[FIXED!] Bricked Hardware locked Vibrant. Advice needed. - Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I have a hardware locked vibrant, but with I've been getting by with adb to get into recovery to root and install CWM and ROMS.
Recently my phone got interrupted while doing an Odin restore and now i've bricked my phone. I get the "Phone ! PC" screen everytime I power up.
I can't use adb orCWM to boot into download mode, and my phone has never responded to any combination of buttons on start-up to get it there. What else could I do?
I heard this is considered a defect, if it is hopeless to fix should I try to return it to t-mobile even though it's bricked? or just report it lost?
EDIT: FIXED!
Thanks Beniuec for pointing me to the JIG
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=819551
I went to radio shack, picked up some resistors, and it worked like a charm!

I have a very similar problem. My phone got stuck on the Vibrant boot screen after trying to flash a rom. I can't get my phone into download mode so that I can use ODIN. All it does it stay stuck on the Vibrant Boot screen. Can't start the phone, can't get into recovery. If anybody can help us, that would be great. I do hear that most phones should be able to get into recovery mode if not then we should return it. My problem is that I bought my phone on eBay. I can't return it to T-Mobile.

If you can get into the vibrant boot screen you may be able to use ADB to reboot into download mode.
connect to your PC and go to the command prompt where you have adb installed
Code:
abd devices
Code:
adb reboot download

It doesn't recognize my device. Under list of devices, it is blank.

You might have to make this or post if anyone in your area has made one since nothing else works for you good luck
homemade test jig
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=819551
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Oooh =/ That happened to me.
But I got it fixed
IDK if this will work w/ hardware locked (nor do i even know what hardware locked is):
What I did was power off the phone, charged it, you should see a battery appear. When that happens, then press power, vol up, vol down, hold those button.
AS SOON AS THE SCREEN TURNS BLACK, release power, and it should get you into DL mode, then you may unplug, then odin, then restore it
GL

Here is a couple of methods to get into download mode. Once you get to download mode, follow the directions later in my post...
First Method
1) Pull the battery, sim card, and sd card.
2) Reinsert battery but do not press any buttons.
3) Plug into usb that is connected to your computer. If something shows up on the screen (charging logo) then you should be golden.
4) Hold the vol up, vol down, and power until the screen comes on, immediately release the power button but not the other two. You should be in dl mode.
Second Method
1) Another method that seems to work for some people is to pull the battery, sim, sd card.
2) Reinsert battery and hold both volume buttons but do not press power button.
3) Then plug in usb. The phone should boot into download.
Third Method
1) You will need the samsung ADB drivers installed for your phone and ADB.
Samsung Drivers for 32 bit Windows: http://files.androidspin.com/downlo...=SAMSUNG_USB_Driver_for_Mobile_Phones_x86.exe
Samsung Drivers for 64 bit Windows: http://files.androidspin.com/downlo...ung/vibrant/&file=usb_drivers_GalaxyS_x64.zip
2) Remove sim card and sd-card. Remove the battery.
3) Hold buttons vol up, vol down, and power.
4) While holding down those 3 buttons put the battery back in and keep holding all 3 buttons until the vibrant disappears and reappears. Once it reappears, release all 3 buttons.
5) Now connect your phone to your pc via USB cable.
6) Open a cmd prompt and navigate to the folder with ADB and type "ADB REBOOT DOWNLOAD" caps are not necessary.
7) Your phone will reboot into the download mode.
Once in download mode
Download the files in the linked thread and follow the directions there or the ones below.
Odin and Files Needed Available Here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=734475
1) Open Odin and verify that one of the Com ports shows a device connected. If it doesn't try using a different usb port.
2) Load the .pit and pda files. It should be pretty obvious how to do that once you are in Odin.
3) Make sure that the option to partition is unchecked. The other two options should be checked.
4) Hit start and wait.
5) Your phone will restart when Odin is done and you will be good to go.
Also, you might have to build the usb jig. It is guaranteed to get you into download mode. Here is a link to that thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=819551

Since you're hardware-locked, your only choice is the usb jig or returning the phone (If you got it from T-Mobile, they may replace on grounds of faulty hardware, like they did for my first Vibrant). Seems like the jig is the easiest option, so long as you or someone you know can solder the thing, and it is pretty much guaranteed to work.

Beniuec said:
You might have to make this or post if anyone in your area has made one since nothing else works for you good luck
homemade test jig
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=819551
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome. This is exactly what I was looking for, I could easily make this jig as I have plenty of experience soldering. I'll try this out and report back the results!

