Database Users

DREA100 and the infamous Triangle of death?

Ok.. So a friend of mine suddenly got a triangle with the exclamation mark picture on his phone. That's all it boots up to. So, he took it to T-mobile, they told him it's FUBAR, and sold him a new phone.
The fact that the thing boots to a recovery mode tells me that there's SOME way to un-FUBAR this phone. My friend is too technologically inadiquate to attempt to do any modifying, so I'm going to assume he was at whatever firmware level would hve been blasted out to T-mobile as of last Friday 01/15/2010.
If I boot the phone normally, it gives me the TriAngle. I pop open the keyboard and hit alt-L and the I get the Android System Recovery menu. at the bottom I get "E:CAn't open /cache/recovery/command"
I've spent all day bouncing around this forum, and many like it, downloaded all sorts of G1 fimwares trying to go back to RC29, RC28, 30, 33.. gah! The latest one I'm trying to update to is "signed-kila-ota-116143-prereq.TC4-RC19+RC28+RC29.zip" Which i rename to update.zip . I hit alt-L, select 'update from SD card' It goes through:
--Install from sdcard...
Finding update package...
Opening update package...
Verifying update package...
Installing update package....
Installation aborted.
That's it... no more log than that.
I've done the Alt-W, and Alt-S.. wiped cache partition. I think playing around with the recent firmwares might be fun, but I'd like to get this bad boy reset back to factory defaults. I've read the forums here on how to do that.. but all of the procedures fail.
I can get Windows 7 to recognize the phone, but I cannot access the sd card while it is in the phone. I've been transfering data to it by taking the sdcard out, and putting it into a known good SD card reader. I've formatted the sdcard to FAT16, and FAT32 quick and not quick.
Seriously.. why is this so complicated? Now I need some serious digging assistance. Is there an interface that will allow me to directly talk to this phone via the USB cable? How can I force an firmware onto it? Clearly something is functional, or I would get no I/O. How can I get this silly thing back to where it was? I know this thread seems like a redundant one, but as far as I can tell, its not. The typical procedures posted here don't seem to work, but I'll be happy to run through any steps y'all suggest. I'll resign that it's been bricked if that's really whats happened.. but I'm not ready to throw this unit away yet.
Ask questions.. let me answer them. I know this team can get this phone working again.
Thanks y'all.
--Rob aka The Austin Slacker.

Have you tried the RC29 DREAIMG.nbh file?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=4593084&postcount=1

Roadmasta01 said:
Have you tried the RC29 DREAIMG.nbh file?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=4593084&postcount=1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bingo !
sounds like your friend tried to flash something he shouldn't have. or messed around with stuff he shouldn't.
as far as taking it to the store, and accepting their suggestion to "GIVE US YOUR MONEY!" that was a mistake.
the phone is likely fine, and maybe you'll buy it from him for cheap, then fix, resell/use.
good luck, should be easy.

The "press camera and power to get to bootloader" procedure. I've tried holding the Camera while pressing power over and over and all I get is the triangle. However if I press power and the "back" button (swooping arrow to the left), I'll get the bars screen, and a Gray screen telling me to press send to restore.... Which is all good, but there's no progress or any thing to indicate that i've done something by pressing the send button.(based on cell phone standards, I'm assuming "send" is the green "call" button.
Is this normal?
No yeah.. he gave me the G1.. its mine. I just need to fix the little bugger.. .. well.. then laugh at him

Ok.. one more day (well ok.. couple hours) of fiddling with this thing, and i'm begining to wonder if Microsoft was involved. I'm not able to get this poor G1 to do anything new. I tried using a different SD card, hoping perhaps the one I got with it was bad... no dice. camera + power doesn't do anything useful.
I can connect it to the PC.. but i can't see the data card that way. adb devices reads no output, so its not correctly attaching to the PC (tried Windows 7 32bit, and Windows XP 64bit).. There's gotta be a good way to force a known good image onto this silly thing.
Is it probable that the internal memory has gotten corrupt somehow? I know someone out there's got the golden suggestion, please do tell if you do. I'd really like to use this phone.
--Rob

