GS3 sudden death!

Pikasso

This morning, after charging overnight, my Galaxy S3 died. I was browsing for about half an hour and then when I went to look at it again five minutes later the screen was blank. No amount of battery pulling, re-charging, button pressing etc gets any response - completely dead!
After some research I found this: http://www.talkandroid.com/145567-many-galaxy-s-iii-users-reporting-dead-phones-after-mainboard-failure/
Any one else experienced this?
BTW I'm with Three.

elderlemon

happened to mine a couple of week ago. Was charging, led was on showing full changed to removed and nothing. Screen blank, no led, no vibration on power up. Took it up to Phonefix in Sandyford and they replaced the main/mother board under warranty and all is well now.

Kristopherus

Is it less than a year old? If so send it back. Be wary of Three's modus operandi in dealing with broken phones. There's a lot of unhappy customers posting in their Talk To... forum about their repair/replacement policy.

Chet T16

Happened mine too, I just got it back after they replaced the board.

Can you get it into recovery? How about download mode?

elderlemon

Mine wouldn't do anything (which is understandable if the mainboard is gone). No recovery, no download. Zero.

Chet T16 wrote: »

Happened mine too, I just got it back after they replaced the board.

Can you get it into recovery? How about download mode?

Jarren

It seems that the only resolution for this problem is to take your phone to be repaired in a specialized store OP.

Make sure that it gets repaired under the warranty and don't go near fonemenders (I know that they are Samsung approved service agent) but heard far too many stories about a moisture intrusion being discovered on the components of its main board and Fonemenders advising to have the phones recycled.

Try contacting Samsung directly and insist on having the phone repaired in UK.

My2cents

chris1970

Mine went black yesterday , trusty desire s to the rescue, got emobile when it came out great timing

Jarren

This is not good at all

https://www.google.ie/#hl=en&tbo=d&spell=1&q=Samsung+galaxy+s3+sudden+death+syndrome&sa=X&ei=JWDXUMOdHqmH0AXRqIHQAg&ved=0CC0QvwUoAA&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.1355534169,d.d2k&fp=4b6a46c35aedccd5&bpcl=40096503&biw=1366&bih=705

Chet T16

elderlemon wrote: »

Mine wouldn't do anything (which is understandable if the mainboard is gone). No recovery, no download. Zero.

Mine would get stuck at the black i9300 boot screen. I could get into download mode but it was unable to read the product name or anything. Odin failed as it couldn't find the partition info. This all pointed to a NAND failure. Yours was obviously something else.

Mine went to fonfix and was done under warranty. Interestingly it came back with O2 software on it. I got it on O2 upgrade but it was originally unbranded.

G1032

This has been reported on XDA since mid November.
Samsung are replacing the phones, rooted or not, with no questions asked.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1993044

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2060252

http://www.ibtimes.com/samsung-galaxy-s3-sudden-death-problem-device-getting-bricked-without-warning-corrupted-nand-blame

Pikasso

Thanks for all the advice guys.
No, it won't even go into recovery mode.
Yes, Three recommended Fonemenders but I think I'll take the advice and send it directly to Samsung. Hopefully they'll be open tomorrow when I ring.
Anyone here ever send a phone to Samsung in England for repair, and what was your experience like?

G1032

Pikasso wrote: »

Anyone here ever send a phone to Samsung in England for repair, and what was your experience like?

Yes. Experience was both good and bad.
Sent Galaxy S 1 to them. Phone came back and still wasn't working correctly. Sent it back again and they sent me out a Galaxy S 2 instead.
Took about 4 and a half week iirc to finally get sorted. Thats way way too long imo but I got a new phone.................

waynegalway

Mine just died (6 months old, so under warranty). I'm with 3, so I decided to call Samsung directly about it. They confirmed that they are getting more and more of this symptom. They said they'll have a Jiffy bag out within 3 days and a repaired/replaced handset out within 7-10 days. Similar to apple, really, and with apple I found that in reality it all happened a bit quicker than advertised.....I hope Samsung is as good.

Pretty sh1t that a new phone would have this issue. I hope the replacement one has better board in it.

I'll keep ye posted as to how the timeline of going direct with Samsung works out....

