yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Vibrant General] richan90:
I trust what you're saying.. but is there any way to test that out without having an already bricked phone? I want to make sure I can recover my phone before flashing your Vibrant hybrid ROM. So after Step 6 do you get the download mode screen? Or does ODIN now show a COM port and it works, even without the little digger guy?
[Vibrant General] johnny12times:
First off, absolutely no disrespect Eugene, you are an amazing developer and a HUGE contribution to this forum, I personally love your work and have tried many of your ROM's (actually looking at switching up to your newest hybrid rom next), but there are most certainly some of these phones that are hardware locked to the point that you can not get in to download mode, regardless of what you do. The steps you posted definitely work for some, and for non-hardware locked phones, they work beautifully, however, there are some phones that no matter what you do, no matter what order you do it in, you will never get in to download mode short of using ADB. The good news is, the lockout was not intentional, and exchanging your hardware locked Vibrant will generally result in a non-hardware locked phone (from mine, and many other's personal experience).
[Vibrant General] eugene373:
Download Mode is controlled by SBL, so if they truly changed anything that would be the cause.

I would think you could target redbend to update the SBL or even boot.bin bml /stl location.. I've not tried this, nor do I need too.. Just tossing options out there for people to try & don't mind risking a brick..

If you can get the SBL / Boot.bin for the Stock to flash via redbend, then this will solve the HW locks.. Now, Regarding my Phone, I can still get into Download Mode however, only by doing the USB trick &/or ADB reboot download.

I can not get into recovery unless I use clockwork Manager or ADB into

By the way, this is not a Hardware Lock issue as the thread states.. Not being able to get into download Mode like described, is a zImage issue & not the SBL / BOOT.bin

just as a FYI.

~Eugene
[Vibrant General] daddysays:
Its happening because you ran a full titanium backup including system data. Yeah, dont do that. Reflash, then reinstall user apps with data, and pick and choose the system ones that are obvious (mms, bluetooth settings, wireless settings, etc.) Then reboot for changes to take effect. When in doubt, dont restore.

Good luck. Although you won't need it if you do what I just told you.
[Vibrant General] dav3wash:
Just to share...

I had the phone!computer bricked Vibrant, and just got my replacement from Asurion (in fact, of the phones in front of me are from Asurion since my original got stolen 2days after it came out :mad:).

On phone1: The original TMO date is 8/12/2010, while the Asurion date is 8/19/2010. Also the ID is GJ/HLP. This one was HW Locked.

On phone2: The original TMO date is 9/2/2010, while the Asurion date is 9/10/2010. Also the ID is SM/HLP. This one doesn't seem to be HW Loocked, I can get into recovery easily, DL Mode ... not so much :confused:. Booting with vol+&- gets me into recovery, but booting with just vol- does nothing ...

Any thoughts?
[Vibrant General] rbirg:
Nope, just tried it :/

This. Wow I thought I tried it 100 times, but this just definitely worked. Thanks.

Now to figure out how to get into recovery!
[Vibrant General] takato23:
there is no fix yet?
[Vibrant General] qtilt112:
in another thread, someone reported that t mob CS said the "3 button issue" was on the list of fixes with official froyo... but what does CS know anyways? We may never get an official fix, but you can always hope.
[Vibrant General] PSP_Hacker:
I just had an online chat with T-Mobile and I'm now getting a replacement shipped to me in 5-7 days. I will report back here about the recovery button entry, the quality of the phone, etc.
[Vibrant General] PSP_Hacker:
Maybe that is true, since another company (a Canadian one I believe) had the same problem and corrected it with a software update. Why can't T-Mobile do this? Anyways, my phone had other problems too (accelerometer response time/lag, volume buttons loose & wobbly), so I just requested a replacement from T-Mobile. I'm looking forward to the replacement and I hope it's damn perfect :D

Once I can enter recovery and download mode, I will try ANYTHING on XDA.
[Vibrant General] SamsungVibrant:
spoke to tech support, tech searched all the internal memos and alerts, said this is a known issue, but samsung has not communicated to t-mo that a fix will or will not be released.

seems like different techs are saying different things
[Vibrant General] gregc2009:
Yes, they have. There is a software fix for it, just not for the vibrant yet:

The search feature is your friend.
[Vibrant General] stevja1:
Has anybody tried the new OTA to see if they fixed the "hardware lock"?
[Vibrant General] gho8t:
what works for me is to hold all three buttons and go into recovery mode.

while in recovery hold vol+/vol- and hit the power button
[Vibrant General] qtilt112:
check Q&A, apparently someone has posted the SBL from JI4 firmware, which fixes the 3 button issue. I think i'm going to wait for the OTA first before trying this fix though.
[Vibrant General] Chozodia:
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=804305
[Vibrant General] PolishDude:
Can someone please explain what hw lock is and how i can check if my phone has it or not? Thanks
[Vibrant General] demo23019:
You oblivious didn't research this thread...read my post/replies 2nd page
[Vibrant General] eugene373:
I can't use these Options : Booting with vol+&- gets me into recovery, but booting with just vol- does nothing : ... I can only boot ODIN with USB or I can boot recovery & Download with adb only.

Trust me Guys, I know what I'm talking about here!
[Vibrant General] Docavelli:
For DL mode I have always held vol +/- while pluging the usb in. Works every time.
[Vibrant General] Chozodia:
Not sure if thise helps anyone but I originally had a captivate until one of the later SRE updates and made the newbie mistake of not completely reading the op and ended up bricking my phone only able to work button combos once (still have.. still doesn't work). I ended up switching to t-mobile after reading through the vibrant and captivate forums and figured I would take advantage of the bogo deal since my girlfriend wanted a phone also.

The original dates on our two phones were both 8/14/2010 and only one of them was able to access download mode (I replaced them the very next day).. and it only happened an hour or two before I called and samsung and eventually got them replaced at a kiosk, oh and neither could access recovery.

The dates on the two replacement phones are 8/25/2010 & 8/27/2010 and both successfully get into download mode with no issues using almost any of the suggested methods on the forums and so far & I have only checked my (not gf's) phone for recovery which works using vol- / vol+ / power, until vibrant logo appears second time and release power. This absolutely did not work on the previous two and I definitely tried at least a 100 times on each phone.
[Vibrant General] sparks.calvin:
Thats just it I didnt do a full backup only user apps plus even then I never even get a chance to try and restore as soon as the Factory reset was done I started getting force closes and have not been able to even attempt a restore. Since I have a HW locked phone I cant get into recovery to reflash and since its a force close loop I cant even turn on debugging to go through ADB. Its all good though T-Mobile is already sending a replacement I Just cant figure out why a factory reset that should just erase user data caused so many failures
[Vibrant General] tjsynkral:
No, you don't.

Vol Up + Vol Down + POWER = Recovery Mode.

Vol Up + Vol Down = Download mode. Do NOT touch the power button.

I'm probably going to have to post a YouTube video of how to get into Download Mode because there are so many idiots posting incorrect methods of getting into DLM.
[Vibrant General] eugene373:
LMAO!!!!!!!!!! Do you Have my Phone?

No you Don't..

Vol Up + Vol Down + POWER = Recovery Mode. = Does not work on my Phone!

Vol Up + Vol Down = Download mode. Do NOT touch the power button. = Does not work on my Phone!

What does work!

USB Plugged in while Hold + / - & Inserting my battery = ODIN

or

adb reboot download

adb reboot recovery

&

Rom manager

Please know what your talking about before you speak up for somebody else!
[Vibrant General] tjsynkral:
Okay, let me provide the full procedure for you since none of the information is cobbled together in one place on this forum and the Original Posts including this one contain a method that doesn't work on all phones.

1. You must install the proper Samsung Download Mode drivers from http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=728929 and reboot.

2. You must have ODIN freshly open (if you disconnected, don't try to re-use ODIN without closing and re-opening it).

3. Power down your phone.

4. Hold Vol Up + Vol Down. Do not touch the power button or you will get Recovery Mode.

5. Plug in the USB.

6. Downloading screen appears.

Let me know if this works. I'll bet it does. And if it doesn't I'll bet you skipped a step.
[Vibrant General] xplanowestx:
Wow... Evidently you need to read through the countless posts of how many different people have HW locked phones. Does someone need to post a youtube video to show you this doesn't work for them?
[Vibrant General] eugene373:
LMAO!!

