Samsung Galaxy S III to be released in April 2012

Dingatron

My SIII looked to be suffering from the start of the sudden death syndrome bug about 10 days ago. I had it from last July and had it rooted and had updated it to newer stock roms from the beginning. Symptoms were sudden freezes and the only way to reset was by taking the battery out. Tried recovery through Kies etc but looks like a hardware issue and was happening within 10 minutes of boot.

hidinginthebush

Dingatron wrote: »

My SIII looked to be suffering from the start of the sudden death syndrome bug about 10 days ago. I had it from last July and had it rooted and had updated it to newer stock roms from the beginning. Symptoms were sudden freezes and the only way to reset was by taking the battery out. Tried recovery through Kies etc but looks like a hardware issue and was happening within 10 minutes of boot.

Check your SD card. I had similar issues with my HTC desire, until I switched to a ROM that didn't use A2SD, and hey presto, no more tears. I think what was happening was the card would either quickly unmount or wasn't fast enough maybe, but either way, when I reverted to using it just for storage all was grand. I'm not sure if you S3 ROM uses A2SD though?

Dingatron

Nah I tried a good few things with it including leaving the SD out after a reset. Got it back today from them and they replaced the motherboard. Really missed it as I was back to a HTC Hero on Cupcake for a few days.

Sonics2k

Dingatron wrote: »

Nah I tried a good few things with it including leaving the SD out after a reset. Got it back today from them and they replaced the motherboard. Really missed it as I was back to a HTC Hero on Cupcake for a few days.

I'm due to get mine sent back tomorrow or Monday after having the same issues as you.

I checked the site and they said it was already fixed after one day which I find very off. I have a feeling they just factory reset it and maybe flashed it.

ED E

Sonics2k wrote: »

I'm due to get mine sent back tomorrow or Monday after having the same issues as you.

I checked the site and they said it was already fixed after one day which I find very off. I have a feeling they just factory reset it and maybe flashed it.

Whos doing the repair?

Sonics2k

ED E wrote: »

Whos doing the repair?

Fonemenders.

I work for o2, so it's easier to send it straight to them as they usually do a good job for us or they don't get paid by us.

It also gives us a good chance to see if they're doing their jobs right haha.

ED E

I've had problems with them insisting on their was no problem with phone after Sony had publicly stated they were manufactured wrong. If you search for them on boards they seem like a sham of an outfit tbh.

Do samsung have a repair partner here? Might be a better option.

Pigwidgeon

Ah I fear my S3 may be developing sudden death syndrome. All day it has been constantly freezing and randomly turning itself off, I tried a factory reset and it doesn't seem to have helped. I got the phone on vodafone through the carphone warehouse, am I better just going down to the carphone warehouse with it tomorrow, as it's pretty much unusable at this point or should I try return it to samsung themselves?

ED E

Pigwidgeon wrote: »

Ah I fear my S3 may be developing sudden death syndrome. All day it has been constantly freezing and randomly turning itself off, I tried a factory reset and it doesn't seem to have helped. I got the phone on vodafone through the carphone warehouse, am I better just going down to the carphone warehouse with it tomorrow, as it's pretty much unusable at this point or should I try return it to samsung themselves?

Give it to CPW, who will send it to Fonmenders who will replace the board, and hopefully give you a new board with a sane chip.

touts

ED E wrote: »

Give it to CPW, who will send it to Fonmenders who will replace the board, and hopefully give you a new board with a sane chip.

Does anyone know how long it takes. I've been living with my S3 freezing 3-4 times a day for the past couple of weeks because I'm afraid I'll be without a phone for weeks if I send it off to be repaired. Better to have a freezing phone than no phone (my old phone was a Nokia N8 and the sim from the S3 won't fit it).

waynegalway

touts wrote: »

Does anyone know how long it takes. I've been living with my S3 freezing 3-4 times a day for the past couple of weeks because I'm afraid I'll be without a phone for weeks if I send it off to be repaired. Better to have a freezing phone than no phone (my old phone was a Nokia N8 and the sim from the S3 won't fit it).

In my experience, I was without the phone for about 6 weeks in total. I went straight to Samsung with it, but they got fonemenders to do the work. Turned out that fonemenders aren't qualified to do a level 3 repair, so they sent it somewhere else. Very disappointing experience.

Have a Google for fonfix. I found out that they can do the level 3 repair, and have a walk in service. The repair is done under warranty, but if you pay a small fee they can turn it around in a few hours.

danniemcq

there is an app (emmc check) that will tell you if your chip is one of the failing ones. Check that first.

My s3 death i dropped the phone in with 3 on a Friday and had it back on the Thursday after, and that was a rooted and rommed phone and had no issues.

They replaced the insides and i lost everything (thankfully i back up occasionally) so do that before leaving the phone anywhere

ED E

waynegalway wrote: »

Have a Google for fonfix. I found out that they can do the level 3 repair, and have a walk in service. The repair is done under warranty, but if you pay a small fee they can turn it around in a few hours.

Yeah, fonfix are far more capable. If you post it in you pay for registered post and if you hand deliver it they charge you €15 for the pleasure of ringing their doorbell.

waynegalway

ED E wrote: »

Yeah, fonfix are far more capable. If you post it in you pay for registered post and if you hand deliver it they charge you €15 for the pleasure of ringing their doorbell.

I have no experience with fonfix, so I can't say for sure what they are like. I sense you're being sarcastic, but I'm only going on what I've read on here about them.

My personal experience with fonemenders was terrible. Fact.

