I've finally got myself an xda
Anyway, now I'm curious. What does that switch next to the SIM slot do? The manual said we should never ever touch that, but it has never mentioned what that's for...
Thanks.
Pigeon.
It activates the "giant laser," destroying all of humanity.
Hmm... and seriously what will that do? :shock:
It detects that the door is open and shuts down the device. When it is closed, it resets and reads the SIM.
i think if u press it it will clear the ROM and Ram then ur phone is just then a paperweight???? :?: dunno though just i wouldnt try if i was you.
i once opened it when the phone was on it reset it to factory settings :x so maybee does that? who knows?
No, that's not the function. I've opened those a hundred times on many XDA's and all it does is a soft reset no matter whether the power is on or off. If yours did different, then either you have a problem with your device or it was just some strange anomaly.
That switch is a safety measure to ensure the SIM cannot be corrupted (e.g. while being updated) when the SIM cover is opened.
Breaking the switch (I've seen a couple) renders the Xda unusable and is considered damage not covered by warranty.
That switch sends an SMS to your credit card company telling them to charge you for a new XDA.
Actually when I pulled my XDA out of the box and quickly skimmed the documentation, it looked at first glance like you were supposed to push that when installing the sim card. I did, then realized it was not right. Luckily I didn't push too hard!
Thanks HTC for designing in a self destruct button!
Related
Hello everyone,
Firstly, I did not find a board dedicated to the S5660. So I posted it here.
Today, I tried to backup my current installation of Android to my SD. I used
a guide on androidpolice(dot)com, while searching for "complete android backup" in Google.
My phone had to be rooted, which it was, so I went on to download and install Clockworkmod's ROM Manager. I opened it up, fixed the permissions and made a backup. Before I could make one, I had to pick a phone model. However, these were all very strange types or brands I never even heard of.
I randomly picked one, and my phone NOT being listed should have served as a warning but alas, and the app started backing up. After it was done, it all seemed normal so I pressed "home" to go back to my main screen and pressed the "lock/power" button so my screen would turn off. I put the phone in my pocket.
Exactly 2 minutes later, I pull out my phone and I notice the screen is black, I push the lock/power button: nothing happens. I hold the lock/power button in the expectation that the phone will boot up since it might have been shut down accidentally. Nothing happens.
I remove battery, re-insert battery. I repeat this over a dozen or so times to no avail. I try the download or safe boot key-combinations (volume down + home + power) and nothing helps.
It's as if either all the keys are broken, something went seriously wrong in the interior hardware or hopefully, (the most simple possibility) my battery gave the ghost.
I went to the shop where I bought the Galaxy Gio and told them about the issues I had, they said they were going to send it to a Samsung Service Center for repairs. After I went home and had browsed the Internet for some possible solutions, I returned to the shop to try out several of the tricks that were listed (inserting battery on the exact same time when you press the buttons), nothing worked.
Does this smell to bricking or just a dead battery?
Before any conclusions are made (it sounds like its bricked though)...dead battery?... Did you try charging it?
Theonew said:
Before any conclusions are made (it sounds like its bricked though)...dead battery?... Did you try charging it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It happened while I was at school, I immediately went to the shop and the guy helping me said he had plugged it in for a short while. I guess I believe him since I did not see it but he said the phone did nothing.
But how come a software malfunction can mess up the physical buttons like the power/volume or lock buttons?
Darmvlinder said:
But how come a software malfunction can mess up the physical buttons like the power/volume or lock buttons?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the software of a device is corrupted, then the hardware won't work properly (if at all). Example: you flash a rom for a device with one button and your device has five, then of course the software wouldn't recognize the other buttons (this is just an example of the hardware part cause if you actually did that, your device wouldn't even start). Also, you said that you just randomly chose one made for another device, for future reference: NEVER flash a kernel, rom, etc. not made for your device or atleast not stated to work on your device.
