yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S I9000 General] JaY_III:
Bring your phone back.

Loughead mall's bell has lots of working phones.

Plus the staff now know how to get into download mode also, so they know what you are talking about.

I tested 3 phones on sunday at Loughead and all 3 worked.

0 for 3 in North Van (lonsdale)

0 for 3 in Coquitlam Center mall

All official bell stores
[Galaxy S I9000 General] yakkamut:
Since I've rooted my phone already, and set up all my contacts and done hours of customization, is there a simple way I can save all my settings/apps/etc to my external SD, and simply transfer it over to the new phone afterwards?

And also, should I un-root my phone before I bring it back?

When you tested the phones, did you do the "Volume DOwn + Home + Power" button combo?

Did you look at the serials of the phones to see if that had any impact as to which ones worked/did not work?

I bought mine at the Marine Way market crossing store, so I assume I should just bring it back to the same one? And I assume that since this is a known problem, they will take back my phone without question, even though I have exceeded my "30 minutes of use" return policy?

Thanks, lots of questions I know. Much appreciated.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Frostshock:
You're rooted, so install Titanium Backup and backup everything. Then I'd unroot, take it to the Bell store, get a new phone, root, and restore the backup.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] tylerham:
I got my first, 3-button-broken Galaxy S from the Vancouver Best Buy on Cambie on the day after launch (Saturday.)

I got a replacement from there, first one that they gave me worked, this past Friday, the week after launch.

They said they get new stock on Thursday night and were sold out before I picked mine up.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Froster08:
FYI, just exchanged my first phone which wouldn't do the 3-button combo, for a new one that does.

Here's the interesting part: Its serial number is 60xxxxx, and the 3-button trick works.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] JaY_III:
i dont trust the serial numbers.

Too many conflicting reports.

Only sure way is to test the phone yourself.

@yakkamut

yes i tested with volume down + home + power.

Its the easier one to get working as it boots strait into download mode, so no chance of error.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] yakkamut:
Did you return it to the store that you purchased the original phone from? I'm wondering what I do if I bring it back to the store I bought it from, and they don't have any of the working ones in stock.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Froster08:
The first phone that the salesperson brought out did work in recovery mode, so I didn't have to dig through a bunch of them. I also did not specifically say that that was what I was looking for - I just tried it while the paperwork for the exchange was being done.

If you go, and they don't have a working phone on hand, I don't know what to do, but I am thankful that it didn't get to that point for me. You just need to be quick about it because the exchange period is SO short.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] JaY_III:
Exchange period is 30 days for a defective unit.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Froster08:
Good luck justifying to a Bell rep that a working phone on the latest firmware is 'Defective'. In their books it's fine.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] AllGamer:
that's not a problem anymore

lets just say we have Trained them well, most places i've been to already know what i want, as soon as i ask them about the 3 button test

they are like "ohhh, that!, sure here you go"

or they'll say "next shipment, all the good ones are gone"

:D
[Galaxy S I9000 General] JaY_III:
I had a nightmare getting mine exchanged.

If they will not do yours, you need to call:

1.887.data.123

Its bells tech support.

They will generate a case number for you that the rep can see in store on their computer stating your phone is broken, and they MUST TAKE IT BACK.

In all honesty you best bet is finding a working demo phone, so a rep can see what you are talking about and attempt to do the exchange at that store.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Froster08:
Since they could not confirm that it was a problem, Tech Support did not generate a case number for me. Further, while they acknowledged that there is a GPS problem, they would not generate a case number for GPS either because any replacement unit would be the same. The tech support CSR just said that it should be returned as a regular exchange.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] yakkamut:
I managed to get a case number for my phone, but when I called my local bell store they seemed pretty skeptical that it is a defect. They said that even though I have a case number, if Samsung does not accept it as a defect, they will not take the phone back and give me a new phone.

What kind of reason do you give them for wanting to get into recovery mode/download mode? Since Bell does not condone rooting (nor does any other carrier), is there other reasons you would need to get into these modes that will convince them that I need a new phone? A factory reset can be done through the phone, so I don't think this is reason enough.

