yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Vibrant General] flipper2006:
I know I saw this answered in another post, but i cant locate it. I should be getting my replacement tommorow from tmobile, the first I want to do is see if this one is hardware locked. My question is, if I get into Download mode, how do i get out without doing anything, i will try this as soon as I get the new phone. Do I just power off or what? It's just to test to see if I have the same issue.

PS. On my original phone that I still have from when I bricked on Saturday night, i must have tried every possible combination and 600+ attempts but nothing worked (while I was waiting for the replacement).

Thanks!
[Vibrant General] SamsungVibrant:
I think it is safe to do a battery pull, as long as nothing is actually being downloaded.

I read another person say you can press the power button for a few seconds, but that didn't work for me, so I just do battery pulls. Just make sure you aren't downloading anything, that might be bad, but I don't know for certain.
[Vibrant General] p()()pypants:
Lol, lets get all mad cause you can't use an electronic device that is sure to replicate the same success you got one time EVERY time if user error wasn't to blame and someone else pointed it out.

I could get in a **** swinging contest with you so easy right now but it will be minimal as me saying look me up (poopypants) on anabolicminds.com forums check my posts and pics, I have a banging fiance, a beautiful son and make 4g's

a month and don't have to answer to a boss 9-5....

Thanks again for your entertaining although inaccurate assessment of my livelihood but throw a vid on youtube of what your doing to get into dl mode and I can get you a video response to critique it.... Otherwise gl with it.
[Vibrant General] rhcp011235:
What if you have a phone that wont give you anything on the LCD. But you can feel it get hot if you turn it on? No sound no nothing.

Any ideas? anyone get this? and get out?
[Vibrant General] p()()pypants:
Should I say it???........

........naaaaaa I won't say it.

glad you figured it out bro, that's exactly how I do it every time.

Pooped from my Samsung Vibrant using XDA app...

Dont mind the skidmarks...
[Vibrant General] khmerpride:
My first gt-i9000m the recovery mode and download mode didnt work no matter what I tried but luckily I exchanged it as a doa within the second week I had it. The second one I got now, everything works on it. If you can still exchange it, go do it and ask for a rental phone.
[Vibrant General] Gerr1985:
Ok this is just my 2 cents but if you can even get into Recovery you are not one of us that have hardware keys locked on boot. My best guess is you are not going into download mode correctly. If you have a hardware locked phone you can NOT get recovery or download. Do not take what he was saying out of context for a completely separate phone issue than the rest of us... and you sounded like a total prick in the process.

Anyway, I just swapped my Vibrant with online support. Even if you bought online take it to a store. You will still need to mail it in but you can get a free loaner while its gone. I am waiting on the new one so hopefully it will not have this issue.
[Vibrant General] tjsynkral:
Try the steps (don't skip anything) in post #150 and let us know what happens.

Edit - noticed the user eventually found my post and followed the instructions. Why aren't my alternate instructions in any OP?
[Vibrant General] flipper2006:
final update from me on my issues, i got a new replacement. Both are 10.07 version on the board inside the battery but this new one allows me into download mode by the buttons, thank god!
[Vibrant General] cdw9800:
i should get mines tomorrow hopefully i can get into download mode as well
[Vibrant General] eugene373:
****!!!

Found a way to get into recovery!!!!

Step .1

Pull Battery out of Phone

Step .2

Hold Volume Up + Down + Power Button...

Step .3

While still Hold All the Buttons, Put the Battery in, as soon as you see the Vibrant Screen let go of the Power Button..

This is the First time I've ever been able to boot into Recovery Mode.
[Vibrant General] richan90:
And you kept saying that your phone was hardware locked... haha
[Vibrant General] eugene373:
Considering I can't get into Recovery nor Download Mode like the Rest, I was Shocked this Worked!!!

No Reason to be a ****.
[Vibrant General] asatnik11:
Replacement (new) phone dated 9/10/2010 works

I got my replacement Vibrant yesterday. The good news is that the new, not refurbished, vibrant they sent can enter download/recovery mode with the hardware buttons! The new one is dated 9/10/2010 on the box, 10.09 behind the battery; the old one is dated 8/31/2010, 10.08 behind the battery.