If you can get into fast boot (the tri color screen) there are ways to flash it... try getting into your tri color, then plugging in the USB cable and see if it switches from Serial 0 to USB at the bottom, if so you are golden to flash using the fast boot method.
There are guides around on how exactly to do that, as well a couple places that you can download the official RUU that will do all the hard work for you!

gah.. nothing doing. I can hit Back and Home, and end up with the tri-color screen for about 1/5th of a second, then a gray screen saying:
This operation will delete all your personal data, and reset all settings to manufacturer default. Press Send to restore manufacturer default, or press other keys to cancel.
At this point, the unit is dead. I can remove the battery, and continue on my little quest.. but hitting *any* key at all (including the Send key) will not produce any sort of output. I've tried pressing Send one time, then setting the phone down for a full hour (watched a netflix show) nothing. I can't power it off either w/o removing the battery.
I would throw in the towel.. but from all the research i've been doing, it seems as if this one is behaving in a manner in which other forum users havne't posted. Maybe by continuing to try options and post results, a positive outcome will come out, and someone else who has a G1 behaving this way will have an easier time.
... or y'all can tell me that its toast and to bugger off.. ha ha.. either way.. I continue to google. If you can think of anything, please toss it out.
OH!.. tried an RUU.. found one called. RhodiumSPLRelocker Looks promising.. but can't see the device when attached to the PC... yeah.. guess the phone has to have a functioning OS before that will happen...

You would want a Dream RUU... I looked around a bit and couldn't find one. Maybe someone has a quick link?
Double check that your SD card is formatted FAT32 and see if you can get ADB to see it when on that greay screen.

I've formatted the SD card in FAT32 multiple times.. I even questioned if my Windows 7 32bit would do it, and formatted it on a laptop running XP 64bit. adb doesn't seem to see it ever.
I don't get why I can't get it into fast boot. I've been looking on ebay for dream G1s with broken screens.. heh.. I guess i'm preparing for the worst. really sad, becasue this G1 was actually pretty well taken care of. My friend didn't do anything he shouldn't. HE woke up one morning and it was like this. He lives out in the country.. so he gets pretty spotty signal. I'm wondering if T-Mobile didn't push out an update, and it got interrupted by signal loss.
By the by... I've been doing all this work w/o a SIM card. Does that matter?

austinslacker said:
(based on cell phone standards, I'm assuming "send" is the green "call" button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its not the green send button -- its the red end button
see below extracted from http://theunlockr.com/2009/07/05/how-to-unroot-your-t-mobile-g1/
Load the DreaIMG.nbh File
1. Download the Original DreaIMG.nbh file:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XXSQ0T7W
2. If the file downloaded above downloads as a .Zip file, please unzip it first then put the DreamIMG.nbh file that is inside on the SD card, NOT in any folder. (If you did Section I the phone is off still, take out the memory card, put it in the MicroSD adapter and plug it into your computer to transfer the file over, since your G1 won’t turn on right now if you did Section I above. Otherwise if you did not need to do Section I above, then you can just put it on the SD card normally using the usb cable and the phone).
3. Turn the phone off if it is on.
4. Turn on the phone by holding the Camera button and the End key until the bootloader screen turns on.
5. Hit the End key to start the update. DO NOT INTERUPT THIS PROCESS.
6. Once it is done, hit the trackball to restart the phone. You now are on the stock firmware RC29

austinslacker said:
The "press camera and power to get to bootloader" procedure. I've tried holding the Camera while pressing power over and over and all I get is the triangle. However if I press power and the "back" button (swooping arrow to the left), I'll get the bars screen, and a Gray screen telling me to press send to restore.... Which is all good, but there's no progress or any thing to indicate that i've done something by pressing the send button.(based on cell phone standards, I'm assuming "send" is the green "call" button.
Is this normal?
No yeah.. he gave me the G1.. its mine. I just need to fix the little bugger.. .. well.. then laugh at him
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mention that you can access fastboot by pressing the back button while turning it on, isn't that how the hero gets into fastboot? maybe your friend tried flashing a rom that was meant for the hero. if you have access to fastboot you should be able to flash a new image from there, just place the image file in the root of your card and follow the fastboot instructions

Also if fastboot isn't doing it for you have you tried adb? if you don't know what that is look it up I've seen a couple guides on how to do it and they are really detailed.