Good luck let me know how it works send me a pm incase I lose the thread
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Related

OMG! PLEASE HELP!! phone to pc screen!!

i commited the mistake of partitioning the sd card using rom manager.....so then i tried this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=745547
flashed the EU version , then i strggled going into dowload mode again....i finally got into download mode using adb ...and when i was flashing it , it suddendly stopped and then the phone to pc symbol appeared
i dont know what else to do...i've been up all night and the phone is not even mine :'( please help
also my phone seems to be locked ....
Can you get phone into download mode? Install odin and all windows drivers. Take out batt plug up usb hold vol up and down and put in battery. If that doesn't work there is a cable you can but that might force it into download mode
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
stephenj37826 said:
Can you get phone into download mode? Install odin and all windows drivers. Take out batt plug up usb hold vol up and down and put in battery. If that doesn't work there is a cable you can but that might force it into download mode
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i"ve tried that but no luck =/
Can you get adb to work?
I had the same thing happen earlier, I was flashing back a stock ROM in Odin, which I have done before, and this time it was doing the cache files and the phone went black and removed from Odin, now this PC-Computer icon is up. Holding down the power-button just blanks for a second then puts back to the phone-pc screen, my phone was hardware locked so the power+volumes does nothing, and the computer won't recognize the phone in adb.
Mothafizzy said:
I had the same thing happen earlier, I was flashing back a stock ROM in Odin, which I have done before, and this time it was doing the cache files and the phone went black and removed from Odin, now this PC-Computer icon is up. Holding down the power-button just blanks for a second then puts back to the phone-pc screen, my phone was hardware locked so the power+volumes does nothing, and the computer won't recognize the phone in adb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
exactly....we are having the same problem....we cant do anything but watch that damn sign
did you fix it?
sadly mine was that way and I had to get it replaced
nomadrider123 said:
sadly mine was that way and I had to get it replaced
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so i guess if you soft brick a hardware lock vibrant ur out of luck?
so you called tmobile to get a replacement?
El Cipitio said:
so i guess if you soft brick a hardware lock vibrant ur out of luck?
so you called tmobile to get a replacement?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have tried everything twice and nothing worked .Don't mess around with customer services. You need to talk to tech services they got me a replacement
Download Mode trick.. it worked for me.
Ok guys! here you go.... If you feel like you semi-bricked your phone and cannot boot into download mode.. there is a trick that might work for some or it might not doesn't hurt to try, but damn sure worked for me... Make sure phone is connected to computer with ODIN Opened,..
1. Unplug your phone from usb
2. Take out battery (and mini sd and sim)
3. Plug usb back into phone.
4. Hold down up and down volume keys while putting battery back into the phone. IT SHOULD BOOT INTO DOWNLOAD MODE. if not sorry. Sometimes when people flash back and forth the up and down volume keys get reversed... so try volume down and power.. or volume up and power. GOOD LUCK!!!
tee34life said:
Ok guys! here you go.... If you feel like you semi-bricked your phone and cannot boot into download mode.. there is a trick that might work for some or it might not doesn't hurt to try, but damn sure worked for me... Make sure phone is connected to computer with ODIN Opened,..
1. Unplug your phone from usb
2. Take out battery (and mini sd and sim)
3. Plug usb back into phone.
4. Hold down up and down volume keys while putting battery back into the phone. IT SHOULD BOOT INTO DOWNLOAD MODE. if not sorry. Sometimes when people flash back and forth the up and down volume keys get reversed... so try volume down and power.. or volume up and power. GOOD LUCK!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No luck, currently going through a relentless trial-error process of different usb-battery-sim/sd-volume-power buttons. Just found out insurance which I thought was covered on my phone via Asurion through T-Mobile is only covering one of the phones on my line, yet I bought them both with warranties at the same time... Pretty bummed, Only is looking like paying the deductable fee for a new phone as if lost/stolen.. Hope something pulls through.
Just a small deviation
1. Take out the battery
2. Plug the USB into the phone
3. Plug USB into the PC
4. Hold down the Volume up/down + Power button with one hand
5. Put the battery back in with the other hand
6. Wait for the phone2pc icon to flash 2 times and on the second time when the screen goes black release only the POWER BUTTON
7. When you see the digging Android you can let go of the Volume buttons
That is the only way I could get it to work

22 to 21 backup bricked. help!