From what I've read, fonfix can do the job (replace board)themselves (not give it to a third party like fonemenders do), and there's no charge if it's under warranty. I stand to be corrected on who pays for the postage, if they charge the customer for it that hardly seems fair. My understanding is that the €15 charge is optional and gives you an express service (same day, I believe). If you don't want same day service, theres no charge. I'm basing this on what I've read here and on the fonfix website. I have no personal with them, but if my S3 was to have an issue under warranty, I'd be going to them instead of fonemenders.

ED E

I was partially sarcastic there yeah.

My Xperia S got the yellow tint(glue in the screen turns yellow). I returned it to the store(3) for repair, they accepted the fault and sent it to fonmenders who sent it back straight away stating it was fine even though sony had acknowledged that the manufacturing process was flawed. And I'm not the only one to have had such issues. Fonmenders are a joke, but probably are cheap and thus get all the contracts.

So I got on to Sony Mobile UK, who directed me to use Fonfix as a warranty repairer for them in Ireland. Registered postage each way would be the guts of €20 and add two days minimum to the process. I didnt want to be without my shiny new toy for an extended period so I decided to hop on the luas and deliver it by hand. At the desk I was asked to pay €15 because I delivered it myself, and then had to collect it myself.

I know its small amounts but a warranty repair should be entirely free. This is them essentially taking a skim with a bogus handling fee. If the retailers(carriers) would deal with them there would be no cost to the customer, but they only deal with fonmenders.

waynegalway

ED E wrote: »

I was partially sarcastic there yeah.

My Xperia S got the yellow tint(glue in the screen turns yellow). I returned it to the store(3) for repair, they accepted the fault and sent it to fonmenders who sent it back straight away stating it was fine even though sony had acknowledged that the manufacturing process was flawed. And I'm not the only one to have had such issues. Fonmenders are a joke, but probably are cheap and thus get all the contracts.

So I got on to Sony Mobile UK, who directed me to use Fonfix as a warranty repairer for them in Ireland. Registered postage each way would be the guts of €20 and add two days minimum to the process. I didnt want to be without my shiny new toy for an extended period so I decided to hop on the luas and deliver it by hand. At the desk I was asked to pay €15 because I delivered it myself, and then had to collect it myself.

I know its small amounts but a warranty repair should be entirely free. This is them essentially taking a skim with a bogus handling fee. If the retailers(carriers) would deal with them there would be no cost to the customer, but they only deal with fonmenders.

Interesting.

Did they say the charge was for express service? How long did they have the phone before it was ready for collection?

Having had my experience with fonemenders, I'd gladly make my way to Dublin for the day and pay 15 rather spend nothing and let fonemenders take 6 weeks.

ED E

I think it was like three days, tuesday to thursday. And no, the fee was purely for going to the door.

Walk-In Service
Fónfix operates a walk-in service at our repair centre in Sandyford, Dublin. If you wish to avail of this service you can call into our front desk and have your phone repaired in as little as three hours. Please note there is a non-refundable handling fee of €15 for this service.
Please remove your sim card from your phone as it is not required for the repair process
Telephone numbers, logos, ringtones or data saved to the phone may be lost during repair

You Can Mail Your Phone To Us At :

Fónfix
Cellular House, 1 Sandyford Park
Sandyford Industrial Estate
Sandyford, Dublin 18

They cover samsung anyways.

As a manufacturer accredited service centre Fónfix can repair any of the following manufacturers' phones irrespective of the network to which the phone is connected.
Sony Ericsson
Motorola
Samsung
NEC
Panasonic
Sharp
Nokia
Phillips
Siemens

waynegalway

ED E wrote: »

I think it was like three days, tuesday to thursday. And no, the fee was purely for going to the door.





They cover samsung anyways.

I misread that to mean the €15 was for the express service, rather than a handling fee just for turning up at the door. It's still good value compared to the time involved in posting it.

I read on here a few times that the Sudden Death fix was turned around in the same day for a few people who turned up and paid the 15.

Knine

How do I tell if my S3 is unlocked?

waynegalway

Knine wrote: »

How do I tell if my S3 is unlocked?

Try a sim in it from a different network

Knine

waynegalway wrote: »

Try a sim in it from a different network

I don't have another sim unfortunately so was wondering if there was another way

waynegalway

Knine wrote: »

I don't have another sim unfortunately so was wondering if there was another way

Fair enough. I think another sim is the only way to do it though.

KAGY

Knine wrote: »

How do I tell if my S3 is unlocked?

Try dialing the code *#7465625#

That spells pinlock. Mightnt work on jelly bean

ED E

KAGY wrote: »

Try dialing the code *#7465625#

That spells pinlock. Mightnt work on jelly bean

Doesnt work on JB.

AFAIK the only way on JB is with a SIM.

Copper_pipe

Are these expensive to unlock? Thinking of getting a second hand one off amazon for £210 but its locked to orange

hidinginthebush

Copper_pipe wrote: »

Are these expensive to unlock? Thinking of getting a second hand one off amazon for £210 but its locked to orange

Free apparently
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=41194615

Copper_pipe

Would I have any difficulty in sending it back to Samsung(free repair) regarding the insane chip if I got it second hand?

danniemcq

it might be ok.

few years back i had to get onto sony about phone that pretty much caught fire in my pocket.

I asked about warrenty and they got me to read out the serial number etc but didn't ask for names or if it was second hand. you might get asked where it was bought (city/town should do)

Ring them and tell them your situation and see if they ask for anything else. if not you should be sorted

ED E

Copper_pipe wrote: »

Would I have any difficulty in sending it back to Samsung(free repair) regarding the insane chip if I got it second hand?

As the phone isnt two years old yet they may not ask but normally they look for proof of purchase date to verify a device is within the warranty period.

Copper_pipe

Ah ok, I'll could be caught there so