yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Vibrant Android Development] p()()pypants:
My phone is not hardware locked, 3 button method works fine for me...

Hw version is still the same, hw v 0.3
[Vibrant Android Development] almyz125:
well is there any way to edit it into say like a blank template with no IMEI or serial and stuff like that so anyone could fill in there own information there, which they would need to do anyway?
[Vibrant Android Development] almyz125:
it says i have HW version: REV0.3

Hope that helps.
[Vibrant Android Development] almyz125:
I have been thinking, why are these phones HW locked? Is it on purpose by Samsung to prevent hacking/modding of the phones, or is it a mistake? In theory if it is on purpose wouldn't Sammy have put some sort of work around in the phone, weather its J-Tag or maybe some other sort of work around? Just a theory...
[Vibrant Android Development] tgrantjr:
Now if there were jtag pins wouldn't power be at them at power up?
[Vibrant Android Development] tgrantjr:
just another thought. If we can get there thru adb or terminal can we then see what code is executed in the phone to get it there?
[Vibrant Android Development] Gad13:
The jtag is the last resort. It will work always. But it includes a hardware work and pretty good soldering skils
[Vibrant Android Development] Gad13:
If I have to use my soldering tool I'd rather connect to the serial port and will troubleshoot the boot loader's nvram parameters
[Vibrant Android Development] tgrantjr:
I would go to the point of letting a dev remote into my PC to do what's needed with my two devices so we may solve this. Let me know cause I'm open Tuesday morning.
[Vibrant Android Development] widto08:
I don't know if this anything to do with anything but, long story short, had to do the walk of shame the other day to the t-mo store.

While i was there getting my new S I had asked the manager that was assisting me about some of the things that I noticed that my broken phone did vs my wife's phone. One of the things was that my phone made a rattling sound from the volume button when shaking the phone and wife's didn't. We checked the new one that he was giving me and it did the same thing. Then he checked his S and it didn't make a sound.

I asked him if I could see his phone for a second and then tried to get his phone into "Download" mode and it went straight there with no problems.

Now the reason I'm posting this is to see how many people can get into Download mode AND have NO rattling sound coming from the vol button vs the opposite like mine.

My thinking is there may be a hidden button behind the rocker that was removed from the newer phones and why they rattle now.

Does this make any sense as a possible reason?
[Vibrant Android Development] :
I actually returned a vibrant due to the annoying rattle. I swear the button was about to fall off it seems. New one has a flush rocker button with no rattle. Both of them are made in august and neither are able to get into recovery mode unless using adb. I think the rattle is irrelevant and more to do with when they're made. Samsung Canada has acknowledged a fix is in the works but Samsung USA seems ignorant for the moment.
[Vibrant Android Development] ViralCipher:
Is this supposed to work for locked phones? I tried this method and I am still stuck at the dreaded phone ! computer screen of death. The screen just goes black then that screen shows up again and again and every time I try it. Bah...don't tell me I have to bring it back to Tmo, hopefully they will exchange, but I bought it on Auguest 19th 2010, and rooted it etc..tried to flash a rom. odin got stuck, so I restarted and all that happens is that phone ! computer screen. I am trying to know flash a stock rom, but I cant get back to download mode. The only way I could get into download mode was through adb, but now that method won't work. BAHH!!!
[Vibrant Android Development] b1u3m3th:
I'm at the same place you are, but I didn't buy mine direct from TMO. I bought it new in the box, but from a third party that doesn't take returns.

Luckily I have the insurance on my account, and they are replacing it for the deductible of $130. :(

EDIT: I've had to temporarily go back to my MT3G 1.2, and other than having CM on it, I'm ready to throw it out the window after using my Vibrant!!
[Vibrant Android Development] renocivik:
Ugh.. Sorry to hear about everyones problems.... I think the best solution at the moment... is NO FLASHING phones that cannot hardware access download... because if ODIN errors... and you phone ! computer your phone... the walk of shame "buyers remorse" is the #1 solution... if you are outside of your 14 days... you may be SOL... so better to NOT flash and lose $500 bucks.. My suggestion to those with hardware disabled phones... follow the guide in the Samsung Vibrant General forum... it contains all of the simple mods (captivate camera/remove bloatware/root/safe Clockwork Recovery... etc) until a solution is found...

