 12 or so, and then reboots and repeats the same process.
The phone is not rooted, and AFAIK, USB debugging is not enabled. I want to retrieve the data from the internal card, as there are 2 years of photos on it, and it was not backed up.
What I've tried:
A call to tech support informed me to perform a factory reset, which I declined, as I do not want to lose my data.
I took it to a Samsung kiosk, and the tech attempted to flash the update from his laptop. The newly-flashed update behaved the same as the OTA update.
I can connect to it successfully with Odin and Heimdall, but receive errors when I try to load a custom recovery image using either one (TWRP, as I couldn't find a USC-compatible version of ClockworkMod).
I tried ADB, but it only lists as a device if I select "Upgrade with ADB sideload" in the recovery console. Otherwise, it does not appear in ADB.
I downloaded the previous firmware version from Sammobile, but I am concerned that installing this firmware will delete/format/overwrite/repartition/obliterate my photos within the data folder.
After writing the above, I just made the mistake of trying the Android Recovery tool from Androiddatarecovery.co, the phone is now nearly hardbricked. When the phone starts, it indicates that it is booting into the recovery menu, and "Set Warranty Bit: recovery", and then it immediate shuts off.
Can anyone help?
The phone is not rooted, and AFAIK, USB debugging is not enabled. I want to retrieve the data from the internal card, as there are 2 years of photos on it, and it was not backed up.
What I've tried:
A call to tech support informed me to perform a factory reset, which I declined, as I do not want to lose my data.
I took it to a Samsung kiosk, and the tech attempted to flash the update from his laptop. The newly-flashed update behaved the same as the OTA update.
I can connect to it successfully with Odin and Heimdall, but receive errors when I try to load a custom recovery image using either one (TWRP, as I couldn't find a USC-compatible version of ClockworkMod).
I tried ADB, but it only lists as a device if I select "Upgrade with ADB sideload" in the recovery console. Otherwise, it does not appear in ADB.
I downloaded the previous firmware version from Sammobile, but I am concerned that installing this firmware will delete/format/overwrite/repartition/obliterate my photos within the data folder.
After writing the above, I just made the mistake of trying the Android Recovery tool from Androiddatarecovery.co, the phone is now nearly hardbricked. When the phone starts, it indicates that it is booting into the recovery menu, and "Set Warranty Bit: recovery", and then it immediate shuts off.
Can anyone help?