[GUIDE] / [ FIX ] - Accessing downloader & recovery w/ locked hardware access

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LET ME MAKE THIS VERY CLEAR - MOST OF YOU ALREADY KNOW HOW TO ACCESS DOWNLOAD MODE OR RECOVERY VIA HARDWARE BUTTONS....
BUT NEWER PHONES SEEM TO HAVE HARDWARE ACCESS DISABLED.. THIS IS A WORKAROUND FOR THESE LOCKED OUT PHONES...

THERE IS NOW A ODIN FLASHABLE FIX FOR H/W LOCKED PHONES
SEE THIS THREAD - THANK YOU untermensch

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=804305

METHOD 1: ACCESSING DOWNLOADER/RECOVERY:
(if the following directions do not work... then your phone may be locked out from using hardware buttons to access downloader/recovery)

Download Mode:
With the phone powered off
Plug in the USB cable.
Turn the phone on it's side and use both thumbs to hold (left thumb) Vol Up and (right thumb) Vol Down
Press and hold the power button with your right index finger til you see "Virbant" release the power button and it should say Downloading.

Recovery Mode:
With the phone powered off
UnPlug the USB cable.
Turn the phone on it's side and use both thumbs to hold (left thumb) Vol Up and (right thumb) Vol Down
Press and hold the power button with your right index finger til you see "Virbant" release the power button and it should be on the recovery screen.


METHOD 2: STUCK AT VIBRANT SCREEN:
(and are not able to use vol+ vol- methods to access downloader/recovery)

You will need the samsung ADB drivers installed for your phone as well as ADB...

ACCESS DOWNLOAD MODE
1) remove back cover and take our sim card and sd-card.
2) take out the battery
3) hold ALL 3 buttons down at the same time. (Vol +, Vol -, Power)
4) while holding down those 3 buttons put the battery back in
5) continue holding all 3 buttons until the vibrant disappears and reappears... once it reappears, release all 3 buttons
6) Setup ODIN and get it all setup and ready... (if you are flashing your phone via odin)
6) now connect your phone to your pc via USB cable
7) open a cmd prompt and navigate to the folder with ADB and type ADB REBOOT DOWNLOAD
8) Your phone will reboot into the download screen... go back to ODIN - A com port should now appear for your phone...
9) Click start and wait for your phone to do its thing

ACCESS STOCK RECOVERY
1) remove back cover and take our sim card and sd-card.
2) take out the battery
3) hold ALL 3 buttons down at the same time. (Vol +, Vol -, Power)
4) while holding down those 3 buttons put the battery back in
5) continue holding all 3 buttons until the vibrant disappears and reappears... once it reappears, release all 3 buttons
6) now connect your phone to your pc via USB cable
7) open a cmd prompt and navigate to the folder with ADB and type ADB REBOOT RECOVERY
8) Your phone will reboot into the stock recovery and flash whatever update.zip you need

METHOD 3: STUCK AT PHONE ! COMPUTER:

Plug in the USB cable.
Turn the phone on it's side and use both thumbs to hold Vol Up and Vol Down
Press and hold the power button with your right index finger.
The screen will go black, continue holding.
The screen will come back on, you'll see the same Phone to Computer icon
Continue holding, the screen will go black
The screen will come back on, you should see "Vibrant" release the power button and you it should go into Downloading

METHOD 4: STUCK AT PHONE ! COMPUTER:
(and are not able to use vol+ vol- methods to access downloader/recovery)

CALL TMOBILE AND BEG FOR THEM TO REPLACE UR PHONE..

METHOD 5: ODIN ERROR - ODIN HANGTHANKS EUGENE363)
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.

Interesting! I'll give it a try.

UPDATE: I have successfully reflashed my vibrant... now I will reinsert the SD card and SIM card... and back in business!!!

I am 100% positive my phone was a newer "locked" model... I was unable to access the downloader OR the stock recovery and out of frustration.. I figured out how to access ADB and reboot my phone into downloader or stock recovery!

Hope this works for everyone!

For those of you that just want to test this method out... it does not seem to work for me now that my phone boots past the vibrant screen.... this method only seems to work if you are STUCK at the vibrant screen...

Originally Posted by renocivik

UPDATE: I have successfully reflashed my vibrant... now I will reinsert the SD card and SIM card... and back in business!!!

