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Galaxy S stuck on boot - can't access internal SDCARD, help!

I'm having a major problem with my galaxy s I9000. I havn't installed any lag fixes or unofficial firmware, just apps from the app store. I was just using my phone, on the web downloading a movie file, phone locked up, i powered it down and now i have this "Cant access SDCARD" errors, even when trying to factory reset from the Android system recovery menu. I'm pretty upset, just got the phone a month ago. My phone now hangs on a blank screen after the galaxy s logo, lights on, I can access the download screen and have tried flashing the latest official firmware tonight with odin....this did not fix any problems still hangs on a black screen after the galaxy s logo when booting, and gives me the same error, "Can't mount SDCARD" in red text below the regular recovery options after the firmware installed succesfully (at least according to odin). Anyone have anymore ideas about the internal sdcard getting messed up? how can we format it or wipe it clean when we can't access it?!? please help!

take it easy. thats why products have warranties...because sometimes components fail. i am sorry it happened to you but you might just have to send it in for a repair. it can and does happen to all products at some point or another

if your 3 button download mode works
you can try using the repartidion option in the Odin3 meanwhile flashing a JH2 ROM

Thanks for the ideas fellahs, I did try to reflash with odin and repartition checked, I've looked alot into this problem and can only conclude that my internal sdcard is borken. no matter what i do , even after what looks like a successful flash, the phone boots into recovery mode with the same red text under all the options every time, "can't access SDCARD". I'm currently waiting for my local retailer to get them back in stock so i can make an exchange , I got suckered into the protection plan at Futureshop but perhapes this is one time it may actually come in handy, I just hope it all goes smoothly and i can get a new phone, although it dosent give me much confidence that the phone is sturdy enough to last the 3 years id like it too.

oh yeah, this is one of those times when the futureshop/bestbuy no hassle protection plan does wonder
they will exchange it for you no question asked

This happened to me too -- any way to fix it ?

I had the same problem, but I really need some files from the internal SD, and my phone wont boot at all, anyone ?

[Q] Bell GS wouldn't charge nor turn on—sending it in, 'twas rooted; am I in trouble?

I can't get the thing to turn on or connect to a computer to unroot it. Two questions:
Will they be able to tell it has been rooted given that the phone will not turn on nor charge?
Is there a way to unroot it / maybe wipe the internal sd?
Any thoughts? Thank-you in advance.
Edit: my apologies to the mods for putting this in the wrong category.

If you can get into download mode (volume down + home + power) then you can try to flash on a stock Bell rom with Odin. Even if it fails to boot after you flash (which it probably will given you have fried SD), it will at least wipe whatever you have on there and you'll have a broken stock ROM instead of broken rooted/custom ROM
Other than that I wouldn't worry about it, from what I've heard they've been good about replacing these phones.

Thanks! Actually it does the same thing booting into download mode as it does when I try to charge it or turn it on. It shows the download mode screen for about 4 seconds, turns off and then does it again continuously until I stop holding the buttons.
The exact same infinite loop happens when i try to charge it, except with the little charging screen. This thing is royally ****ed. Pardon my french.

You can transfert an update.zip on the external SD then on the internal SD and reinstall with recovery mode.

Cheers, though I don't think I can boot into recovery mode, nor do I have a method of transferring from the external sd to the internal.
According to chambo622, it's my internal sd that is fried. That leads me to believe that the Bell tech's are not going to have much luck reading that and finding Titanium Backup or something on there to indicate my guilt.
Feel free to correct me on that.

jamwil said:
Cheers, though I don't think I can boot into recovery mode, nor do I have a method of transferring from the external sd to the internal.
According to chambo622, it's my internal sd that is fried. That leads me to believe that the Bell tech's are not going to have much luck reading that and finding Titanium Backup or something on there to indicate my guilt.
Feel free to correct me on that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah that's almost certainly the problem. I have two Galaxy S I9000M in the house (one is my dad's). I've flashed mine tons of times...his was just flashed once, and about two weeks later, showed similar systems. I was able to get into download mode and flash stock Eclair but it wouldn't boot no matter what I did to it, was bootlooping, displaying errors, etc. Bad internal SD's are a known problem with SGS and I don't think they will able to tell if you were rooted (or care much, really)

[Q] EXTERNAL SD card failure! Phone dead?

