[General Questions and Answers] Neofyte:
Hello everyone, brand new to the forums, and new to Android in general. Not new to Linux however.

I've got a Pantech Flex P8010 that I was given and need some help with. I've read all the Flex threads, many of the Burst threads, still cannot find an answer. The previous owner states that the phone worked fine until he attempted a "hard reset". I don't know what he did, he doesn't remember, but it doesn't have any physical damage. The phone will power up to the Pantech logo screen and hang, or it can be powered in to the bootloader (vol up and down +power). The factory reset (vol up + power) doesn't work. I can get it to fastboot mode, PDL download mode, and I can power it off from bootloader. Reboot just hangs forever. I can power the phone on with the power button, but cannot power it down with the button. I have to either pull the battery or, in bootloader, select power off. Bootloader tells me the kernel hasn't been "tampered" with, and the phone is oem locked.

I use Linux as my daily OS. I have two Debian systems, both 32-bit. One is Mint LMDE, the other is a Debian Wheezy system I built from the basic. I am building a 64-bit system but it is not functional yet. I don't yet have drivers, MTPFS, or any other tools running on the Debian boxes, but I do have Pantech PC suite and adb/fastboot mini on a Windows 7 laptop. I also have recovery and boot images, and a lot of various drivers in the folder, and that is the machine I've been using with the phone.

Adb doesn't work at all. The previous owner knows less about Android than I do and so usb debugging is not on. Fastboot sort of works. I can issue a fastboot reboot-bootloader command and the phone will do just that. But fastboot oem unlock doesn't work. Trying to flash recovery or boot images returns a failure. Fastboot devices doesn't return the name and serial number, it instead gives an 8 character alpha-numeric string.

I've looked at the various directories and etc over on Github, and of course it's all like being home since it's Linux directories, but I can't get in to the phone to compare what's there.

Is there ANY way for me to get in to this phone? Either with Linux or Windows? Can I push or force debugging on? Is the Flex well enough known yet? I could not find any similar situations for the Burst, but if the threads are out there and I missed them, please let me know. If I can get the phone working I'll eventually root it, fiddle with the ROM, and put Debian side by side on it, but for now I just want to have it working so I can really take a look at it. Is there a generic method for Android I've missed somewhere? Or for ICS in particular?

This phone is my introduction to Android, so of course I picked a problem. I'll probably pick up another Flex to mess with...I really like the hardware specs...but it'd be nice to have two functional phones, one for daily use and one to learn on.

Oh, and let me say THANKS to each and every poster over on the Flex Dev threads, and also to the Burst folks. Loads of good information that I will put to good use once the phone is working....if it can get there! Not afraid of technical Linux tools or workarounds, but not up to speed with Android specific terminology or tools, and I don't care much for Windows but I can use it.