Patsy fyre

For anyone who's phone has died recently, has the phone been rooted or had custom roms put onto it?
Could this be the problem?
Few of my friends phones have died but they were always messing around with them.

waynegalway

Patsy fyre wrote: »

For anyone who's phone has died recently, has the phone been rooted or had custom roms put onto it?
Could this be the problem?
Few of my friends phones have died but they were always messing around with them.

Nope. Not rooted or custom rom.

Only thing I messed with was putting the latest leaked firmware on it (it had 4.1.2) and as of last week I was using a 3rd party battery as a spare along with the Samsung one. From what I've read on XDA, it's not a software issue, so I'm not worried that I was updating the firmware ahead of official updates from 3. As for the spare battery, I can't see how that would do any damage, it was rated the same as the original, it wasn't a super high capacity one.

_Whimsical_

If you've got the phone as a gift or bought it on adverts and have no receipt am I correct in imagining that you are sunk as regards warranty?:(

elderlemon

Nope you're fine. So long as its under 12 months old (which every s3 is) then its covered. No need for a receipt.

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

If you've got the phone as a gift or bought it on adverts and have no receipt am I correct in imagining that you are sunk as regards warranty?:(

Chet T16

Mine was rooted and seen a good few roms but it's definitely a hardware issue.

I think I had my phone back within 10 days from posting it to a freepost address I was given

waynegalway

Chet T16 wrote: »

Mine was rooted and seen a good few roms but it's definitely a hardware issue.

I think I had my phone back within 10 days from posting it to a freepost address I was given

Was yours repaired or replaced?

Chet T16

Main board replaced.

waynegalway

Chet T16 wrote: »

Main board replaced.

Ok. So was it completely wiped too? I have most of my precious stuff on sd card, but apps and contacts were on the phone itself. Did they indicate what the warranty on the new board would be? Is it 12 months from replacement date or 12 months from original purchase date?

_Whimsical_

I rang then and apparently it's "no receipt no warranty"

In the event that you should require service assistance, please contact the Samsung Customer Care Team on 0818 SAMSUNG (717100). Please have your full Samsung model number and serial number, date and place of purchase and a brief description of the fault/ query ready when contacting our Service Team.

Jarren

Can you contact the person who sold you SGS3 ?

elderlemon

The place in sandyford did not ask for a receipt. Simply took the phone, checked the imei and said the motherboard was dead and would be replaced. Simple as that.

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

I rang then and apparently it's "no receipt no warranty"

waynegalway

elderlemon wrote: »

The place in sandyford did not ask for a receipt. Simply took the phone, checked the imei and said the motherboard was dead and would be replaced. Simple as that.

The guy I spoke to in Samsung today (I called the 0044 number that I found on their site as the 0818 one wouldn't work from Skype) said that if I had proof of purchase then I should include that in the envelope when sending the phone back. He said if I can't find it not to worry as they can find the date of purchase by looking at the serial number.

Chet T16

waynegalway wrote: »

Ok. So was it completely wiped too? I have most of my precious stuff on sd card, but apps and contacts were on the phone itself. Did they indicate what the warranty on the new board would be? Is it 12 months from replacement date or 12 months from original purchase date?

Contacts should be linked to your Google account so they won't be lost, everything else will be, both system and internal sd card.

Not sure about warranty but I imagine it's from the purchase date

waynegalway

Chet T16 wrote: »

Contacts should be linked to your Google account so they won't be lost, everything else will be, both system and internal sd card.

Not sure about warranty but I imagine it's from the purchase date

Same as iPhone then. The mic went in my iPhone about 9 months into the warranty, and when they replaced the phone, they said the warranty was still 12 months from original date. So that meant the new phone only had 3 months warranty when I got it.

It wouldn't be great if the S3 has this known problem between 150-200 days after activation and they don't reset the warranty on at least the motherboard after replacing it. What happens when the replacement motherboard goes after another 200 days and you're out of warranty?

Maybe the batch of bad boards has been used up/scrapped, so the replacement ones are good.

Chet T16

If you have a 1 year warranty and are covered for that year then I'm happy enough!

waynegalway

Chet T16 wrote: »

If you have a 1 year warranty and are covered for that year then I'm happy enough!

I know, yeah, but if these boards are dodgy then a new one should come with 12 month warranty.

elderlemon

All SG3's are under warranty. The phone was released less than 12 months ago so that means that all phones are covered.

