yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] 94tbird:
i flash cm10 nightly and never wipe, all my reflashes of viper before this and neer once have I cleared google. All still well. i think this is officially debunked. the root cause is most likely bad chips to begin with.
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] TaintedByte:
But do you USE Wallet? It's not officially anything unless someone can come up with a confirmation from Google or we figure out what was causing it to begin with. The fact that this happened across multiple devices shows that it has to do with the secure element and not wiping the settings. If you want to continue to do what you're doing, go for it. Just please don't encourage others to do the same by claiming it's debunked.

That being said, I did send Google an email asking if the latest Wallet update addressed this issue. We'll have to wait for a reply.
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] ticklemepinks:
i thought they said that the new wallet, secure element was in the cloud so resets wouldn't hurt it anymore....
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] zenEd:
have Root. used RegawMOD. its sooo fast and easy... thanks for your post about Wallet.
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] Mat5t:
Thanks
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] TaintedByte:
It was announced but (to my knowledge) didn't say if it was active currently. Furthermore even if they did we don't know if that takes effect for all the current phones or only new ones. I mean I hope they made it so that the secure element could NEVER be disabled (not even by them, as that leaves a chance for error and cracking) but as of right now we have no confirmation that it's fixed other than "I flashed and it didn't break it". Half of those people don't even use Wallet so it doesn't even count.

I did email them a couple of days ago but no reply back as of yet :/
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] rtnnyc:
I don't have to worry about any issues if I haven't used the wallet yet, right?
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] TaintedByte:
Correct :)
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] felix161:
ive had no problems flashin new rom without clearin my wallet on meanrom
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] gregg23:
MeanRom here as well, I flash dirty and clean and never clear the Wallet settings and it works perfect.
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] chewboxa:
I just flashed CM10 and did not clear Wallet before flashing. No problems using it after flash. They must have fixed whatever plagued it at release.
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] leftspoke:
I've flashed Flex's ROM about 4 times now never clearing Wallet, only clear dalvik cache, and use Wallet regularly never having any issues.
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] wwjoshdew:
I've been hearing that it has something to do with a secure element with citi Mastercard. That's what someone said in a comment on one of my videos.
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] SPHM900:
you know ive had issues where i couldnt clear out my google wallet settings because my rom was **** and crapped out, and had to flash to a new rom. if you just go to www.wallet.google.com and log into your account and disable the device, just reconnect the device when you sign back into it on your android phone and viola! it works no problem. ive had to do this several times, some out of pure forgetfulness and some because i flashed incorrectly. havent had a "bricked" nfc chip so far...
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] erickw68:
shouldnt need to worry

Since all wallet information is stored in cloud now should no longer worry about bricking nfc...
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] TaintedByte:
I explained my reasoning for not removing the OP in the previous page. Go back and read it. Google has not replied, I'm going to send another email or call them and ask.
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] gregg23:
Could this be dependent on certain roms? I flash dirty with no wipe when using Meanrom and in the earlier version it would seem to be broken if not cleared first but on the newer releases a wipe of Wallet isnt required
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] distantneighbor:
what is wallet says this phone is incompatible when i start it up. ?

is it because i am on the original 1.13.651.1 base and never updated? (that way so that I could get s-off)
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] Recoil737:
Flashed multiple roms and only forgot to wipe wallet once but it still worked
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] erickw68:
Depends on what u asked in the email if they are going to respond. If you mentioned using anything other than a unrooted stock Rom... They probably won't answer or commit to anything. I have changed Tomas multiple times though since the google update to the cloud without clearing wallet AMD even through a firmware change and have used it at my local CVS multiple times with no issue..
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] Rocklee99:
this isnt a problem anymore is it?
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] 94tbird:
of course i do, all the time, or i wouldnt have a basis to stand on would i. ive used all of my $10 gift card and have it linked to a CC now

---------- Post added at 10:29 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:22 AM ----------

im surprised people are still freaking out about this. its been proven thousands and thousands if not hundreds of thousands of times over that not wiping the settings does no harm. only a handful of people actually had the issue. and most was due to faulty hardware. sort of like hte people with the proximiy sensor issues
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] TaintedByte:
No need to get aggressive. We're here for a common goal, no one is enemies... It has not been 'proven' at all if it was faulty hardware then it would only have happened on our phones. Look at the sources I posted on the OP, they all link to different devices. If you don't want to wipe, that's fine, but don't encourage others to do the same.

Here's what we know: Other phones have bricked secure elements from rooting/factory resetting. Our phones also have the issue. Google released an update to Wallet with information stored on the cloud. No mention of secure element not being used anymore.

Take that for what it is. Personally, I'll continue to take an extra 30 seconds to reset Wallet before flashing until we can get an official word from Google or someone with actual proof other than "I flashed 18 times with no issues". We know that not every flash causes a brick.

