Setting up an exhibit smartphone - Galaxy S 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I bought an exhibit Galaxy S5 SM-900I, it is set up in "Showcase mode" and I don't have the password to change any settings (I could go back to the store to get it).
I want to root it and flash a stock Lollipop ROM, so I don't need to preserve any kind of data (in fact, I'd like to wipe absolutely everything from it).
As it is right now, I can't even make a factory reset as I get a message saying "the mod does not support factory reset", but also I can get in download mode.
Which steps would be best suited to set up the smartphone? Should I just flash a recovery, root and install a ROM as if it were any other Galaxy S5?

Go to recovery and do a factory reset.
tapatalk @ es five

rajman said:
Go to recovery and do a factory reset.
tapatalk @ es five
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not quite as simple as that........
The 'showcase' or retail mode is put onto display models in phone stores and usually includes some sort of protection that prevents removal by factory resetting (I ran into this issue with a display model laptop)
The only thing that solved my case was formatting the hard drive and re installing the OS. The same process for android is flashing a firmware (and maybe pit file) with Odin......
I personally would take the phone back to the shop you bought it from, and tear them off a strip for not removing it when you bought it......
Sent from my rooted, debloated stocKK kn0x0 SM-G900F

I went to the shop and had the retail mode removed. When I bought the phone I had been advised to come back at a later moment because it had to be "set up" and the clerk in charge of it was in holiday..

Related

[Q] Help!! Customer's Phone stuck on Secure Fail: Kernal

A customer of mine came in and her Galaxy Note 3 with Verizon is stuck on a weird boot screen with Secure Fail: Kernel in the upper left hand corner, then across the entire center in much larger print is " System Software Not Authorized By Verizon..." then it tells her to return it to a Verizon store, or something to that affect. She told me she didnt try to flash or root at all; this just happened. VZW is going to swap her out, but she has all of her baby pics on her phone from Pregnancy through 2 years old(No she didnt use a micro card). I dont want to do a factory restore for obvious reasons. Is there a way to get her phone out of this boot lock without losing her data? I'm more of a hardware guy than a software guy, but I have done some flashing in the past. Please get back back to me ASAP, this woman was almost in tears in my store. THANX!!!
Oh, I also forgot to mention, my pc wont even pick up anything is connected when trying to connect via USB, so I'm guessing it would have to be a key combination that wont wipe the data.
She ore someone else tried to flash an custom Kernel or Rom on the Device. Verizon locked the Bootloader, so it failed and now it can't Boot.
Use Odin to reflash the OG Factory Rom.
Turn the Device off and start it by pressing & holding Power + Home + Vol.down.
You should boot into Download Mode > confirm it with Vol.up
DON'T tick Factory reset. Just put the FW and tick Auto-Reboot. There's an specific Verizon Note 3 Forum on XdA. Head over there and ask for help. Verizon Devices maybe different than the international onces, so to be 100% sure please look for the right Samsung Firmware and tutorials there.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2483380
Gesendet von meinem SM-N9005
...from pregnancy through 2 years. LOL
But the phone is 8 months old.
Sent from my N9005
I didnt even think of that, the phone isnt even two years old. Maybe she had VZW use a Cellbrite to move data over from whatever device she used to have.