Another note: don't try the "fixed" SBL posted in the I9000 forum. It will brick your US T-Mobile Vibrant. It resulted in a Vibrant that will not even show the vibrant screen, only a black screen.
[Vibrant General] zaduma:
Looks like he was just giving you a hard time man. Chill out.
[Vibrant General] MStrawder:
The battery out method Eugene posted about is the method that works for me 99.99% of the time. Especially the many times Odin has left me stuck at the phone ! computer screen. I always attributed the difficulty in getting into download, but not recovery mode on my device to user error.
[Vibrant General] richan90:
My apologizes. I was just frustrated that I still can't.
[Vibrant General] qtilt112:
just went into the t mobile store to exchange my hardware locked vibrant. The rep could not access recovery mode and told me that t mobile locked it INTENTIONALLY to stop rooting by end users. He would not let me do an exchange.

My mfg date is 8/19

P.S. i am still within my 14 day return policy.
[Vibrant General] :
Return it for a refund. Then go to another store and buy a new one. That store rep is full of crap anyway regarding it being done intentionally. Or you can order a new one from cust svc which is what I did. They are much easier to deal with than tmobile stores. I swear the reps in these stores treat you as if their company stock shares are being affected by giving a refund.
[Vibrant General] qtilt112:
went to a different store and got it swapped there... Too bad this new one is hardware locked as well. Mfg date is 9/11/2010
[Vibrant General] :
That's really weird. Mine is dated 09/01 and I can access recovery or download mode via hardware buttons. Who knows....
[Vibrant General] SamsungVibrant:
I wonder how many people who think they have the 3 button issue, are just not doing it right.
[Vibrant General] SamsungVibrant:
are you eugene? who is eugene, I keep hearing that freaking name around here.
[Vibrant General] SamsungVibrant:
15 exchanges, finally no hardware locked phone!

I exchanged my phone 15 times, finally Got one that's not hardware locked, well actually, just found out I was doing it wrong the first 14 times. :p

Please don't hate me when phones start costing 400 bucks on 2 yr contracts :(
[Vibrant General] qtilt112:
Its actually not hard at all, I was able to get into recovery easily with the floor model. I think I'm just going to return it online, I heard that you can tell them to check if the phone has recovery mode before shipping out.
[Vibrant General] :
I definitely know how to access recovery and download modes and the two defective phones I had sure as hell didn't work. But I do believe some ppl are prob doing it wrong or their timing is off. Just the fact that samsung released a new bootloader for canadian phones proves there is a known issue.
[Vibrant General] LukeNCMX:
My understanding is that the issue is with the SBL and that the SBL is overwritten with a JFD/ODIN image.

If a person with a hardware locked vibrant uses ODIN to restore back to stock wouldn't that write the hardware unlocked SBL and fix the issue?
[Vibrant General] :
not sure. i just think the best fix is to use the warranty you got on your phone when you bought it and get a new one shipped to you via UPS 3-Day. that's what we had to do with my buddy's Vibrant. now he's good to go...no issues. it's almost like they are making these phones in two different factories. and one of those factories is doing something different.
[Vibrant General] LukeNCMX:
I bought mine from ebay so no returns.

Regardless, unless I'm wrong about the second boot loader (layer?) it might work.
[Vibrant General] Chief Geek:
I have a locked one, I tried many many times before going into tmobile on my break and trying their display model and it went right in. regardless thw abd method worked flawlessly and with quickboot its a nonissue in practice, but still bugs me just knowing it exists.
[Vibrant General] SamsungVibrant:
so people with working phones, those that are easily able to get into recovery mode, what exact steps are you taking to get into your recovery mode easily. please detail your steps in full.

thanks
[Vibrant General] :
Vol up/down first. Then press and hold power until you see samsung vibrant. Release power immediately and then I see recovery menu. Or continue to hold all three buttons which will keep you in a reboot loop. Regardless, releasing power only whenever I see samsung vibrant gets me into recovery. Its really that simple on this phone. I also do not have to take anything out (sim sdcard battery). Either people are making this process to be more difficult than it really is or samsung has some jacked up phones. I think its more a samsung problem.
[Vibrant General] SamsungVibrant:
hey sabooher, my phone will only go into recovery mode, if and only if I wait till the white vibrant logo to appear a second time
[Vibrant General] Yankee0750:
Mine goes into recovery both ways. saboohers way and yours. Pressing and holding vol up/down first and then power, holding them till Vibrant boot comes on and release power but not letting go volume buttons till recovery mode comes on. Doesn't matter if I do it at the first time Vibrant logo comes on or leaving all buttons pressed till reboots for the second time. It takes for me about 5 - 7 secs after releasing power button for recovery to come up.
[Vibrant General] beowolf:
I tried everything and it still does not get into recovery or download mode with hardware buttons. I called t-mobile and they are sending me another one. I hope this one works.
[Vibrant General] distortedloop:
Interesting, my mate got a T-Mobile Vibrant with the same labeling as you describe (10.9) and I spent an hour trying to get it into either download or recovery mode. No success (other than via adb).

