Database Develop

[Q] I Actually Managed to Brick this Phone

Hey guys I think I actually did it. I was going to install the JPC Froyo Rom, and somehow booted into recovery in the ROM. Now whenever I turn the phone on it boots into recovery, and none of the button combinations work for putting it into Download mode so I can flash back to stock. On the i9000 thread it says that if you get into this situation you cannot flash back. Any of you guys run into this issue? If not then it looks like I'll be trying to convince an ATT rep to give me a new phone

Try powering off... Then hold vol up and down buttons then plug in usb.... That happened to me... Your not bricked
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Connect to adb and run reboot command
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

Nope
Nope sorry guys I know all of what you just said. As for plugging in USB while holding volume buttons, it'll just go to that battery charging screen, and adb doesn't work because it doesn't boot past recovery. Sorry guys but yes it was bricked. It's okay though because I just went to ATT and since they can't identify the problem they just replaced the phone

Thought mine was bricked one night, too. Same scenario. Tried dropping the SIM and SD card out even though I didn't think it would make a difference, but it did. Got to download screen and reflashed with ODIN.
Good luck.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

KCutrer1 said:
Nope sorry guys I know all of what you just said. As for plugging in USB while holding volume buttons, it'll just go to that battery charging screen, and adb doesn't work because it doesn't boot past recovery. Sorry guys but yes it was bricked. It's okay though because I just went to ATT and since they can't identify the problem they just replaced the phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you pull the battery, then put the battery in. hold both volume buttons buttons, and then plug the phone into the computer, it didn't boot to download?

Im curious if you even tried to use the Odin one click thread
There are 4 or 5 ways in that thread on how to get to download mode. And how exactly does this relate to development...just another curious thought. Well, you are getting a new phone, just hope that ATT or Samsung don't try to figure out the cause of your phone being "bricked".

AGAIN!
Okay after this I swear I won't be messing around with Froyo anymore. Here's the story: I got into download on the replacement captivate. Tried to install JPC froyo, but it never started flashing so I unplugged it from Odin and then tried to turn it back on. It goes to the normal "connect phone to computer" screen. However no attempts to get back into download mode have worked. Holding both volume buttons and power until second black screen doesn't work, booting while holding volume down doesn't work, holding both volume buttons and then inserting USB cable doesn't work. I think I'm stuck in this screen unless there's some incredible way I have yet to try. Anybody have any ideas? I would greatly appreciate feedback from the experienced users (Zilch25, designgears, kaik, reaver117), because I think I'd be pushing it trying to get it replaced a second time in such rapid succession
To flashman2002:
I put it in this section because it's in the development section that most flashing and such occurs so I thought there would be the greatest knowledge base. And yes I've pored over the one click thread and none of the methods mentioned there have any effect!

Jeez, I just scared the **** out of myself. I ran the remove lagfix script and it rebooted my phone but it was just a black screen. So I take the battery out. Bad Idea. It showed the ATT screen but just black after that. I could get it into recovery mode but not download. Then I messed some more and would only show a vague disconnected pic.
Finally I got it into download by doing this: (had odin open before hand)
1. took everything out including sim and usb cable.
2. quickly inserted battery and held volume buttons and very quickly inserted usb.
I'm pretty sure its the speed that matters because I tried about 4 times and only when I did it really fast did it work.

ThisWasATriumph said:
Jeez, I just scared the **** out of myself. I ran the remove lagfix script and it rebooted my phone but it was just a black screen. So I take the battery out. Bad Idea. It showed the ATT screen but just black after that. I could get it into recovery mode but not download. Then I messed some more and would only show a vague disconnected pic.
Finally I got it into download by doing this: (had odin open before hand)
1. took everything out including sim and usb cable.
2. quickly inserted battery and held volume buttons and very quickly inserted usb.
I'm pretty sure its the speed that matters because I tried about 4 times and only when I did it really fast did it work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope. Unless you can do this with godly speed I dont think it'll work. I just got to the "Connect Phone to Computer" screen again.

You had the usb in before anything appeared on the screen right?