Theonew said:
If the software of a device is corrupted, then the hardware won't work properly (if at all). Example: you flash a rom for a device with one button and your device has five, then of course the software wouldn't recognize the other buttons (this is just an example of the hardware part cause if you actually did that, your device wouldn't even start). Also, you said that you just randomly chose one made for another device, for future reference: NEVER flash a kernel, rom, etc. not made for your device or atleast not stated to work on your device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I figured this when I tried to do the actual backup but it seems I was too stupid to stop the entire process.
I have already given it to the store as they will send the phone to a Samsung Service Center. Do you know how the processes of repairing for such phones work?
Also, if the phone is a total brick, it cannot be recovered whatsoever?
Darmvlinder said:
Yes, I figured this when I tried to do the actual backup but it seems I was too stupid to stop the entire process.
I have already given it to the store as they will send the phone to a Samsung Service Center. Do you know how the processes of repairing for such phones work?
Also, if the phone is a total brick, it cannot be recovered whatsoever?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The best thing to do is hope they can't repair it . If they happen to get it to work and find out you rooted it, they will just return it to you the way it is now. I hope you didn't tell the guy how this happened...
P.S. - No, I don't know the process they use to recover something like this. I'm no expert in recovering hard bricks (know a few stuff, but not in this case).
Theonew said:
The best thing to do is hope they can't repair it . If they happen to get it to work and find out you rooted it, they will just return it to you the way it is now. I hope you didn't tell the guy how this happened...
P.S. - No, I don't know the process they use to recover something like this. I'm no expert in recovering hard bricks (know a few stuff, but not in this case).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The guy asked me whether I had ever let the phone come into contact with water or fluids or if I ever let it fall down to the floor, neither of which have happened in the past. I also told him an update through Kies went awry and caused the system to be unstable till the crash of today.
The dude seemed pretty confident in that the warranty would cover. I don't know. I feel like a giant moron, to be honest.
Darmvlinder said:
The guy asked me whether I had ever let the phone come into contact with water or fluids or if I ever let it fall down to the floor, neither of which have happened in the past. I also told him an update through Kies went awry and caused the system to be unstable till the crash of today.
The dude seemed pretty confident in that the warranty would cover. I don't know. I feel like a giant moron, to be honest.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Another future reference (although you dodged the bullet here): never tell your manufacturer (or whoever is supposed to look after the warranty of your device,etc.) that you rooted (or even tried to root) your device. Well, you just have to hope for the best now .
Theonew said:
Another future reference (although you dodged the bullet here): never tell your manufacturer (or whoever is supposed to look after the warranty of your device,etc.) that you rooted (or even tried to root) your device. Well, you just have to hope for the best now .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just sat through a Live Chat session with Samsung. Even though Google does not oppose rooting, Samsung effectively makes a deal out of it. I told him the same story, that an update through Kies made several things pop up on my phone which I did not understand etc. etc.
I am hoping for the best. But I am befriended with someone working in the store that sold the phone to me. He said most techs won't bother with low-budget smartphones (as in trying to grab you by the balls) and will much rather flash the phone with Samsung stock ROM.
Hi,
I wasn't doing anything special with the phone, but it was acting weird - didn't allow me to make calls, hang them up in the middle, and restarted the phone, until it didn't turn on again.
It's now completely black, connecting to charger doesn't do anything either.
I tried different batteries, didn't help.
update:
After putting the battery in and trying to turn it on, even though nothing is visible - the phone gets warmer after few minutes.
I'm pretty sure it's not the screen because I would've hear the opening sound and feel the vibration..
Please help!
Thank you
Nobody here can help you with a hardware issue, you should know that having been here for as long as you have. Service centre or local mobile repair shop for diagnosis.
I already saw posts here with the same problem and some suggestions to solutions from other users.
Thought somebody here might try to give an idea so I'll know better when I go to the repair center.