Frustrating!
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Frostshock:
My 14 day period ends Friday in case they try to use that line on me, so I'm planning on going in tomorrow or Thursday. I was planning on saying Samsung has a firmware update available but I don't want to do it until I know my phone is recoverable without having to send it in to the long, slow repair process.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] pure_energy1:
Thought I'd add...

I have a 64xxxx which doesn't go into download mode.

I went to my bell store yesterday and tested a demo unit and an employee's personal unit, and both didn't do download either. I was told more stock was coming in today or tomorrow, so we'll see....
[Galaxy S I9000 General] JaY_III:
Sorry to hear you guys are having so much problems returning the phone.

Posted what finally worked for me, wish it could help more.

You have showed the Bell people download mode on the demo phone right?

that at least shows them yours is broken
[Galaxy S I9000 General] aleks07:
My phone goes into recovery mode 1 out of 15 times and only under certain conditions. I still didn't figure out the exact procedure, but here is what works for me:

- Remove SIM and SD. I actually never tried with them, so it might be not necessary

- Plug into a charger (not computer). I user the charger phone came with.

- Do 3 buttons combo. I also cover Menu button too.

- Release power at some point (usually after circle indicator is up)

- When sense keys light up, try to hit return button too

- If it goes into boot, remove battery and restart

- Repeat until you it goes into recovery (or download) mode

- It take a lot of tries, but eventually it works (at least for me). I was able to save my phone few times using this method.

If someone can find a more reliable approach, please post it. I'll really appreciate it.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] balance101:
the bell rep or futureshop rep wont even let me test the phone :(
[Galaxy S I9000 General] rdenis:
I just got my 61xxxxx today and both work for me - but to be honest it took me several attempts before I figured out the phone needs to be off for this to work - hold down the power button until the menu comes up with the 4th option to turn power off or turn the power off from the settings screen

Also, the Home button is not the "Home" button on the touchscreen in the Applications menu but rather the big assed hard button in middle of the device at the bottom - that also led to some confusion.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] pronger:
I posted this to another thread, but the 61xxxxx number is just the number of your Bell sim card and isn't actually a serial number for the phone as we were led to believe.

Could you maybe share what the S/N underneath the batter says for the phones that can enter recovery/download mode? Maybe some useful patterns will emerge that way.

Thanks!
[Galaxy S I9000 General] pronger:
Thanks pure_energy

Mine is R2XZ######M and it doesn't work either. Tried everything to get it to boot into download or recovery and nothing worked.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] davanw:
I can't get either to work.

Vol Up + Home + Power

- if I hold all three down indefinitely, it will simply boot as normal.

- if I release the power button at the Black and White logo screen, but hold the other two down, it boots as normal.

- if I release all three at the logo screen, it boots as normal.

Vol Down + Home + Power

- if I hold all three down infinitely, it gets to the logo screen, then will just continually flash that screen until I let go of all three, at which point it boots as normal.

Am I doing something wrong? Timing of releasing any of the buttons?

BTW, my serial number is 67xxxxxxxx , I just got the phone from Bell Store yesterday.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Electroz:
R2XZxxxxxxL - working fine for me!

Sent from my GT-I9000M
[Galaxy S I9000 General] AllGamer:
you are doing it right

it means the phone is not able to get into the download mode

if it works properly those 3 button we take you to the download mode without any loop, it is instantaneous

the only condition is the phone needs to be off

[YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Electroz:
For me to get into recovery, I always pull the battery and put it back in, then hold Home, followed by vol.up. followed by the power button until I see the GT-I9000M logo screen. I then let go the power, but keep holding the home and vol.up buttons. it will never enter recovery mode on the first try. When it goes to the galaxy s animation boot screen, I pull the battery again and try again, this time it goes into recovery every time. If I hold the power button to long before letting it go, it boots normal. Also, if I do this from just powering off the phone without removing and replacing the battery, it boots normal.

For me to get into download mode, I hold home, then vol.dn, then hold the power button. It goes directly into download mode without the GT-I9000M logo screen.

