Hello community!
I own 2 Vibrants, both rooted with no issues. I'm no stranger to flashing through Odin, I've flashed many of the Vibrants in my workplace back to the stock 2.1 (seems to fix most of the issues short of GPS problems, even though it's supposed to be the same), so download mode is nothing new to me.
Recently a few of the people who've come to me with Vibrants have shown how they can't get in to recovery or download mode without using ADB, the hardware keys just don't seem to work for it. I've tried myself and was able to confirm this. We were still able to root them with no issues using one click root. I prefer to manually flash the update.zip myself, but whatever does the job. I've just received a replacement for one of the Vibrants (menu button went out), and noticed I can not get in to recovery/download mode. Naturally I rooted, installed terminal, then rebooted in to download mode, started a flash with Odin.
It hung on cache.rfs. I waited... and waited.. and it mocked me in it's frozen status. So now I'm at the phone+!+computer screen, which I've been at several times on my main Vibrant, but the key's still do not work for download mode. To clarify, I've tried each of the following methods to enter in to download mode, several times. It won't work. I'm in the process of trying different button combination's to see if there is another way to get in. Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?
Edit: Included working steps so people don't have to search the thread
Provided by rhcp0112345:
Try this.
1. Take out battery, put it back in. (to turn the phone fully off)
2. Don't turn it the phone on!
3. Plug the phone into your PC, do not hit the power button!
4. See if the phone shows anything on the screen (powers on its own when plugged in)
IF the phone screen does 'turn on' after being plugged in without you hitting the power button, so far so good.
5. Now while it's on like this, hold the volume up AND volume down buttons.
6. Hold the power button as well as the volume buttons until the screen goes black.
7. As soon as the screen goes black, let go of the power button! But DON'T let go of the volume buttons!
Originally Posted by stepinmyworld
"have your usb in, press down both the volume up/down toggle and the power button.... hold them until the screen goes black and as soon as it does, let go only the power button and it should appear there again
however, i found out that you need to take out the battery and get into download mode freshly again...."
Hello,
If the above does not work for you.
Can you supply a full dump of the phone? Perhaps I/others can take a look at it.
Thanks!
I have tried that. I have tried almost every combination I can think of. I have tried holding both volume rockers then inserting the battery while plugged in to USB, holding the power through 1 and 2 cycles, I have even tried 3 and 4 cycles as well. I have tried just vol down, just vol up, both with the same results. I have purposefully bricked my main Vibrant to test this out and make sure I wasn't losing my mind. I was able to get in to download mode several ways, none of which work on this new device.
@rhcp0112345 - How do I grab a full dump of the phone? I'll be honest, I've never spent very long in phone+!+computer before tonight. I've never been stuck here long enough to see how to connect via computer. At this moment, plugging the phone into the pc gives me no prompts that something has been plugged in, the phone isn't seen by adb (big shock) or Odin. I'm at a loss myself.
Well,
First thing.
Can you please dump like so:
Code:
adb shell
su
busybox ls -al /dev/block/
Post that here.
Also,
Code:
adb shell
su
dd if="/dev/block/bml0!c" of=/sdcard/bml0.backup
Please 7zip the bml0.backup file and upload it someplace and PM me the info. Dont post it public.
Thanks!
I'll be happy to do that with the next device I have this issue with, but I can't boot the phone, therefore I can't connect via ADB (been trying, if I could do adb, I could just simply 'adb reboot download' to get in to download mode). I'm thinking at this point I will have to exchange the phone, as I can't get past the phone+!+computer screen no matter what I try.
I was running into this problem too. I re-extracted the files and tried again and it worked. I also tried it without loading the .pit into odin, not sure which of two or both did it. Not sure if its the right way, but that did it after hangin on the cache numerous times.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Follow the unbrick method.
You pull the battery and some other stuff.
To get it past that.
I think its volume up? + power?
Yeah, removing the .pit file seems to fix the lock up issue in Odin, but unfortunately, I'm not even getting to the download screen, so I can't get Odin to find the phone. I'm sure once I get to download mode I can get it running, but I'm unable to get download mode on this one device.
Try this.
1. Take out battery, put it back in. (to turn the phone fully off)
2. Don't turn it the phone on!
3. Plug the phone into your PC, do not hit the power button!
4. See if the phone shows anything on the screen (powers on its own when plugged in)
IF the phone screen does 'turn on' after being plugged in without you hitting the power button, so far so good.
5. Now while it's on like this, hold the volume up AND volume down buttons.
6. Hold the power button as well as the volume buttons until the screen goes black.
7. As soon as the screen goes black, let go of the power button! But DON'T let go of the volume buttons!
rhcp0112345 said:
Follow the unbrick method.
You pull the battery and some other stuff.
To get it past that.
I think its volume up? + power?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you mean this solution to fix any brick, I have tried that method, it doesn't work on this new device. I originally used this thread when I was messing with my first Vibrant, and it worked beautifully, but it doesn't work on the new vibrant.
So I've pretty much given up on trying to figure this out. I've tried every method possible, all work on both my non-replacement vibrants, but nothing works on the replacement one. Going to have it replaced again and have a new one ordered out. When that one gets here, I will test download/recovery modes, if I have any issues, I'll pull the dump file and post it here, maybe someone can figure out what's going on. On the back of the device, the IMEI sticker has manufacture dates (year.month), looks like the replacement was a 10.7 just like my original Vibrant, so it's not a manufacturer date type issue, it's got to be something changed in the software side of things. It's almost as though the volume rocker keys do not work for recovery/download mode, I get the exact same thing as if I'm just pressing the power button. When I did get in to recovery (before getting to it's current state), the volume keys worked fine for selection though. I can confirm that there is no new information on tmob's side about how to do a hard reset using the hardware buttons (ie, recovery mode) as of this posting.