Does it boot in recovery (home+ volume up+power) then wipe data factory reset if it boots in download mode(home+vol down+power) the download stock tar and flash it via odin otherwise hardware issue
Sent from my C6502 using xda app-developers app
^^^^
'until it didn't turn on again. It's now completely black, connecting to charger doesn't do anything either'
Why won't people read OP/threads before sprouting nonsense on here.
OP - There's been one poster on here who seems to think this issue might be solvable by replacing the 'power IC' (whatever that is) on the motherboard, but the normal fix (if you want it fixed guaranteed) is to replace the motherboard. Reason being, if there's more than one component dead on the motherboard, you're going to pay twice - once for the individual component replacement which doesn't fix the problem, and again to replace the motherboard which will fix the problem.
Better to do it right first time.
Went to the service center
I gave it to the service center, they said it's a serious short circuit and they're probably going to have to "JTAG it".
I asked them if there is any way to save my information before they do that, they said no.
My question is to you - do you agree? Or can you think of a way to backup the phone before that?
Isn't there a way to read the memory using an external device and back it up?
I need a quick reply.
Thank you
Nope, if you don't have it backed up, no chance. Although, there's a very slim chance a company that specialises in recovery of data from dead hard drives might be able to. Expect this to be very expensive if it is at all possible.
Also, there's a fair chance a JTAG won't work as well, it's quite possible only a motherboard replacement will fix it. But you might be lucky.
Thank you for your quick reply
Another update
Hi,
There's another update - they now say they need to replace "power component".
Google search didn't find anything called "power component".
They also said that replacing that component will cause the data to be lose.
What do you think?
Thanks
So tonight, sometime in the last two hours, my phone, for no apparent reason has done a complete factory reset.
I came home and put my phone on the counter after I'd been using it to listen to Spotify in the car. I watched a show with my wife then was about to go to bed so I went over to pick up my phone. I turn the display on and it's asking me to choose my default language. The setup wizard was running. So I just did a reboot of the phone.
Well, my phone is back to complete stock and EVERYTHING is gone. For absolutely no reason. I tried to boot into recovery. I used to have TWRP. Nope, it's gone too. I am back to stock recovery. Seriously this is the weirdest thing I have EVER seen.
What the F**K????
Did anyone own the phone prior to you? Android device manager?
I am the first owner, but I found out what happened.
My phone as a swipe pattern unlock code on it. My wife for whatever reason thought she'd see if she could crack it while I was upstairs and after 10 retries the phone shut down and did a factory reset. Which I have to say is the most insane security feature I have ever heard of.
Here's more info on this crazy ass feature: http://forums.androidcentral.com/ve...tempts-remain-before-device-data-deleted.html
Holy balls. This is crazy. And terrible.
Trust issues. She wants to know if you have been cheating on her with porn. Lol.
banderberg said:
I am the first owner, but I found out what happened.
My phone as a swipe pattern unlock code on it. My wife for whatever reason thought she'd see if she could crack it while I was upstairs and after 10 retries the phone shut down and did a factory reset. Which I have to say is the most insane security feature I have ever heard of.
Here's more info on this crazy ass feature: http://forums.androidcentral.com/ve...tempts-remain-before-device-data-deleted.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now...time to talk to the lil lady about trusting you a little more She's looking for something if she's trying to crack your pass code. Chix man...chix.
Just jokin...maybe she was just looking for a challenge or something Glad you're fixed up now though.
banderberg said:
I am the first owner, but I found out what happened.
My phone as a swipe pattern unlock code on it. My wife for whatever reason thought she'd see if she could crack it while I was upstairs and after 10 retries the phone shut down and did a factory reset. Which I have to say is the most insane security feature I have ever heard of.
Here's more info on this crazy ass feature: http://forums.androidcentral.com/ve...tempts-remain-before-device-data-deleted.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hopefully nothing important was on the external SD card. This wipes it. Dumbest thing on this phone. It wipes the external SD but leaves the internal one intact.
Had this happen to me once. Had all my backups on the external SD too. Was so pissed. Still haven't found a way to disable it.