Im having the same problem, Im stuck in the recover triangle of death. Ive done the alt+w and reboot, the RC29 DREAIMG.nbh , the update.zip, camera+power, I cant get the gray screen to pop. Nothing, its brickkkkeeeddddd, FUBAR. There has got to be someway I can reload this G1. I wasnt trying to root it or anything. I was bowling and then it triangled on me. Anyone have any ideas at all on how to fix it?

Triangle of Death
I'm from Brazil, I can't take it to t-mobile to fix...
when i tried to root my G1 did the downgrade perfectly, the screen was just as it was suposed to be.
But in the recovery mode boot, appeared this triangle with an exclamation...
what do i do now???? help plz!

deftoneage12 said:
Im having the same problem, Im stuck in the recover triangle of death. Ive done the alt+w and reboot, the RC29 DREAIMG.nbh , the update.zip, camera+power, I cant get the gray screen to pop. Nothing, its brickkkkeeeddddd, FUBAR. There has got to be someway I can reload this G1. I wasnt trying to root it or anything. I was bowling and then it triangled on me. Anyone have any ideas at all on how to fix it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any one have any ideas? hell ill pay someone to fix it for me

The only idea I have is make'ing an goldcard so your sure your phone accepts the update (dreaimg)... other than that...
Sent from my HTC Dream G1 using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk

Any chance the home button is stuck? I'm not 100%, but I think if you were to hold home, camera and power, the recovery would come out on top.

Home button is not stuck, and cant seem to figure out the CID of my SD card since my phone is unaccessable.

bricked?!? -SOLVED-

I've tried the "brick fixes" on this forum, but without luck so far... I can get into download mode, and I've tried flashing with odin from this post which says "passed" to me. After this is reboots into a black screen after the "galaxy S" screen, and nothing can be done except making the capasitive buttons light up...
All help is appreciated!!
FYI I don't have a SD card installed during odin...
Solutions in #6 and #7...
Thanks a ton

Novek said:
I've tried the "brick fixes" on this forum, but without luck so far... I can get into download mode, and I've tried flashing with odin from this post which says "passed" to me. After this is reboots into a black screen after the "galaxy S" screen, and nothing can be done except making the capasitive buttons light up...
All help is appreciated!!
FYI I don't have a SD card installed during odin...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like a boot loop, but I can't figure out why you would get one with the stock odin flash. Try doing a factory reset? it shouldn't be needed, but who knows?

how? tried the "hard reset" whitout luck

Novek said:
how? tried the "hard reset" whitout luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In recovery.. there should be a factory reset option. I thought odin did that though.

when it is resetting I can read "mbr checksum error" or similar in yellow text before it's wiping data etc...

Try this ...turn you phone off but keep it plugged into you cpu usb cord and open oidin, next put your phone in download mode and put the needed files in oden and click start I had a hard time getting odin to work right for some reason this may not help but it worked for me. Good luck I don't think you bricked I think you can come out of this.

I assume that you used the partition in ROM Manager? If so I had the same problem as you. The phone would boot up to a black screen with only the buttons working. What I did was flash Eugenes 2.2 Froyo Rom, I surprised that it booted up and worked. After that I flashed back to stock rom and it work as it did before!

AustinKnight45 said:
Try this ...turn you phone off but keep it plugged into you cpu usb cord and open oidin, next put your phone in download mode and put the needed files in oden and click start I had a hard time getting odin to work right for some reason this may not help but it worked for me. Good luck I don't think you bricked I think you can come out of this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the help, but my problem occurs after odin... when it's rebooting and it says "passed!" i just end up with a black screen with only the capasitive buttons lighting up when pressed...
ElahC said:
I assume that you used the partition in ROM Manager? If so I had the same problem as you. The phone would boot up to a black screen with only the buttons working. What I did was flash Eugenes 2.2 Froyo Rom, I surprised that it booted up and worked. After that I flashed back to stock rom and it work as it did before!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's my problem!! found it, downloading now... will report back for future accidents...
Froyo worked!! Thanks a ton! Now I just have to downgrade

sry... dubbel

I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM. How did you get odin to detect your phone? I put it into download mode but no detection plzzz help

farrisizdaman said:
I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM. How did you get odin to detect your phone? I put it into download mode but no detection plzzz help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I turned the phone off while the usb was connected when the phone if off open odin ounce its open boot up the phone and boot it into download mode from there odin will connect and you can put the files you need into it and click start. This worked well for me when I needed to revert back to factory vibrant after flashing the "Real lag FIX" kernel that made my ear piece not work and some of my buttons not work but boy was my phone snappy and my benchmarks were awesome but what good does that do when your girl calls you and you cant hear her and all she can hear is you saying hellllllllooooooo .