Probably some, but not all. I couldn't get my mate's Vibrant into download or recovery with any of the combos described here and in other threads. The only one I haven't tried yet is pulling the battery while holding all three.

I won't say with 100% certainty that I executed each method perfectly, but I am reasonably competent with this stuff. I've never had issues with timing or dexterity getting any model of iPhone (I have every one of them) into DFU mode (you know, where you hold a couple of buttons for so many seconds, then let go of just one for a few more kind of thing).

I've also never had issues with three button combos on my Nexus One, HTC EVO 4G or my own Galaxy S i9000.

My friend's vibrant is the fist phone I've ever had troubles with. I'm fairly confident it's not user error, but I certainly hope I'm wrong! :rolleyes:

Yeah, it's a non-issue until you screw up your phone with some poorly written update.zip or rom mod to the point where it won't boot normally, or at least won't boot far enough into a normal boot to let you adb into it. At that point, obviously, quickboot and adb won't help. :eek:

My personal primary phone is the SGS GT-i9000; I'm pretty comfortable trying anything on it because I know that with easy to access download mode and Odin, the phone's almost brick-proof. With my friend's Vibrant, I'm leary of doing anything that's not been thoroughly discussed and tested by others because I'm not sure that if I get him into a jam on the phone, they'll be a way out short of exchanging the phone. And of course, god help us if that happens, because @SamsungVibrant will give me a keyboard/tongue-lashing for running up prices of the phones. LOL.
[Vibrant General] vinterchaos:
ya i've tried that, and a bunch of other methods (except adb) and no go, just loops the vibrant white vibrant screen, when i let go of power it boots up the phone normal

my device box is dated 8/12/2010

guess i'm gonna give tmobile a call today
[Vibrant General] qtilt112:
my vibrant replacement CANNOT access recovery mode but CAN access download mode when connected to my pc via usb cable. Is having download mode and not recovery livable? will i be able to recover my phone after a bad rom flash with only download mode, or will i need recovery as well? My 14 day return policy expires this thursday, should i get another replacement?

thanks in advance
[Vibrant General] tjsynkral:
I doubt that unless one of your volume buttons is physically broken. Unplug the USB and try turning it off, then hold Vol Up + Vol Down and press Power. Release Power if you see the Vibrant logo but don't release Vol Up + Vol Down.
[Vibrant General] vinterchaos:
When I do that, my phone turns on. If I continue to hold all 3, it loops the Vibrant screen, 2...3... times doesn't matter, does the same thing, let go of power and it boots up and turns on.
[Vibrant General] qtilt112:
believe me, I've tried that already. In fact, i had the rep at t mobile try to access recovery on my phone and he could not. we were able to access recovery with the floor model, but with none of the newer models at the store, my replacement being one of them.

my phone does the same as vinterchaos when attempting to access recovery.
[Vibrant General] tjsynkral:
Must be a new version of the defect. Weird that now DLM works but not RM.

I wouldn't have left the T-Mobile store without a Vibrant that had working RM.
[Vibrant General] eugene373:
I have a Working SBL & Param.lfs if somebody is willing to try it... If so, let me know & I'll upload it, draw back is that you will need to use ODIN.
[Vibrant General] qtilt112:
yeah, but it just doesn't seem right to start ripping open boxes left and right; i feel sorry for the reps, its not their fault that the phones are defective...
[Vibrant General] vinterchaos:
can't get into dlm either
[Vibrant General] flameinthefire:
i think all the replaced devices by tmobile are hardware locked..
[Vibrant General] flameinthefire:
has anyone gotten a replaced vibrant from tmo that is not hardware locked?
[Vibrant General] qtilt112:
Im going to a different store to get mine replaced today, maybe only certain stores got the bad "batch".