One thing I've noticed, if I try this without having removed and replaced the battery just before, it does not work. I have to remove and replace the battery, and do the 3 button combo right away in order to get into recovery or download mode.

Another thing I should note. I can normally only get into download mode having pulled the battery from within recovery mode. If I pull the battery from android, or from off without having been in recovery mode, I cannot get into download mode.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Arcticsilverfox:
Was doing the JH update yesterday through KIES, stopped half way through. Phone bricked, no 3-button.

Took it back to Best Buy, only had 1 in stock. 3-button didn't work. I drove around to 4 different Bell stores, none of the stores had ones that worked.

Finally, in my last desperate attempt, I went to one more store (not really a full Bell store). Luckily this store had one that worked (first one I tried). Bought it on the spot.

As soon as I got home, I tried to do the JH again through KIES. Ended up bricking it again. Just flashed it with Odin instead.

Oh the headaches... at least I have one that can do the 3-buttons now. Don't give up people, it's worth the wait/scout.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] casperr:
I tried like 6x already and I cannot find one that can do this. I purcahsed mine at Futureshop outright so all I can do is swap and not return :(
[Galaxy S I9000 General] decepticon:
R5XZXXXXXXR

3 Button combo works as long as I release the power button momentarily at the initial boot screen.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] QuadESL63:
That's interesting because mine is also 61XXXXX but I can get into recovery mode and download mode with the 3 buttons combos. I bought mine in Toronto.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] astralmind:
Bought mine in MOntreal, Futureshop - Serial is 65 and it doesn't work !

I hope someone finds a way around this
[Galaxy S I9000 General] namams:
I tried about 10 phones and couldn't get any of them to work. Finally just gave up and bought one in the hopes that samsung or a smart dev will release a fix for this. How about a bounty? Seems to have worked well for the unlock!!
[Galaxy S I9000 General] opensourcefan:
Anyone else able to try this...
[Galaxy S I9000 General] casperr:
No thats still does not made my iphone go into recovrry mode
[Galaxy S I9000 General] :
Does any of the "Reboot Options" Applications in the market work on those phones with "3 Buttons" disabled?
[Galaxy S I9000 General] hondaguy:
i bought a galaxy s from best buy yesterday and i was pissed off to find that it would not do the 3 button recovery mode. my phone has a serial number that has the 60xxxxxx at the end. i tried forever yesterday and it wouldnt work.

i was just messing around right now and i have found a way to get the 3 button combo to work. here is what i need to do:

1-pull the battery

2-plug the device in (data cable or wall charger)

3-put battery back in and wait for the battery charging indicator to appear

4-press home, volume up, then power button and hold all 3 until the first samsung

logo appears

5-release the power key but keep holding the other 2 buttons until the recovery menu appears.

once the phone is powered up and running i cannot do the 3 button combo unless i do the procedure again, but if i pull the battery while in the recovery menu i dont need to plug it in to make the combo work.

if anyone has bricked their phone please try this and let us know if it works. i hope this helps
[Galaxy S I9000 General] pure_energy1:
I was hopeful upon reading this, unfortunately, upon trying this on my phone I was not successful to get into recovery or download modes.

Oh well...
[Galaxy S I9000 General] hondaguy:
sorry to hear that, i know how frustrating it is not to be able to do it. i was plugged into my computer when i was trying it and i was able to do it 4 times in a row, so i know it will work for some of us. i am running the jh2 software that the kies app prompted me to upgrade to and i am rooted
[Galaxy S I9000 General] decepticon:
It sucks that some of these phones have it blocked, disabled, or defective (still unsure which) but what's worse is the fact noone has been able to find out how to fix it.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] gladman:
Is there going to be a fix for this? I can't get the 3 button working on my 60xxx from best buy, and I don't have time driving to find one. What won't I be able to do without this 3 button trick?
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Beast11:
After seeing unnlocking was possible, i went out looking for the phones with the 3 buttons working. And i was looking for 3 phones in total (two of my friends were with me). Went to BB in Oakville, where the manager there tried it and it didnt work (although i realized later she was holding power the whole time, causing a boot loop). We checked at the bell store in the area and they were sold out. So we went to fs in Heartland, Sauga. There we tried it ourselves, and the phones just booted normally. After ditching that store we tried the bb in heartland where they were being asses and just claimed that it wouldnt work. So finally we tried the bell store in Heartland. After having to convince the guy to let us try the 3 button thing it finally worked!! At this point we were ecstatic and ready to buy all three.