EDIT: Shot off another email to Google, hopefully an answer this time. Oh and officially, the secure element is still being used:

http://www.google.com/wallet/faq.html#payments-in-store

http://www.google.com/wallet/faq.html#security-and-privacy-in-store

Especially:

"Even Google Wallet itself has very limited access to the Secure Element, and cannot read or write data from its memory. There are multiple levels of protection for data stored on the Secure Element and it is protected at the hardware level from snooping or tampering." and "

Only

authorized programs like Google Wallet can access the Secure Element to initiate a transaction." (emphasis by me)

EDIT (again): Found this interesting article:

http://pocketnow.com/android/google-wallet-good-news-and-bad-news

Reading his experience makes me doubt we'll get a straight answer from Google on the issue. I wish they at least gave us a 'yes' or 'no' to see if indeed the update fixed this problem.
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] sgt. slaughter:
To note we've seen ppl brick their secure element too when they did the whole wipe before flashing a new Rom.....so its far from anything near defined or for sure either way...basically flipping a coin
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] TaintedByte:
Interesting, didn't see those posts but if that's the case then the situation really sucks. I mean at least if wiping helped we had some sort of control over the situation but if not then there's nothing we can do. I mean I guess we can not use Wallet at all, but that defeats the entire purpose since the secure element is FOR payments like Wallet xD
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] sgt. slaughter:
I remember in the beg a few borked their element and they wiped....lotta variables going on though....lotta unknowns too...
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] Protonus:
I haven't been able to get into Google Wallet in many months, I flashed a ROM update and did a factory reset, before I found out you must do a Reset in the app first... Haven't been able to get in ever since. The messages it displays differ by version...

I have NEVER gotten a secure element error though. So I'm hoping it's somehow fixable still.

Currently what it does it lock up, indefinitely, at "Adding your account..." after selecting my gmail/google account. It says there forever. It does this in the latest or prior 1.5 v75 build.

I've tried patched and unpatched APK's, sideloading, flashable zips, market enabler, etc. I've wiped the phone multiple times, tried different ROM's, did the "Disable Wallet App" from here: https://wallet.google.com/manage/#devices: - turned NFC on /off, cleared app settings... you name it, i've tried it...

Anyone ever find a solution to getting past "Adding your account..." ?? Anyone want logcat data or something to help us try and solve this... I really miss using Wallet :( And again, I've never gotten a secure element error...
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] sarshadd:
So read the OP and the last page. I have a rooted At&t Galaxy Nexus, currently running AOKP jellybean build 1 rom and sometimes i flash different roms, or upgrade to newer builds. My understanding is that:

All I am supposed to do before re-flashing, hard resetting, or restoring from a backup is go into the google wallet app>settings>reset. However, even when doing so, some people have still ended up with a bricked secure element, so it's pretty much a gamble...

Correct?
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] om4:
The updates actually fixed a few phones but not all of them. A few people say its not an issue because they flash all the time and they never clear settings but in all the threads i see, they aren't clear about whether its an update or they are wiping the phone and flashing a completely new rom, Unless I have to wipe the phone for whatever reason I don't clear wallet and I haven't seen any errors but its been about a month since I used it
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] syaoran68:
I was having this issue just yesterday with my NFC. it wouldnt say there was a secure element error or anything but then i found this article

http://www.modaco.com/topic/354635-region-device-root-patched-google-wallet-apk-15-r75-v6/page__st__220

It told me to use that ADB command and it worked like a charm. Just gotta remember to be in wallet right before you do it. I had my NFC on and did it then tried and it still didnt work. But when i turned my NFC, started wallet, then used the command, it worked like a charm right after.

Supposedly this clears the secure element on your phone. If thats the case shouldnt it solve all secure element bricks? since people were having issues with secure elements because the encryption wouldnt match up when they installed new roms a complete wipe of the secure element itself should solve the bricks all together. Just a theory.

Good luck!

-Ed
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] TaintedByte:
Yeah that's the thing we don't know if the update renders the secure element moot or not :(

In theory, if it could actually reset the secure element to original state, yes. However, according to Google's own FAQs:

So if not even Wallet can read/write to it, I doubt anything else could. That being said, there are always loopholes and this may be it but I'm not going to volunteer to be the guinea pig :p
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] trancefreak64:
My Wallet states it is not available in my area anyways then closes. I am still on a Stock rooted ROM ATM. Thanks for the INFO
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] nelsonTituaAa:
Thanks for the heads up! I had to ge ta new evo because of the digitizer but when flashing from rom to rom i never noticed a problem if i didnt wipe the wallet.. but like i said i got my evo switched.. ill reset from now on.
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] k000:
How do I tell if I nuked the secure element or not ?