Chet T16 wrote: »

If you have a 1 year warranty and are covered for that year then I'm happy enough!

G1032

Patsy fyre wrote: »

For anyone who's phone has died recently, has the phone been rooted or had custom roms put onto it?
Could this be the problem?
Few of my friends phones have died but they were always messing around with them.

Look at the links i posted earlier from XDA. Most phones that have died have not been rooted or modified. Of course some have. Blue phones, white phones, rooted and not rooted.

G1032

waynegalway wrote: »

Same as iPhone then. The mic went in my iPhone about 9 months into the warranty, and when they replaced the phone, they said the warranty was still 12 months from original date. So that meant the new phone only had 3 months warranty when I got it.

It wouldn't be great if the S3 has this known problem between 150-200 days after activation and they don't reset the warranty on at least the motherboard after replacing it. What happens when the replacement motherboard goes after another 200 days and you're out of warranty?

Maybe the batch of bad boards has been used up/scrapped, so the replacement ones are good.

AFAIK electronic goods such as phones, TV's etc, sold within the European union have a 2 year warranty. My old Galaxy S broke after 18 months and Samsung replaced it for me with a new S2.

_Whimsical_

According to Samsungs own site phones seem to be under warranty for 24 months.
http://www.samsung.com/ie/support/warranty/warrantyInformation.do?page=POLICY.WARRANTY

Daniogroove

all devices are 24 months and accessories 6 months. gotta love samsung, at least they still look after you when they have your money

waynegalway

Update:

The Jiffy bag arrived for the phone today. It was prepaid to send back to fonemenders in clondalkin. I was expecting it to go to Samsung, but apparently not.

What's the deal with fonemenders? Are they the same crowd that 3 use? I've heard that some of the service centres always say there's water damage and that it'll cost x amount to fix, regardless of whether it was water damaged or not. Are fonemenders likely to try this approach?

Obviously, as I'm posting in this thread, my phone has not had any water damage, it's obvious to me that it's a case of the motherboard. I'd be pretty pissed off if the service centre tries to blame water damage and charge me for a repair.

Because I reported it directly to Samsung, and I am able to track the service because they gave me a customer reference number themselves, I am hopeful that I'm in a better position than if I went back to a 3 shop and let them handle it. At least Samsung have it on record from me what the problem is.

cookie1977

Daniogroove wrote: »

all devices are 24 months and accessories 6 months. gotta love samsung, at least they still look after you when they have your money

Your statutory rights will also play a part aside from what samsung offer

_Kaiser_

You're all scaring me now :eek: - does the SGS3's bigger brother (the Note 2 which I just got next week) have this issue? Don't see anything immediately on Google, but seeing as it is basically just a bigger S3....

waynegalway

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

You're all scaring me now :eek: - does the SGS3's bigger brother (the Note 2 which I just got next week) have this issue? Don't see anything immediately on Google, but seeing as it is basically just a bigger S3....

Here's a link to the board of the note 2:

http://rounded.com/samsung-galaxy-note-2-n7100-mainboard-motherboard-blue-spare-part-0908-3494v-0.html

Here's a link that shows (in Step 9), the motherboard from an S3:

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Samsung+Galaxy+S+III+Teardown/9391/2

They don't look the same to me, so if its the board that is the problem with the S3, you might be okay.

The problem might be with the NAND Flash, and that might be a common part, I'm not sure.

EDIT: apologies, the links are not clickable (I'm posting from mobile) so you'll have to cut and paste.

Tony

Looks like mine just died. Great start to the new year Have an old HTC but just realized the sim card is not interchangeable.

Am I Evil?

madness
Lads whats the story here then?
I was just about to go buy an S3 and these threads starte popping up. Is it only models that were built around the time the phone first came out or can this affect any S3 even now?

Bit pissed off now. Spent ages trying to decide on a phone

_Whimsical_

Am I Evil? wrote: »

madness
Lads whats the story here then?
I was just about to go buy an S3 and these threads starte popping up. Is it only models that were built around the time the phone first came out or can this affect any S3 even now?

Bit pissed off now. Spent ages trying to decide on a phone

Be glad you found out before you bought. It seems to be unknown how many it will affect as it's happening to phones after 6 months. Time will tell. I'd say there's no certainty right now.

elderlemon

Why does it matter? It is under warranty so if it fails just get it fixed. If you buy a new one now and it fails in say 2 years (unlikely) then you can claim that Samsung already knew of the fault and therefore it should be fixed at no cost.