Okay so I went from onyx 4.2 to a nandroid backup of bionix findal. Then since the backup was a 2.1 rom I flashed a 21 kernel then I rebooted and its stays at the vibrant screen and keeps going into recovery when I hit reinstal packages it takes me back to stock recovery not Cwm. So what do I do from here
Hit refresh packages again. Sometimes it takes more than one time.
Same thing happened to me, I ended up using odin....again. Thank god for odin
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
nick1217 said:
Okay so I went from onyx 4.2 to a nandroid backup of bionix findal. Then since the backup was a 2.1 rom I flashed a 21 kernel then I rebooted and its stays at the vibrant screen and keeps going into recovery when I hit reinstal packages it takes me back to stock recovery not Cwm. So what do I do from here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you cannot get into CWM recovery, than most likely you will have to Odin. If you know how to use adb, then adb the CWM update.zip onto /sdcard and select re-install packages from the normal recovery. If you don't know how to use adb, then you can either learn or follow the directions in this post on how to use Odin. You might want to learn Odin anyways as it is extremely useful if you softbrick without access to recovery.
Here is a couple of methods to get into download mode. Once you get to download mode, follow the directions at the end of my post...
First Method
1) Pull the battery, sim card, and sd card.
2) Reinsert battery but do not press any buttons.
3) Plug into usb that is connected to your computer. If something shows up on the screen (charging logo) then you should be golden.
4) Hold the vol up, vol down, and power until the screen comes on, immediately release the power button but not the other two. Hopefully it will boot into download mode and than you can use Odin to get back to stock.
Second Method
1) Another method that seems to work for some people is to pull the battery, sim, sd card.
2) Reinsert battery and hold both volume buttons but do not press power button.
3) Then plug in usb. The phone should boot into download.
Third Method
1) You will need the samsung ADB drivers installed for your phone and ADB.
Samsung Drivers for 32 bit Windows: http://files.androidspin.com/downlo...=SAMSUNG_USB_Driver_for_Mobile_Phones_x86.exe
Samsung Drivers for 64 bit Windows: http://files.androidspin.com/downlo...ung/vibrant/&file=usb_drivers_GalaxyS_x64.zip
2) Remove sim card and sd-card. Remove the battery.
3) Hold buttons vol up, vol down, and power.
4) While holding down those 3 buttons put the battery back in and keep holding all 3 buttons until the vibrant disappears and reappears. Once it reappears, release all 3 buttons.
5) Now connect your phone to your pc via USB cable.
6) Open a cmd prompt and navigate to the folder with ADB and type "ADB REBOOT DOWNLOAD" caps are not necessary.
7) Your phone will reboot into the download
Download the files in the linked thread and follow the directions there or the ones in my post below.
Odin and Files Needed Available Here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=734475
1) Open Odin and verify that one of the Com ports shows a device connected. If it doesn't try using a different usb port.
2) Load the .pit and pda files. It should be pretty obvious how to do that once you are in Odin.
3) Make sure that the option to partition is unchecked. The other two options should be checked.
4) Hit start and wait.
5) Your phone will restart when Odin is done and you will be good to go.
hockeyrcks you arE the man, thanks so much. worked great
nick1217 said:
hockeyrcks you arE the man, thanks so much. worked great
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad I could help you out. Just make sure you keep all the files on your computer in case you have to do it again. I had never had to use Odin until recently. Then I had to use it three times in one day.

[Q] Super-Bricked Vibrant, Help?