When we told him we wanted to buy prepaid he started putting it into the computer and some other employee told him you need to buy it on a contract or with an existing bell line :| And appearently that rule was very recent... So waited another day and brought my cousin who is on bell so that we could buy the phone...

Overall Bell is a douche company just like all the other carriers. But now I got an unlocked Galaxy S and its amazing :D

So that is the story of how i got my phone...

serial number ends in: 50160
[Galaxy S I9000 General] AllGamer:
you can get it prepaid, they were just a bunch of asses that didn't want to sell it to you as a prepaid

i was on a BB in north york with the same crap, they also were trying to sell their "BB warranty program" (like the one from rogers) and they say "that's why you don't need to worry about such thing, we'll replace the phone for you on the spot"

and i go... "yeah, but i wouldn't need the warranty program on a phone that can go into the recovery mode"

The thing i find the most effective when trying to test a SGS to see if the 3 button mode is compare it to the recovery/repair mode of the BlackBerry, then people will understand right away what you mean.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] AllGamer:
ADB, or any of the reboot programs from Android Market works with any SGS phone

but it wont be able to help you fix a bricked SGS phone without the 3 buttons
[Galaxy S I9000 General] PeePeeHead:
Mine doesn't work.

65xxxxx bougth at Costco, Markham, ON Canada - Aug 20th.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] tb5...:
got mine from future shop on younge...

not working with the 3 btn thing...

i did however root it by connecting it to the computer to get into the recovery mode...

why does bell have to be so queer about their phones... smh.

im wondering if i should just return the phone for another... but the only thing is what am i goin to stand there at futureshop opening every box untill a phone goes into recovery mode! damn
[Galaxy S I9000 General] :
I didn't mean that you use the computer at all in this process, there are some applications that you install in the phone tht when you click gives you all options to go right thru & I had that one installed on my Samsung Captivate before I returned it but that phone was already going to the "Download mode".

My question here is if we install such applications on the phones that have no "Download Mode" enabled, will it help got to it or not?
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Bobler420:
yes bell sucks big time when i had my old cell phone and i was gonna give that contract to my mother and go no a shared type of plan they asked me for 400 deposit for the phone before i could buy it on top of the 149.99 for the phone

sold the contract for 60 bucks bought the sgs at best buy for 20 bucks :D
[Galaxy S I9000 General] xtoad:
From NB, got my phone about a week ago.

SN 64xxxxx and not able to get into either mode. Tried a bunch of times and I think the fact it goes into the loop trying Download mode (Vol Down + Home + PWR) confirms it won't work...

Ok, so it sort of sucks...but these phones w/o the 3 button mode active are still able to go into Recovery via software and therefore root-able, right? Is the main (maybe only) disadvantage the inability to backup/restore in case of a bad flash of a custom rom? So that if you are not a user that needs/wants to update with the newest leaked or custom roms, it doesn't matter much?

Another quick question, as far as rooting goes, is the main advantage to this point the ability to try these other roms and wireless tethering (which is supposed to be standard in the 2.2 update possibly out in Sept...?)??

Thanks
[Galaxy S I9000 General] astralmind:
My understanding (and please correct me if I'm wrong) is that any form of flashing as a certain probability of going bad. Be it via Odin, Kies or Clockworkmod, there is a possibility of bricking your phone.

So an official release could do that as well as an custom ROM.

The folks on XDA are brilliant and manage awesome fixes/customizations so I am sincerely hoping someone finds a way around this.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] leegoon84:
My friend got a Galaxy that has serial number "65" no 3 button.

He was too lazy to go back to the store and try it.

when he flash the phone to the new FW, it didn't go well and it bricked the phone.

