yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Vibrant General] :
I love it when someone quotes that they're a "district manager" and we're expected to believe they are the end-all authority for all things cell phones. Whatever, we know better. I don't think this has anything to do with a deliberate change or disabling. I think it's bad quality control on Samsung's part which is why until a better TMO Android phone comes along this is a stop-gap phone for me. I sure as hell will never purchase another Samsung product....period. Their support of the Galaxy S so far has been a nightmare. The fact this problem exists on multiple Galaxy S lines/carriers disproves the "Tmobile disabled this" theory.

I've personally witnessed five brand new Vibrants with problems. The three made in July and September access RM/DM fine via buttons. The two made in mid-August did not. One of them had a broken usb port, the other two had loose and occasional non-working volume buttons. Subsequently, one of those with loose volume buttons entered RM/DM so I don't think that had anything to do with it. Only one of these Vibrants has no hardware or software glitches other than the usual suck gps and lag....which Samsung hopefully will address. I'm not holding my breath.
[Vibrant General] beowolf:
exactly, my new phone can get into unlock mode with no problems. So i don't know what Mr "District Manager" is talking about
[Vibrant General] Gerr1985:
I got my replace phone, which was suppose to be new... It does look new and appears to be never opened but the usb cable inside is zip tied (looks ****ty too) rather than the small black rubberband. The volume keys are also annoyingly loose but it boots up as it should and they do work normally work. I'm just afraid to get another replacement for fear I wont be able to get into recovery/downloader via hardware keys.

Should I send it back?
[Vibrant General] :
That volume button rattle to me is unacceptable on a $500 phone. I know we're not buying Vertu here but c'mon Samsung. I'd probably make them replace it. If they sent you a new one, it should be new and not zip tied, LOL. FWIW they let me hold on to my defective one when they sent me out the new one and then I shipped it back after I tested everything. Good luck.
[Vibrant General] vinterchaos:
so i have two options

get a replacement from tmobile

or send it to samsung and see if they fix it/send me a new one/send me a refurb

i can't decide @_@
[Vibrant General] takato23:
hey i'm from argentina and i've bricked my phone (its hw locked).. i'd buy it by ebay, the seller told me that i have to send it to samsung warranty (i have 1 year). Anyone knows if they will exchange me for a new one? or at least fix it?
[Vibrant General] intruda119:
I have similar question. Mine is an unlocked Vibrant im using on ATT. Will Samsung help me out or am I SOL.

I can get the charging battery screen but cant accesss download mode or recovery.
[Vibrant General] dav3wash:
If you have insurance ok your at&t plan, Asurion will replace it as long as you can fax in the upc from the side of the box.

I actually did this for my friend who didn't have insurance on his account, and that's what they requested when they saw I never used that Vibrant
[Vibrant General] PSP_Hacker:
I hate it how phones always have these small problems... you have an annoying problem like wobbly volume buttons, you get a replacement, and the replacement's screen is a tiny bit out of place inside. Or, you have a phone that can't enter recovery, you get a replacement, and the replacement is the same model of the phones that cannot enter recovery.

On my Vibrant, the volume keys are quite a bit wobbly, but they click normally and don't bother me when I use a case, though when the phone is out of the case it can bother me a bit.

Recovery and download mode CAN'T be started by a key press, which is ****ing stupid for any phone.

Other than these stupid hardware problems, I had no problems with the stock firmware before I wiped and flashed (through Clockwork recovery) a de-odex'd version of stock with root and busybox.

I can't believe that ADB is the only option for rescuing my $500 phone. That's stupid. I have been able to reboot into recovery with ADB when my phone couldn't completely boot after applying a screen density modification to the build.prop, but what if the ADB server ON the phone doesn't start? Like if the kernel can't start?! You're ****ed!

I have never used ODIN, but I wonder if flashing the stock ODIN packages will fix the recovery/download mode entry problem? I'm talking about something like this: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=734475 ..... maybe we all got a software version with this stupid recovery problem, but an ODIN flash of everything will give us what we want. Has anyone tried this yet?
[Vibrant General] distortedloop:
Has anyone else tried eugene373's fix?