Am I Evil? wrote: »

madness
Lads whats the story here then?
I was just about to go buy an S3 and these threads starte popping up. Is it only models that were built around the time the phone first came out or can this affect any S3 even now?

Bit pissed off now. Spent ages trying to decide on a phone

waynegalway

elderlemon wrote: »

Why does it matter? It is under warranty so if it fails just get it fixed. If you buy a new one now and it fails in say 2 years (unlikely) then you can claim that Samsung already knew of the fault and therefore it should be fixed at no cost.

Exactly.

Having owned the phone for 6 months now, this issue wouldn't put me off it. Yes, it's a pain in the arse and it remains to be seen how quickly Samsung/fonemenders get a replacement/repaired handset back to me, but in terms of what the phone can do and how it does it, IMO it's second to none on the market right now.

I'd have no hesitation in recommending and S3 to a friend, even with the board issue. That's what warranties are for. It's not exactly praiseworthy for Samsung that the issue has come up in the first place, but I think once its recognised and sorted it will be forgotten about. Like antennae-gate with the iPhone. If, on the other hand, Samsung don't sort this out and then follow it up with another problem, then I would think twice about getting another Samsung for my next phone.

jd

Happened to me too on the 21st. The emobile shop in the Omni told me it would be three weeks before I'd have the phone back.

Am I Evil?

elderlemon wrote: »

Why does it matter? It is under warranty so if it fails just get it fixed. If you buy a new one now and it fails in say 2 years (unlikely) then you can claim that Samsung already knew of the fault and therefore it should be fixed at no cost.

True enough. I was planning to buy it on Amazon Spain as its the cheapest around at €433

So in a few months time and if the issue was to happen me.. It shouldn't be an issue to have it fixed here would it?

elderlemon

The place in sandyford did mine in 3 hours for a €15 premium.

jd wrote: »

Happened to me too on the 21st. The emobile shop in the Omni told me it would be three weeks before I'd have the phone back.

coldfire1x

elderlemon wrote: »

The place in sandyford did mine in 3 hours for a €15 premium.

Did they ask for any proof of purchase? Whats the address of the place in Sandyford?

elderlemon

Nope. Didn't ask for anything. They like you to go through your operator but that takes days so the €15 charge is the counter service. no proof of purchase is needed on a phone less than 12 months old. Every SG3 is currently in warranty!

Also if your phone is sim free make sure you say so when they ask you which operator. Otherwise they will reflash the phone with the operators branded rom.

http://www.fonfix.com/contactus.aspx

coldfire1x wrote: »

Did they ask for any proof of purchase? Whats the address of the place in Sandyford?

coldfire1x

elderlemon wrote: »

Nope. Didn't ask for anything. They like you to go through your operator but that takes days so the €15 charge is the counter service. no proof of purchase is needed on a phone less than 12 months old. Every SG3 is currently in warranty!

Also if your phone is sim free make sure you say so when they ask you which operator. Otherwise they will reflash the phone with the operators branded rom.

http://www.fonfix.com/contactus.aspx

Thanks a lot for the info. My phone is not dead yet but I want to ready just in case.

€15 and they fix the phone in 3 hours, thats not bad.

Tony

coldfire1x wrote: »

Thanks a lot for the info. My phone is not dead yet but I want to ready just in case.

€15 and they fix the phone in 3 hours, thats not bad.

Yep I agree. I see a trip to sandyford in my near future.


Edit: Back working in 3 hours, main board replaced.

waynegalway

Update:

Fonemenders tracking system doesn't seem to be working, so I emailed them yesterday. They replied that the phone arrived yesterday morning in Dublin and that progress could be tracked because the online tracker was fixed (which it wasn't and still isn't, as of a few minutes ago).

I rang Samsung today and they said they haven't heard anything from fonemenders, who usually let Samsung know when the phone has been received. Samsung gave me a direct number for fonemenders, which I called. They confirmed it arrived yesterday but is in a queue and "might be looked at this afternoon, but definitely no later than Monday morning".

Bit of a pity it's taking this long when I read about people paying just €15 to have it sorted in 3 hours....