Well it finally died. I got the infamous SD card failure message. For the past few days It was getting slower and slower and I was getting odd Force Closes everywhere. Then the red exclamation mark and a message about the SD card.
The very weird thing is that the failure was about the EXTERNAL SD card. Cannot find mount point... cannot read... Not the ususal INTERNAL SD card message.
Sure enough, if I try to read the Transcend 16Gb MicroSD on my pc or laptop, it appears completely fried. (Cr*p, that's were my backup was!).
But the phone wont boot on wihout the external card! Why? All I can get to is the Download mode. No boot and no recovery.
I'm in Montreal so it appears easy to get it fixed... but should I try flashing it first?

davidke said:
Well it finally died. I got the infamous SD card failure message. For the past few days It was getting slower and slower and I was getting odd Force Closes everywhere. Then the red exclamation mark and a message about the SD card.
The very weird thing is that the failure was about the EXTERNAL SD card. Cannot find mount point... cannot read... Not the ususal INTERNAL SD card message.
Sure enough, if I try to read the Transcend 16Gb MicroSD on my pc or laptop, it appears completely fried. (Cr*p, that's were my backup was!).
But the phone wont boot on wihout the external card! Why? All I can get to is the Download mode. No boot and no recovery.
I'm in Montreal so it appears easy to get it fixed... but should I try flashing it first?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sound you have some data corruption (or suffering the Bell BUG http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=883820)
First try to retreive the data from your external Sdcard with your PC, using the tool "testdisk 6.11". Maybe you'll be lucky enough to retreive all your data with it (repairing your FAT).
If the repair is a succes, then backup the data on your PC and do a low format of the ext sdcard to start clean.
When it's done, try to clean everything on your phone (if you can boot it in recovery), clean the Dalvik, clean the cache, do a factory reset, disable all extra tweaks (if you use a custome kernel already: lagfix etc).
If all process is ok, now you ready to flash a stock and clean rom with the usual tools (no external or sim card in it during the flash and first boot).
Report back when it's done.
GL.

TestDisk is now hard at work. Thanks for that. There's hope for the data!
Phone wont go into recovery. I had 3BR but it's not working now.
Download mode is all I have. I could theoretically try reflashing with ODIN. Repartitioning might not be a bad option considering the state the phone is in. Should I try?

davidke said:
TestDisk is now hard at work. Thanks for that. There's hope for the data!
Phone wont go into recovery. I had 3BR but it's not working now.
Download mode is all I have. I could theoretically try reflashing with ODIN. Repartitioning might not be a bad option considering the state the phone is in. Should I try?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you can try that, but be sure to flash a stock rom first (go for a 2.1).
GL .

All data recovered thanks to TestDisk!!!
As for the phone...
It flashes with Odin no problem. (used JH2, which is what I had on there anyway)
But still wont boot. The problem appears to be in the boot partition.
Should I try "Phone Bootloader Update"? (I'm a bit afraid of that because I might lose my 3BR fix)
What does "Phone EFS Clear" do?
Additional symtom: Cant recharge it either (no problem I have external charger so I can always have a full batt for this process). It starts to display the battery charge graphic and then just boot cycles.

davidke said:
All data recovered thanks to TestDisk!!!
As for the phone...
It flashes with Odin no problem. (used JH2, which is what I had on there anyway)
But still wont boot. The problem appears to be in the boot partition.
Should I try "Phone Bootloader Update"? (I'm a bit afraid of that because I might lose my 3BR fix)
What does "Phone EFS Clear" do?
Additional symtom: Cant recharge it either (no problem I have external charger so I can always have a full batt for this process). It starts to display the battery charge graphic and then just boot cycles.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good news for your data!
No doubt if you do a bootloader update with a stock one, you'll lose the 3BCombo (or maybe flash a stock bootloader with the 3BC enabled, not sure if it exist btw??). Try to reflash the 3BC fix only first and see how it work.
Anything that involve EFS is a: DO NOT TOUCH IT =), hope you did a backup of it btw (your EMEI is stored in that folder: No EMEI = No network).
Waiting your feedback.

ttf said:
No doubt if you do a bootloader update with a stock one, you'll lose the 3BCombo (or maybe flash a stock bootloader with the 3BC enabled, not sure if it exist btw??). Try to reflash the 3BC fix only first and see how it work.
Waiting your feedback.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried a couple of things...
A) Updated bootloader with 3BR fix only: No change, Galaxy-S logo then Off.
B) Flashed JL2 (bootloader not checked): Slight change, now it boot cycles.
C) Flashed JL2 + bootloader: Slight change, now it just hangs and the Galaxy-S logo (waited 60 minutes, phone was getting pretty hot so I stopped it).
At all steps I can get back to Download mode but not recovery.
At this point I assume it's hopeless?