Damn! Forum crash lost my posts from yesterday to eugene373 re: his possiblefix.tar.

Has anyone else tried it? It won't brick your phone, at least it didn't my friend's 10.09 model.

To sum up: First time I flashed it with Odin, 3-button (and 2-button) process which never did anything on the Vibrant, got me into some weird "unknown upload" screen (see picture). Easily reproducible, and posted a few days ago.

Yesterday I wanted to see if on some off-chance Odin would talk to "unknown upload" mode, so I plugged in to Odin in that mode and got a good COM status light. I tried flashing the possiblefix.tar file again. Odin never got past checking files that I could tell, so I pulled battery, phone rebooted fine. I turned it off and tried all the various 3 button modes, no go, phone just boots normally! Very odd.

I guess the first flash I did was bad or corrupted somehow.

I tried again to flash eugene's file with pit512 checked, and again without it.

Successful flashes both times, but I can't get into DLM or Recovery, or even that Unknown Upload mode now. Seems like no effect from the new sbl.bin and param.ifs that the tar flashes after all.

The i9000 guys are fixing 3-button missing problem with this thread and an update.zip file that only replaces sbl.bin, so I think eugene's on the right path for us. Caution, people on T-Mo Vibrants reporting bricks with that particular update; try at own risk.

Another thing on the i9k side is the fix sometimes disappears if you flash a new firmware that replaces sbl.bin.

Makes total sense, and really suggests this is not a "hardware locked" problem, it's simply something in the boot software - whether it's a bug or intentional remains to be seen.

Eugene's sbl.bin comes from a known working model, but I wonder if we might be able to try the one from some other phones with success.

sorry for long post, I'm combining thoughts from several that were deleted.
[Vibrant General] takato23:
hey, anyone had try to heat the processor with a hairdryer? i've been reading and works for some i9000...
[Vibrant General] 00sivan:
Caution I take no responsibility for severed limbs, retardation, comma or any other injury to yourself or your hardware that may result from the following fix:

Place a fork in an active electrical outlet while holding both volume buttons on your Vibrant! I heard this works even better than a blow dryer.

Don't really do that...

METHOD 2: Put your phone down and go ride a bicycle instead of doing something stupid like taking a blow dryer to your phone or any other electronic devices.
[Vibrant General] flameinthefire:
wow!!! will this work for the vibrant? i have a hardware locked phone too!!!
[Vibrant General] moyofalaye:
Bump

Just to bring this back to the front page.
[Vibrant General] chan_max:
Yeah, I9000 has a method to fix this issue, which is using Bootloader flash. It indicate that the bootloader control how your machine starts.

Wish someone can dump the bootloader from no-locked machine....
[Vibrant General] PSP_Hacker:
That would be great! Hopefully it won't brick our Vibrant.

BUMP!!!
[Vibrant General] xanderdad:
My replacement Vibrant is hardware locked. But I just used the easy method of adb reboot recovery which worked perfectly on the first try.Then I just rooted and can now use clockwork to get into recovery. To me it's not a big deal to not use the hardware buttons to enter recovery.
[Vibrant General] lead_foot:
mine couldnt get into recovery mode through the 3 button process. i brought my Vibrant dated 8/19/10 on the box with 10.08 under the battery, back to the store about the button issue and they gave me a new one. (i was under the 14 day customer remorse) the new one is dated 09/16/10 with 10.09 under the battery. it gets into recovery mode using the 3 button process with ease now. :D
[Vibrant General] distortedloop:
It's not a big deal

until

you screw up your phone with some poorly written rom or mod that puts your phone into a state where you can't get far enough into a boot to run adb commands on it! What you gonna do at that point? No way to get into Odin DLM or Recovery to fix the phone.

You are living dangerously without a safe way to get into recovery from a semi-bricked phone, in my opinion.

That said, I'll point out that despite numerous hacks, rom mods, lag-fixes, etc, on my i9000, I've never gotten to that kind of state, so the risk may be low, but the risk is there never-the-less.

Choose your mods wisely is all I can advise - at least wait until numerous reports of no problems with them. You can't afford to be on the leading edge without 3BR available.