[Q] Exact Copy

Hi guys,
Can someone tell me the best way to make an exact copy of a brand new phone so that I can always go back to the 'as new' config.
This would be a new phone straight from the box.
Thanks
frostyboy998
frostyboy998 said:
Hi guys,
Can someone tell me the best way to make an exact copy of a brand new phone so that I can always go back to the 'as new' config.
This would be a new phone straight from the box.
Thanks
frostyboy998
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Data factory reset?
Well the best way is to get a copy of the image that the factory uses.. Well, perhaps that is impractical.
The most faithful copy that we could probably do from home would be using dd from the command line to make a sector by sector image. But you need super user (root) to do that. Possibly you could do it from an ADB session without root (untested). Using the linux dd utility or an ADB session are cumbersome and rather technical for many end users though..
In practical terms, either as gee2012 suggested above. I'm not certain that would get you to an exactly out of the box experience.. but it would be close.. easy to do and repeatable. So a decent solution. And should the file system get really messed up, you could presumably reflash a full OEM image to get back to that point as well.
Or another approach that I would favour myself would be to do a full Nandroid instead to resolve small discrepancies that probably exist between out of the box and the state a factory reset would put the device in. The downside being that a full Nandroid is easiest to do with a custom recovery.. and that will trip the Knox counter which will have warranty implications for some. Whether it affects your warranty depends on country you reside in, how well national legislation there protects consumer rights, whether your carrier cares about Knox and whether you care about the warranty much to begin with.
I would take the out of box phone, flash a custom recovery, and then do a full Nandroid backup. Your nandroid then will be an exact representation of your out of the box configuration, save for the recovery per se. To restore precisely would be one or two steps. Restoring the Nandroid would revert everything except recovery to the out of the box condition. And should that point matter, then one could do the second step of restoring the stock recovery as well..
.
Download from Sammobile the ROM, so you can flash via ODIN.
Thanks for your comments.
Here is my reasoning.....
I currently use a Galaxy S3, pending getting the S5 very soon.
When I first got my S3 it seemed perfect. Everything worked well.
I have since done a number of Kies updates and also a couple of Sammobile updates via Odin.
Every time I updated, there seemed to be some things that didn't work as well.
So I decided to try and revert to the original firmware that came with my mobile, via Sammobile and Odin.
I have done this, but now, whenever I leave a wifi zone, my mobile internet seems to connect when it feels like it. Sometimes not at all.
I have to switch mobile internet off, restart the phone and then switch mobile internet back on, to get it to start up.
When I get my new S5, I would like to have an exact copy of the phone, so that I can always revert to my very own original setup if I choose to.
Apparently after updating beyond Android 4.3, there came a change in the format of the EFS folder, which prevented stepping back.
I don't want to be forced into that position again, so want a perfect copy!
From my reading, it appears I would have to root the phone, install Titanium backup, do a full nandroid backup, then unroot the phone and reset the counters to be back in warranty.
Am I right or would that not work?
frostyboy
edit: After updating firmware on a phone, does a factory reset change back to a previous firmware? I would think not. I think it would just reset all the added consumer stuff. (contacts, apps, emails and sms etc)
frostyboy998 said:
Thanks for your comments.
Here is my reasoning.....
I currently use a Galaxy S3, pending getting the S5 very soon.
When I first got my S3 it seemed perfect. Everything worked well.
I have since done a number of Kies updates and also a couple of Sammobile updates via Odin.
Every time I updated, there seemed to be some things that didn't work as well.
So I decided to try and revert to the original firmware that came with my mobile, via Sammobile and Odin.
I have done this, but now, whenever I leave a wifi zone, my mobile internet seems to connect when it feels like it. Sometimes not at all.
I have to switch mobile internet off, restart the phone and then switch mobile internet back on, to get it to start up.
When I get my new S5, I would like to have an exact copy of the phone, so that I can always revert to my very own original setup if I choose to.
Apparently after updating beyond Android 4.3, there came a change in the format of the EFS folder, which prevented stepping back.
I don't want to be forced into that position again, so want a perfect copy!
From my reading, it appears I would have to root the phone, install Titanium backup, do a full nandroid backup, then unroot the phone and reset the counters to be back in warranty.
Am I right or would that not work?
frostyboy
edit: After updating firmware on a phone, does a factory reset change back to a previous firmware? I would think not. I think it would just reset all the added consumer stuff. (contacts, apps, emails and sms etc)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooting with Towelroot doesn`t trip KNOX but flashing a custom recovery to make a nandroid backup will and is irreversible. Best is to backup the EFS folder after you are rooted with an app here http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3/development/efs-samsung-tool-universal-support-t2602325 or with adb as documented here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2737448.
BTW Triangle Away doesn`t work on the S5 atm so resetting the status to official after you flashed custom software with Odin isn not possible

Emergency Help needed. Display not turning ON..

My device never got a Hit by anything. Or never dropped from any height.. Even there ain't any single scratch in my display...
But today suddenly my S5 phone's display totally gone to off.. Full black screen, like when we kept phone off..
OS is running. I can switch Power On/Off.. LED notification working.. Haptic key working..
Tapatalk - Galaxy S5 (G900H)
I can't even boot into Recovery/Download mode, because display is still off/black..
Never rooted. Or never download any app without Play Store..
Tapatalk - Galaxy S5 (G900H)
Try and backup what you can through Kies and copy SD card data and return to where you bought it
russ18uk said:
Try and backup what you can through Kies and copy SD card data and return to where you bought it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. This'll be my last step.. I'll do it tomorrow..
Tapatalk - Galaxy S5 (G900H)
Boot to recovery mode and wipe the partition cache. That will resolve most issues.
Restore your backup.
If you don't have a backup, you should take note and do so in the future. You could try "dirty flashing" just the system files or a custom ROM. That will mess up installed apps but is likely to make your device usable and leave user files and photos intact.
As a last resort, try writing a full, stock backup to your phone with Odin. You could also try getting your phone repaired if it is under warranty, however if you have rooted it or incremented the Knox counter some carriers or Samsung may refuse you warranty service.
.