davidke said:
Tried a couple of things...
A) Updated bootloader with 3BR fix only: No change, Galaxy-S logo then Off.
B) Flashed JL2 (bootloader not checked): Slight change, now it boot cycles.
C) Flashed JL2 + bootloader: Slight change, now it just hangs and the Galaxy-S logo (waited 60 minutes, phone was getting pretty hot so I stopped it).
At all steps I can get back to Download mode but not recovery.
At this point I assume it's hopeless?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure but really sound like a defect internal SD/or more.
Last hope?: repartition + pit 512 + bootloader and Stock 2.1

That killed it for good. Now it's a paperweight!
No nothing. It's like the on#off button was unplugged!
Oh well. It's really nice to have gotten back the data.

davidke said:
That killed it for good. Now it's a paperweight!
No nothing. It's like the on#off button was unplugged!
Oh well. It's really nice to have gotten back the data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that's a bad news, maybe pulling out the battery during one or two hours will help to revive it.
Otherwise if it's really the internal sd issue you might check that thread about internal SD bug (if not done yet) http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=902724 and RMA it.
Don't worry they'll change it with a brand new one. Ring samsung directly if you can.

No worries. I am five minutes away from the service center. Mobo replaced for tomorrow morning they said.
Had I come in before 3PM they left we with the impression they would have changed it while I wait!
Having followed all these threads, I was well aware of the issue long before it actually happened to me. The only thing that surprised me was that it broke the fat table on my external SD.
I was holding back because of the instabilities; with a better unit in hand I'll pop in a fancy rom.

External SD card causes reboot loop
I think I have a similar problem as yours. Just yesterday when I did a restart on my SGS, it suddenly went haywire. The boot loop was continuing for almost 30 mins until it suddenly became stable and reboot as normal.
However, something didn't work out right. I can't view all my pics and videos from gallery, and even my mp3s are not detected inside the music player.
But the very same files are still readable from My Files when I manually dig into these folders.
Same thing happened again just now when I was on my way to work in the subway. I finally had the sense to remove my external sd card and voila, my phone reboots smoothly without a hiccup.
So the question here is, is it that my external sd card is failing or is it that the phone's external sd card reader is failing.
Could anyone with the similar problem share with me their findings?

HD7 phone HATES ME...a liitle advice?

OK, so this HD7, was windows version 7.5 and bootloader 5.xx, so I downgraded since no SPL tools were working on the modern bootloader version. I had a 2GB SD card installed and formatted, and the phone was working. I took the 16GB out to try and wipe the card and format (linux or Nokia method I haven't decided) and I ended up getting HSPL loaded after successfully goldcard-flashing the stock ROM (TMOUS ROM). I was following Xboxmod's SD card recovery thread and installed the XboxMod ROM suggested in his thread, and it flashed fine- but suddenly the SD card is not recognized. I reinsert the 16GB and it sees it and all is good- but I want the 16GB OUT and reformatted, so this isn't going to work. So, I tried looking for a way to reformat the SD in HSPL mode or with goldcard and found similar complaints about non-working SD cards and 12MB only on SD card, figuring these may be similar issues I downloaded the tool here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1263347&page=7
I ran it and went through the first time and just did a check to make sure everything was working and at the end it asks to wipe c58 (I think) from what I understood this was what fixed everyone's problem. So I did, and it didn't change the way the phone behaved, still boots to 'damaged storage card' screen. So I ran the tool again and chose the other option 'reflash c58' and it entered the 'Entering USB host mode' screen, immediately followed by "No Image Found!" with 'serial' across the screen. I unplugged it after some frustration and reboots etc and some failed SCHUIMG goldcard files that still prompted "No Image Found!" screen..then plugged it into PC, and it switches to USB mode, then I could flash a ROM (reflashed the Xboxmod ROM in hopes that it would at least get me out of the prompt for USB host mode), ROM flashed successfully but still boots to USB host mode, no matter what I put on the goldcard it says "No Image Found!". I'm at a loss as to what my next step should be here......except not to ever buy another windows phone in my lifetime..this is ridiculous- now it won't read the 2GB or 16GB SDcard..
EDIT after some more research it is the s58, not c58..I downloaded the s58 DIAG img and am going to see what that does loaded on the goldcard now..hope someone has had this issue before and get set me straight (btw I bought a cheap symbian Nokia phone, hopefully will unlock the SD cards but now to get the phone to use one...)