I"ve been trying to flash with odin now for about 2 hours. It gets stuck on DO NOT DISCONNECT. And never finishes.

farrisizdaman said:
I"ve been trying to flash with odin now for about 2 hours. It gets stuck on DO NOT DISCONNECT. And never finishes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ya it was like that for me until I did what I said in my last post, you do have the samsung drivers installed ?
Edit: And you are using this method or this thread HERE

farrisizdaman said:
I"ve been trying to flash with odin now for about 2 hours. It gets stuck on DO NOT DISCONNECT. And never finishes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have managed to get into download mode right? My device is up and running stock now, but gonna try some other ROM now =)

Glad to hear your phone is back up and running .

i know this is an old thread, but i figure this can help someone later... brick is a common search term, and i figure this will come up in a search and this will save time for others...
here's what happened to me. i was flashing back to stock and was in download mode. the blue bar was moving etc and murphy and his dumb law decided to kill my my usb port... i thought the phone was DEAD! nothing i did woke the phone up. no battery indicator, buttons didn't do anything... it was all black. holding up/down and power didnt turn the phone on and into recovery or download mode... the phone was DEAD...
then after scouring the forum forever, i finally got the phone into download mode...
NOTE: i don't recall if the usb wire was plugged into the computer or not... i think it was though...
NOTE2: samsung drivers should have been installed already...
- remove the battery
- hold vol up and vol down buttons
- reinsert battery
i thought WOO HOO!! I GOT INTO DOWNLOAD MODE!!!
the next issue i had was getting odin to recognize the phone... it didn't detect what com port i had. but after a lot of reading, i finally got it to work...
- open odin first
- then get into download mode using the steps above...
after odin recognized the port the phone was plugged into, i flashed back to stock rom using the instructions given on this site... and my dead phone works again...
i was able to fix a dead phone!! this phone could be un-brickable!!
i hope this helps...

farrisizdaman said:
I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM. How did you get odin to detect your phone? I put it into download mode but no detection plzzz help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Open odin first, then plug in your phone.

Please Help. Can't get past white Samsung Vibrant Screen.

I followed the instructions from here ( http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=743769 ) up until flashing the actual zip and forgot I put the zip on my external sdcard rather than "internal" sdcard. Now my phone won't get past the initial white Samsung Vibrant screen. Also, I can only get into stock recovery. After clicking "reinstall packages" it just reboots and brings me back to stock recovery. Please help. Thank you.

You will need to flash back to stock then you will have access to your phone again.. you will have to start over to flash that rom. after you flash back to stock using odin
use this thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=734475
You will need the right windows drivers so Odin will see your phone pick them up here.
Windows 64bit
Windows 32bit
Directions posted by setzer715
1. Put your phone in download mode by plugging it in and then holding Vol Up+Down and Power. As SOON as the screen goes black release power but NOT Vol Up+Down.
2. Launch Odin
3. Unplug your phone.
4. Load the pit and pda files into odin.
5. Plug your phone back in. You should now see one of the small blocks turn yellow and show you the com port. If not, something is wrong with your drivers.
6. Click start. If it flashes, great. If it hangs at File analasys then repeat 1-5.
6a. If Odin hangs at cache.rfs then move on to 6b.
6b. Unplug your phone (Odin will say it was removed) and remove the battery. DO NOT SHUT DOWN ODIN!!!!!!
6c. Put the battery back in and plug it back into your computer and put it back into download mode using step 1.
6d. Press start on Odin and it should now flash.
Also if you continue to hang at cache.rfs I found that if you delete s1_odin_20100512.pit then copy a new copy of the file over to your odin directory it seems to work fine after that.