Dreaded Samsung Retail Mode on Galaxy s5

Anyone out there willing to help guide me through the process of getting the retail mode removed form a samsung galaxy s5? Of course Im willing to compensate you for your time if we can get it to work.
Ive got no experience with Rom's and or installing a rom and the basic passwords have not worked on getting the software removed. Any help would be appreciated.
PhoneDoctor1
Which S5 model have you got?
Make a free account on sammobile dot com (Links are not allowed here)
Type your model S5 into the firmware section and download a ROM
Grab ODIN 3.09 or later (Easy to find with a quick google)
Extract the ROM from the zip, should end up with .MD5 file
Install Samsung drivers (Easy to find with a quick google or Installing KIES3 will also install them)
Put phone into download mode (Power off, then hold Vol down & Home & power, release when the warning appears and hit volume up when asked)
Connect phone to PC USB and wait for drivers to complete installing
Load .MD5 ROM into AP or PDA section of ODIN
Make sure only 'F.Reset Time' and 'Auto Reboot' options are selected in ODIN
Hit START on ODIN and wait for it to complete
All being well, your phone should reboot into the ROM, take a while for first boot, especially if you flash a Lollipop ROM (give it 15 mins+)
Some people find it hangs on first boot, and need to boot into recovery mode and factory reset after flashing the ROM
Same results.
*Detection* Thank you so much for your prompt response and help with this. Unfortunately the steps you provided didn't work for me. I was able to Get Odin, download the correct ROM, drivers, and everything. I installed the ROM on the phone (Took 4 minutes) though ODIN and it stated that it succeeded. Phone restarted and retail mode was back on the phone.
Any other options to get it removed?
PhoneDoctor1
Some instructions here on how to disable retail mode
http://www.naldotech.com/how-to-disable-exit-galaxy-s5-demo-live-unit-retail-mode/
How to delete, disable and exit Demo Live Unit Retail Mode on the Samsung Galaxy S5
1. The first thing to do is to disable the retail mode of the firmware.
2. Go to the app drawer and open an app called Samsung Retail.
3. Go to Configuration Settings and enter the password 5444 to unlock it.
4. Then uncheck “Disable the factory reset” and enter the following password M729Q16K8546.
5. Turn your Samsung Galaxy S5 off and boot into Recovery.
6. Go to Wipe data & factory reset and press OK.
7. The phone will reset and all the applications will get removed.
8. Flash a stock firmware with ODIN (tutorial).
There must be something different about this retail mode. It looks different than the others shown in previous posts or youtube videos. I can't seem to disable the app and the passwords don't work. Ive seen a few youtube videos on how to remove it and the one I see doesn't look like the one thats on this galaxy s5. Any other workaround to your knowledge?
PhoneDoctor1
Not that I know of off hand, I`ll post back here if I find anything, it might be quicker to take it to a phone shop and ask them to disable it for you
PhoneDoctor1 said:
There must be something different about this retail mode. It looks different than the others shown in previous posts or youtube videos. I can't seem to disable the app and the passwords don't work. Ive seen a few youtube videos on how to remove it and the one I see doesn't look like the one thats on this galaxy s5. Any other workaround to your knowledge?
PhoneDoctor1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which version S5 have you got?
Just noticed this thread for the G900X to disable Retail Mode
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2733083
Ive got the t-mobil version here in the states. I did see that thread before I posted mine but that wont enable me to make calls. It will most likely turn the phone into a wifi capable phone without cell service.
Sorry, I meant which model S5, mine is the G900F
I take it you bought the phone second hand? Unless someone else can help I think taking it in for repair would be the best bet if those tutorials are not working
I would like to know how you got into retail mode!
And, of course, your model. Its in the system informations.
I had a similar issue with a laptop once (purchased the display model).....
The only thing that fixed it was formatting the hard drive and re installing everything from the recovery discs......
I guess the equivalent for Android would be to flash a PIT file (I think this will reformat the memory) then the firmware (both) with odin........
If you DO go this route, be EXTREMELY careful to flash the CORRECT pit file as flashing the wrong pit will irrevocably brick your phone.........
Sent from my rooted kn0x0 stocKK SM-G900F S5
I appreciate the help and responses. From my understanding the retail mode can not be removed. It seems that Samsung specially designed these phones with software that can't just easily be flashed.
Successfully removed Retail Mode from AT&T Samsung Galaxy S5 SM-G900A
PhoneDoctor1 said:
I appreciate the help and responses. From my understanding the retail mode can not be removed. It seems that Samsung specially designed these phones with software that can't just easily be flashed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had just about given up on a straightforward fix, and was about to resort to some major firmware manipulation that would have likely led me to all sorts of confusion. It turns out the password was "rethink" as is listed in multiple places across the web. (AT&T SM-G900A Galaxy S 5) It is applied to the Samsung Retail Mode app which has a "burger" icon in top right corner of the screen that must be selected first to lead towards password entry. This is not the "Retail Experience" app, but the other similar one. Once the Retail Mode app is uninstalled, there are intuitive steps leading to uninstalling of the "Retail Experience" one next, with no new passwords.