ok, I flashed every rom that was reported to work to get the hd7 out of USB host mode, I found the developer's thread, though I can't make heads or tails of the broken English at times, forgive my unilingual handicap..so apparently this is a common problem for people who clear the s58 by pressing the power button, even though the dev says it is simply waiting for the firmware to be flashed, I can't get it to recognize any ngh I mg file on the SD, using a mock xtc cable and a partitioned SD card in a USB reader, it worked to downgrade the phone, and it apparently sees it because it replies 'no image file' when I plug it in. It then goes into serial mode, and I can plug it into the PC and flash the rom with any signed rom and flip my spl all about, from 1.20 to 3.1 to 5.1 and back, and full roms seem to install but after every reboot...
''Entering USB host mode...''
The dev really did a disservice if you ask me by not putting a warning screen of any kind, and the action happens as soon as you press the button..no additional prompts, no time to pull the batt.. and now he has basically blamed those who used his software for having problems and refusing to assist because they didn't watch his video tutorial... :-\ doesn't seem right to me, when I got the sw I read no warnings, even though I've put 30 eyeball-hours on the forum over this beast!!
So...does anyone know WHY it is bootlooping into host mode?

ecj try it again

huh? I have flashed until I am blue in the face..it is a waste of time if I don't know what I mg file is damaged/missing..I don't even know exactly the extent of what clearing the s58 does so I don't know how to fix what I don't know how its broken? Anyone please...or alternatively someone with a riff box wanna buy cheap? Done with wp7..back to android..

Ok, well, not going to abandon this post even though the HD7 section looks dead here..
I have conquered the HD7 without using a riffbox, the problem was how I had made the goldcard, for some reason it worked perfectly well to flash the phone and to open the SCHUDIAG.IMG file, but after I wiped the s58 the phone somehow had higher standards..something I didn't anticipate.
The phone would only allow me to flash signed (that is stock) ROMs (I could do so by plugging in the goldcard while in USB host mode and I would see the 'serial' option appear, I could then unplug the phone and plug it into the pc and use a generic RomFlashUtility task to push ROMs to the phone, although I never got it to successfully flash all the way and stop bootlooping, I was able to flash full ROMs will SPLs of varying versions).
What finally cracked it was this- I had a 4GB microSD, partitioned into a 990MB SD, I had the CID and a goldcard img made properly for windows phones, here was my procedure;
Format the SD in fat32 and upon completion, remove and reinsert the card (I didn't think this would be necessary, but apparently it is)
Load goldcard tool and load img file and patch MMC (success card ___is now a gold card! etc) Remove card and replace!!
Place SIGNED ROM onto goldcard. I had tried this 100 times with different ROMs, from TMOBUS (which is the phone's original rom) to O2 ROMs, AT&T ROMs etc. The Europe O2 UK ROM finally cracked it for me, I placed it in the y cable expecting another "No Image File!" Error, but instead it said "Loading... Bootloader - OK etc." and began loading the ROM. This reset and scared me because it went directly into USB host mode and appeared to be looping again, but I let it do it's thing, and it went through the entire procedure and rebooted again, starting to go into USB host mode and load the same goldcard image again..
I'm screwed, I thought, sure it was bootlooping, so before it could do anything I snatched it from the y cable and removed the battery and replaced it and rebooted...the O2 screen came up!! I was out of the bootloop!!
It loaded up with my 16GB card inside, I then flashed it with RSPL/HSPL and loaded the XBmod ROM on it as per the SD Card recovery instructions, located the dev storagelock.cab file and pushed it through at the startup screen, all went without a hitch. Unlocked the SD card, reformatted, works like a charm..now there's the matter of this 2GB card that I had previously formatted to work but suddenly stopped working when I flashed it back to stock the first time before fubar-ing the thing...
Anyway, I know a long story but I wanted to leave this for anyone who bricked their phones into USB host mode bootloops using the SCHUDIAG.IMG tool on the goldcard, it is possible to come back if you find the right ROM and build your goldcard image correctly. Now..to get rid of this damn windows phone...

Stuck at S screen - tried everything with no results

This is yet another thread on an GT I9000 stuck at boot, but with a twist!
The diference is that it hapened without me doing anything to it. No flashing roms, no rooting, no unlocking, nothing.
One day it turned itself off, turned on again, get pass the initial screen, gets pass the carrier animation, and it is stuck at the big shiny S screen.
I'm not new to XDA or to flashing (old windows mobile), so I decided to come here and look as usually I can find my answers. The thin is it seems no one else has a similar problem! Not here nor the entire web!
I've been searching and experimenting (it doesn't work anyway, so it is ok to test every solution) for 2 consecutive weeks and still nothing!
I am able to get into download mode, into recovery mode, I am able to flash rooted (or rooting) kernels, I can do everything (except update from SD card with Cyanogenmods, it always says the file is BAD).
I've flashed stock roms, following all the procedures, with Odin, with Heimdall, I've tried everything suggested by "Android Solutions" but nothing!
I'm really frustrated, so I'm reaching to see if there's someone that can shine some light on how to solve this... I feel I'm about to smash the thing with a hammer! (but this won't solve the problem, right...)
Thank you in advance
G