ThisWasATriumph said:
You had the usb in before anything appeared on the screen right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah originally. I can get to that screen now by just putting the battery in and holding power button. It seems to behave exactly like it normally would, just can't get out of it.

What screen? The screen you want has a big yellow triangle and says download.

ThisWasATriumph said:
What screen? The screen you want has a big yellow triangle and says download.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it's on the phone...!...computer screen. That's what I'm saying, it's been stuck here for a while and none of the methods described on the one click thread work. I've been here before and just holding volume buttons and holding down power for it to boot twice and releasing would do it. Not so anymore. Can't get into download mode doing anything!

Well I read In the SRE thread I think that there are reports of newer phones not responding to any button combos. Bad batch they said not on purpose...
Also for the i9000 apparently you only have to hold the down volume key so since you flashed a i9000 rom try that if you haven't already.
You cant get into recovery right? Just holding volume and power then letting go of power after a bit?

Adb reboot download...
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

ThisWasATriumph said:
Well I read In the SRE thread I think that there are reports of newer phones not responding to any button combos. Bad batch they said not on purpose...
Also for the i9000 apparently you only have to hold the down volume key so since you flashed a i9000 rom try that if you haven't already.
You cant get into recovery right? Just holding volume and power then letting go of power after a bit?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope none of it works. I just got it replaced less then 3 hours ago and I already bricked it. I hope somebody finds out something that'll get this fixed. Maybe some way to force download mode through a computer application or something.

Well theres adb like mentioned above but im pretty sure that requires at least recovery mode working.
Like i said before i was stuck on the same screen so maybe theres still hope.
If all else fails someone will figure out how to JTAG these things eventually...

ThisWasATriumph said:
Jeez, I just scared the **** out of myself. I ran the remove lagfix script and it rebooted my phone but it was just a black screen. So I take the battery out. Bad Idea. It showed the ATT screen but just black after that. I could get it into recovery mode but not download. Then I messed some more and would only show a vague disconnected pic.
Finally I got it into download by doing this: (had odin open before hand)
1. took everything out including sim and usb cable.
2. quickly inserted battery and held volume buttons and very quickly inserted usb.
I'm pretty sure its the speed that matters because I tried about 4 times and only when I did it really fast did it work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know it doesn't help you out now, but when you remove the lag fix, just leave it set on the black screen. It's doing its thing. It will reboot when it's done. The home keys should still light up if you press them in this state...

Well thanks for your input anyway guys. Hopefully somebody figures something out. For now I guess I'll keep the SIM in my old iPhone 3G so I at least have a phone. Tomorrow I'll go to another ATT store in my area. Chances are the rep won't know what the hell that screen means and will replace the phone promptly.

[Q] Captivate without 3 button combo

I've tried everything in the book, my Captivate is one of the phones that will not boot into recovery using any sort if button combo, I have to use ADB. My phone is rooted, lag fix, bloatware removed, sideloading enabled, MobileAP installed, and the Vibrant's GPS files installed, and I'm afraid that someday I'm going to need my phone in recovery/download for Odin3 because I've bricked my phone, but I wont be able too because if my phone's setup. I'm just asking, question of concept, is it possible for someone who knows what they are doing (I have no inexperience) to find the difference between a Captivate w/ the 3 button combo, and one w/o, so that I could manually enable it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

if you brick your phone, your main worry is how to get into download mode. take battery out, put back in, hold volume down+power while plugging in usb cable. can you at least do that?

As I said, I've tried every trick in the book, it doesn't work.

DemonWav said:
I've tried everything in the book, my Captivate is one of the phones that will not boot into recovery using any sort if button combo, I have to use ADB. My phone is rooted, lag fix, bloatware removed, sideloading enabled, MobileAP installed, and the Vibrant's GPS files installed, and I'm afraid that someday I'm going to need my phone in recovery/download for Odin3 because I've bricked my phone, but I wont be able too because if my phone's setup. I'm just asking, question of concept, is it possible for someone who knows what they are doing (I have no inexperience) to find the difference between a Captivate w/ the 3 button combo, and one w/o, so that I could manually enable it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
go to where you got it, tell them its a samsung problem, they SHOULD replace it. Before you okay the replacement try to boot the phone without the sim to recovery.

