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

renocivik · Sep 1, 2010

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://xdaforums.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.

zerosource · Sep 1, 2010

Interesting! I'll give it a try.

renocivik · Sep 1, 2010

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...

mr2t32 · Sep 1, 2010

renocivik said:
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.

renocivik · Sep 1, 2010

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

renocivik · Sep 1, 2010

reserved ....

(removed what I previously typed)

mr2t32 · Sep 1, 2010

renocivik said:
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.

monnietron · Sep 1, 2010

renocivik said:
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.

renocivik · Sep 1, 2010

monnietron said:
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..

Essien · Sep 1, 2010

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

renocivik · Sep 1, 2010

Yes... my method seems difficult... BUT IT IS ALSO FOR NEWER VIBRANT PHONES THAT CANNOT ACCESS DOWNLOAD OR RECOVERY VIA YOUR METHOD OR ANYONE ELSES METHOD... because t-moble disabled hardware access...

mr2t32 · Sep 1, 2010

That is exactly what happens with my phone. Either reboots or goes to the battery screen.

Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

renocivik · Sep 1, 2010

Well hopefully between your method and mine.... nobody should have a problem accessing the downloader.... I have tried your method about 15 times with zero success accessing downloader or recovery... and I am pretty savvy... not sure what the differences are between our phones...

kolyan · Sep 1, 2010

renocivik said:
Yes... my method seems difficult... BUT IT IS ALSO FOR NEWER VIBRANT PHONES THAT CANNOT ACCESS DOWNLOAD OR RECOVERY VIA YOUR METHOD OR ANYONE ELSES METHOD... because t-moble disabled hardware access...

I just got new Vibrant and everything works fine. No need for any of that.....just have to hold volume buttons and release power button at the exact specific time with usb pluged in, phone goes straght to download mode.

xavyi · Sep 1, 2010

RIP vibrant

just tried this method, and it didn't work for me. My Vibrant has the phone-!-computer error and it's the newer phone that doesn't load to recovery/dl mode via hard keys. I so happened to be loading a rom using odin and unplugged it because the process didn't show a status bar, it basically sat there doing nothing. Once i unplugged the phone it showed nothing but that error message on power up, hardreboot, charging ect. Thanks, tmo for locking hardkey recovery mode =(

kolyan · Sep 1, 2010

xavyi said:
just tried this method, and it didn't work for me. My Vibrant has the phone-!-computer error and it's the newer phone that doesn't load to recovery/dl mode via hard keys. I so happened to be loading a rom using odin and unplugged it because the process didn't show a status bar, it basically sat there doing nothing. Once i unplugged the phone it showed nothing but that error message on power up, hardreboot, charging ect. Thanks, tmo for locking hardkey recovery mode =(

had this happen twice and those steps worked for me both times:

"have your usb in, press down both the volume up/down toggle and the power button.... hold them until the screen goes black and as soon as it does, let go only the power button and it should appear there again

however, i found out that you need to take out the battery and get into download mode freshly again...."

GuestK0080 · Sep 1, 2010

Essien said:
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

This is exactly what I do on my phone. Actually had to do all three of this last weekend when I made a bonehead move and damn near bricked my phone. ODIN and Titanium backup saved my bacon.

I still do not fully understand this whole disabled recovery access thing. Has Samsung acknowledged it as a bug or a new permanent change? I heard they were going to fix it in the Froyo release?

renocivik · Sep 2, 2010

I am unsure of what phones are locked and which ones arent... its kind of weird that some phones are locked out... my question for Eugene or JAC...

Is it possible to take an unlocked phone... and flash everything over to a locked phone... "unlocking it" so that the hardware buttons work?

and by unlocked I mean... able to access downloader/recovery via hardware buttons...

Those of you that ended up on the Phone ! Computer screen... if your phone is hardware locked... you are screwed... the method I originally posted only works if your phone will at least boot to the Vibrant screen (and have a hardware locked phone)

If your phone is not hardware locked... you can follow the millions of posts telling you how they access download mode... no need to follow my guide

Unrenowned · Sep 2, 2010

Recently, I bricked my phone due to the hardware recovery/download feature being disabled.

Sitting here waiting (for 3 days) for the prepaid UPS return sticker from TMo I had a thought...

What if TMo/Samsung did not actually lock some of these phones down.

Follow along...

In the past, every single phone that I have ever owned would power up via USB connection (from the wall) even if the battery was not installed.

Tonight I noticed that my Vibrant will not power up unless the battery is installed.
USB (from PC) - Battery = No Power
USB (from wall) - Battery = No Power
Battery +/- USB (any) = Phone--!--PC icon

If someone who has a fully functional Vibrant (hardware recovery/download feature works) could try this out?

I'm curious to see if this is a possible pattern...

youneek · Sep 2, 2010

People keep saying to hold power in some way or another to get to download mode... You dont need to ever touch the power button!

Turn phone off, plug usb into computer, hold both volume buttons in and plug usb into phone. It will instantly go into download mode.

Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

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

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