P.S. I have talked to t mobile customer support and this IS a defect.
[Vibrant General] distortedloop:
I'll try it on my friend's Vibrant.
[Vibrant General] vinterchaos:
P.S. I have talked to t mobile customer support and this IS a defect.

Ya? They told me to call samsung and to **** off basically.

He was also using xda as his official information that our phones are hardware locked ...

Comical....
[Vibrant General] LukeNCMX:
Post it.

How do you know it works and where'd you get it?

I have not used ODIN yet (don't want to brick without hardware recovery) so any details beyound normal ODIN directions like in the visual guide thread would be great.
[Vibrant General] eugene373:
Pulled from a Known working Build

I'll Package it & upload later today when I get time.
[Vibrant General] pinoiryder:
this one workd for me to get into recovery mode.. i guess my phone is not on HW lock..
[Vibrant General] qtilt112:
here is a condensed version of my conversation:

tmob: ...those are the steps to a Master Reset using the hardware buttons.

me: yes, and i cannot access them.

tmob: Please try the following steps, please me aware that these are the steps to a master reset.

me: Yes, i am aware. //i know master reset is not "recovery" but it is accessible from the same screen as recovery so i follow along

tmob: Please power your device off.

tmob: Hold the volume up, volume down, and power keys. Release the keys when the Samsung Vibrant logo appears on the screen.

tmob: then press the volume down key to to scroll to delete all user data.

tmob: Press the power key to begin the master reset process.

me: okay, i did that, but the phone continues to boot normally.

me: i cannot access the android master reset screen at all.

tmob: Where did you get the device from?

yada, yada, yada

tmob: I see you bought your device on 9/09/10.

tmob: You have a 14 day Buyer's Remorse Period. All you will need to do is take the device back to the same store with all the materials and advise them of the issue and they will give you a brand new device.

tmob: I would recommend that you return your device for a new one.

Does that prove it for you Mr. know it all?
[Vibrant General] :
Yes, they replaced mine with a brand new unit since I was under 14 days buyers remorse and it can access recovery or download mode without any problems. Build date 09/08/2010. Tested it before I even let the phone boot up for the first time. The volume buttons on my old one were so bad they worked partially and rattled (loudly) whenever the phone would vibrate. Ironically that one accessed recovery and download modes fine as well. I just think the quality of these phones is inconsistent. I also noticed the latest leak build includes a new bootloader.
[Vibrant General] qtilt112:
Definetly. My first one was creaky, the glass was movable in the top left of the phone. My second one had problems with the LED for the capacitive buttons shining through the Samsung branding/logo. Fortunately, my third has none of those build quality problems, but can still not access recovery...
[Vibrant General] karimsaud21:
I am definetly past the "buyers remorse" period, BUT i heard that the manufacturers warranty will cover it since its hardware locked and i wont have any charge; does anyone know if this is 100% accurate?
[Vibrant General] vinterchaos:
wow relax kid, know it all ? i'm simply stating what my conversation was with tmobile, i ordered mine over a month ago online, not at a store, the guy i conversed with over the phone told me to call samsung and **** off.. and was using XDA forums as his official news source as to what is happening with these devices (the assumption that all new devices are hw locked)

don't need to be pulling fits over nothing, wow
[Vibrant General] :
Yes, this should be covered under warranty. You would have to send it in and get it repaired though. If it were me unless I was in a situation where the phone doesn't boot, I would just wait for the Froyo release and see if it addresses the problem (assuming it's corrected in firmware). On the other hand, if you brick your phone on your own doing, I would assume there would be some sort of repair charge. :)
[Vibrant General] eugene373:
3-button Fix maybe, SBL + Param.lfs from working Vibrant

If you can Load Download mode, this might Fix it...

Posting for the Person that said they would try it.. Load into PDA

PossibleFix.tar
[Vibrant General] DaSmittyman:
i read through the thread, i can not access dlm or recovery without using clockwork to reboot. Its strange though, when my phone is on, normal boot and i plug my phone in odin recognizes it. I have never used Odin but how long does it normally take to flash i.e the leaked "update"
[Vibrant General] tjsynkral:
ODIN won't actually install anything on your phone unless the "Downloading..." icon is on the screen.
[Vibrant General] Segnaro:
So did anyone try this out? :D
[Vibrant General] bobby915:
what if we do a nandroid restore with someone with a unlocked bootloader . maybe that will work?
[Vibrant General] distortedloop:
Thanks for posting this.

