Database Users

[Q] -sigh- g1 'rainbow screen' - EXPERIENCED USER(S) please.

i'm sure this has been done to death, but, through my searching, i haven't found an actual concrete solution.
i purchased a g1, knowing that it was stuck at the rainbow screen. i thought it'd be an easy fix, but, in my case, it seems not. i'm a uk user, so have flashed the rc7 update, and NOT the 29 one. yes, i pressed the camera button, and THEN the power button, whilst the g1 was turned off. once successfully flashed/completed, i press the 'action'/trackball key, take the battery out, and turn the phone on, only to see that the rainbow screen is STILL there.
what you might need to know:
DREA110 PVT 32B
HBOOT-0.95.0000
CPLD-4
RADIO-1.22.12.29
Sep 2 2008
Serial0
so, if anyone has a full-proof solution that will get my g1 working again, i'll be extremely grateful. if not, i'll put it on e-bay. is it possible that my g1 is permanently bricked?

How about NOT pressing the trackball?
However note that pressing the trackball during bootup SHOULD put the thing into BLUELIGHT mode (debug console).
Typically, if it turns on straight into the bootloader, it means that your CAMERA or BACK button is stuck. Try pressing each of those buttons a few times and then turning it on again. If not, you may need to disassemble.

but, i mean, once the phone says Update Complete
UPDATE SUCCESS,press action (trackball) key,that's when i press the trackball key, as it tells me to. the camera and back buttons certainly don't feel stuck, ...

aj10 said:
but, i mean, once the phone says Update Complete
UPDATE SUCCESS,press action (trackball) key,that's when i press the trackball key, as it tells me to. the camera and back buttons certainly don't feel stuck, ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't care what they feel like. One if them is stuck.

lbcoder said:
I don't care what they feel like. One if them is stuck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He is right, if it boots into bootloader (rainbow screen) that means your camera button is stuck, even if it doesn't feel like it.

i just took apart my htc dream... im experience a similar problem.... i measure the ohms on the switch for the camera button, open, it shows about half contiunity on my multimeter(analog), and when the button is pressed, it registers a full short, as it should, on both sides of the switch. I will try unsoldering the camera button at some point tomorrow, and will try to post my results.
does anyone know if those switches are meant to be completely open when not pressed??
EDIT: will be heading out to my job in the next hour to use the hot air station to remove the camera button, and clean up the contacts on the board... if this doesnt work, does anyone else have any other ideas??

borodin1 said:
He is right, if it boots into bootloader (rainbow screen) that means your camera button is stuck, even if it doesn't feel like it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok, so i just unsoldered the camera button off the main board, and it still comes up to the bootloader.... what next?? ive flashed the dreaimg.nbh file, and wiped the phone. i can press the home and pwr button and get the recovery menu, but even there, flashing anything *.zip doesnt make a difference... ideas now??
EDIT:So i just got another g1 with a cracked screen... i switched out the mainboard. with a different mainboard that worked from a different phone, it still came up to the bootloader screen... i then switched the buttons, not the camera button, ironically, the other buttons.. i switched the whole front plate(send, home, back, end, menu buttons/trackball panel). now the original mainboard works fine... just no camera button cuz my hot air station at work killed the button. try that and let us know here. see if that works for you....
EDIT2: Heres a thread that i just opened with that last explaination, as well as a story to how my day preceded with this phone... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=781143 enjoy!

