How can I tell if my International Galaxy S3 is suffering from SDS, and how can I fix it?

Question

I have a 16GB International Galaxy S3 (XEF) running the latest firmware, 4.1.2 (yes, the Premium Suite update, I was thinking that this would've fixed it but it seems not) with baseband XXELKB.

Over the last week and a half, I've noticed my phone randomly freezing and/or restarting itself. I investigated further. At first, I thought it was to do with apps on the device, so I started recklessly uninstalling apps, to the point where I factory reset the device. No dice. Even with not a single non-stock app installed, it still managed to randomly freeze after a few hours of use.

I went googling and discovered that my device is likely suffering from Sudden Death Syndrome, and I'm willing to think maybe I have that. Went through XDA forums, and found eMMC Check. According to that app, I have the affected 'insane' chip.

There's a few quirks that I have, however:

1. Is this consistent with the Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) that people are reporting?
2. Wasn't this bug supposedly fixed with the Premium Suite update?
3. How do I go about fixing this, for someone who has never rooted/flashed a Android device before?
4. How do I go back to stock firmware/kernel after it has been fixed by Samsung?

Any help, even if it doesn't solve my issue, will be much appreciated. Cheers in advance.

Answer 1

Do this:

• Type *#0011# on your dialer to go into Service Mode.
• From there, go to Settings by pressing the left hard key
• Navigate to wifi and turn off power setting mode.

This solved the problem for me.

However if you turn your phone off and again, the procedure will have to be repeated on each restart as its temporary.