Stuck in bootloop on untouched stock rom, unrooted device.

This afternoon my S7 Edge entered a boot loop. All I was doing was reading the news, in the same app I have been for the past couple of months. The device is untouched in terms of modifications since purchase, so unrooted stock rom. I can get into download mode, and occasionally, recovery mode. I wiped the cache as my first attempted fix - no change. Then did a factory reset - no change. I then thought I'd try loading twrp so I could flash a custom rom, but Odin was unable to flash it due to FRP Lock blocking it. I then downloaded the latest stock rom from sammobile, and was able to flash this via Odin. On first boot the device did start to load, and reached 10/19 in optimising the apps, before starting the boot loop again. I am kinda out of ideas now. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
re: bootloops
whitebloodcell said:
This afternoon my S7 Edge entered a boot loop. All I was doing was reading the news, in the same app I have been for the past couple of months. The device is untouched in terms of modifications since purchase, so unrooted stock rom. I can get into download mode, and occasionally, recovery mode. I wiped the cache as my first attempted fix - no change. Then did a factory reset - no change. I then thought I'd try loading twrp so I could flash a custom rom, but Odin was unable to flash it due to FRP Lock blocking it. I then downloaded the latest stock rom from sammobile, and was able to flash this via Odin. On first boot the device did start to load, and reached 10/19 in optimising the apps, before starting the boot loop again. I am kinda out of ideas now. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go into settings>developer's options and ENABLE OEM UNLOCK then
go into settings>general management>reset>factory data reset and
reset the phone.
Once you have done that the phone will work properly without rebooting
provided that you have successfully odin flashed the official samsung
G935F S7 Edge firmware prior to doing a factory data reset.
Good luck, have a great day!
Thanks for replying. Unfortunately I can't get into the phone at all. Only screen I have access to a recovery and downloader.
So I left the phone alone for a while and tried booting into safemode. This time it worked - sort of. It is asking me for a password, but I have never set one. I only ever set a pin and fingerprints. But since wiping everything that doesn't seem to apply anymore. What is the default password? I am referring to the phone password, rather than a google account obviously. I am not at that stage of the boot up.
Update: found the password (default_password), still boot looping on the optimising apps screen.
If you still can't get into the phone like the person above said, I would use Oden to reparation and reflash your stock rom. If it still gives you issues, I'd suspect hardware fault.
vsn4 said:
If you still can't get into the phone like the person above said, I would use Oden to reparation and reflash your stock rom. If it still gives you issues, I'd suspect hardware fault.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have flashed stock rom (initially the version that matches my carrier, although my phone was bought sim free and unlocked, and then the version for unlocked phones (BTU in sammobile I think)) but it still just boot loops. The phone can remain in download mode as long as it wants, and previously, when it was asking for the password, it was able to remain on that screen indefinitely. I would have thought if it was a hardware problem the boot looping would happen regardless of the action on screen. Immediately after flashing the stock rom, it did start to load before ooting. Now it just boots immediately at the Samsung Logo.
vsn4 said:
If you still can't get into the phone like the person above said, I would use Oden to reparation and reflash your stock rom. If it still gives you issues, I'd suspect hardware fault.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to be clear, do you mean repartition here? I have not checked that option before, will try it.
Even without the PIT file. Flashing stock rom should have fixed you... which carrier do you have? If Verizon, they have a recovery assistant software that works in these situations. Or if not try "samsung kies". If all else fails I'd give Sammy a call.
vsn4 said:
If you still can't get into the phone like the person above said, I would use Oden to reparation and reflash your stock rom. If it still gives you issues, I'd suspect hardware fault.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
vsn4 said:
Even without the PIT file. Flashing stock rom should have fixed you... which carrier do you have? If Verizon, they have a recovery assistant software that works in these situations. Or if not try "samsung kies". If all else fails I'd give Sammy a call.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am in the UK, and my carrier is Three, although the phone was purchased sim free. I tried samsung kies (phone not compatible apparently), samsung switch (phone does not support initialization). I may have to call Samsung, but I purchased the phone on eBay, so no warranty (never doing that again!), so I guess it'll be expensive to get them to sort it. I've taken it to a phone repair shop this afternoon and the guy reckoned he could fix it based on what I said. We shall see. I don't have to pay unless he fixes it, so worth a shot.