try turning off. Unplug USB. Then hold down the Vol down button and the power button. Just the 2 of them.
Then insert the USB cable 2-3 seconds after holding those 2 keys down.
That worked for me even though I used to use Vol up and down and power all together.
Hope it works for you.

we need a sticky that includes EVERY single way of recovering from all these "bricked" phones. I'm nervous that it will happen to me one day and i won't know what to do. Everyone says there is always a way to unbrick, but there sure are a lot of people that have claimed to try every possible way of entering download mode and still not happen.....and i don't want to get stuck with them!
BTW, did you try plugging your phone into the wall for awhile and then going back to trying usb and download modes?

i also have the same problem with a friends phone. i know the newer ones have issues with the 3 button combo and adb is the only way. i suppose there is a way to remove the block from boot that detects the command, maybe like a different firmware, i remembered that the stock i9000 firmware on the captivate uses only vo down + power to get to download mode but i will not want to risk the phone or it will be bricked.
i know alot of users in this forum are saying read the stickys but until u experience the problem, u will be singing a different tune. there are new captivate owners that cannot get into download mode with the 3 button combo.
i will confirm this and i have 3 other captivates that going into download mode no prolems with 2 possible 3 button combo, just only 1 that doesnot

Yes, I think someone needs to make a sticky for this. Mine works with 3 buttons, but I have seen many many users now that have 3 button disabled. I'm sure they appreciate all the suggestions, but every single person recommends the regular button methods that just don't work!
I would say, if it were me, I would stop modding it now before you f*** it up and return it to the store. I would also test the new phone in store until you get one that works.
I'm sure someone much smarter than I will figure out a software method for this. I find it hard to believe the when the phone is in Phone--!--computer mode that there is no possible way to force it into download mode via software. I know adb doesn't work, but theres got to be some other developer tool that will work.

Part of the issue is terminology.
Recovery Mode is what you use to clear cache, clear user data, or install an update.zip file by selecting "Reinstall Packages".
Download Mode is the screen with a yellow triangle and android digger icon and allows you to use odin to flash. This is the important one for recovering from a problem.
Both modes can be entered with ADB. Both modes can be entered with hardware buttons and that's where things get tricky.
On my phone, I can activate recovery mode with the steps below:
Power off
Hold both volume buttons
Press Power
Release power when I see the AT&T splash screen
Release the volume buttons a second or two after releasing power
If I continue to hold all three buttons, the phone simply boot loops at the AT&T screen with a blank flash in between. If I continue to hold the volume buttons after releasing the power button, the phone will boot normally. I have to release them to get into recovery. The phone also has to get past the AT&T splash screen before recovery will load.
I can only enter download mode with the steps below.
Phone off
Remove battery, sim, microsd
Hold volume buttons
Plug in USB
Plug in battery
The phone will then immediately enter download mode.
People need to be very careful when claiming what mode they are in and how they got there.

thanks for repeating what millions have already posted.....that doesn't work for a ton of people around here. Luckily, it does work for me, but in the case i get put in the same situation as those guys, i want to know how to get myself out. There are some people that know what they are talking about and still can't get into download mode, and yes, that is including adb reboot download
just because it works for you doesnt mean it works for everyone

I agree. I want to know just in case that happens to my phone one day. I refuse to think that without the 3 button option your phone can be hard bricked. Worst case some has to figure out a JTAG method.
And from reading a few threads, it looks like the build date is related to 3 button modes being disabled. Many users without 3 button have build dates between 8-11-2010 to 8-14-2010.

buddy17 said:
thanks for repeating what millions have already posted.....that doesn't work for a ton of people around here. Luckily, it does work for me, but in the case i get put in the same situation as those guys, i want to know how to get myself out. There are some people that know what they are talking about and still can't get into download mode, and yes, that is including adb reboot download
just because it works for you doesnt mean it works for everyone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure if you were responding to me or not, I simply wanted to point out the difference between recovery mode and DL mode as I see plenty of posts where someone is trying to use odin but can't get into "recovery mode". I don't doubt that there are phones that won't work with the hardware buttons.