Rodeojones said:
Holy balls. This is crazy. And terrible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And if your phone is stolen and you don't have access to android device manager, then what? It's called protection.
Now, a better way might have been like the iPhone where it locks the phone indefinitely and the ONLY recourse is to do a factor reset, period. In other words, it doesn't automatically wipe the device. It forces the user to do so and Apple nor the provider have any means to unlock it once it gets to that stage.
However, you could at least hook it up to your pc, I believe, and still at least get your photos off of it.
Thanks for reading this and helping me sort this out.
****Edited to make it short and sweet**** Original below if you want more of the story
Had spyware on my phone from roommate, 100% sure.
Did factory resets, yet he was still getting into it right away (while I had phone in hand)
Got a refurb phone replacement for camera issue. Put old SIM card in new phone for an hour or more, thinking that it was safe.
HEAVILY suspect that it is infected again based on it's behavior and my roommates behavior.
-Should have made clear below that I was 100% on the initial infection surviving, but only highly suspicious for 2nd phone. (Based on his behavior and earlier today, the cursor would move while I was trying to type in my password and certain keys on the keyboard would not work randomly)
I just got a new sim card, unused still. Want to clean EVERYTHING possible. ROMs, kernels, everything. Need advice. Perhaps I am just paranoid for the second part but I don't think so and know the first phone resets not working is true. Thx
******************
My soon to be ex-roommate and ex-"friend" has been spying on me with computer backdoors and spyware on my Droid Maxx (4.4.4-7) I am 100% on this, I can list the reasons why but judging from other threads in random sites, that would be a distraction. I will leave it at knowing special knowledge, his behavior and "real-time" reactions while I use the phone (clearing throat when I do certain things... now coughing since I told him he does that and he can't hold it back), everytime I reset the phone he slams the doors, caused my phone to hang up when I said "fraud" on the credit card phone system. Anyways it's legit. He did the same stuff for my computer he responded to what I typed in even and relayed what I searched for (gloating). He made random sounds play and throttled my PC speed to a crawl.
So I read elsewhere after the stuff with my phone continued to happen that there is software that can survive factory resets... I'm not sure if the ROM or kernel is the issue or some other firmware (relative noob compared to most of you) or if it is the SIM card which provides access. (if you think I am crazy look into it: since I can't post links search "Sim card apps defcon notes" and "the secret life of sim cards" also from Defcon. Also there is a somewhat related story about SIM cards being hacked in the beginning of most sim card hack searches)
He had one of his always precisely timed coughing fits when I started looking into SIM Tookit Hacks so I am suspicious of that. This was after getting a new phone (unfortunately I had the old SIM card in the new one for about an hour, I didn't know they were essentially little computers)
What do I do here? I have stock 4.4.4-7, no root (Droid Maxx is usually impossible to root currently). I have a new SIM card in but I'm afraid that now the new phone and the card are infected.
The computer software he used (backdoor/rootkits) Were mostly undetectable. I got lucky and detected only one backdoor, but later had rootkit activity detected but nothing found. I believe he has access to some new "zeroday" PC/Android software or at least it is pretty advanced. Perhaps the SIMcard has an applet that allows him to install the software over and over again since the card is not formated. This capability has been discussed in I believe both of the two first links.
I want to flash EVERYTHING. ROM, kernels, other firmware... Not sure how that could be done since I don't have root (maybe I am ignorant here) and many Verizon techs I have talked to think factory resets always work. Yes, this stuff is unlikely in general, but he has made a concerted effort to target me. Antivirus has been worthless.
I need to know 100% that everything is clean.
Thank you!