Damn it.Thanks....

vol dn+up should get you to the stock recovery util right? the yellow and blue one?
edit: nvm, scare is over lol

On step 6d, where it says to press start again on odin, odin does not let me do this. The start, reset, pit, pda, etc... buttons are grey and will not let me press them. Help!
EDIT: also gives me a message in the upper left corner that says "CACHE" if that helps (in the far upper left box above where the yellow COM3 thing was.

bumpbumpbump

$iMoney said:
On step 6d, where it says to press start again on odin, odin does not let me do this. The start, reset, pit, pda, etc... buttons are grey and will not let me press them. Help!
EDIT: also gives me a message in the upper left corner that says "CACHE" if that helps (in the far upper left box above where the yellow COM3 thing was.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to delete your s1_odin_20100512.pit file and then extract a new copy to the odin folder then flash again. happened to me and that is all I did to fix it. step 6d did not work for me has well.

Hmmmm it's still not working. Would it help if i made a video showing what i'm doing then you can look it over and tell me if I'm doing something incorrectly? Also maybe I should be more clear. There is no way for me to start the flash again after removing my device as per step 6 without having to completely restart odin, thus restarting the process.

Update: Still not working. Really need a fix for this. Is there another way to un-brick my phone?

EDIT: To clarify, my problem was getting stuck as Cache.rfs and never going past that. I did try the previous steps listed in this article, as well as trying to reinstall all drivers and even using different Odin copies from other threads (even though they were all the same Odin 3). No .pit file seemed to work for me. Also, I'd like to point out that I have this issue with my netbook, but my work computer where I've done all my Odin flashing before did not have this issue, and I could use the .pit files perfectly fine.
First off, I'm not anyone special (I guess depends on the meaning of special), I don't dev... I play around. That's all. So take this all with a grain of salt.
I had the same issue, and have spent all night trying to fix it. Just now I didn't use the .pit file at all. Just the .tar in the PDA slot. Immediately went through and reflashed everything and I am fully up and running.
I can't guarantee that I don't have some kind of issues now but I am now back at my home screen and the phone seems to be operating fine.
The files I used are as follows:
Stock 2.1 firmware for the Vibrant: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=739091
Samsung studio 7 (seemed to get Odin to recognize the phone without having to disconnect and reconnect, thought it might have something to do with the issue, though not sure): http://www.4shared.com/file/117435710/3d286573/Samsung_PC_Studio_72249.html
And the Samsung USB Drivers: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=728929
Now, if a real dev can tell us what happens when you don't use the .pit file, we can know if there is any longterm repercussion from this. Short term though, working like a dream. I hope this helps, because being stuck without a working Vibrant sucks!

ODIN is a pain but I've found a way to get it work pretty consistently for me. Whenever you flash a ROM or back to stock, always make sure you enable USB debugging, and have adb working on your computer.
Open up your command console, plug in your device, open up ODIN, and type "adb reboot download". ODIN should recognize your phone when it restarts and a COM will light up.
From my experience, ODIN recognizes the devices better this way and hasn't hung for me so far (granted it's only 3 times). When I was booting into download manually and then plugging in the USB, it would hang at cache.rfs. If you don't have USB debugging enabled, then only thing you can do is keep retrying over and over. Took me like 15 tries once before it finally ran.

Can't thank you guys enough. Phone is back to normal! As soon as I didn't use the pit file it worked like a charm.

hey...i'm in the same situation as you...i can't get it to work...i'm trying to do just the tar file right now but it still hangs on cache.rfs how long did you have to wait?

$iMoney said:
Can't thank you guys enough. Phone is back to normal! As soon as I didn't use the pit file it worked like a charm.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
which firmware did you use? did you use the true stck 2.1 firmware?

tq745 said:
hey...i'm in the same situation as you...i can't get it to work...i'm trying to do just the tar file right now but it still hangs on cache.rfs how long did you have to wait?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It should go right away. If it's hanging at cache.rfs, then it's not working. I really think its a drivers issue with ODIN. Just keep restarting your phone and ODIN and retrying.

I used the tar file that is linked to from the second post on this thread. I didn't even download what you linked me to, I just didn't use the pit file, like you told me and it worked with the files I already had.