First time I rooted/flashed with OMJ ROM I did clear the wallet settings and was able to setup the wallet quite well on OMJ's ROM,

But then things got wonky due to my issues and I did a recovery/install of OMJ again on the go... this time without wiping Wallet info... how can I tell that Wallet is nuked ?

---------- Post added at 02:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:43 PM ----------

I actually have been able to setup the Wallet on the RUU at the moment, no issues that I can tell while setting up the Visa card

Wondering at what point will the issues show up? Or is theer way I can tell if the secure element is infact nuked or not ?
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] sullytrny:
When I use Google store you can see it says Google Wallet . I said 6 different rooms and 2 different recoveries and never had a problem

Motorola RAZR MAXX - XT912 - 1325mhz - SimplexROM 1.2 - Linux Installer - Safestrap - 80gb Storage w/64 removable - 6 columns & 7 rows - 76-92°f @ - 36hrs Battery
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] Tangobango:
Hi,

I have been using Google wallet and it seems to be working great. I am running Meanrom. I have reset my wallet and have also forgot to reset it and it still works.
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] YoMaMa7467:
If nothing can read or write to the secure element than what is the problem with flashing, if Google wallet does nothing to it that what information is in there in the first place and how does it get there? This is so confusing.

That and what happens when a phone get borked has to get wiped via ruu when its worked on by sprint or htc itself or even when they release an update? Do they reset wallet too? I don't think a manufacturer would allow a phone to be released if it was THAT delicate to flashing. Does it only happen when flashing a custom rom or are there cases of it happening with ruu's and updates?
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] Dguri:
has anyone else found that most wallet readers are broken (not the phone) when they try to use it?

every time I go to jack in the box it is always broken. so sad, i might as well stop trying
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] YoMaMa7467:
The ones at my jack in the box don't work either. They have them but they're not active. One of the employees told me this.
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] smashingeddie:
Tried it at Mcdonalds. Didn't work. Looked stupid. Sad face.
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] YoMaMa7467:
The ones at my local McDonalds work fine, maybe they were down for the day.
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] Jurassic Pork Fried Rice:
I have a question regarding this issue that I'm currently having trouble with. I've got a Galaxy Nexus (unlocked GSM from Google Play) and someone was going to purchase it from me. Knowing about this issue, I prepped the phone to get ready to sell and went into Wallet and cleared the settings. It went fine and bounced me back to the set up screen where it wants you to choose which gmail account you want to set up with and I left it at that.

At the last minute, the buyer changes his mind and so I realize that in prepping to sell the phone I already went through and deleted data, accounts, settings and all that stuff - so the easiest thing to do would be to restore my last Nandroid backup from a few days before. However, that Nandroid backup had my Google Wallet set up (not cleared). The current state of the phone before I restored it was a clear Wallet app. Upon restore, when I opened up the Wallet app it said "initializing Google Wallet" like it normally does when you start up the phone and then it gave me the PIN log in screen for my gmail account. However, my PIN doesn't work (and I know it's the correct PIN).

Does anyone have any thoughts on what I should do? I don't get the bricked screen, but now I can't get into the app to clear the settings. If I wipe the phone again I'm not sure where that leaves me (not sure what restoring a Nandroid backup with Google Wallet set up to a phone with cleared settings actually did to the element). It's possible the element is actually not set up, or it's possible when I started up the app after restore it kind of initialized itself and anything I do from here on out will brick it... Any help or thoughts are much appreciated.
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] YoMaMa7467:
I have never restored with wallet setup. Though in theory it should work since now most is in the cloud. For me even if I clear wallet from a complete reflash it remembers all of my cards associated with gwallet I just have to log in and set the default card and the pin. I cant help to much with the restoring and the pin being borked but if you re login it should have saved your cards that you were using in gwallet.
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] Jurassic Pork Fried Rice:
I believe if the state of the NFC secure element and your Google Wallet app (signed in/set up, or not) are the same before and after a restore, or before and after a fresh flash, you are fine. As this thread shows, having your Wallet/element set up, then failing to clear it before you flash a new rom leaves you in trouble. In my case, I had it cleared but then restored to a Nandroid backup image in which Google Wallet had NOT been cleared...

So I took a gamble (or another gamble, as it would be) and guessed that since the secure element WAS cleared before I restored the backup, my opening the Wallet app was just a kind of "surface glitch". It said "initializing Wallet" because that is the information the phone had from the backup image, but the actual secure element was actually not set up that way. As a result, the app kind of hung on itself - thinking it was set up (allowing me to attempt to enter my PIN) while not actually being set up, which is why my PIN did not work. So, I made a backup of the phone in this state, just in case...