GAlves said:
(except update from SD card with Cyanogenmods, it always says the file is BAD).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I assume you had rooted and had CWM when trying to flash CM from SD cards? if not, it will not work, using 2e or 3e recovery
First powerdown, pull out Battery, SIM CARD, and EXT.SD card, press power button for a minute, than powerup without SIM and Ext.SD Card....Do remember to backup your contacts, data, images etc and also your EFS folder before flashing a ROM and make sure you have more than 50% battery charge before you attempt any sort of flashing.
Also assume you had tried everything in My Android Solutions did not get you out of bootloops?
so, boot into CWM > mounts and Storage> to copy your entire SD card to PC, after which you should format every partition (you will in-effect lose everything by doing this,) and do not reboot
after this, you must pull out battery and powerup into download mode to flash JVU+Root ROM with 512 PIT (repartition and update boot loader ticked in odin3) from My Android Collections

Hi xsenman,
Thank you for the reply.
in fact, I tried to CM from the SD card after having flashed CWM rooted kernel with Odin, but at this point the phone was not booting anymore. The whole reason I wanted to flash it in the first place was because it started bootlooping by itself while completely stock.
So I came here to xda, and follewed the instructions. I thought it would be a simple matter of flashing with a new rom and everything would be a-ok. It didn't.
I've tried every single trick mentioned in "my android solutions" (great information repository by the way, lots of work there) and still nothing. Today when I get home (forgot the phone at home) I'll flash the stock everything and try to follow the SD format procedure you mention.
I'll post back
Cheers
G

Hi again,
I've tried xsenman's suggestion and still nothing.
I could understand if this was a SD card error (because it was damaged in some way), but I have no indication of a SD card error. It can read everything and I even can see the file structure inside the SD card (and I do not mena the external SD card ofc). I was even able to copy some files to and from it!
I think I'll "fix it" with a big hammer and buy me an iphone! This is soooo frustrating!
anyone has any other ideas? I'll try anything and everything.
Cheers
G

GAlves said:
in fact, I tried to CM from the SD card after having flashed CWM rooted kernel with Odin, but at this point the phone was not booting anymore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CM needs to be flashed twice, try this method or this
Check Here to chose your forum/Guide by Version of your phone or you will have more problems by using wrong solutions due to different versions of Galaxy S
Use only ROM and solution for your model and Wipe x3
But First powerdown, pull out Battery, SIM CARD, and EXT.SD card, press power button for a minute, than powerup without SIM and Ext.SD Card....
(Do remember to backup your contacts, data, images etc and also your EFS folder before flashing a ROM and make sure you have more than 50% battery charge before you attempt any sort of flashing.)

Hi again,
Tried everything and got always the same result. Nothing.
Maybe the problem was with some piece of hardware (but I find it strange). As I said before I firstly tried to flash it because it had come to a bootloop by itself so maybe it had a deeper problem.
Now I got it solved. I bought me a brand new iPhone 5 (LOL) and flashed a stock rom on the SGS and sent it to the carrier customer support. It had one year guaranty. Lets see what they say about it.
If they can solve it I'll have 2 very nice phones!
Thank you anyway for you help.

Had same problem some time ago.
THIS should help you too

Hi again!
I had tried that too, and the result was the same as all the other things I've tried. Nothing.
Today I had some feedback about the phone (I sent it to repair). The phone is on its way back to my hands, and the repair status says:
"Software update and power circuit repair. Tested OK".
Let's see if it does tests ok when I get it back!
Two weeks ago I got an e-mail from the tech support asking what was wrong with the phone because they could find nothing wrong with it. I asked them to turn it on and try to make a phone call for example, or connect to a wi-fi network. It doesn't really matter, I just wanted them to try to do something that involved turning it completely on and use the device in any way they wanted. Clearly they hadn't even tried to turn it on. Otherwise they would have figured out that there was a problem...
This was the carrier support, not Samsung (I think). Anyway it SUCKS bigtime!
Now I need to figure out what to do with it...
Thanks anyway for your support!
Cheers
G

Just to let people know how this ended up.
My SGS i9000 went to the repair shop for two times. The first they replaced the charger plug, the second they say they replaced nothing (but I don't belive them )
As I still think this was some sort of issue with the samsung firmware, I just flasher CM10 and it's been stable since then.
My girlfriend got it as a present and she's quite happy with it!
Thank you all for the help!