My phone will absolutely not go into download mode. Is this a sign of some other problem or am i just out of luck?

ahhduy said:
My phone will absolutely not go into download mode. Is this a sign of some other problem or am i just out of luck?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how are you trying to get into download mode?

skater4690 said:
how are you trying to get into download mode?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Holding down + power when turning on, tried other varients like volume up instead of down, usb connected or usb not connected etc.

ahhduy said:
Holding down + power when turning on, tried other varients like volume up instead of down, usb connected or usb not connected etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok try this...
1)plug into a usb with power
2)wait for the battery to show up
3)hold power and both volume buttons
4)wait for the vibrant screen to flash twice it will go once then seem like it turns off but then pops up agian
5)after it turns off the second time release the power button but still hold the volume buttons and you should be in download mode now
REMEMBER TO HAVE THE USB PLUGGED INTO THE COMPUTER AND YOUR PHONE!!!

People with hardware locked vibrants..

What can we do? I dont want to mess with anything again because i know if anything goes wrong i cant get in to download mode.. But i too want to flash the new roms and gps fixes. Is there anyway to make the hardware buttons unlocked?

Why not use adb? I used it and Odin for the first time two days ago flashing this new patch and it was quite simple. I, like you, have a hardware locked handset. Let's hope it didn't take you nearly the same two hours that it took me.

You can root using clockworks and run some of the patch through clockworks too. Try not to use odin unless you really know what you're doing. A lot have odin hang on them. Other than that, you can flash rom using clockworks.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

jonathan3579 said:
Why not use adb? I used it and Odin for the first time two days ago flashing this new patch and it was quite simple. I, like you, have a hardware locked handset. Let's hope it didn't take you nearly the same two hours that it took me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I received 1 of the new hardware-locked phones and used adb to get into "download mode" - but odin got stuck and I had to unplug the phone and tried plugging it back in and it didn't work. Once I took the battery out, I got the dreaded "phone to pc" icon. I tried a whole lotta combinations all read here on XDA - nothing worked. One I got that "phone to pc" icon - i was screwed. Adb doesn't work at that point.
Basically - I wouldn't use Odin with one of the newer vibrants - only update.zip stuff
*Just a suggestion*

TWO HOURS! Lucky SOB, took me over 4 hours, but I was at work with nothing better to do then to play with it on and off, google some more, crawl xda, play some more....rinse repeat...
But I don't think there will be an official "fix" as in their eyes nothing is broken. It is as they intended. I'm not really sure if this move was by tmo or samsung, but regardless it's a PITA. I used ADB. The hardest part is getting the drivers in, after that it's easy cake walk thanks to the wealth of knowledge here at xda.

glensta said:
I received 1 of the new hardware-locked phones and used adb to get into "download mode" - but odin got stuck and I had to unplug the phone and tried plugging it back in and it didn't work. Once I took the battery out, I got the dreaded "phone to pc" icon. I tried a whole lotta combinations all read here on XDA - nothing worked. One I got that "phone to pc" icon - i was screwed. Adb doesn't work at that point.
Basically - I wouldn't use Odin with one of the newer vibrants - only update.zip stuff
*Just a suggestion*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
exactly my point. this is what happened to me. but think about this lets say i flash a rom right and you know how sometimes it hangs on the vibrant screen and just stays there. and in order to get it back i am going have to use odin. which i cant.......... so i think i wont mess with anything anymore. Rather just wait for official 2.2 ota update.

Chief Geek said:
TWO HOURS! Lucky SOB, took me over 4 hours, but I was at work with nothing better to do then to play with it on and off, google some more, crawl xda, play some more....rinse repeat...
But I don't think there will be an official "fix" as in their eyes nothing is broken. It is as they intended. I'm not really sure if this move was by tmo or samsung, but regardless it's a PITA. I used ADB. The hardest part is getting the drivers in, after that it's easy cake walk thanks to the wealth of knowledge here at xda.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Take it back and do a warranty exchange cause the buttons arent working correctly.

I've never tried it because I could never get Kies to connect to my phone, but isn't there a way to update firmware through Kies? I know the i9000 guys use Kies to upgrade, but I think that's only to get drivers and the updates though. I wish Samsung had a better interface than Odin to flash firmware. It's absolute garbage.