You can wipe your phone by entering recovery. Default recovery has the wipe option.
alehawk said:
You can wipe your phone by entering recovery. Default recovery has the wipe option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Was the first thing I tried. Didn't help.
I got the bootloop thingy and was the cache, I wiped and the phone booted up
alehawk said:
I got the bootloop thingy and was the cache, I wiped and the phone booted up
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for trying to help, but, again, already tried that.
whitebloodcell said:
I am in the UK, and my carrier is Three, although the phone was purchased sim free. I tried samsung kies (phone not compatible apparently), samsung switch (phone does not support initialization). I may have to call Samsung, but I purchased the phone on eBay, so no warranty (never doing that again!), so I guess it'll be expensive to get them to sort it. I've taken it to a phone repair shop this afternoon and the guy reckoned he could fix it based on what I said. We shall see. I don't have to pay unless he fixes it, so worth a shot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hope all goes well, let us know if you get it sorted out.
Hi
Just curious...why do u say u don't have warranty just because u brought from eBay?
Surely it doesn't matter where u brought it and it still has warranty.
Have u tried contacting Samsung?
AnubuRe said:
Hi
Just curious...why do u say u don't have warranty just because u brought from eBay?
Surely it doesn't matter where u brought it and it still has warranty.
Have u tried contacting Samsung?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty much all warranties (including Samsung - I checked) are contracts with the original purchaser only. Even if you have proof of purchase, you then need to match the records they have of the identity of the original purchaser. Whilst some manufacturers will be more lenient, others will follow the official policy strictly. Speaking from experience here.
whitebloodcell said:
Pretty much all warranties (including Samsung - I checked) are contracts with the original purchaser only. Even if you have proof of purchase, you then need to match the records they have of the identity of the original purchaser. Whilst some manufacturers will be more lenient, others will follow the official policy strictly. Speaking from experience here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For those perhaps in similar situation in the future, Samsung didn't care that it was purchased second hand, despite what the fine print says. They just looked at the serial number. In the course of trying my own repairs I flashed a custom rom, which of course tripped the knox warranty void bit. When I took it into the service centre they saw this and then wanted to charge £225 for an out of warranty repair. I refused at the time. I later called Samsung support and explained the situation (I said a phone repair shop must have done the flashing). Again on the phone I was told it would be an out of warranty repair, and this time I agreed. They collected my phone and returned it to me today however, with no invoice or mention of charges, so it looks like they just did the repair no questions asked.
I have the same issues, so far I'm getting by with flashing a stock rom with pit file and doing repartition and nand erase, normal cache/ factory reset doesn't help, it sometimes even boot loops while in twrp.
Somehow Odin flashing helps for a random amount of time, but it has thus far, crashed after a month, or a couple weeks since the last flash, etc. So far it's been my 5th boot loop event in the last 6 months
It sucks but as I got mine from another country (/win), didn't get the warranty ;( plus I tripped Knox by rooting.
sounds hardware related to me..
i had a friend with a note 4 who had similar problems it would hardly ever boot sometimes boot straight into download mode..
if by chance it did boot it would boot once the device was locked for a short time it would reboot and start over again bootlooping..
it was the emmc flash memory that was failing...
a workaround i found for this was the first thing i did when finally getting it to boot was install "Wake Lock - CPU Awake" and set it to never let the device sleep and to startup on boot...
this "fixed" it as long as your phone does not turn off... he had insurance though and sent it off and they sent him a new refirb
again this note 4 was untouched never rooted or anything
vsn4 said:
If you still can't get into the phone like the person above said, I would use Oden to reparation and reflash your stock rom. If it still gives you issues, I'd suspect hardware fault.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im having pretty much the exact same problem except ive been unsuccesful at flashing the stock firmware for my galaxy s7 active (SM-G891A). the active series isnt the most saute after, so finding the right firmware is alil more difficult. which im pretty sure is how i got into this situation! my question is what exacly does checking the "reparation" option do. i read to leave to leave it unchecked/unticked. maybe thats why ive been unsuccessful. and someone told me awhile ago not to fill in the "bt" box becuz i have a locked bootloader. this correct or no?

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