I'm guessing we Need to, as this guy does not Read at all!
[Vibrant General] tjsynkral:
I'll believe it when I see a YouTube video that follows all 6 of my steps above.

No other method posted on these forums has worked for my phone (Vol Down/Power, etc.) but the method I posted works every time.

Of course using the adb commands works also but I dislike adb.
[Vibrant General] tjsynkral:
One other thing, if your phone cannot even enter Recovery Mode Vol Up + Vol Down + Power, that is a defective phone. I have seen posts about that and it is covered by T-Mo warranty because Recovery Mode is an end user feature.
[Vibrant General] tjsynkral:
There is a video on YouTube of a guy using Vol Down + Power to get into Download Mode. He doesn't even have the USB plugged in.

This method doesn't work on my phone. In a vacuum of any other information I would assume like many other posters that my phone is "hardware locked." But it isn't.
[Vibrant General] xplanowestx:
Evidently someone needs to make you a video on how to click the edit button rather than spamming the thread as well...
[Vibrant General] n00bish:
I have followed those steps MULTIPLE times and never once has it worked to get me into download mode. Do you seriously think that I, or any of the other people complaining, are incapable of following six simple, little steps?

It's not rocket science to follow them. The phones are locked somehow, and there's no way around it yet. If you really really insist that you are right and everyone else is wrong, I'll take a video for you when I have the time. I just wish you took what we are saying seriously, because honestly the number of people who don't believe in this issue is astounding, when it really does exist.
[Vibrant General] tjsynkral:
Does your recovery mode work?
[Vibrant General] n00bish:
No, not via hardware buttons. I can get into recovery mode via adb or using applications on the phone.
[Vibrant General] tjsynkral:
Your phone is defective. Take it back for an exchange.
[Vibrant General] n00bish:
I have one arriving today. This is exactly what we are talking about, though. The phones are defective and that's what we're trying to make you understand - but this is not a small problem, this is my second vibrant with this issue, and I have little faith that the phone arriving today will be any better.
[Vibrant General] tjsynkral:
Right - call it what it is, a defective phone. It's not "hardware locked" and it's not any intentional change from Samsung to stop users from accessing RM/DLM.
[Vibrant General] eugene373:
that I agree with, that what I've been try to explain to people

But since Posting that, I'm more included to think it's a param.lfs issue rather than the zImage.
[Vibrant General] n00bish:
The reason we say hardware locked is because while T-Mobile classifies this as a defect, Samsung has not done that - which leads many to believe it could be intentional. Why else would such a large number of phones have this hardware button combination disabled but otherwise work perfectly fine? A manufacturing defect would very likely show other symptoms. That's just my thoughts on the matter, call me wrong if you'd like.
[Vibrant General] dustinkh:
UGH

Sigh...so I'm guessing since I picked up my phone off of someone on CL I'll just but waiting till someone can figure out a way to help me "fix" my defective phone as I can't send it in to t-mobile (or can I???)

I've been scouring the forums and google the last couple days looking for a fix and after trying 19373892739898629 different methods I think I'm just going to wait it out, maybe just get me another mts for the time being :mad:
[Vibrant General] tjsynkral:
Okay, you're wrong.

Why would Samsung distribute phones with no way for the ordinary dumb end user to do a Factory Reset if the need arose?

When I've called T-Mobile for help they have always had me do a wipe from Recovery Mode as the first step. It is an end user feature.
[Vibrant General] dav3wash:
Don't take it as me not believing you, hell i ran straght out to my car and grabbed my Phone!Computer Vibrant and tried it, hoping to get my info back. It just didn't work for me. ADB wouldn't recognize it at all, and no other buton combos would revive it either.

I just posted the dates and stuff from both just to see if anybody found any differences. Plus the one with the newer date is not HW Locked, and that just makes me think that it was remedied for newer phones ...

Just wanted to share, unlike that other guy who just "disproves you" with made up facts ;)
[Vibrant General] eugene373:
no that's fine, it's more defective then, than anything else, as updates are provided via odin, and if the customer can't update that bad for everyone.
[Vibrant General] tjsynkral:
Customers are supposed to use ODIN for updates?
[Vibrant General] eugene373:
most do, though I'm sure Officially T-Mobile / other Providers Don't like it.