(phone and PC icon only)

he immediately went back and got a replacement phone.

the new serial is "70" and it has 3 buttons working.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] namams:
I just used the one click root method and now I'm rooted and unlocked! It was a bit of a risk but everything worked out. I really hope a dev can come up with a fix for this: it seems to just be a software issue.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] DarthV:
Guess it's fine if you never brick your phone, but for the cost of service + phone, I'd expect everything to be functional :P

Tried 2 more places here in NB and no luck on 3 button.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] nalinbhatt:
I got mine on August 7th from wireless wave and the 3 button combo worked just fine. Try it at any wireless wave store and see if it works for you.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] xtoad:
I suppose 'they' would argue that it is all functional to the average user and that it was done to prevent 'unauthorized' updates; that said, I agree with you. The risk of a brick during official updates for which I would be responsible is worrying.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] DarthV:
If it prevented unauthorized updates, then they can say that. But it doesn't. And the tech @ Bell that I was on the phone with for 30mins agreed with me that it was defective :)
[Galaxy S I9000 General] xtoad:
Good! If they admit a defect, then maybe they will FIX it. :)

Though with Bell I guess I shouldn't hold my breath... or on the 2.2 update... :p
[Galaxy S I9000 General] brunes:
I just want to re-iterate what I was told by Bell. NONE OF THE NEW PHONES WILL WORK. NONE.

The only ones that work are early-production units (which of course is why it is so common for demo units to work).

Any phone you buy that was shipped any time recently has this bug.

Was also told Samsung knows about this bug, and is going to fix it in an upcoming firmware update. And that there is no point doing a warranty exchange since every phone has the bug, so they are not doing them.

So far, everything being posted in this thread agrees with this - IE, I have not heard of anyone buying a working 3 button phone in a long time (a couple of weeks), everyone who has a working one is from the early shipments. All current shipments have the bug. So either accept it and use this awesome phone until the fix is out (like me), or return it and have no phone for who knows how long (like others).
[Galaxy S I9000 General] tb5...:
makes sense...

just got off the whole touch pro NRG roms and he did incredible things with such a old phone...

so obviously i expected amazing things from a phone with this much power... it is already very good...

but i hope we dont have to wait too long for it to get to the level that we all know it should be at!
[Galaxy S I9000 General] AllGamer:
Anyone cares to lead a bounty to make the 3 buttons working?

there are already a couple of guys looking into it phoenixdigital and Benjamin Dobell as I recall

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=756002

I already lead the unlock bounty and i forked out $75 of my own money, now everyone is reaping the benefits meanwhile i get nothing in return
[Galaxy S I9000 General] BobbyTee:
I bought 2 Galaxy S on Bell. One on launch day, one 8 days later for my fiance. Both serial numbers were 58xxxxxxx at the end...both go Into 3 button recovery no problem.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] casperr:
I returned mine today. I forked out $529 for it, I am not going to settle for a phone that much that won't do recovery/download mode.

Back to iPhone 4 for now.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Beast11:
This 'rule' where they aren't allowed to sell on prepaid is actually recent according to them... My cousin (who works at Bell) said he didnt hear about it, but he hadnt checked his email within the past 3 days or so...
[Galaxy S I9000 General] AllGamer:
i just got another SGS today as prepaid, there was no problem with that, and it was an official bell store at the mall
[Galaxy S I9000 General] canadian_psyko:
I bought my phone on Friday (20th) in Langley, R57XZ769XXXX.

Official Bell Store, both recovery and download mode work, guy at the store was fine with me trying before I bought it. I explained it as early phones shipping with broken firmware and given how often Android updates, I would like to have a way to fix a bad flash in the event of a power outage etc instead of sending it back to Samsung.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] brunes:
What is the manu. date? Mine is 10.07 (July 2010). Is this working one an Aug. unit?
[Galaxy S I9000 General] canadian_psyko:
10.08

According to the guy at the store, they had pretty much just got those. There was only 1 left after mine, and apparently it was their 5-6th batch of them.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] brunes:
Forget what he said... what is the date code under the battery.