[Q] Milestone 2 power button repair

Hello there guys!
Recently my M2 power button stopped working, there is no click whatsoever. I checked it up and it seems that the small metal piece fell somewhere inside the phone. I found this dissasembly video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUXSmlwUC9Q
Now here is my question : it looks like while dissasembling you are ripping the phone apart, is there any permanent damage when trying to dissasemble? I could do it by myself, pasting the metal piece inside but I m a bit concerned about damaging the phone.
Thanks

Strange Milestone 2 power button problem
Hi, I have a strange problem in the power button too, but it's very rare (may be rare just for me)
The thing is that the power button suddenly stops working. If i take off the battery and put it again the phone boots without pressing the power button, and it still not working. Then after some time, it suddenly starts working perfect there is no need to press it stronger then normal.
I can't find out any patterns in this behavior. Another strange thing that happens is that sometimes the button works intermittently and delayed. Example: I do a long press of the power button and nothing happen, then the shutdown dialog shows 2 seconds after. And some times (the most) it doesn't
I'm a little bit confused about it, any ideas?
I've new info: i can't get into bootloader mode (the phone turns on but i get a black screen with no text)

Think I am getting the same power button problem now. How did your repair go?

Same problem here now, dunno if its really related to the power button or something
completely different is going to break down soon.
I will try to replace the whole flex cable with the buttons, but shipping needs some weeks.

Focus is dying, what could it be?

i suspect the power/lock button is FUBAR, but there are some other symptoms that do not resemble just a bad power/lock button. here are the symptoms that indicate it is the power/lock button:
1. when the phone is off, almost impossible to turn on. sometimes have to press and hold power button 10-12 times before it will shut on
2. when the phone is on and i press the lock button to lock the phone, most of the time it thinks i held the button and says "slide down to power off" although sometimes it doesn't respond at all. it almost NEVER locks when i press it (like it should be doing)
3. when the phone is on and i press the lock button to unlock the phone, most of the time it shuts off completely and i go back to step 1
symptom that indicates another problem not related to power/lock button:
1. if the phone is off and i press the power button, when the phone responds it will sometimes say "samsung" like it is turning on, and then nothing else will happen. i won't get the ATT screen and it won't boot up. this some times happens multiple times before the phone finally boots
currently i've been letting the phone time out automatically instead of the lock button, and using the camera button to unlock it. i've also been trying to not let it turn off at all, because getting it back on is really tough.
is there anyway i can disable the lock/power button...and/or is there an alternative way to lock and turn on your phone that doesn't require the use of that button? even if i tell myself not to use it, there are still times in your pocket where the darn thing gets pressed. for me that could mean it kills my phone and doesn't restart for the rest of the day, which i'm sure you can imagine is not ideal.

tuffluck said:
i suspect the power/lock button is FUBAR, but there are some other symptoms that do not resemble just a bad power/lock button. here are the symptoms that indicate it is the power/lock button:
1. when the phone is off, almost impossible to turn on. sometimes have to press and hold power button 10-12 times before it will shut on
2. when the phone is on and i press the lock button to lock the phone, most of the time it thinks i held the button and says "slide down to power off" although sometimes it doesn't respond at all. it almost NEVER locks when i press it (like it should be doing)
3. when the phone is on and i press the lock button to unlock the phone, most of the time it shuts off completely and i go back to step 1
symptom that indicates another problem not related to power/lock button:
1. if the phone is off and i press the power button, when the phone responds it will sometimes say "samsung" like it is turning on, and then nothing else will happen. i won't get the ATT screen and it won't boot up. this some times happens multiple times before the phone finally boots
currently i've been letting the phone time out automatically instead of the lock button, and using the camera button to unlock it. i've also been trying to not let it turn off at all, because getting it back on is really tough.
is there anyway i can disable the lock/power button...and/or is there an alternative way to lock and turn on your phone that doesn't require the use of that button? even if i tell myself not to use it, there are still times in your pocket where the darn thing gets pressed. for me that could mean it kills my phone and doesn't restart for the rest of the day, which i'm sure you can imagine is not ideal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You seem to have a (hardware) problem with the power button (obviously).
There are a couple of ways to turn on the phone/display without the power button:
- camera/back
- connect power charger
- usb connect
Last 2 are not practical and first you already do. You should try and see how much would it cost to replace the power button, if you're out of warranty. Should be cheap, and beats workarounds.