I know many different threads are already available on this topic, but I think mine is severe. Obviously my Vibrant is bricked, and yes, I have done many different things to attempt to fix it.
If I am missing anything, please let me know.
=====================================================
-The phone is not recognized whatsoever by USB on an apple computer or any variety of windows computers, rendering any advice using Odin and ADB useless.
-The phone will not go past the vibrant screen, but makes the sound like it is attempting to the Galaxy S animation. However, it never displays this animation.
-The phone can enter recovery mode, but not download mode.
-I have tried clearing all data and I have also tried "Reinstalling packages", but it does not do anything.
-The phone will not go into download mode by connecting it to the PC (XP 32 bit) while holding vol. up and down at the same time.
-When the phone is plugged into the wall, the battery charge image displays on the screen, but any combination of buttons do not work.
-I have all current Samsung drivers, as well as the Kies software on my computer.
=====================================================
I think I should make or purchase the "USB Dongle" which allows the phone to go into download mode via Hardware.
Is there anything else I can do?
Thank you for any and all help.
You are still ok
1) power phone down
2) pull battery out
3) hold volume up + down
4) while holding Volume up + down , put battery back in
5) still holding volume up + down plug usb cable into the phone
Option2:
Power off, hold vol+ and vol-, plug in USB.
Is it rooted?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
It's in a sticky at the top of the Vibrant General Section:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=848737
look at the section called "no boot phones".
I hosed mine last week where I couldn't even see the vibrant screen or charge indicator and that fixed mine.
Good luck.
you have the newest version of odin and the tar file and the pit files ready to go?
amalott11 said:
Is it rooted?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it is rooted.
Also, all forms of Vol up + Vol down combination work.
It always goes straight to the Vibrant logo.
badaphooko01 said:
you have the newest version of odin and the tar file and the pit files ready to go?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have every necessary file ready to go, but the computer(s) will not recognize the device whatsoever, and they have the latest Samsung drivers and Ki
stoltz said:
Yes it is rooted.
Also, all forms of Vol up + Vol down combination work.
It always goes straight to the Vibrant logo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
have you tried the battery pull, hold the buttons while putting in battery trick?
beren28 said:
have you tried the battery pull, hold the buttons while putting in battery trick?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, and unfortunately no method of button pressing will aloow me to enter "Download" mode. However, I can enter recovery mode easily. It is confusing because all questions I see on the forum about bricking issues say they can't enter Download or Recovery.
It seems I must have really messed this one up, lol.
stoltz said:
Yes, and unfortunately no method of button pressing will aloow me to enter "Download" mode. However, I can enter recovery mode easily. It is confusing because all questions I see on the forum about bricking issues say they can't enter Download or Recovery.
It seems I must have really messed this one up, lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If all else fails you could get a jig. When plugged in, it will automatically enter download mode for you. Search the forums and i'm sure you could either find someone selling them or a tutorial on how to make one. Their fairly simple
stoltz said:
Yes, and unfortunately no method of button pressing will aloow me to enter "Download" mode. However, I can enter recovery mode easily. It is confusing because all questions I see on the forum about bricking issues say they can't enter Download or Recovery.
It seems I must have really messed this one up, lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And you've switched usb ports and have the samsung drivers instaled, sometimes I have to have odin open on the desktop but I have windows 7 64.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

[Q] Kind of a brick question.

Hey everyone.
So the other day I got excited about the CM7. I was following the steps to install it. i made a mistake. after i flashed the kernel. i rebooted my phone now all i get is a screen with picture of phone with a yellow triangle attached to a pc.
The thing i've tried to do was
1.take out the battery
2. take out the sim(which was already taken out to be in my gs4g)
3.took sd card out.
4.plug usb into phone and computer
5.put battery in while hitting the vol +/- minus rocker and nothing happens.i have odin open when I( try this.
my computer just wont pick it up.
when I plug in my gs4g it picks it up right away.
I've spent all weekend working on this.
also i think they only way before hand for me to get into download/recovery was for me to use adb. could that be why I'm not getting any progress?
Thanks in advance. Also sorry if this question has been asked so many times..
Is your problem getting into download mode? Or is it that you get into download mode but Odin won't recognize the device?
If its the former, getting into download mode is a bit tricky in CM7, I've done it plenty of times though. This worked for me.
1. Unplug the usb cord.
2. Pull out the battery.
3. Plug usb cord in.
4. Hold down vol+ & vol- and power button
5. You will see the loading circle or whatever it's called, when the screen goes black let go of power button.
You should be in download mode now. Sometimes you won't get the loading screen and the phone'll just boot up, if so pull the batt and try again.
Cito11 said:
Is your problem getting into download mode? Or is it that you get into download mode but Odin won't recognize the device?
If its the former, getting into download mode is a bit tricky in CM7, I've done it plenty of times though. This worked for me.
1. Unplug the usb cord.
2. Pull out the battery.
3. Plug usb cord in.
4. Hold down vol+ & vol- and power button
5. You will see the loading circle or whatever it's called, when the screen goes black let go of power button.
You should be in download mode now. Sometimes you won't get the loading screen and the phone'll just boot up, if so pull the batt and try again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've done that many times. I've tried for several hours during the weekend. Also CM7 is not installed yet. was in the middle of installing then this happend.
just open odin and plug your phone in to your pc and see if you get a COM port...if you do then flash it from there..
jmcghee1973 said:
just open odin and plug your phone in to your pc and see if you get a COM port...if you do then flash it from there..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not getting that at all no com ports show up.. I'm going to try this on a different computer.
When I get the black screen with that icon in the middle and I plug it in, Odin recognizes it right away. Furthermore, I've only gotten it before when I go into download mode(yellow sign + android sweeping) and Odin doesn't recognize my phone and I pull the battery then turn it back on.
Get odin up usb cord connected to the computer but not the phone
Remove the sim card the sd card and the battery and do the vol up and down boot. Then while holding the vol buttons down at the same time plug in the usb.
That should get you back to recovery.
READ the STICKY for NOOBS......... S15274N did a wonderful job of explaining all the methods on how to get into recovery from a soft brick
good luck
oka1 said:
Get odin up usb cord connected to the computer but not the phone
Remove the sim card the sd card and the battery and do the vol up and down boot. Then while holding the vol buttons down at the same time plug in the usb.
That should get you back to recovery.
READ the STICKY for NOOBS......... S15274N did a wonderful job of explaining all the methods on how to get into recovery from a soft brick
good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been trying all of those methods. Before this happened the only way for me to get into download was using adb reboot download command in adb.
The computer does not recognize in odin. I've tired this on two computers now.
I have all the drivers installed. i uninstalled ed reinstalled etc. used two different usb cables etc.
not sure what else to try. other than a baseball bat....
so i looked around and i bought a jig on ebay from skisky1. hopefully it will be here soon . to try this out .