Then I cleared and wiped the phone, flashing a fresh, clean JellyBean ROM. After the initial phone set up I updated the Wallet app and ran it. WHEW - it opened up fine and let me add / set up my account. I did it just to make sure there were no problems. I even got the confirmation email about setting up Wallet on another device. I immediately went back in and cleared the settings to leave Wallet untouched. Considering I haven't been able to use it much where I live it's just safer this way. I'll hide it from the app drawer and hopefully we'll be able to avoid this kind of thing from here on out :). Thanks to anyone who would have helped! :good:
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] LiquidSolstice:
The new Google Wallet builds don't use the Secure Element anymore. All the encryption happens in the cloud. I have repeatedly flashed without clearing the data and never have any problem activating it.

This thread is no longer valid. Google fixed this problem and it's not coming back. If I was to guess, even if it says your secure element is bricked, you could use the newer builds just fine.

If you're worried about this at all, stop worrying. I'll say it again; as long as you're using the newer builds of Google Wallet, there is NO interaction with the Secure Element period. You can wipe as much as you want, even RUU for all it matters, Google Wallet will work and activate just fine.
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] Jurassic Pork Fried Rice:
Liquid - thank you for the clarification. I didn't realize this and what you explained does make sense. I went back and restored my last, fully set up Nandroid backup again. As it was starting up I could see Google Wallet initializing automatically. I went into the app manager and stopped it, then cleared the data for it. When I went to start the app back up it just gave me a message that Wallet was not supported for my area or device or something like that, so I uninstalled it and reinstalled it and it started back up fine and fresh. Secure element or not, I'm good to go (but I'm glad it's not borked in my device, either way). It's good to know what you said, and I'm glad they addressed the problem. Thanks for your help.
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] slowfncar:
There have been quite a few bricked nfc elements from flashing . Me however have never wiped before flashing and its still working I went through HTC dev unlock then s off , I even tried aosp and wallet still work's from launch day!. I'm not saying its bull**** to wipe before flash. I would rather be safe then sorry. Tbh I think newer boot loaders may brick NFC when tampered with but I have no idea why most people have luck and a select few have borked the nfc(nvmd I just read GSE is cloud stored now) I wonder if wallet works without data?
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] Anthonicia:
Had the enter pin loop after restoring myself. Just go to app>wallet>clear data/cache. Boom! Setup like new, no more to it.
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] Tekka75:
Ive never used Wallet or set up an account for that matter. I recently Rooted my Evo LTE with stable CM10 Rom running. I get the "unsupported" text,is there a fix for this?
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] josh030181:
It will still work but there is a patched wallet app somewhere in the app section if you want to get rid of the unsupported device message
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] Tekka75:
How do I get it to stay open, it closes as soon as I hit OK.
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] dougly:
help

how do i reset my verizon htc thunderbolt 4GLTE to RUU stock while is locked?
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] Magnum_Enforcer:
Wrong forum. Try the Thunderbolt forum. This forum is for the HTC EVO 4G LTE.

http://xdaforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1103

The advice is free....the bandwidth, not so much
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] Mickoou:
My secure element has stopprd responding.

where can I get thenew google wallet build

Thanks
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] thatotherguy..:
I forget to do this before I root and flash a rom and 2 evo but lucky, it still works

Sent From My White Cricket LTEvo
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] Entropy512:
Completely dead wrong. The secure element is still in use - if it weren't, then GW would be working on the GT-I9100P and SGH-I777. GW wouldn't cause piles of SE spam in logcat when you use it. GW wouldn't REPORT A DAMNED SECURE ELEMENT VERSION IN THE ABOUT SETTINGS. GW wouldn't bomb if nfcee_access.xml is missing.

The only thing that changed with the "cards stored in the cloud" update is that instead of directly storing the info for an added Citi PayPass card, the SE now stores a "proxy" PayPass card that is funded from whatever card you added in the cloud.

However, Google has made SE management significantly more robust. Previously, if GW lost its credentials, it would just keep retrying until the SE bricked. Now, if it can't authenticate with the SE, it commands the SE to wipe its data and start from scratch. It's pretty much impossible to brick SEs with GW these days.

(Why the thread necromancy? People are still linking to this thread from elsewhere.)
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] xHausx:
You would be surprised, most people never see the stickies because they are using tapatalk or the xda app. The rest usually just glance over them.

So long as it doesn't get buried this would probably be the best place for it to get exposure.
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] wwjoshdew:
I flashed the RUU yesterday before anyone had mentioned ANYTHING about this. Your method just got my google wallet back! I got the "welcome to google wallet" email, and it appears to be working again... I'll test it later today at McDonalds.
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] lawnguy:
I rooted and unrooted did both methods to a T and still remain "error downloading card", any ideas?
[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] Psanchis:
Wallet

It worked for me. I used the OTA root keeper method to get back root. Great tool!