Unbrick soft bricked Samsung Galaxy S3 mini (GT-I8190)

Posted on :

Jan 16, 2014

Posted in

This post here is to unbrick soft bricked Samsung Galaxy S3 mini (GT-I8190). This model will work only on Samsung Galaxy S3 mini model GT-I8190 only (international version). Please don’t try it on any other version and the device should be factory unlocked (i.e. not in contract with carriers such as AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, etc). Also this post here is for soft bricked device only not hard bricked (see the difference). This will flash S3 mini to Android version 4.1.2.

We are not responsible for any data loss or other problems that occur by using this tutorial. Flashing ROM deletes internal memory. Use at your own risk.

Requirements :-

1
Samsung USB drivers
2
Odin files
3
Stock ROM 4.1.2
4
PC with Windows OS on it.

All the download links are provided at the end of the post.

procedure to unbrick soft bricked Samsung Galaxy S3 mini (GT-I8190) :-

1
Install USB driver for your device if not already present using Samsung USB drivers provided at the end of the post.
2
Power off your device and start it in downloading mode by pressing and holding volume down + home button for a few seconds followed by power button and then proceed with volume up. (On some device you might see a construction Android robot and a triangle, if so, press power button again to enter into downloading mode)
3
Now open Odin in Administrator mode.
4
Connect your device to PC using USB cable. If Odin detects your device, the ID:COMx box on ODIN will turn blue show the COM port number (denoted by x). If not, then re plug your mobile to another USB port, make sure that drivers are correctly installed and Kies is disabled from device manager.
5
Unzip the stock ROM, you will find a file ending with HOME.tar
6
Click PDA button on Odin and browse the HOME.tar that you just extracted.
7
Make sure that only Auto Reboot and F. Reset Time check boxes are check. Also double check that Re-partition is unchecked.
8
Click on Start button to start flashing the ROM. Don’t unplug the device or interrupt flashing procedure under any circumstances.
9
When flashing process is completed, you will see a PASS on Odin and the device will reboot. First boot takes some time so be patient.

Done !! Your device is unbricked now.

Note :-

1
If your device is stuck in bootloop (device restart continuously after showing Samsung logo ) then restart your device in downloading mode, open Odin, click PDA button and browse param_I8190.tar then click on Start.
2
If Odin shows there is no pit partition or Re-Partition operation failed then use PIT file. Click on PIT and browse the PIT file. In this case make sure that Auto Reboot, F. Reset Time and Re-partition check boxes are checked this time. Now follow the procedure provided above.