My friend's Vibrant is the same label info as your replacement model. (10.09 under battery). I have tried at least a hundred times using various methods to get it into DLM or Recovery. No success. I'm very doubtful it's user error or lack of coordination on the button presses, but also willing to admit it's a possibility. Which specific method have you used with success?

Thanks.
[Vibrant General] :
I have one with the same label information 10.09. Mine was manufactured 09/08/2010 and it enters DLM or Recovery fine via buttons.

I power down the phone. Actually I can just reboot it, still doesn't matter. I then press volume down and up and hold. Then press power and hold it until you see "Vibrant". Then let go of power only and that brings up recovery mode. Some will say you have to wait a few "reboot loops" of Vibrant and release power on the second or third time but this isn't necessary for me either.

For download mode I power down the phone while connected to computer via usb. Soon as I see the battery charging icon I then hold volume down and up. I then press power and release when I see "Vibrant" and it enters download mode.

There are numerous posts that the download mode that I am able to perform does not always work on these phones. It consistently works on mine though.

You can also try pulling out the battery (and SIM and SDCARD but this isn't necessary for me). Then insert one end of USB cable into PC but NOT the phone yet. Hold down volume down and up, insert battery, and then insert USB cable into the phone. Do NOT press power. It should get you into download mode this way.

If none of these methods work for your phone I would get Tmobile to replace it. I had two of these Vibrants from mid-August that nothing worked at all. That's all I know at this point. Do a search, there are other tricks that may or may not be suggested by others. Good luck.
[Vibrant General] PSP_Hacker:
So I should get a replacement? My Vibrant is over the 14 day return period. I bought it around August 20.

I bought mine from T-Mobile's website. Has anyone returned it and got the problem fixed? (I see that some have) If so, did you return it to T-Mobile or Samsung? Was the replacement free other than shipping? I am pretty happy with my Vibrant and I want to make sure that replacing my current Vibrant and paying for shipping is worth it, and if the new unit I receive will not have tthis problem.

Or should I wait to see if the community at XDA can find the fix?
[Vibrant General] distortedloop:
Thanks for the detailed reply. We've tried all those methods you've mentioned, dozens of times each. This particular phone just won't do it with any of them.

Since the manufacture date info matches that of others who don't have the issue, it appears that the claims of certain labels being problem-free should be taken with a grain of salt.

The only time any method worked on this phone via buttons was after what was apparently a bad attempt to replace the sbl partition with the one Eugene posted last week. 3 Button did something to the phone, but it didn't get it into DLM or Recovery.

Time to replace the phone; problem is, my friend's a bit of a mouse when it comes to that stuff, not sure he'll actually go in and demand a new phone. His loss if he doesn't.
[Vibrant General] nermie:
I never attempted to access download mode before because i figured if i mess up my phone i'll learn to do it then. However i started coming accross these hardware locked threads, so i decided to see if i could access download mode on my phone, just to be prepared. Turns out there is absolutely nothing I can do to get myself into download mode. I grew up playing NES games; if i could manage all the long ass button combinations for konami games at age 6, I think i can manage holding down 2 buttons while pushing power/putting in a battery (I tried them all).

My buttons aren't 100% useless, because pushing one of the volume buttons when the battery charging icon is showing will cause the screen to light up. But they don't do anything for getting me into download or recovery mode.

Sounds like people are zeroing in on a fix. Which is good because I don't want to have to take my phone back as all the other little things still work. It can OC to 1.2 ghz stable, voodoo 4 fix works, gps works (with franken_twiz rom), etc.

I've used odin successfully a couple times using adb to reboot download and would feel pretty confident using it to help test a fix from eugeene. I have insurance on my phone and a spare blackberry pearl laying around. So worst case i am limited to text/voice while waiting for a replacement.
[Vibrant General] nermie:
Just like to add a bit more detail about what i'm experiencing.