Welp, count me in as having a brand new Captivate that will not go into Recovery or Download mode. I've tried all the suggestions and stickies, as well. Its like the phone simply ignores button presses while starting up. I bricked my phone while attempting to reverse the lagfix. No idea how I managed that. It now will only boot to the AT&T splash screen... over and over. At least, I'm able to exchange it today as I just brought it home yesterday. I'm going to try boot into recovery before I leave the store with the replacement. Although, my fear is the "bad batch" from manufacturing is actually the new "anti-xda haxor" safe guard from Samsung.

faspalma said:
Welp, count me in as having a brand new Captivate that will not go into Recovery or Download mode. I've tried all the suggestions and stickies, as well. Its like the phone simply ignores button presses while starting up. I bricked my phone while attempting to reverse the lagfix. No idea how I managed that. It now will only boot to the AT&T splash screen... over and over. At least, I'm able to exchange it today as I just brought it home yesterday. I'm going to try boot into recovery before I leave the store with the replacement. Although, my fear is the "bad batch" from manufacturing is actually the new "anti-xda haxor" safe guard from Samsung.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was in the same boat as you...both phones so far won't go into recovery or dl unless adb'ed... have had the same fear as you. However... sister's captivate goes into dl mode just fine. Got them both at the same time...
Let's hope there's some workaround for this somewhere down the road.

Those of you that are missing 3 button recovery and download mode, if your phone is working do this,
go to the phone keypad, dial *#*#197328640#*#* from there it will pull the service menu, go to Version Info, SW Version, READ ALL SW VERSION
Look at the line labeled RF CAL DATE.
Mine for example is, RF CAL DATE 07-11-2010 and my buttons work.
It looks like phones with an RF CAL DATE between 8-11-2010 and 8-14-2010 have the button problems. I just want to find as much data as I can to verify or not-verify this.

bobbylx said:
Those of you that are missing 3 button recovery and download mode, if your phone is working do this,
go to the phone keypad, dial *#*#197328640#*#* from there it will pull the service menu, go to Version Info, SW Version, READ ALL SW VERSION
Look at the line labeled RF CAL DATE.
Mine for example is, RF CAL DATE 07-11-2010 and my buttons work.
It looks like phones with an RF CAL DATE between 8-11-2010 and 8-14-2010 have the button problems. I just want to find as much data as I can to verify or not-verify this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine says 8-18-2010. Still no buttons working.

xtremekilla09 said:
Mine says 8-18-2010. Still no buttons working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting. That means so far, the earliest i have seen is 8-11-2010 and yours is the latest. Looks like that was a bad week at the Cappy factory.

This is what I was talking about. I was in the middle of Odin3, going back to stock so I could take it back and do the "manufacturer defect" thing to get a new one, and out of no where, I didn't touch anything, nothing was unplugged, but my phone's screen went black, and it rebooted itself to the "phone+!+computer" screen. Anyone wanna give me some tips to maybe get them to replace my phone without looking at it, for the same "manufacturer defect" reason?
Oh, and by the way, my phone is one of the unlucky ones. So I can't boot into download mode. Period.

Have you seen this:
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=784704

kzakaria said:
Have you seen this:
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=784704
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No I didn't but I've already bricked my phone, and it wouldn't have worked for my firmware anyways...

[Q] MIGHT have hard bricked phone :(

So I was attempting to flash back to stock with Odin (I was using Assonance 5.2). I turned the phone off, then while holding the volume buttons plugged in the USB like normal. Then Odin said added the phone, then I hit start. And it seemed like it was working just fine, then all of a sudden the screen on the phone turned red. Then the status bar on Odin stopped moving completely (stayed for awhile). So I think I made the next big mistake of just disconnecting the USB and taking out the battery. So now the phone won't turn on. So I'm not sure I hard bricked the phone or what? Anyone have any idea? Thanks!
I've plugged the phone into the outlet charger, still nothing happens. This happened like maybe 15 min ago. No action when plugged in the computer or charger. Can't even boot into recovery I don't think. the power button was giving me some trouble earlier today. whenever I was trying to wake the phone up, it seemed to take a few clicks of the power button to wake the phone. This happened only after I flashed Assonance 2.5, so I wanted to flash to an earlier version of the rom. thanks!