Hello, I am new to this android stuff but think I may have a problem and no hardware keys may come into play.
I rooted my phone for no other reason than to remove bloatware
I removed what I new was safe and left alot on the phone just because I was not sure what to remove
Phone was working great and had no problems
I decided I wanted to do a factory reset to remove all my apps and user data etc.....
I did do a titanium back up of my apps so I could easily resinstall if I wanted
I did the reset and now as soon as the phone boots I get TWLauncher force close and just about any other app that tries to load just continuose force close loop
I did not remove the original launcher so I am not sure why this is happening but I cant flash since I cant get into download mode and I cant use ADB since my phone wont let me put into debug what to do?????????????

glensta said:
I received 1 of the new hardware-locked phones and used adb to get into "download mode" - but odin got stuck and I had to unplug the phone and tried plugging it back in and it didn't work. Once I took the battery out, I got the dreaded "phone to pc" icon. I tried a whole lotta combinations all read here on XDA - nothing worked. One I got that "phone to pc" icon - i was screwed. Adb doesn't work at that point.
Basically - I wouldn't use Odin with one of the newer vibrants - only update.zip stuff
*Just a suggestion*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is how I got out of "phone to pc"
get into download mode (i went through it manually, as in plug in the phone, and pressing the volume buttons together at the same time)
Connected to ODIN, and by perfect accident, I clicked on "start" without placing ANY files in ANY spots.
This is what I thought "OMG $h!t" Well my phone was already bricked enough, so i just let it run its course through ODIN. My phone magically rebooted, and it booted into the ROM i had installed before I got the "phone to pc" problem.

Whats the disadvantage of having a hardware locked phone?
From what I'm reading i cant load custom roms? or can use Oden?
Also I just got mine and im sure its hardware locked but how can I tell
TIA

demo23019 said:
Whats the disadvantage of having a hardware locked phone?
From what I'm reading i cant load custom roms? or can use Oden?
Also I just got mine and im sure its hardware locked but how can I tell
TIA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The disadvantage is that it is harder (maybe impossible in some situations?) to get into the Download mode if something goes wrong during a ROM update. You can still load custom ROMS but if something goes wrong, you might not be able to get to Download mode to be able to fix it.
I had the phone ! PC screen on mine when I first tried to unsuccessfully flash Vibrant8. Luckily, my Vibrant doesn't seem to be hardware locked and I was able to get back into Download mode and re-flash it with Odin.

I'm able to access download mode with volume keys and i can access recovery mode so i guess im ok
also date on box is 8/27/10

How do you know whether you have a hardware locked Vibrant or not?

No No No.......
When you can't get into Download MOde....
assuming you just got a Hang in ODIN Flasher...
1. Un-plug usb from Phone ( But still plugged into the Computer )
2. Pull Battery
3. Let the Phone sit for 15 to 30 seconds
4. Plug in USB to Both Phone & PC if not already
5. Hold Both Volume Buttons
6. Put Battery in while still holding Volume Buttons.
My Phone is HW Locked as well, with a v1 board.
every-time I get odin hang, doing the above always results in letting me re-flash.
These Phone's by Design are hard to brick, unless you>
A. Change SBL
B. Use the Wrong .pit file for Partitioning
C. param.lfs does not Brick the Phone, but Does mess with Screen rendering
~Eugene

eugene373 said:
No No No.......
When you can't get into Download MOde....
assuming you just got a Hang in ODIN Flasher...
1. Un-plug usb from Phone ( But still plugged into the Computer )
2. Pull Battery
3. Let the Phone sit for 15 to 30 seconds
4. Plug in USB to Both Phone & PC if not already
5. Hold Both Volume Buttons
6. Put Battery in while still holding Volume Buttons.
My Phone is HW Locked as well, with a v1 board.
every-time I get odin hang, doing the above always results in letting me re-flash.
These Phone's by Design are hard to brick, unless you>
A. Change SBL
B. Use the Wrong .pit file for Partitioning
C. param.lfs does not Brick the Phone, but Does mess with Screen rendering
~Eugene
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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?