Did you try with the phone OFF..
1. Have ODIN running
2. Hold Volume Down + Up
3. Plug in USB (WHILE HOLDING VOLUMES buttons in)
Should go directly into DOWNLOAD mode
I did try that as well. Works beautifully on both my old Vibrants, but not on this new one.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
johnny12times said:
I did try that as well. Works beautifully on both my old Vibrants, but not on this new one.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Drats!!! Oh well, time to go back to T-Mobile
johnny12times said:
I did try that as well. Works beautifully on both my old Vibrants, but not on this new one.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@ Johnny12times: Dude u'r right. I've played around with a few different vibrants and they could all go into "download mode" - but when receiving a replacement unit (within the last 2 days), nothing works to go into download mode. Something has definitely changed - not sure what.
Good luck bro - hope it all works out.
I received my Vibrant last Thursday (8/19). I have never been able to boot into recovery mode using the buttons. Needed to root by using one-click.
Ive also tried every button combo and am still unable to get recovery or download. I received the phone last fri (8/20). Its so frustrating knowing that so many other people can get manual recovery. Im sending it back tomorrow for replacement, but who knows if that one will even work? I hope someone figures out why so many vibrants are unable to do this. Good luck!
Well my new one should be here within the next day or so, as soon as it arrives I'll check it and pull a dump file. I'm not savvy enough to figure out how to fix it, but at least smart enough to put it here for the people that can.
How about this:
1. Remove SD and SIM card
2. Remove battery
3. plug the phone into USB
4. hold down vol-up and vol-down
5. pop the battery back in while holding vol buttons
I just managed to make a Tasker profile that reboots the phone at a certain time. But tasker makes the phone reboot forever now. Is there a safe mode thats doesnt load up installed apps so that I can remove the profile??
wressus said:
I just managed to make a Tasker profile that reboots the phone at a certain time. But tasker makes the phone reboot forever now. Is there a safe mode thats doesnt load up installed apps so that I can remove the profile??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No there is no safe mode that i am aware of, you'll have to boot into recovery then do a full wipe unless someone else knows an easier way....
Yes there is a safe mode.
I somehow found it this morning.
Phone was off in my suit pocket, i turned it on whilst in the pocket and when I took the phone out (around 5 mins later) it was in safe mode.
Now how do I know this, well it was quite clear.......at the bottom left of the screen it actually says 'SAFE MODE', this appeared on every screen and I noticed that certain apps on my home screen were then missing too.
To get rid of it, i turned the phone off, took the battery out and then restarted the phone.
EDIt--- found it.....power on phone and hold menu and back at the same time
S
Been posted before something similar dont know how or why or where but could be useful .
jje
In the latest installment in the saga of my strange Streak, it has decided that it no longer wants to behave and the screen responds only to the power button - as in I can turn it off by pressing the power button and the screen will allow me to select that "yes, I do indeed want to shut down my phone." I guess those few days were a last gasp before it let go.
It doesn't even respond when I try to go into Fastboot.
I used the buttons to accomplish a factory reset, which was no help.
It appears to be well and truly toast now, unless I can get an update.pkg onto the external card and be saved by a factory update.
Anybody else ever see this?
You can put the file on your sd card while it is out of the phone and then put it back in or you can access the sd card while in StreakMod Recovery from the advanced options screen. If you have StreakMod installed it would have to be an update.zip. If you have stock recovery put the update.pkg on the sd card that matches your recovery.
Some of my hard buttons didnt work untill I did the screen reset in recovery
Sent from my Dell Streak using XDA Premium App
mokokawi said:
Some of my hard buttons didnt work untill I did the screen reset in recovery
Sent from my Dell Streak using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you mean screen calibration or factory reset?
It's working again. All the buttons were working so I did a screen calibration and another factory reset while getting ready to go home last night.
When I got home the replacement was waiting for me. Smooth as silk. I played the hell out of my new favorite time sucking game last night (Stupid Zombies) and not a single hiccup. I'd love to lose some of the extra apps, but I think I am going to leave well enough alone this time.
Good too hear.....and I did mean screen calibration.....glad you got new one though
Sent from my Dell Streak using XDA Premium App
I'm not sure if anyone has experienced this on their 3d before and when I searched the topic there was no real definition or solution. Yesterday while playing around on the phone I had a random reboot (ZR3D Rom using Anthrax) and when the phone booted again I had the message "Safe Mode" in the lower left hand of the screen.
God knows I thought I really screwed something up, booted to recovery, wiped cache, dalvik, and fixed permission to no avail. So this morning I get to work and have some time to look up this safe mode and came across this article:
http://androinica.com/2010/08/how-to-activate-android’s-safe-mode-to-get-out-of-a-force-close-loop/
I had no idea that our phones could do this and its quit the neat feature, in a nut shell if you have a program that keeps force closing and you can not use the phone because of this, the phone can be booted into the safe mode which prevents the phone from loading 3rd party apps so you can remove the app that was giving you problems. All that is needed is a battery pull then hold the menu button while powering the phone on and vice versa to get rid of safe mode.
Like I said I'm not sure if anyone else had this problem or even knew about it but I thought I would share just in case someone needs help.
That's some good info. Thanks.
Holding the volume down once the splash screen appears will put you in safe mode as well, with any reboot no need for a battery pull. You will feel a hard vibrate, stronger than the normal quick one you get on a normal boot.
interesting info... didn't know that.
on another note.... i have never had a third party app repeatedly force close on me. in the ROM flashing world it has always been a system app.... this method would be useless in that scenario lol.
interesting, though, learn something new everyday.
It has actually been helpful for me, finding out what apps are comparable with joelz's cm9 kang rom.