[Q] Help My phone is in a Boot loop and I cannot access Download mode!

I totally messed up while trying to install the Simple Honey ROM. I was trying out an ICS rom for a lil while then decided to go back to GB....I ODIN'd back to Eclair, then flashed this rom without flashing GB Bootloader. Now, i am stuck in a bootloop and i cannot get into download mode!!! There are times where I almost get into download mode but a rainbow appears and then it goes into Kernel panic upload mode. The only thing I have not tried yet is using a USB Jig because I have just bought one and it is shipping in the mail. Is there any other way to get it into to download mode? I cannot post in the dev forum because I don't have enough post. Please someone assist me in fixing this issue.
I have tried the following.
1. Install Samsung USB Drivers.
2. Power off the Phone.
3. Pull the Battery.
4. Plug USB cable into Phone.
5. Plug USB cable into PC.
6. Press and Hold: Volume UP + Volume DOWN + Power, all at the same time.
7. Re-insert the battery.
8. The phone will power now, when the screen starts a cycle of going to a BLACK screen, release ONLY the POWER button.
Tried the following with odin:
As for download mode;
1. pull the battery,
2. put it back in;
3. then, with the phone still off, plug your usb into the computer,
4. turn on odin3,
5. hold the center of the volume buttons,
6. plug the usb to the phone while holding the volume botton
tried holding both volumes without a battery then put the battery in and while still holding plug into usb to see if odin showed a yellow com button. Rainbow occurred and kernel panic upload mode appears.
If odin does detect my phone, the longest it will detect my phone for is around 30 seconds then it will either reboot or go into kernel panic upload mode.
cannot try this posted by Raymond PJR post #9492 p950 on the simple honey thread because I cannot get it into download mode
The bootlooping probably has nothing to do with the GB Bootloaders, but is a known issue that is resolved by immediately flahsing Bullet then back to Talon if you want. So, get the Bullet .tar, start Odin on your PC, get into download mode, connect to your pc and flash Bullet. Then if you want to be able to see what is going on in recovery, consider flahsing the GB Bootloaders. Some say they can still make out the menus under the rainbows, but I don't know. I just went ahead and flashed them. READ, READ, READ, every OP before flahsing, (GB Bootloaders OP, Bullet OP, and if you've never used Odin, the OP of any thread you read on instructions. And watch any related videos on YouTube!
Bootloaders: http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1117990
Bullet Kernels: http://rootzwiki.com/topic/639-kerne...es-edt6242011/
also tried this because I could not get download mode or recovery mode. So I tried this trick through odin but it still did not get it into recovery mode after this.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=9663212&postcount=53
Rom used:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1021383&page=950
USB Jig for people who may have a similar problem:
http://usbjig.com/
Version of Odin used:
1.85
Please any suggestions would be helpful thank you!
Wait for the jig it will save your life
Sent from my SGH-T959 using xda premium
is there any other way that it can be saved without a jig though?

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