eugene373 said:
No No No.......
When you can't get into Download MOde....
assuming you just got a Hang in ODIN Flasher...
1. Un-plug usb from Phone ( But still plugged into the Computer )
2. Pull Battery
3. Let the Phone sit for 15 to 30 seconds
4. Plug in USB to Both Phone & PC if not already
5. Hold Both Volume Buttons
6. Put Battery in while still holding Volume Buttons.
My Phone is HW Locked as well, with a v1 board.
every-time I get odin hang, doing the above always results in letting me re-flash.
These Phone's by Design are hard to brick, unless you>
A. Change SBL
B. Use the Wrong .pit file for Partitioning
C. param.lfs does not Brick the Phone, but Does mess with Screen rendering
~Eugene
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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).

johnny12times said:
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).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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

Hello, I am new to this android stuff but think I may have a problem and no hardware keys may come into play.
I rooted my phone for no other reason than to remove bloatware
I removed what I new was safe and left alot on the phone just because I was not sure what to remove
Phone was working great and had no problems
I decided I wanted to do a factory reset to remove all my apps and user data etc.....
I did do a titanium back up of my apps so I could easily resinstall if I wanted
I did the reset and now as soon as the phone boots I get TWLauncher force close and just about any other app that tries to load just continuose force close loop
I did not remove the original launcher so I am not sure why this is happening but I cant flash since I cant get into download mode and I cant use ADB since my phone wont let me put into debug what to do?????????????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk

Just to share...
eugene373 said:
No No No.......
When you can't get into Download MOde....
assuming you just got a Hang in ODIN Flasher...
1. Un-plug usb from Phone ( But still plugged into the Computer )
2. Pull Battery
3. Let the Phone sit for 15 to 30 seconds
4. Plug in USB to Both Phone & PC if not already
5. Hold Both Volume Buttons
6. Put Battery in while still holding Volume Buttons.
My Phone is HW Locked as well, with a v1 board.
every-time I get odin hang, doing the above always results in letting me re-flash.
These Phone's by Design are hard to brick, unless you>
A. Change SBL
B. Use the Wrong .pit file for Partitioning
C. param.lfs does not Brick the Phone, but Does mess with Screen rendering
~Eugene
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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 ).
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 . Booting with vol+&- gets me into recovery, but booting with just vol- does nothing ...
Any thoughts?

[Q] Flip phone to computer icon. help please?

hello,
attempting to root my stock gingerbread i think i forgot to choose the pit file. well now i can barely get into the stock recovery program and when i choose factory reset it does it but when rebooting i still get this icon. so i cant get into download mode at all. ive left the battery out for a while as well. how can i get back into download mode? thanks.

Odin did not complete properly so you have no system to reset. Hook your phone up to the computer with the battery and sd card out. Press and hold the "1" key on the physical keyboard then add pressing and holding the power button. Odin away. Pop the battery in when it tries to reboot.

when starting off rooting ive had this problem many times. It usually has to do with screwing up odin. The first thing i want you to do then, is learn how to use heimdall, you have a much better chance of soft bricking your phone. I use it myself and never have had a problem.
To recover your phone there are a couple of solutions. There used to be a thread about this rest button near the camera lens. It is just below it to the left. This should get you into download mode. you will want to press it while your phone is off and battery is in. You will need a paper clip to do this.
Also you are going to want to leave your microsd card, so that it is not affecting the process in any way. Also double check that your phone drivers are correct.
Lastly sometime just waiting with the sdcard and battery out will help, as there is some sort of cache or somethign that must be cleared. I dont know if this true its just what I heard.
Also I dont know why I do this, but sometimes if you hold a key down before inserting the battery for about 30 sec, 1 key is usually the best cause you need it for download mode, and then inserting the battery and hit power, it might get you out of the soft brick.
I hope I help, its been a while since i've seen it, thank god.
irule9000

ok i reinstalled the phone drivers and was able to successfully odin the device to completion. it gets even better now. i only see lights on the bottom of the device now when trying to power on. wow. not my weekend. i have the battery pulled and im going to wait a while.

It will not reboot without the battery in.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

i meant i had the battery in and it wouldnt properly turn on so i pulled it again. Sory about the confusion

nyr35blue said:
i meant i had the battery in and it wouldnt properly turn on so i pulled it again. Sory about the confusion
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No prob. We all are just trying to help. Maybe it was a bad download on the Odin file. I would suggest repartition with the PIT file included.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

phew. i was able to use an older version of odin and flash back to EC05. Thanks guys!