What you want to do is get into Download Mode, and flash with Odin One-Click JF6 to get your phone working again..
Have you tried all the various button combos to get into Download Mode? .
If the button combos don't work, you can always try to build/buy a JIG which will force your phone into Download if it's still possible on your phone.

I've tried to get into download mode, but can't seem to do it. I've tried holding the volume up and down button then plugging in the usb (which didn't work). then i tried the taking the battery out, then holding the volume up and down button and power button, then plugging in the usb, then reinserting the battery, then taking my hand off the power button (which didn't work). what is the JIG method?
edit. ok i have no clue wtf just happened, but i am currently in download mode using odin and flashing back to stock.....this is just too weird.....sooo any rom suggestions?

Look in my signature for an example of a JIG.

norcal einstein said:
Look in my signature for an example of a JIG.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cool i'm actually gonna go ahead and get one this things......JUST in case of future screw ups that don't have a happy ending

i clicked on the link but it won't let me go the page. below is the message it gave me.
marefin, you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:
Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.

marefin said:
cool i'm actually gonna go ahead and get one this things......JUST in case of future screw ups that don't have a happy ending
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Definitely a great idea having the jig. Nor cal can attest to the late night save that jig provided me.
Sent from my SGH-T959D using XDA App

Captivate is freezing after trying to disable voodoo lagfix

When I tried to disable the voodoo lagfix my phone froze, after about 20 minutes i decided to pull the battery and now the phone freezes when trying to boot and even after plugging in the charger, it freezes on the battery load symbol. Unfortunately, the 3 button way to get to the recovery menu doesn't work. help me please??

I'm having the same problem - phone just hung on the kernel load screen (firebird 2) after trying to shut off lagfix - although I can get to a red recovery mode menu. Not that it's helping at this time. It would be nice if I could recover without a clean wipe of the phone.
Anyone have any ideas. I'll be scouring the threads...

You could try making a jig and flashing to stock http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=841512

how are you getting to the red recovery menu?
i have the same kernel and i'm running the firefly 1.5 rom
I can't boot into anything and the only solution i have so far is to make a jig or buy one and not have a phone for a little bit, which is going to suck..
I've tried the following combinations, just because I know people are going to ask.
1. take out battery, sim, etc.
2. leave out for about 15 seconds
3. plug in the battery, plug in usb and hold two volume buttons-> freezes while trying to load battery status
3.b same precedure as above except plug in usb first hold volume buttons then battery-> still frozen
3.c hold volume buttons, battery, then power button, let it cycle atleast 2 times and let go of power at att logo while holding the volume-> frozen at kernel loader
3.d same as above but with only one volume button at a time, both up and down-> no cigar
3.e all the precedures above while wildly pressing all the soft keys (home, search, yadda yadda) out of frustration -> thinking, gosh i'm screwed
did i miss out any secret other combinations or methods known to work?
I'd really like to do this without hardware, but making a jig kinda sounds like a fun project and i do have a soldering iron in storage somewhere...

xsamxoxo said:
how are you getting to the red recovery menu?
i have the same kernel and i'm running the firefly 1.5 rom
I can't boot into anything and the only solution i have so far is to make a jig or buy one and not have a phone for a little bit, which is going to suck..
I've tried the following combinations, just because I know people are going to ask.
1. take out battery, sim, etc.
2. leave out for about 15 seconds
3. plug in the battery, plug in usb and hold two volume buttons-> freezes while trying to load battery status
3.b same precedure as above except plug in usb first hold volume buttons then battery-> still frozen
3.c hold volume buttons, battery, then power button, let it cycle atleast 2 times and let go of power at att logo while holding the volume-> frozen at kernel loader
3.d same as above but with only one volume button at a time, both up and down-> no cigar
3.e all the precedures above while wildly pressing all the soft keys (home, search, yadda yadda) out of frustration -> thinking, gosh i'm screwed
did i miss out any secret other combinations or methods known to work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm afraid not. This happened to someone I know and they told samsung the OTA update bricked it and AFAIK they fixed it for free. They never tried using a jig though, so if you don't want to wait to replace it or anything you could try a jig since it might work and the parts are pretty easy to get (and if you'd be replacing the phone, a jig is ALWAYS good to have anyway)

