[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Miserable_Lunatic:
Any advice/suggestions would be MUCH appreciated!

My problem ultimately stems from the fact that my keyboard has somehow been disabled by some errant app, most likely Google's Tap-to-Talk function, a little over a week ago now. Literally out of nowhere. I disabled the general Google App the very day the tap-to-talk function started overriding the HTC Sense keyboard everywhere, and then noticed that neither the keyboard nor the tap-to-talk function were working. I just thought that I could simply restart my phone and any glitch would be removed and my keyboard would return to its normal functioning. I was completely wrong; I haven't been able to use my phone ever since, simply because the keyboard does not come up as usual for me to enter my password, so that since then I've been completely locked out, even though the phone itself is in working order. As far as I know, I don't think that there's any way of overriding the password entry function so that I could simply get into my phone to try to fix the problem that way--but if there is any way, PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

Anyway, I have already chatted with a tech from Google Play, and when I saw that nothing worked out down that avenue, I talked with two different HTC support techs. I explained my problem to the last one and said that I would like to perform a Wipe Cache Partition, but as soon as she found out that my phone is Unlocked with S-ON, she said that there's a 50/50 chance my phone could become bricked from performing the cache wipe. She did say that it's all relative to the case, and for some, everything works out fine, while for others, not so much, so she went ahead and created a ticket for me to speak later with the higher-level HTC Developer techs. I have also already visited an actual tech place only to discover that the 2 guys working there primarily specialize in hardware and are unwilling to try any software-related fixes, because of liability issues and probably also because they just haven't got a clue.

My primary concern is losing all the data still stored on my phone, because it is still in working order, and so I feel like I have much more of a chance of somehow retrieving it NOW than if I were to proceed with the cache wipe, have it brick on me, and then be forced to figure something out with a completely broken phone.

So the main question is whether it really is that risky for me to perform a wipe cache partition, because after researching it all over the Internet, I came to the conclusion that it is a safe procedure that should not damage any personal files or information. Now I have found out that is not the case for unlocked phones, which all those tutorial articles fail to mention.

Please, if anyone knows, PLEASE tell me if it would be safe for me to perform this cache wipe on my unlocked phone. But also, if you just have ANY relevant advice to share on this general matter, please let me know.

I have already perused a pretty large quantity of sources all over the net and am growing increasingly worried at the lack of options to get my phone back into working order for me to actually be able to use it again. I decided to turn to this site's forum as a kind of near-last resort, because I am growing pretty panicked and desperate.