Galaxy S3 Sudden Death

[DaffyBDuck]

I'm currently experiencing the same problem with my S3.  Tried all the suggestions such as taking the battery out and putting it back in, a factory reset, with nothing working.  I just barely got this phone this year!  Hasn't even been a full year and this happens.  Do I just go ahead and purchase a new battery?  Will that even work?

[RTHR3E]

Help! I am desperate!  I too have experienced the dreaded sudden death of my Galaxy SIII. I am in the extremely unfortunate position of being a few months past warranty, and the two different Verizon stores I went to for help both told me there is nothing they could do.  I was a bit beside myself.  I have done two weeks of research on my own to determine what the problem is, and after trying everything I have seen, I have no doubt, that my phone is straight up dead. 

I loved my phone, and hate the thought of having to wait another year to get the next iteration, or having to downgrade to anything else for a whole other year. It also seems incredible unfair that I have to pay out of pocket for a replacement when I have done nothing wrong.  I can't quite understand how I got here since I am sooo careful with my phone and rely on it so heavily.  Please, is there any other alternative that I could be missing??

I eagerly await a response.

[Eunver239]

Hi Verizon support,

'sudden death' problem occurred to my Galaxy S 3 about 6 month after the purchase with no damage, no dropping of phone, no exposure to anything that could have damaged the phone including water... I have contacted Samsung(SS) directly to no avail and quite upset at the way they have responded.   They seem to care little about the complaints by individual customers.     I think that Verizon should get an official answer from Samsung on how to fix this problem that affects seemingly a significant number of customers to prevent it from occurring to your other customers.   

Here is the description of what happened.

1. Contact SS tech support (TS) online for sudden death problem after on the internet I found out that others are having same problem.   SS TS didn't acknowledge 'sudden death' but just reset my phone saying I won't have this problem again although I clearly stated that it is a sudden death and asked if SS now has a solution.
2. The problem recurred in a few days. Re-contacted SS TS.  After all their tech support procedure, they directed me to their repair center (RC) in Texas. 
3. Contacted RC asking about the solution for 'sudden death' - no acknowledgement by RC either but just saying they will fix it.   Got the phone back in about a week with statement of no problem found.   But the same problem recurred in about two days.  I repeated taking out the battery and putting back in for several times to see if it might work this time.   But the problem keeps ocurring. I haven’t been able to use the phone ever since and use my family member’s phone.   Talked to RC manager but he said I shouldn’t have a problem because it went through testing and found no problem although I enclosed a note along with the phone stating clearly it has sudden death problem.   He asked me to send it again.  I asked if they are aware of sudden death but NO acknowledgement although I even asked him to type in ‘SS …’sudden death’ on any web search.    How can they fix it??  i) without being aware of this problem  ii) when their internal test found no fault with my phone  iii) if I send it for the same problem - they will go through the same procedure and may say they found no problem..
4. Got upset and mailed a complaint letter to SS in their New Jersey office with web link to this problem asking for their position on this problem and responsible action – got no reply for a month.   Wrote a second letter – no reply. I even suggested for an objective testing by Verizon or BestBuy where I made a purchase with Verizon 2 year plan.
5. Wrote online to their public relations office – got a same type of reply; Their testing shows I shouldn’t have a problem but send it again to their repair center but still with NO acknowledgement of sudden death.  It has been more than two months on this problem with their lack of responsible technical support.  By the way, I checked my phone again a few days ago and in about 3 days it went completely dead even with battery being taken out and back in.

Verizon, please help. 

[vzw_customer_support]

Hi RTHR3E!

Let's get things going with your S3! Actually, I use this device myself and have not had the issue you describe, but I'd sure like to help you. I've followed you in the forums. Please accept me, and follow me back. Then, please send a DM to me, including your name and mobile number. We can work together on a resolution!

Thank you,

ChristinaB_VZW
VZW Support
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

[RTHR3E]

Hello ChristinaB_VZW,

I managed to get someone on the Verizon chat, and they were extremely

helpful in getting my problem resolved. Thank you for following up!

Best,

Rafael.

On Tue, Oct 8, 2013 at 8:38 PM, Verizon Wireless Customer Support <

[moonsee]

Just wanted to add my own experience for those who have just had this happen:

I initially had the issue where my phone froze, and got stuck at the Samsung Galaxy SIII logo screen indefinitely. After a few attempts, I got into safe mode, rebooted, and all was well.

This was a few weeks ago, and this morning while texting I froze up, and experienced the same logo screen. The only hotkey option that worked was for download mode.