Gad13... major props... although no promising results have been found... a lot of progress has been made in eliminating possibilities... If you do end up soldering your phone... I hope it proves to be successful... if you find a solution.. I am sure you will have many happy XDA'ers that would love to donate for your hard work :)
[Vibrant Android Development] Gad13:
Actually I was thinking to walk and ask all t-mobile places around to to buy another phone. But this time I'll make sure the hardware download mode works. My wife will get an early Christmas present. And I'll have a working phone to compare.

Maybe some store still have a display unit made before August.

Wish me luck.

If Samsung don't fix the problem with the first firmware upgrade then I can start thinking about taking the phone apart and try my soldering skills.
[Vibrant Android Development] p()()pypants:
Ummmm guys.... Anyone just think bout just calling tmobile cust support for any reason that would require you to be "directed" to access recovery or download mode and see what they,have to say on the subject when your volume key method doesnt work?? Dont you think its likely they will know what to do? I'm sure the people in tech support have people they talk to every day and have run into more them one person that "can't hardware access recovery" n have an alternate method by now.

I personally have a vibrant that can access everything via hw buttons buuuuut just finished a claim on my vibrant cause my usb cable comes loose without effort and am dreading getting one made in august now.... I won't accept the replacement if it doesnt work or an alternate solution isnt found... I've already had an encounter with the phone-!-computer from a failed odin so I won't be taking anything that will be locked out of a similar situation

Pooped from my Samsung Vibrant using XDA app... Dont mind the skidmarks...
[Vibrant Android Development] b1u3m3th:
If you know of a reason, I'm listening and willing to try it!
[Vibrant Android Development] :
Haven't thought of calling tmobile support. Samsung wasn't much help either. But fwiw I had to replace my first vibrant because the usb port broke. From day one it creaked badly and then boom....now I'm stuck with good hardware and no recovery via 3 buttons. Oh well.
[Vibrant Android Development] renocivik:
I guess that is an option... having them check before you purchase... BUT... i dont think they are going to break the seal on 5 different boxes so you can find a hardware unlocked phone.. unless it says it on the outside sticker.. in that case.. heck ya... call all the tmobile stores until you find a phone made before august.. then buy that one...

Gad13 at this point are there any other options besides taking your phone apart? Is it possible to solder a phone that is in the PHONE ! COMPUTER state and recover anything useful towards unlocking it? I am sure there is someone that has a hardware bricked phone that would donate.... because if there is no solution.. their phone will never have a chance... unles there is some sort of update fixing this..

as far as calling t mobile... they have no clue.... they read instructions off a script.. if it doesnt fix the problem.. there is little to no chance they will have any other ideas/suggestions to fix this...
[Vibrant Android Development] p()()pypants:
sure they have no clue, anyone whos spent 5 min on the line with some folks that are obviously outsourced from another country and have accents so thick it makes you want to stab your ears with a dental pick then pour acid down them would know that they are reading a script....

thing is though, when a problem is prevalent enough they actually have some people behind the scenes that would then solve the problem and write up the new script for them to abhorrently repeat to the customer which we could then in turn relay to the masses via this thread... :D

worth a try.. no? if anything when i get my new phone if it doesnt work ill be drilling them for a method thats easily used if not my phone will be goin right back again till they get me one that works correctly
[Vibrant Android Development] Gad13:
I think Phone ! Computer state shows working primary boot loader and something wrong after that. It could be bml2 /partition/ PIT file or Secondary boot loader /bml4/ At this point i believe the serial console is working and the phone could be restored by flashing broken partitions. Access to the serial console needs the phone to be taken apart and soldering a connector to 4 pins. Restoring broken partitions could be more difficult because some checksum could be involved.

By using JTAG any broken phone could be restored /as long as it is not hardware failure/. It needs soldering like 6 pins and a special software. I haven't search for such.