Aight so I have this Samsung Galaxy J7 Max that I've been trying to unlock for more than 2 years now. I of course, don't want to lose the super important data it holds. It got locked out randomly and hasn't been able to take up the pattern I had put on it till date. I'm absolutely sure no one changed its lock screen pattern and its the phone that is unable to recognize the exact same password it had before this happening. I got hold of it today and yet again, started looking for solutions on YouTube and the internet itself. After all of my research, one thing is clear. There is only one way that the pattern lock can be removed in such a condition; by deleting this system folder called gesture.key that lies within the phone itself. I am by no means a nerdy software dev or something but I do have very little knowledge about these workarounds. I used an ADB via a cmd terminal to contact my phone. But it turns out that due to my usb debugging setting not being turned on in my phone, the adb didn't have the required authorization to make any changes to the target. I then got my phone into stock recovery mode and chose the Install through ADB option there. Now when I input the command adb devices, the prompt showed me my device ID, but instead of the "unauthorized" indicator beside it, it now had the indicator "sideload". I had no idea of what had to be done when such happens, so I tried the adb shell > cd data/system > su > rm *.key [taken from an XDA forums thread] commands again. But right on the second step it displayed error this time. I have tried using a key eraser via sd card too, but it just doesn't happen, the sd card folder in the stock mode does not display the contents of the folder.
Now the phone isn't being an obstacle in my life right now, but I really hope there's a way to fix it. Early help would be appreciated. Thank You.
If the data is super important why isn't it redundantly backed up?
Having a set lock screen and storing data on the OS is a sure fire way to lose data, eventually.
Maybe you'll get lucky... is that drive encrypted?
If not it may still be corrupted and unusable.
Don't put yourself in this position again... been there, done that
@blackhawk As I said, this was an absolutely random incident, had never even thought this could've been the case someday. Its not like the phone crashed and then this happened, I turned off my phone's display and the next time I woke it up, the pattern wasn't working anymore. Furthermore, the timed attempts that happen after 5 incorrect tries wasn't existing anymore. Now it could be that someone did get the timed attempts wrong as well [it isn't my own phone]. But I really don't see any other reason to that occurrence.
About the backups, I mean cmon, I was 15 back then, a medico student even more so. I never got my hands around backing up anything. But yes, have been backing up every single bit of data within these two years.
The storage drive shouldn't be encrypted. It was a regular phone bought online that had pdfs, images, recordings and videos stored. The google account was not that of the owner either! It was my uncle's account that was being used ever since he bought it. And since there was never a problem having used his account for quite a while, we never cared to change it to a new google account. Now my uncle's google account itself handles another device, his own phone, exact same model, Galaxy J7 Max. I have tried using his account at the Google Find My Device app to locate and unlock the phone that way [I hope you know it has the three options Ring, Secure and Erase Data]. But it happens so that the Secure phone with password option only for devices that have been lost and don't have a security lock already setup, which wasn't, unfortunately, my case. So that option was greyed out.
For the data corruption, you might be correct. But that phone still does receive SMS texts, calls, whatsapp texts and other notifications. They just don't show up on the lock screen anymore. I honestly had the "Screw the data, I'll erase it anyway" thought yesterday, but during my latest tries, I found the XDA forums website to be quite helpful. Had not it been the damn USB debugging, the solution I approached from this forum would've got the job done in a couple minutes. Again, if the data might've gone corrupted, I will erase the data [I mean I would have to]. But this little glimmer of hope that I experienced yesterday is what is preventing me from doing that. I really hope there is a fix to my situation.
@Chinmay47
a phone can get booted into these modes
Normal ( AKA Android OS )
Recovery
Fastboot
Sideload
EDL
Sideload mode is used to flash OTAs and/or ROMs.
Recovery mode allows you to perform some ADB actions as e.g. pull userdata, but this reqires ADB ( read: USB debug ) got enabled.
So my guess is you can't recover phone's userdata at your own, this would have to be done by an external service who can pull out phone's internal SD-card and has the forensic tools to read it.
@jwoegerbauer Surprisingly the idea of taking the phone to a forensic service struck me yesternight too. As you mentioned, since I can't recover the phone's data myself, all tips and tweaks on the web should now be struck off of my list of solutions. I'll leave the data to some forensic services then. Let's hope the recovery is worth the hassle. The thread is still open to more suggestions though. Thanks for the replies everyone. Really appreciate it!