Just another note to throw in there, the computer recognizes the phone, but strangely my computer freezes while trying to read the media storage drives. I can't tell if the internal sd is mounted because of the ever-lasting wait but i'm almost positive its not.

Do adb commands work?
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA App

Thnikk said:
Do adb commands work?
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nope, it says "error device is offline"

You could try ... when the phone is booting and trying to catch it before it freezes is spam the heck out of the command adb reboot download then after hitting the enter button hit the up arrow and keep repeating until either the phone a) hopefully goes into download mode or b) freezes and throws the error.
Who knows.. might get lucky.

avgjoegeek said:
You could try ... when the phone is booting and trying to catch it before it freezes is spam the heck out of the command adb reboot download then after hitting the enter button hit the up arrow and keep repeating until either the phone a) hopefully goes into download mode or b) freezes and throws the error.
Who knows.. might get lucky.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it connects even though the phone is frozen. I'm heading over to "The Shack" pretty soon and just making a jig.
Thanks for all your help everyone.
Edit: Just confirming that with much dedication and a steady hand I finally have my captivate up and running with the help of the resistors. I also flashed the 3 button fix stock rom.

Well, I kept trying the least invasive methods first. Tried to reflash Firebird. Then went adb and such. In the end, it was pretty clear that it had hung at the lagfix correction, and I was dealing with a file system error. I was eventually able to get into download mode. The hardest discovery was finding that I had gotten the wrong drivers from samsung. The ones in the [stock rom] odin master clear page were what I should have been using. When I loaded those, the computer recognized that I had a phone and not a "serial gadget" and then I knew I was close. Odin finally saw the phone, and a couple tries at "light" re-stocking failed at file analysis, so I did the repartition (aha, file system error), and it shot through the whole process and I had my phone back and flashed to Serendipity in about 20 minutes.
But I would like to know about the red menu. That was unexpected (blue for standard, green for cwm).
No need for a jig. I had access to some phone functions, most importantly, download mode.

[Q] Samsung Returns - How hard to they check?

So the power button on my phone went out, which made getting to download mode and flashing back to stock a lot of fun, let me tell you. I eventually had to buy a JIG.
Anyway, I run ODIN to flash back to stock. It completes and as I'm disconnecting the cable, the battery falls out. (I was able to get into download mode because CM7 auto boots when it had power, something stock does not do.)
So it's flashed back to stock, it didn't have a micro SD card in... but am I right in thinking that the internal cards contents are still there? I.E. My pictures and apps and... the cyanogenmod nightly zip I was using? I can't hit the power button to turn it on so I can't check.
Needless to say, without the power button I can't get my phone back on (Unless a wizard here has an idea?), so my question is... will the files still be there and if they are, how hard does Samsung check these things for voided warranties? Anyone got any experience with their returns? The AT&T store guy says they only reject warranties for water damage, but I didn't exactly volunteer that I had flashed my own rom. If I'm likely to get a $400 hit on my cell bill, I'd rather buy a newer unlocked phone.
TLDR: warranty voiding files might still be on unbooting phone. Will Samsung care?

Do you have an att service center near you? Luckily I did and I just walked in and they checked it a bit (tested it for like 20 minutes). After a quick conversation, the actually just replaced my phone. I told them I wanted a phone with working GPS.
Now if you have to mail it in, that's maybe another story.

It will be mailed.

I assume your jig still gets you into download mode, no? If so, use heimdall/odin to flash something and set it to auto reboot. You could flash something as small as the kernel or maybe just go back to stock once again.
I also want to say that heimdall has an option to try and kick you our of the "phone --!--PC" state and when I tested it while in download mode it just rebooted the phone.
These may be a few ways for you to kick the phone on to let it boot so you can clear the internal SD.
Also, when I take out the battery, insert the USB cable and hold down both volume rockers and put the battery in, I'm kicked into download mode. Perhaps yet another way to turn your phone on?