I tried getting into download mode Eugeene's way (remove battery, sd card, SIM card. Plug in usb. Hold vol +/- while putting in battery). All that happens is a the round thing (what do you call that flower looking round thing that appears when phone is first booting?) shows up for a few seconds, and then it just shows the green battery charging icon. So i release the vol keys, and then press them both in again and press power. When samsung vibrant words first appear i let go of power and continue to hold both vol keys. Screen goes black, the round thing appears again, and then its back to green battery. If i continue to hold power button with both vol keys pressed, the black and white samsung vibrant screen appears once, then goes away to green battery icon, then to black screen with round thing, then battery icon repeat until i let go of power button and it sits back at green battery charging screen. So my vol keys are definitely changing the behavior of the phone, it just seems that every time i should get into download mode the phone screen goes black and then it reverts back to the battery charging screen.

If I unplug the usb cable, the phone acts different. Holding both vol keys and power, the phone will infinitely cycle back to the samsung vibrant screen and then start up like normal once i release power (as opposed to just showing samsung vibrant screen once and then going to charging screen when power released).

Seems without the USB cable plugged in, my vol keys do nothing. With USB plugged in my vol keys will change the behavior of the bootup, but not actually get me into download or recovery mode.
[Vibrant General] vinterchaos:
got my replacement phone in the mail today

same issues as the previous phone and in addition to that, it also had an extremely weak usb door cover, it didn't even click into place.. such a pos, bringing it back to the ups store tonight

gonna try one more replacement then ship the phone off to samsung i guess :mad:
[Vibrant General] nermie:
and one more to finish my story. My roomate has the same phone as i. I attempted to get her phone into download mode and got it on the first try. First thing i noticed was that her buttons were WAY easier to press. I have to really dig both fingers super hard to get my vol and power keys to register. Hers was a simple click and really easy to do. Popped right into download mode first try without having to do anything fancy. Now I know for sure there is something wrong and different with my phone, and its not just software because the buttons have a VERY different feel to them.
[Vibrant General] takato23:
anyone knows if any is making a fix for this? because i've send my phone to usa (i'm from argentina), and if it is hw locked again... i'm going to inmolate my self in a samsung store haha
[Vibrant General] nermie:
thats my backup plan...

Current plan is same plan I always have, patiently wait for Eugeene to fix it :). Worked pretty good for me so far. I'd start diving in myself, but messing with the bootloader sounds like a pretty bad idea with a hardware locked phone. So i'm going to wait until Eugeene posts another file that he says is safe to test, or wait for a samsung update. Going to keep everything backed up nice and good on my computer so that if i ever do brick and can't boot up I won't lose any data when i exchange it out.

EDIT: also like to add, I have a 3 day rule with flashing ROMS or kernels. I wait at least 3 days after an update was released before flashing to my phone, making sure to read the thread in its entirety to learn all the pitfalls to avoid. I've flashed from bionix to frankenwiz to several different lag fixes and kernels without bricking my phone because I read the directions from start to finish and only install stable reputable roms. If i knew i could get to download mode from a cold boot i'd definitely be much more john wayne about my approach!
[Vibrant General] wizern23:
i found the way into download mode for hardware locked vibrants. in another thread it said the download terminal emulator and enter su and then enter reboot download with the phone plugged in. it works and shows up in ODIN.
[Vibrant General] PSP_Hacker:
Thanks for posting this information, but we want a hardware method to enter recovery and download modes.

Because:

What will happen when the kernel can't start? The ADB server won't start, so ADB won't work, and the Vibrant is bricked.

When I bought this powerhouse I was expecting something that works completely. Look at Samsung pushing back their Froyo update another month..... The Galaxy S is like the EVO 4G of HTC. It's their handset of the moment. It's the biggest most beefy hardware out there. But they **** up the tiny but necessary pieces of their product, and ignore fixing it.

GPS fix took long, but it's here. Where's the recovery fix?

Will a GPS fix ensure more purchases of Galaxy S phones? YES!

Will the recovery fix ensure more purchases? Lol!!! nope, maybe a few.

That's the logic.

I hope someone fixes this stupid problem.

If I get a replacement phone, I might get a device with the same problem, like some people here have experienced. What the hell, Samsung?
[Vibrant General] nermie:
I visited the thread about fixing the 3 button issue for the i9000 posted earlier:

http://ip208-100-42-21.static.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=785201

At the very end of the first post there is a section with instructions on how to test if your phone can accept the fix or not.