I tried it, but unfortunately it doesn't appear to fix this particular Vibrant.

Successful flash in Odin, complete with Success! and Pass! messages.

The phone rebooted itself into Recovery mode, so I selected Reboot.

After it rebooted, I powered down and tried a couple of different methods that supposedly put the Vibrant into Download. None of them worked.

What particular key combo/sequence should work?

Thanks
[Vibrant General] distortedloop:
Actually, the phone behaves differently now after all.

Turn off, hold vol +/- at same time, press and hold power until Vibrant appears, and keep holding. As soon as Vibrant disappears, the phone goes into a screen that has 7 red lines about RST_STAT and PMIC_IRQ. There's also a big green Android and it says:

"POWER RESET or UNKNOWN UPLOAD MODE"

That never happened before.

Same results if I just hold either of the volume buttons, no need to hold both.
[Vibrant General] zmodp:
let me weigh in on this for a sec..

i think this is not a defect.

They obviously disabled the volume keys while the power is off. the volume keys dont become functional till the phone boots up, thus stopping you from entering RM.

we started seeing Vibrants show up in delivery at our stores that had the volume buttons disabled while the power is off around 2 weeks ago.

ive seen this way too many times to think its an accident.

...like when they disabled AT&T roaming (which had been accessable for years) and then claimed: Tmo has never been able to roam off AT&T

...like when all flexpay credit applications were coming back prime credit, and then they claimed they didnt adjust the credit cubes to gain more activations

...like when they disabled UMA calling on wifi enabled handsets if they could pinpoint the routers geographical location to be outside of their official coverage area

...the list goes on

cust care might claim its a "defect" but they are paid per hour to read from a script. it is possible they are covering up for a poor decision made higher up the food chain to stop consumers from flashing custom roms.
[Vibrant General] vinterchaos:
Let me chime in on this, the guy I talked too at T-Mobile, got his "official" information from XDA, not a script, he came to this site and said "people are saying its hardware locked, so sending you a new phone won't matter" he didn't read this from anywhere else.

Also as your theory is nice, someone else has posted somewhere on XDA (be it true or not) Samsung Canada or something like that said that it isn't supposed to work like that and they're working on a fix, true or not.. don't know.

To go on a little more about it, people here have had this issue randomly from different dated phones (seems a lot in august?) and gotten newer dated phones that work correctly.

So even though you root phones ALL DAY LONG, that doesn't really make you a pro at anything other then following the steps correctly that other people have provided you.

Honestly who knows what the situation is, what we do know is that some devices will be ****ed if an OTA update freezes up on them, and they can't enter any mode.

I haven't called Samsung or Tmobile back, been busy but I will post any results or info after I do if anything is interesting.
[Vibrant General] DaSmittyman:
I went ahead and ordered a new phone, T mobile said they can only send out refurbished but what ever ill go with it. The new phone enters download mode and recovery mode just fine with all of the methods listed here. The volume buttons actually feel "better". They actually click, my first vibrant you just pushed on them and they moved. Which was weird i always thought but it controlled the volume didn't think anything of it until i couldn't enter recovery or download mode lol.
[Vibrant General] beowolf:
Just got my new vibrant and oh yea!!! I can get into download mode. I am so happy now. I can flash away without fear. Just send your vibrants back in if you have problems.
[Vibrant General] tjsynkral:
#1 - Working for a T-Mobile dealer != working for T-Mobile. Most T-Mobile dealers are independently owned businesses and don't know any more than a guy who works at Best Buy selling T-Mobile phones. For all I know, maybe you do work at Best Buy.

#2 - You're an idiot.

RM is an end user feature and is the first step T-Mobile support has users go through to wipe a phone that doesn't boot. IT HAS NOT BEEN, NOR WILL IT EVER BE, DISABLED DELIBERATELY. End of discussion. Seriously this time.
[Vibrant General] grennis:
Hey genius, if this is something that tmobile did, then why is it happening also to phones on other carriers?