Based on what I've been reading/trying, there are a few soft fixes:

volup + home + power to recovery mode and clear cache, try rebooting (if recovery mode is broken, it will do a vibrate every few seconds but do nothing and this option is out)

voldown + home + power gets to download mode, where apparently you can recover firmware using the kies software. i personally had no luck with this (it wouldn't detect my device)

i also read some info in regards to using odin to flash the firmware, but didn't want to go this route as it could potentially void any warranty.

anyway, you can contact samsung directly at 888-987-4357, and get a warranty ticket in. rep seemed familiar with "sudden death" and didn't ask much. they will open a ticket, and email you UPS labels to send it back. estimated turn around time is 9 to 11 days 😕

also, i got my s3 when they first became available with verizon (what was that last september or so?) and was told my warranty was only through this month. not sure if it's been extended for this particular issue, but seemed like an odd timeframe.

good luck!

[oodelally3]

YES. This started for me on Saturday (the 12th). It happened several times through yesterday, but I was able to turn it back on after taking out and replacing the battery. It happened in the middle of the night, too, which isn't good, as I use my phone for my alarm.

But--now it won't turn on at all. I tried the Samsung live chat thing, but they weren't much help, as I don't have a spare battery on me at the moment to see if that's all the issue is. I suspect it isn't, especially after reading through various forums all over the internet.

I've tried several solutions that have been posted, but nothing has worked so far.

After work, I'll stop by Verizon, or the Verizon/Samsung people at Best Buy. I'm really hoping this is an easy issue to fix...one that doesn't require me losing all my data/apps/etc. currently on the phone...and one that doesn't cost me an arm and a leg to get a new phone. (Or require me to send in my phone to Samsung. Not sure I can be without a phone for that long a time.)

I've had this phone since August 2012. No problems until now. I was really happy with the phone, but this is NOT GOOD, and I am less than pleased. To put it mildly. We spend a lot on these phones, and a lot on our bills every month. This is a known issue that shouldn't keep happening.

[oodelally3]

UPDATE:

Took it to the Samsung folks at Best Buy first, which was a mistake. I sat there for 20 minutes while they sat on hold with Samsung. I finally left and went to teh Verizon store nearby.

There's nothing that can be done, unfortunately. So they ordered me a new phone that should get here by tomorrow afternoon.

I'm more than a little bummed, but I don't think I'll lose a whole lot of info, thanks to the SD card and the AirDroid app. (Fingers crossed.) We'll see, though.

I will say that Sudden Death Syndrome  lives up to its name. It was sudden...and my phone is definitely dead.

[ethelberga]

What shape was your replacement in?  Mine just died today, and I've heard nothing but horror stories about the certified like "new" pieces of damaged junk that are sent out as replacements.  I've taken such good care of my phone, and it just kills me that now I'm probably going to have to settle for some marginally functional replacement.  I will say that the customer service for arranging the replacement was very good, but I have yet to hear of anyone being satisfied with their CLN replacement, so I'm curious what shape yours is in.  My fiance has Sprint, and if the CLNs are as much of a hassle as is publicized, it would probably be significantly less costly in the end (once you factor in the cost of time), to just pay the penalty to end this contract early, switch providers, and get an ACTUAL new device with the contract discount.

[oodelally3]

Well, I just got the phone last night, so I'm afraid I don't have any real info to give.

Because of the open insurance enrollment Verizon is currently having, I was able to sign up for that to get my phone at no cost. (Usually, they only give you 30 days from date of purchase. I got the phone in August 2012, so I'm a couple months past warranty.) They could tell I took care of my phone and that it hadn't sustained any damage from water or dropping or anything. I paid $13 to get next-day delivery, and it was there when I got home from work last night. (I left a note on the door to make sure they leave it, just in case! Wasn't about to go chase down my package!)

I expected a whole new phone, but they literally just sent the top part. It didn't have a battery, SD card, sim card, or the back. So I took all of that from the old phone and put it in the new, and voila...it worked. Unfortunately, it didn't carry over most of my pics or music or contacts. Not sure why, since I'm using the same cards. I use the AirDroid app, though, and had most of the pics on my laptop. *whew* (Highly recommend that app; it's free!)

So far, so good. But it hasn't even been a whole day. If something happens to this one, I will pitch a fit.

I really like the Galaxy S3. The only other problem I'd had was that it stopped checking for emails and giving me notifications for new emails. I'm sure if I deleted the accounts and set it up again, it would have been fine. But I was lazy.   I've set up the new phone, and I'm receiving notifications again.

I'm looking on the bright side, and thinking of this as a good opportunity to get rid of all the apps I rarely used, and add ones that are helpful, useful, and more necessary. Ha! Really wish we could get rid of the bloatware that's pre-installed, but you'd have to root the phone to do that, and I'm not a big fan of that. Especially if it voids one's warranty. (Though...come to think of it...do I get another year's warranty for this phone? I have the insurance, though, so I guess that doesn't matter.)

Take yours in to the Verizon store--maybe they'll be able to revive it. If not, might as well try a replacement. I like Verizon, for the most part, mostly because of their coverage. I've been to so many places where people have had problems with reception, but I rarely do. I've been with them for years...but I do wish they'd recognize that loyalty in the form of more discounts or shorter contracts or something.

Ah, well.

Good luck! Let me know how it goes!