is there any way to lock it rather than letting it just time out? what about turning it on?
do you feel pretty confident that the seemingly unrelated symptom where the "samsung" screen comes up and then shuts off while trying to turn the phone on STILL indicates the button is broken? just worried this problem extends further than just the button.
thanks for your help.

tuffluck said:
is there any way to lock it rather than letting it just time out? what about turning it on?
do you feel pretty confident that the seemingly unrelated symptom where the "samsung" screen comes up and then shuts off while trying to turn the phone on STILL indicates the button is broken? just worried this problem extends further than just the button.
thanks for your help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's no other way to turn it on (except plugging it to charge) and you found the one workaround, with the camera.
I am *very* sure that the power button is the culprit in your case, most likely the spring that pops back the button is either broken or out of place.
If you keep the power button pressed, in 2 seconds you'll see the slide message, but if you keep it pressed, then it just turns off after 2 more seconds. So, yes, it's the power button and nothing else, in your case.
Fix that and you should be back to normal.
And you're not the only one with this problem. Recently, I've tried to help someone else here, with the same problem, as you can see here.

thanks. i called around and a guy here in town said it will take him 30 minutes for $30 to fix it. i'm taking it to him at lunch, so hopefully i'll come back with a fully functional phone--he also was pretty certain it was the power button, and had seen this before. thanks for your help.

well it wasn't the power button. apparently there is a battery connected to the power button that is dying. but you can't even order a new battery, so pretty much once it's dead, it's dead for good and you have to do the camera button workaround like i was doing.
though he did solder the battery to the board a little more (that's another problem, from the factory it is soldered to the main board so even if you could replace it, you'd likely damage the board), and it seemed to fix the problem. he claimed it would only be temporary and within a few weeks the problem will likely come back.

tuffluck said:
well it wasn't the power button. apparently there is a battery connected to the power button that is dying. but you can't even order a new battery, so pretty much once it's dead, it's dead for good and you have to do the camera button workaround like i was doing.
though he did solder the battery to the board a little more (that's another problem, from the factory it is soldered to the main board so even if you could replace it, you'd likely damage the board), and it seemed to fix the problem. he claimed it would only be temporary and within a few weeks the problem will likely come back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is weird indeed. I don't think I ever heard of another type of battery being used in phones, tied to buttons. Unless it's a capacitor but anyways...
Thanks for sharing the info with us!

I know this is thread is almost a year old, but unfortunately, it seems my Samsung Focus (v1.3) also has the exact same issue.
The worst bit is that every other aspect of this once glorious phone still works and I was very happy using it, not really feeling the need to upgrade.
I was using a custom ROM which I flashed back to AT&T original 7004 but that did not work. It doesn't seem to be a software issue at all.
The symptoms are the same - tapping the power button to lock the phone gives you the option to slide to power-off and after a second it will do that anyway (without any interaction). When you try to boot, it won't progress past the SAMSUNG screen and in the rare chance it does boot, it will work for an hour or two before dying again. Connecting power helps a little (as you can't turn off the phone with mains power connected), but only just. I have tried using the original battery which I initially suspected was causing issues but even a generic battery has the same issues. I'm tempted to spend $20 on a genuine battery but I don't think it will really help given the generic battery did work properly when the phone was itself.
I'm now faced with upgrading to the Lumia 920 but with new models around the corner I think I'm going for the budget Lumia 520 which has similar specs to the Focus (except LED flash) and will hold out for the new flagship model, or buy the 920 when it falls a bit more.

Hi - just wanted to add my experience with this issue (as my focus exhibited these exact symptoms today). Unlike some people, though, even if my phone managed to boot up, it would shut down again after a few seconds on the tile screen.
Like cysser0, I also suspected the battery at first, but replacing the long-life I had purchased last year with the original battery (which I keep charged as a back-up) had no effect on the symptoms. To be brief, I tried all sorts of things over the course of an hour. Nearing the end of my tether, and resigning myself to try a format as a last resort, I discovered that if I held the power button and the volume button down, I could get the phone to stay on. Releasing either of these buttons would result in the phone switching off suddenly.
Wrapping a rubber band tightly around the top of the phone has allowed me to continue using the phone for the moment, and I have managed to do a backup of all my content (not that I will be able to restore it on this phone, it seems).