After following the instructions i scrolled down and saw e-fused at the end of the file. What do other people get when they do this? What does it mean for possible fixes to this issue?
[Vibrant General] nermie:
Ok, I just read to the end of that long thread and it turns out quite a bit of people with e-fused phones attempted the flash and it went with no trouble and fixed their hardware locked issues. Hopefully this is still completely fixable by software.

Latest method used by the i9000 to get the 3 button combo to get them into recovery mode.

http://ip208-100-42-21.static.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=8395140&postcount=752
[Vibrant General] wi11:
I thought i had a hardware locked phone and i was about to send it out to samsung under warranty.

But i have found a way to enter download mode 100% of the time.

Turn off the device.

Immediately plug in charger.

At the same time start holding vol up/down

Download mode for me everytime! hope this helps.

Another question. Is having only download mode viable for roming/modding. Should i bother sending mine in and having a chance to get a really hardware locked Vibrant.
[Vibrant General] tissimo:
I haven't read the thread but I'll just add a little piece of info I found out last night messing with my phone.

When trying to boot into recovery, if I released the power button right when the vibrant screen came on, I wouldn't get into recovery. I have to keep holding the power button for about a second after the vibrant screen to get into recovery.

Edit: of course still holding the volume buttons.

Sent from my SGS Vibrant.
[Vibrant General] eugene373:
OP Needs to Add this Link to keep Repeat answer's & Question's from being Posted..

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=771247
[Vibrant General] distortedloop:
Eugene - I was wondering if you might be able to package up both a known good pbl and sbl ala @richthofen's model for the i9000 he posted here. All he includes is boot.bin and Sbl.bin.

Also one thing I didn't try in Odin with your original possiblefix file was Richthofen's instructions to tick the "Phone Bootloader Update" option.

My friend who owns the Vibrant with this issue is coming over this weekend, so I'll try to do it to his phone tomorrow if you post it.

Thanks.
[Vibrant General] tjsynkral:
That post is incomplete also, the information in http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=8158716&postcount=150 is correct.
[Vibrant General] N8ter:
9/22/10 Vibrant hardware locked. Waiting on replacement cause I pattern locked myself out.

It's not an August thing.
[Vibrant General] vinterchaos:
Replacement from t mobile worked this time and phone its in great shape!¡!

Now to read up on rooting and roms, finally :}
[Vibrant General] inkboy:
I have a supposed hardware locked vibrant, and I got mine into download mode this way.

power off phone.

press and hold vol up and down and power button

wait for the vibrant sceen to flash three times

on the third time the screen goes black let go of power and VOILA!

d/l mode here we come!
[Vibrant General] JasonCook:
This worked for me to get to stock recovery but not download mode.
[Vibrant General] PSP_Hacker:
This really worked?
[Droid X General] zehkaiser:
I use my car dock constantly with my X. I have my car charger connected to it so I don't kill my battery from Pandora. So today I used my gps in conjunction with Pandora. After about 20 minutes I noticed my battery indicator had dropped. I looked close and it wasn't charging anymore. I unplugged and plugged in each connection (cigarette lighter, back of dock, phone in dock). No dice. The phone did recognize I was unplugging it, though, as it reminded me to unplug my charger to conserve energy. I also tried to charge the phone with just the car charger alone instead of running though the dock. Still no dice. I got to my destination and took my phone inside with me. It was SUPER hot, but still running. I rebooted the phone and it was able to charge in my car again. I listened to Pandora without gps to get lunch. It indicated the phone was charging, but the battery % dropped a bit. The phone was no longer hot. It is now charging my phone without running Pandora or the gps. I took a trip using gps and pandora in conjunction without losing power, but also didn't gain a charge while in the dock. Could the heat have caused Android to force the charge to stop, or is the charger a piece?
[Droid X General] dryice1049:
I noticed the same the battery is overheating if possible put an ac vent on it. I've had this happen with my tp2 as well as my X. Sucks get to your destination with a dead phone.
[Droid X General] zehkaiser:
Dash mount disc, don't let me down. :-( The one for my garmin let go after 3 months and my gps hit the floor. :-/