If someone donate me a broken phone I'll try at least to restore it and we will gain more knowledge about the boot process. But now I don't like the idea to take apart my working phone and start messing around.
[Vibrant Android Development] Gad13:
There are still 2 partitions /bml3 and bml6/ we need to check before taking apart phones.

I can post steps I would do to check those partitions, but the risk of bricking the locked phone exists. That's why I don't post my steps and don't ask anyone to try it.
[Vibrant Android Development] Gad13:
Speaking of phone ! computer screen I was wondering is there a Samsung Modem Device in device manager when the phone is connected to the PC.

I'd like someone with phone ! computer to do the following:

1. Open the Control Panel -> System -> Hardware -> Device Manager.

2. Expand Modems and com ports

3 Connect the phone to the PC

4. Look under modems or com ports is there a new com port or new modem when the phone is on and connected.
[Vibrant Android Development] p()()pypants:
Considering I'm about to odin back to stock and then flash a new rom AND still have hardware access to download with this phone (haven't received my replacement yet) I'll test the out by purposely failing an odin flash first....

I highly doubt it will recognize it as a modem or even anything else pretty sure it didn't see any devices at all last time my phone was in that state as far as hardware connected to any com ports, usb devices ect...

Pooped from my Samsung Vibrant using XDA app... Dont mind the skidmarks...
[Vibrant Android Development] p()()pypants:
Ya so nothing shows up on the com port section or the modems section when the phone is in the computer-!-Phone state. When in downloaded it immediately detects the phone again and is called samsung modem #4 or something... don't think its recognizable by any computer ever when in this state and having a hardware method to access the downloAder mode is crucial
[Vibrant Android Development] pinoiryder:
works very good..
[Vibrant Android Development] b1u3m3th:
The insurance company called me today, and they said after further review of my claim, it is a phone malfunction and T-Mobile will be replacing my phone for free.

They tried to transfer me over to T-Mobile, but they are closed for the holiday.

I will update you guys once I speak with T-Mobile. If you pay for insurance on your phone, I would recommend going this route.

I just told them that all my phone would do is come up with the phone --> triangle --> laptop screen.

They immediately knew what I was talking about and said T-Mobile would be replacing it for free as long as there was not any sign of water damage or abuse of any kind.
[Vibrant Android Development] grennis:
This cannot be intentional (disable volume buttons), it doesn't make amy sense. Tmo will just end up with a bunch of bricked phones they have to service and po'd customers. Everything else is open, no security measures on recovery, why would they do this
[Vibrant Android Development] Unrenowned:
To add, my original Virbrant had 8/11/2010 stamped on the box. I'll post update on my replacement when I receive it later this week.

I was NOT able to get into download mode (via the hardware method) and there was ZERO rattling on my original.

Could it be simply a case of bad Q.C.?

Yes, I've already called TMo (August 30th) and they are calling it a "DEFECT".

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=7914486&postcount=29
[Vibrant Android Development] widto08:
HELL YEAH!!! After trying countless times to get into "Download" mode on my new phone, it FINALLY worked. I have NO idea what changed or why I'm able to do it now but I'm sooo glad that I can.

I've tried it multiple times since successfully accessing it and I can get there using just about every method that has been posted here whereas before now, I couldn't.

The date on my new phones' box is 8/19/2010. The date on the box for the one I returned was 8/4/2010. The date on my wife's phone is 7/2/2010.

The method that works the best and IS the easiest for me is to power down the phone, plug the USB cable into the phone, hold down the volume buttons then plug the other end of the USB cable into the computer. Works every time now.
[Vibrant Android Development] renocivik:
So... it just started working... anything weird you did... at what point did it start working?
[Vibrant Android Development] lp894:
reason why you'd need to get into recovery mode:

"my phone is stuck in a boot loop and won't actually boot into android."