[Q] Power button issue not mechanical but cant unlock bootloader to solve

Thought Id ask here before I give up.
Been having a problem with my nexus.
The power button started acting up recently.
I've tried replacement and also made sure the mechanical button works inside someone else's device and it works fine.
My problem is that the button seems to loop or not work at all. For instance the device wont boot (Gets stuck in a loop) unless I hold the power down until the boot has completed, then if I let go it will usually stay on.
But then the power button is unresponsive unless I hold it again which in turn puts it back into a loop. I can hold it down for 10 secs then release then I get power down option but if I select it it goes back into a loop.
Ive tried a recovery which hasn't fixed it and tried using computer to flash a new image but I cant unlock boot loader as when I manipulate the button on the screen where I have to accept. It then goes into a boot loop again causing the device to not unlock/relock.
Im pulling whatever hair I have left out here and am about to give up unless anyone else has any ideas? Its as though the power button either works but sticks on. Or doesn't work at all. depending if I've held it on for a while or not.
Many Thanks

NEED HELP. Power button stuck.

My power button gets stuck and as you know when you long press it it reboots the phone. So basically my phone is just constantly rebooting and rebooting, its practically unusable. I need help if anyone knows a way to disable the function of power button, I mean so the power button wont do any function anymore, or swap it with another button.

I had the same problem. Got the button replaced, it worked for a month or so and I started getting the random reboots again. A search on the internet reveals that this is a common problem with the S3, and I doubt they fixed the issue for the S3 neo.
1.5 years of use and my power button is broken, my volume buttons are mushy and my camera doesn't focus at all. The build quality on this phone is a joke.
You'll probably have to have your power key replaced as well. Or do what I did and remove it from the motherboard. You won't believe how flimsy the solder is. I now use the accessibility shortcut button to lock / unlock my phone. It's a hassle and it takes up screen real estate, but at least it works.

SpaceDye said:
I had the same problem. Got the button replaced, it worked for a month or so and I started getting the random reboots again. A search on the internet reveals that this is a common problem with the S3, and I doubt they fixed the issue for the S3 neo.
1.5 years of use and my power button is broken, my volume buttons are mushy and my camera doesn't focus at all. The build quality on this phone is a joke.
You'll probably have to have your power key replaced as well. Or do what I did and remove it from the motherboard. You won't believe how flimsy the solder is. I now use the accessibility shortcut button to lock / unlock my phone. It's a hassle and it takes up screen real estate, but at least it works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine stopped doing it now but I'm sure it will start again. You are right, build quality of this phone is really lame. That part on the sides that looks like metal is mostly worned off from my phone. Camera focus is crap and volume is lower than before, I can barely hear notifications. Maybe I'll remove the button too, but I'm concerned about how to boot the phone if it turns off.

You can turn on the phone by connecting the charger, immediately booting into download mode (before the battery icon comes up) and restarting from there. It's not the best solution, but at least I have a functional phone until my oneplus x arrives sometime this week

try to do this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXSbBG4NV-w

samo_say said:
try to do this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXSbBG4NV-w
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried something similar and boy it works for a while.

SpaceDye said:
You can turn on the phone by connecting the charger, immediately booting into download mode (before the battery icon comes up) and restarting from there. It's not the best solution, but at least I have a functional phone until my oneplus x arrives sometime this week
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's actually a fantastic idea. I thought about flashing cm that has no offline charging and booting that way, but this is better solution lol.

SpaceDye said:
. I now use the accessibility shortcut button to lock / unlock my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can try nova launcher since it has a gesture for double tap to lock screen, or maybe a 3rd party app.

use soft lock to lock screen without pressing power button