When I say Customers, not in the sense your thinking of either! Dev. People.

But in the Past using the Behold 2, the update to 1.6 was for ODIN From Samsung & Update OTA from TMO
[Vibrant General] tjsynkral:
Yeah. I wouldn't mention "not able to use ODIN" when I'm asking T-Mobile to replace a defective phone. If you can access Recovery Mode, T-Mobile wouldn't consider your phone defective.
[Vibrant General] eugene373:
Very true :D

However I'm perfectly fine with my Phone, even with the Button flaws.

As I'm always at the PC anyways & in my build.prop setting I always have ADB debugging on so I can access ADB shell to reboot recovery or download mode if something goes wrong.

I'm lucky enough that My odin works & always has minus the flaws..

so until I can't access anything, then I'll worry about replacement. but, honestly the average user can reset the phone in settings & I'm sure thats the first thing tmo will tell you to do anyways ;) :rolleyes:
[Vibrant General] faldiin:
OMG Thank you. I installed ADB and used the Download command. This worked very well and I recovered my phone. Thank you again.....

I know I am in present of ADB Gods :)

Faldiin
[Vibrant General] SamsungVibrant:
For those of us who don't know, can you explain a hardware-locked phone, and why are some Vibrants hardware locked and others are not?
[Vibrant General] SamsungVibrant:
How to get into Recovery Mode, the right way.

Okay, I'm reading lots of people having trouble getting into recovery mode, thinking their phone is broken or busted. Chances are you are not holding down the power button log enough, or you are letting go of something too quick.

FOLLOW THESE DIRECTIONS STEP BY STEP. Hopefully they work for you, they do for me.

1) START with your phone off

2) Press volume down AND volume up at same time, keep them pressed in the entire time, do NOT let go. I prefer to hold my phone in landscape, this gives me better control with my fingers.

3) WHILE holding down volume up and volume down, press and hold power button, DO NOT LET GO OF ANYTHING. You should be holding down volume up, volume down, and power, DON'T LET GO! HOLD ON... and proceed to next steps, dont let go!

4) PHONE will start, you will see the white Vibrant logo. STILL DON'T LET GO, volume down, volume up, and power all pressed.

5) White Vibrant logo disappears, still dont let go!

6) White Vibrant logo re-appears again for the second time. Let go of power when you see logo appear second time, but keep holding down power down and power up.

7) Phone starts to enter recovery mode, you can let go finally.

Chances are everyone is doing it wrong.

had to edit step 6
[Vibrant General] cdw9800:
and if we have the "phone to pc" icon what now?
[Vibrant General] :
I think locked is a misleading term. It's more like simply "not working". Either way the buttons do not respond to anything....locked or not. Who knows if this was deliberately done by Samsung.

All I know is I've had four brand new Vibrants....made July 15, Aug 16 (2x), and Sept 01. Only ones that work with 3 button recovery mode and download mode via hardware buttons were the ones NOT made in August. So either Samsung did this deliberately or their quality sucks.

I'm thinking it's bad quality. If it wasn't for the impressive specs of this phone I would have kicked Samsung to the curb long before now because of the way they're handing (or not handling it) the problem.
[Vibrant General] :
My new phone will get into recovery regardless of how many times I wait for "Samsung Vibrant". First time it appears if I let go of power button it gets into recovery. Or if I hold power long enough it'll go blank and re-appear in an endless loop as long as I hold power down. Then let go of power and recover appears. Like I said it doesn't seem to matter how long I hold it down. I think the key is making sure volume up and down is firmly pressed.

I don't think people are necessarily doing it wrong; they may very well be, but I can guarantee you my previous two Vibrants wouldn't enter either recovery or download mode no matter what buttons I tried. Only way that worked was ADB. It's very easy on this new phone. It should simply work and not seem like rocket science. :D
[Vibrant General] SamsungVibrant:
Problem I'm having is getting into download mode, I got there by accident when I first got my phone, playing around with the volume rocker and power control, have no idea what I did I got to download, but since then, never been able to get back into it.

how do you get into download mode using your new replacement phone?
[Vibrant General] kamasi36:
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=751210

Read carefullyand you'll be fine.
[Vibrant General] SamsungVibrant:
can you show me how to get into download mode using just the volume rocker and power button, not using odin.