The reason to get into recovery mode is also to wipe the phone in case you can't boot into it. there's nothing illegal or wrong about it. you can wipe your phone from recovery mode. Tech Support quite frequently tells me to go into recovery mode on my tp2 if I can't get it to boot in order to do a hard reset on the phone. They did the same for my G1 as well.
[Vibrant Android Development] tgrantjr:
A rep has me going into recovery earlier by power down and held all three until vibrant showed up then let go. It went into recovery and I'm hardware locked. Maybe this helped I'm not sure
[Vibrant Android Development] widto08:
Yes it just started working about ½-1 hour before I posted on my success.

I did nothing weird or out of the norm just repeated attempts and it finally worked.
[Vibrant Android Development] Dawgplg:
Ive gone through most of this posting and havent seen much in the way of Carrier specific models. Can anyone confirm that they have got their Bell Vibrant to access either Download or Recovery mode using a button combo?

Ive read through countless different forums looking for anything that might get me there and have come up empty. Ive tried about 20 different combo's and still nothing. I know Samsung Mobile Canada facebook said something about a update coming, but who knows what their timeframe is.

Anyone got any suggestions? Or can anyone confirm that their seeming locked Vibrant just started working because they used a different combo of buttons.

Thanks much.
[Vibrant Android Development] p()()pypants:
can you now also access the recovery menu just using hardware buttons, no usb cable???
[Vibrant Android Development] ernvillanueva90:
From what I've gathered from the thread and my own personal experience is that as long as you can get to the vibrant boot screen we should be able to access every aspect of the phone, even if hardware locked. The problems begin once you get to the phone and computer screen with the triangle with the "!" screen. Thats where we run into the issue. In my opinion if your hardware locked, and you get to that screen i would call it a brick. I have already had that happen to 3 phones. 2 of which were hardware locked. As long as you can get to the vibrant screen you are ok. Maybe its already been stated but these are just my 2 cents.
[Vibrant Android Development] renocivik:
ernvillanueva90 - you nailed it... it is basically bricked at that point... if you are hardware disabled.. whether it be intentional by samsung/tmobile or some sort of error... it is the way it is... thats why i suggested people not get too carried away with flashing until we get an official update that fixes this... or a workaround on the forums...
[Vibrant Android Development] p()()pypants:
Tmobile is calling it a "defect" i guess. if you are stuck on the computer-!-phone screen or just cant even access recovery to wipe the phone tmobile will return/replace it with a new one. THAT'S not just tmobile store, call tech center, make a claim, done.
[Vibrant Android Development] splayer7:
On my third one now. First one home button stopped....second...bricked by my own stupidity....read the warning and did it anyway. Called Tmo and they sent a new one out. Third one is thankfully hardware unlocked. They gave me no problems with the warranty exchange.
[Vibrant Android Development] mr2t32:
Just for the hell of it, i called in and got a replacement phone from t-mobile. The replacement phone that I recieved is also locked. so, if you are trying to get an "unlocked" one, you might need to try a few times. I'm going to just wait for froyo and see how it goes from there and get my free battery from tmo.

For those that don't know about the free battery, you should call in and make a complaint about your battery draining out in a few hours from a full charge. They will ask you a few questions to make sure it's not water damaged. Then they will send out a replacement battery for free. You do not have to send back the old one. Now you will have two batteries.
[Vibrant Android Development] tgrantjr:
Just a thought. If you arte hardware locked and need to flash to stock for warranty is there a zip I can use with recover instead of using odin?
[Vibrant Android Development] Unrenowned:
Okay. So I have my new Vibrant and here is the update about it:

-The volume button rocker rattles if I shake the phone.

-The phone DOES reboot into recovery via hardware keys.

-Date on box is August 27, 2010.

What else do you guys need and how do I go about getting it for you?
[Vibrant Android Development] p()()pypants:
Hahaha I just received my replacement too... first one had a loose usb port. New one, you guessed it, hardware locked, got right on the phone with them told them the issue, they are replacing my replacement and have set in the notes to test recovery before sending out replacement.

She said they always do qc tests before sending them out but will specifically test for an individuals problem if they are giving a replacement for something out of the norm qc tests....

Cool thing is for some reason my replacement came with an sd card.... Guessing was in to test it and they didn't take out out? Came with avatar and everything..

Pooped from my Samsung Vibrant using XDA app...