Use your jig to get into download mode, the use the heimdall one click unbrick in this post
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1153310
It will reboot your phone from download mode.

I'm certain the JIG would work, if the phone would power on. Without a functional power button (or a rom that auto boots when powered like CM7), I don't think I can get to DL mode.

bobby98989 said:
I'm certain the JIG would work, if the phone would power on. Without a functional power button (or a rom that auto boots when powered like CM7), I don't think I can get to DL mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't need use the power button to get into download mode. Just plug the jig in and your in download mode. also if your phone has captivate bootloaders just hold down the volume up/down buttons and plug in usb cable to a pc wait about 3 seconds and you should be in download mode, no need to touch the power button to get into download mode.

Ah, well I get no power up from JIG or USB cable hooked to PC holding vol up, vol down, neither or both. Nothing on the screen at all.

bobby98989 said:
Ah, well I get no power up from JIG or USB cable hooked to PC holding vol up, vol down, neither or both. Nothing on the screen at all.
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Click to collapse
plug your phone into a wall socket to charge the battery and leave it for a while, the come back and check to see if you can feel the battery getting warm. If it does get warm try the jig again. If it doesn't get warm you may have something else wrong then just the power button.

If there is nothing else hardware wise wrong with the phone besides the power button and your boot loaders are not corrupted (and as long as nothing is wrong with your jig) the jig should put you into download mode every time.

charged phone, battery didn't warm, but area just above it did. Tried booting with JIG and USB cable and all combinations of volume buttons, to the same black screen.

Sounds like you should go ahead try with your warranty replacement.
But, if i were you i would try an going to an att store or service center, sometimes there with a hardware defect like your power button they will swap the phone right on the spot quick and easy. if not, the worst they will tell you at the store is to send it in for a warranty replacement, no harm in at least trying.

Yeah, I went to the store and best they did was watch me talk to the warranty people on the phone.
The disconcerting thing with the return is that they send me a phone, then I send them mine and if they have a problem $400 magically appears on my bill and there's nothing I can do about it.
If I can get it warrantied, great. If I can't, I'd rather spend $400 on a newer, better phone (instead of a factory refurbished version of the same phone).
I'm surprised there aren't more people with returns experience here...

I did a return for my wife's captivate at the att store. Her phone had random soft reboots. They did not even look at her phone, and just swapped it out with a new captivate.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA App

My cappy was bricked because Odin failed while flashing the boot-loader.....so no boot-loader or anything was on there. I went into the att service center and told them I realized it was off and I couldn't get it to turn back on. Every question they asked me I just said I dunno im not sure. The guy said let me trouble shoot this to see whats wrong....lol he came back and they gave me a new one on the spot.
It seems that you really don't know whats wrong with it so there is no morality issues........IF there were any before lol.

bobby98989 said:
Yeah, I went to the store and best they did was watch me talk to the warranty people on the phone.
The disconcerting thing with the return is that they send me a phone, then I send them mine and if they have a problem $400 magically appears on my bill and there's nothing I can do about it.
If I can get it warrantied, great. If I can't, I'd rather spend $400 on a newer, better phone (instead of a factory refurbished version of the same phone).
I'm surprised there aren't more people with returns experience here...
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Click to collapse
I've had two actual experiences. The first was a soft brick. This happened before anyone really knew about how to build a JIG. This happened within the first 30 days. I was basically in your boat, I had a bunch of crap on the internal SD card and I even still had some i9000 firmware still loaded to the phone. I exchanged it last October and never had any backlash.
The second time I messed up /efs. I was able to flash it back to stock and master clear the phone to remove traces that I had done anything to the phone. This time I dealt with samsung directly. They paid shipping both ways, made sure my phone was not water damaged and actually ended up replacing the mainboard (they seem to do that to fix a ton of issues).
Both experiences I mailed in my phone. I never dealt with a local service center.