I am 100% positive my phone was a newer "locked" model... I was unable to access the downloader OR the stock recovery and out of frustration.. I figured out how to access ADB and reboot my phone into downloader or stock recovery!

Hope this works for everyone!

I wonder if this will work for people that are stuck at the computer ! screen... I am unable to get to download mode or recovery with the vol. buttons. tried all the methods that i can find in the forum.

That sucks... give my method a try play around with it... follow the guide.... see if the computer ! screen flashes... if it flashes.. release all three buttons when the computer ! screen reappears and see if it shows up when you connect the USB cable and type adb devices

reserved ....

(removed what I previously typed)

Originally Posted by renocivik

That sucks... give my method a try play around with it... follow the guide.... see if the computer ! screen flashes... if it flashes.. release all three buttons when the computer ! screen reappears and see if it shows up when you connect the USB cable and type adb devices

Oh, I don't have the problem. I'm just thinking if this will work for it. This is the main reason why i'm not messing with different roms/firmware until i can figure out a sure way to get into download if anything would to go wrong. As of right now, i'm just rooted and running Vibrant6. Will not go any further until i figure out the download mode on these newer batch.

Originally Posted by renocivik

ACCESS DOWNLOAD MODE
1) remove back cover and take our sim card and sd-card.
2) take out the battery
3) hold ALL 3 buttons down at the same time. (Vol +, Vol -, Power)
4) while holding down those 3 buttons put the battery back in
5) continue holding all 3 buttons until the vibrant disappears and reappears... once it reappears, release all 3 buttons
6) Setup ODIN and get it all setup and ready... (if you are flashing your phone via odin)
6) now connect your phone to your pc via USB cable
7) open a cmd prompt and navigate to the folder with ADB and type ADB REBOOT DOWNLOAD
8) Your phone will reboot into the download screen... go back to ODIN - A com port should now appear for your phone...
9) Click start and wait for your phone to do its thing

This actually does not work for me. I have to 1) Pull the battery to make sure the phone is off, 2) Put it back in, 3) plug into USB, and immediately press and hold vol up/down.

Or ADB Reboot Download, but only sometimes.

Originally Posted by monnietron

This actually does not work for me. I have to 1) Pull the battery to make sure the phone is off, 2) Put it back in, 3) plug into USB, and immediately press and hold vol up/down.

Or ADB Reboot Download, but only sometimes.

If you are about to immediately press and hold up/down you are clearly not using a locked phone... and believe me.. this method works.... i tested it out about 10 different times trying to make the how to as easy as possible... if you are STUCK at the vibrant screen... how were you accessing ADB?

LIKE I SAID... This seems to only work for phones that wont boot past the VIBRANT screen.. My phone is locked out of hardware access to downloading mode and recovery... If you arent locked out of hardware access... then this would be a pretty irrelevant GUIDE..

Here is what makes me believe I am locked out of hardware access... when I follow any of the tutorials on how to access download mode... my phone just flashes and goes back to the vibrant screen... or back to the battery.... it NEVER does anything else...

can anyone confirm that that is what happens with "locked" phones?

I have seen a few posts... in this thread as well as the general Q & A thread .. regarding people having this exact same problem... and having to take their phone back to t-mo to swap it out..

Heh seems like a lot of work. Here's what I normally do and always get into the desired mode.

Download Mode:
With the phone powered off
Plug in the USB cable.
Turn the phone on it's side and use both thumbs to hold (left thumb) Vol Up and (right thumb) Vol Down
Press and hold the power button with your right index finger til you see "Virbant" release the power button and it should say Downloading.

Recovery Mode:
With the phone powered off
UnPlug the USB cable.
Turn the phone on it's side and use both thumbs to hold (left thumb) Vol Up and (right thumb) Vol Down
Press and hold the power button with your right index finger til you see "Virbant" release the power button and it should be on the recovery screen.

Get to Download mode while displaying the Phone to Computer Icon"
Plug in the USB cable.
Turn the phone on it's side and use both thumbs to hold Vol Up and Vol Down
Press and hold the power button with your right index finger.
The screen will go black, continue holding.
The screen will come back on, you'll see the same Phone to Computer icon
Continue holding, the screen will go black
The screen will come back on, you should see "Vibrant" release the power button and you it should go into Downloading