Dont mind the skidmarks...
[Vibrant Android Development] skater4690:
maybe you got my old one lol cause my volume buttons rattled and i got a new one for that but its not a big deal id say stay with it if you can get to recovery and download mode
[Vibrant Android Development] Unrenowned:
Yeah, I'm going to stay with this since I'll be able to get out of a corner with this one.
[Vibrant Android Development] Reyland:
how do i know if im in download mode,i flash by mystake the wrong kernel into my vibrant and now im stuck in a recovery that wont let me do anything!any clues on how i fix this! im trying to use odin.
[Vibrant Android Development] zephiK:
When you get into download mode, there will be a big picture of a Android digging. You have to get into download mode in order for Odin to work. Look at the OP's post for instructions on how to get to download mode.
[Vibrant Android Development] junglizste:
Just got a new one.

date on box 8/31/10

NOT HARDWARE LOCKED

simple method to get into recovery/download.
[Vibrant Android Development] grennis:
Give me a break. You have a $200 - $500 dollar phone (over the contract) and you cannot afford a $2 battery? Yes, they are $2 - $3 on ebay and it's the same battery you get from TMO. This is pathetic, you people wonder why service costs are skyrocketing and then you pull stunts like this? Get real
[Vibrant Android Development] Azrael.arach:
Ok just got mine in and date code on box is 08/28/2010 and before I even let it boot up once I tried to get into recovery and it worked.
[Vibrant Android Development] b1u3m3th:
Just wanted to update everyone. I got my phone stuck on the phone, triangle, computer screen, and the hardware buttons did not work for download mode.

T-Mobile replaced it at no cost even though I did not buy it from them.

I got my replacement in today (not sure of date) and the hardware buttons work!

Basically, I called the insurance company and they said it was a malfunction and T-Mobile would replace it.

I called T-Mobile, and the first thing they had me do was try the hardware buttons. Once they realized that didn't work, they immediately told me they would send me a replacement.
[Vibrant Android Development] widto08:
Yup. I've been trying to figure out why this just started working but have come up empty. I've done everything the same as before when I couldn't access anything. Its got me totally baffled. There's just no rhyme or reason why it works now.

I'm thinking is if TMO is calling "not being able to access recovery/download mode" a defect and are replacing those phones because of it, then it seems to me a phone call is in order for a replacement and hopefully the replacement works as it should. Just gonna keep this one for now though... ;)
[Vibrant Android Development] Unrenowned:
Starting to sound like there was just a few weeks of bad fabrication...

I wonder if this rules out the "I'm wearing a suit" idea.
[Vibrant Android Development] p()()pypants:
suit??? heh??? totally lost me on that one
[Vibrant Android Development] wildklymr:
Trust me, T-mobile Tech reps and NOC Techs are members of this site. If they had any more information, they would speak up in an unofficial capacity.
[Vibrant Android Development] flameinthefire:
did anyone get this to work? is there a way out if your stuck on the triangle screen? with the new vibrant
[Vibrant Android Development] hustlemode:
METHOD 4: STUCK AT PHONE ! COMPUTER:

Plug in the USB cable.

Turn the phone on it's side and use both thumbs to hold Vol Up and Vol Down

Press and hold the power button with your right index finger.

The screen will go black, release the power button.

The screen will come back on, you should now be in Download Mode.

A few less steps then Method 3, and works like a charm for me.
[Vibrant Android Development] flameinthefire:
on the new vibrant? the disabled hardware? i dont see how this would would work i tried it and when you say turn it on the side which side? i have tried it and it does not work. because the hardware keys are disabled..... did it work on yours?
[Vibrant Android Development] Dangerus:
the date on the box of my bricked vibrant is 8/13/2010
[Vibrant Android Development] hustlemode:
Turning the phone on it's side just makes it easier to hold the buttons down, not really a necessary step per-say. The date on my box is 7/19/2010, so I don't believe I have a new version. Just sharing the steps that worked for me.
[Vibrant Android Development] flameinthefire:
did anyone replaced their new vibrants that were stuck on the triangle screen? did tmo replace it?