Galaxy S II hosed, need quick service with no contract

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@Abester wrote:

Hello,

 

I've owned my Galaxy S II for almost 2yrs now and out of the blue it decided to become a brick. The phone is

rebooting in a loop, the "Samsung Galaxy S II" splash screen appears and it goes blank for 5 seconds and the splash screen reappears. Factory reset does not fix, phone is not under warranty.

 

I'm eligible for a new phone upgrade but I want to save my contract renewal for when the new iPhone 5s or 6 comes out, so right now I need a phone just so I can be operational. What is my cheapest option just to hold me over a few months until the new iPhone? Can I use my sim in a GoPhone? If so can I use web browsing since my current plan has a 2GB limit? Just need a cheap solution to use my existing sim with a temporary phone. Thanks in advance for the help.

 

-Abe

 

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Your cheapest option is, in fact, to purchase a GoPhone or some other used phone. Yes, you are able to use your current SIM card in a GoPhone. If you'd like to continue using your 2GB data plan, just purchase a cheap GoPhone smartphone or even a regular postpaid one off eBay or Craigslist or something like that. Doesn't have to be fancy - remember, it's only temporary. 🙂

Your cheapest option, contrary to what others on here would tell you, will not cost you a cent. ODIN, a tool that Samsung made available to us lesser mortals is absolutely free of charge, as are ROM dumps. We can get you and your Skyrocket up and running again, but first some questions...

1. Have you updated your firmware recently? Did this start happening immediately after a firmware update? What version of Android are you running on your GS2?

2. You've stated that you've tried a factory reset, but have you tried wiping your cache?

3. Can you put your Skyrocket into download mode?

          While completely powered down, press and hold the volume up, volume down, and power buttons.

          Device will boot, and shortly after vibrate. Keep holding those buttons down.

          You'll see "Samsung" and some white text. This is download mode.

3. Are you running stock recovery, or something like CWM?

Thanks for the replies suggestions.

Professor, please see answers in bold:

1. Have you updated your firmware recently? Did this start happening immediately after a firmware update? What version of Android are you running on your GS2?

I have not updated firmware since I bought the phone, problem is my USB port somehow got corroded (with no water damage mind you), because of its inoperability flashing/firmware updates has been suspended

2. You've stated that you've tried a factory reset, but have you tried wiping your cache?

Yes sir, to no avail

3. Can you put your Skyrocket into download mode?

While completely powered down, press and hold the volume up, volume down, and power buttons.

Device will boot, and shortly after vibrate. Keep holding those buttons down.

You'll see "Samsung" and some white text. This is download mode.

I was able to do this initially, this is how I entered the DOS like android menu to clear cache and perform factory reset. Strange thing is when I attempted to perform factory reset the second time I was taken to the PIN logon screen, upon entering PIN I got the same looping visual, I was not able to get back into the android menu afterwards

4. Are you running stock recovery, or something like CWM?

Factory recovery

This all started when my phone battery was running low, so I decided to power off the device and swap in my spare battery (Samsung brand). Once I inserted the new battery and powered on the device the looping phase started. Not running any modification SW, just some standard android games and organizer apps.

Ok. We're off to a start at least

Quick Q: If your port is corroded, how do you charge it? Is it operational at all? You're going to need to connect your S2 to your computer at some point for all of this to work...

Ok, this is no bueno. Without being able to have your computer recognize your device, we're stuck.

Just for my own curiousity, could you please plug your S2 into your computer just to see if it'll do anything?