Chinmay47 said:
@jwoegerbauer Surprisingly the idea of taking the phone to a forensic service struck me yesternight too. As you mentioned, since I can't recover the phone's data myself, all tips and tweaks on the web should now be struck off of my list of solutions. I'll leave the data to some forensic services then. Let's hope the recovery is worth the hassle. The thread is still open to more suggestions though. Thanks for the replies everyone. Really appreciate it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It not a card they can pull. More than likely it's on a BGA chipset, the hardest kind there is to work with.
If they can't access the data on/with the mobo they will have to unsolder the chipset without damaging it then put it into a test jig or another mobo (after pulling that mobo's matching chipset).
If they can access the data on the mobo, not so bad. Otherwise not so good.
Let us know how this plays out for you.
Here's one I found showing you this complex procedure: https://flashfixers.com/recover-data-dead-phone-chip-off-data-recovery/
They may be able to help you, but I have no personal knowledge of this company.
blackhawk said:
If they can't access the data on/with the mobo they will have to unsolder the chipset without damaging it then put it into a test jig or another mobo (after pulling that mobo's matching chipset).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually thought of this idea right after a couple days from the beginning of the problem. Yes its gonna take loads of precision and patience but it does sound doable. Maybe that's what is gonna be the last option for the forensic service too in case, god forbid, they aren't able to do it the "simple" way. Can't say yet, but I'm gonna keep this thread updated with all the developments that take place.
Chinmay47 said:
Actually thought of this idea right after a couple days from the beginning of the problem. Yes its gonna take loads of precision and patience but it does sound doable. Maybe that's what is gonna be the last option for the forensic service too in case, god forbid, they aren't able to do it the "simple" way. Can't say yet, but I'm gonna keep this thread updated with all the developments that take place.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If they need to remove the chipset the chances of failure increase. Flash memory retension is generally good for 10+ years but it may be damaged in the removal process if so, snake eyes.
Get price quotes up front for the whole process.
Once they got the phone, they got you by the balls. Not saying they aren't trustworthy but feel them out. If it's a couple hundred and you get the data back, you did good.
No idea of the cost though, my guess is $400-1000+ especially if they need to pull the chipset.
That's high risk even if they do it by the book.
If their policy is no data, no charge... expect higher rates to cover their loses.
@blackhawk All of that sounds kinda terrifying if you ask me. Well I mean, there is always a first option that can be tried without any mentions of pull-aparts. Yet I will surely judge the person well before I hand my device in his hands. I would try my level best to not take it to the critical stage, but if it needs be and there is a really high chance of losing my data, I can factory reset my data at home by myself too can't I? Future shall tell I suppose.
If you factory reset it all data will be lost.
It will not be recoverable!
If you want the data you will need to use a service like I showed you. They will need physical access to the phone to recovery the data.
The phone may be scrape afterwards
@blackhawk Sure does look like it would be! But paying to get your phone reset for you is way to harsher than doing it yourself. It is only in case the data is nearly impossible to recover that I'll reset the phone myself.
Chinmay47 said:
@blackhawk Sure does look like it would be! But paying to get your phone reset for you is way to harsher than doing it yourself. It is only in case the data is nearly impossible to recover that I'll reset the phone myself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reset? Most likely destroyed.
Do you really want the data?
blackhawk said:
Reset? Most likely destroyed.
Do you really want the data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually do though. But well, if it ain't coming back then why wish for it. Yeah the data was really important.
Chinmay47 said:
I actually do though. But well, if it ain't coming back then why wish for it. Yeah the data was really important.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Call them up and see what they say.
Since it's not physically damaged they may be able to access it none invasively.
blackhawk said:
Call them up and see what they say.
Since it's not physically damaged they may be able to access it none invasively.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll do that and report back ASAP. Thanks for the help sire!