I've done it before by accident, when I was playing around with the volume and power, but I have no clue what sequence I pressed.

thanks
[Vibrant General] p()()pypants:
Not likely.... I think it was just a bad batch from mid august.

I had a phone from the soft launch, right up front, manufactured in july.... Had a bad usb port (loose), this phone also had a cputhat could not handle the overclocked kernel available without random freezes.

Turned it in through warranty on the phone.

Received a replacement dated 10.08 inside the battery cover, wouldn't boot into recovery for the life of me, wouldn't boot into dl mode using any combo of usb cable/power/battery placements.

Refused the replacement on the basis I couldn't manually access recovery via hardware.

Just received a second replacement. date inside 10.09. This phone manually accessed recovery and dl mode fine. This phone is currently running the overclocked kernel fine..... Also no ratty usb port, loose rattling volume keys, no blue tint to screen, all seems fine.

Maybe they are done with the release rush and will start enacting some more QC with all these returns.... Sulk there will be the occasional flaws.

Pooped from my Samsung Vibrant using XDA app...

Dont mind the skidmarks...
[Vibrant General] SamsungVibrant:
okay how do you get into download mode? what volume rocker power key combination do you use.

also your replacement doesn't have a blue tint? My original phone dated july has a blue tint. what kind of white does your new phone produce?

also..how is battery life on your replacement vs older unit?

ps...the batch theories dont hold true, i've heard people say june ones were mad, then july, then augest.. mine was made in july, and it will not go into download mode, i've gotten it to work by accident once, but don't know how I did it.
[Vibrant General] p()()pypants:
LMAO way to contradict yourself "it will not go into download mode, I've gotten it to work"... Everyone in july will go into dl mode, only mid august releases can't. Do some more reading...no one said june, dummies and user error causes the july malfunctions, mid august is impossible, and now we are seeing end of august and september dates that work fine... In other words bad batch.

Battery life has never ben an issue as far as smart phones go and only got better when I read a bunch of threads on here on how to "train" my battery and get the system to recognize completely charged and depleted values.

Same battery, same rom (just using an oc kernel now cause I can) so I assume the phone won't magically eat my whole battery...i think its user error for bad batteries anyhow.

What do you mean on what kind of white? The white kind... I already said no blue tint so unless they are fouling on the opposite side of the spectrum now, then no, its not an orange tint....

Pooped from my Samsung Vibrant using XDA app...

Dont mind the skidmarks...
[Vibrant General] :
I just think Samsung quality is subpar but that's just my opinion. Soon as the next phone to come out that works with TMO 3G with better specs than this phone (and I don't mean the G2) and it goes up on ebay or in the trash...whichever comes first. :D

For me to get into download mode mine works both of these ways, doesn't seem to matter.

Power off the phone. Plug in USB, then hold volume up/down and then power on. It immediately gets into download mode. I know people will probably say this isn't the way you should do this but it works fine on mine.

Or the more recommended method it seems. Power off the phone. Then hold down volume up/down and then plug in USB while volume buttons are held. You do NOT have to press power. It should immediately bring up download mode.

Like I said, both of the above mentioned methods work fine on my new phone. If neither of those methods work on your phone something is probably wrong with it.
[Vibrant General] SamsungVibrant:
people like you have no friends, you are the punk that nobody liked and while you made fun of everyone else, everyone else grew up to be successful in life, while you still spend your nights eating tv dinner by yourself and calling into sex hotlines.

for your information, my phone was made in JULY and it will not go into download mode no matter what I try. I can get into recovery mode. 1 TIME I GOT INTO DOWNLOAD MODE, by fluke accident, I was frustrated and kept pressing random sequences of volume and power, and it eventually got into download, but I have never been able to replicate this.

again my phone was made in july, and you claim july phones are perfect.
[Vibrant General] SamsungVibrant:
i tried both your methods, still no luck. should I have the battery in/out? plug into computer or power outlet?

again my phone was made in july and I can only get into recovery, not download.

EDIT! got it to work!!!! second method worked, not the first.

started with phone off

held down volume up and down... did not touch power button!

pluged into my computer via usb

boom instantly download mode!