[Q] How to access files on damaged Razr M

[broderp]

I have a Razr M with a broken screen. The damage is to the upper left hand corner. The phone actually worked for several days like this, then just stopped. I can not tell what mode it's in or anything at this point. When I plug it in to charge, the green LED lights for a few seconds then goes out. Not sure if this is normal, as this was my sons phone and I never used it. Of course my son doesn't know either. Go figure. The phone was in an Otterbox (Defender Series) when it experianced a crushing force....

The issue is that I need to get his personal info and pictures off the phone before we send it back. (We had insurance).

So the question is:

How can I tell if the phone turned on. (We've pressed so many buttons etc...)
Is there a way to reset the phone to restart, so we can be sure it's on.
How can I access the files? (Is there a keystroke to power it up in USB mode?

The phone is the Razr M (XT907) from Verizon. I have down loaded and installed the motorola drivers on my PC, but no luck there. I'm no expert, but the damage seems really limited to the upper left hand corner, front and back side. I have watched several Youtube video's and don't believe anything super critial is located there, just the rear speaker on back and LED on front. The glass has broken (cracked) further down a bit, and I can see inside the phone just a little. The inner structure (plastic with the LED inside for thoise famliar with the insides) is mint.

ANY help would be appreciated. Thank you!

 

[ezknives]

I would plug the charger for a while maybe like ½-1 hour the green light coming on then off is a sign that the phone recognizes its getting power then started to charge... after some time on the charger take it off hold down both the power + volume down for 10-15 seconds I'd give it a minute or so then plug it in to the USB of your PC ... if all is well you should get the screen pop and be able to access the pictures... as far as contacts and what not your Sol.... you should be able to reset it via stock recovery without seeing it if you know where each selection is but I couldn't tell you as its been way to long since I've had the stock recovery... hope it helps good luck

Sent from my XT907 using xda app-developers app

 

[aviwdoowks]

I have a Razr M

Follow ezknives.
Were you unlocked? Rooted?
If you can never boot, see if you can get to bootloader

 

[broderp]

I would plug the charger for a while maybe like ½-1 hour the green light coming on then off is a sign that the phone recognizes its getting power then started to charge... after some time on the charger take it off hold down both the power + volume down for 10-15 seconds I'd give it a minute or so then plug it in to the USB of your PC ... if all is well you should get the screen pop and be able to access the pictures... as far as contacts and what not your Sol.... you should be able to reset it via stock recovery without seeing it if you know where each selection is but I couldn't tell you as its been way to long since I've had the stock recovery... hope it helps good luck

Sent from my XT907 using xda app-developers app

I will try this when I get home. Thanks for the information. :fingers-crossed:

Follow ezknives.
Were you unlocked? Rooted?
If you can never boot, see if you can get to bootloader

The phone was about 3 months old and bone stock.

 

[aviwdoowks]

Stock then it must bootup!

 

[broderp]

Stock then it must bootup!

Thats what i thought. It seems to me that the glass/ touchscreen is all thats damaged. Unfortunatly this phone was never hooked to a PC in it's short 3 month life. I don't know if it's even set up for USB or what the default settings are.

I do know my son had a pattern lock screen. I wonder if this affects it's ability to connect via USB assuming it's on and powered up.

 

[broderp]

I would plug the charger for a while maybe like ½-1 hour the green light coming on then off is a sign that the phone recognizes its getting power then started to charge... after some time on the charger take it off hold down both the power + volume down for 10-15 seconds I'd give it a minute or so then plug it in to the USB of your PC ... if all is well you should get the screen pop and be able to access the pictures... as far as contacts and what not your Sol.... you should be able to reset it via stock recovery without seeing it if you know where each selection is but I couldn't tell you as its been way to long since I've had the stock recovery... hope it helps good luck

Sent from my XT907 using xda app-developers app

I did this and still nothing. My PC acts like it's not even there. I just get the green light for few seconds then nothing. The phone should be charged as I left it all night on the charger, but I plugged it in for about 30 minutes then unplugged and tried this. Nothing. Odd how it was working just fine 2 days ago with the same damage. Of course two days ago my son didn't ask me to back anything up either. Lesson learned I guess.

This was one reason I didn't like this phone. If my phone locks up, I can pull the battery. Then I KNOW its off. I can't tell what state this phone is in or even if I can shut it down or access anything with damged screen being blank. If the above method should force it to pop up as a USB drive, then I'm afraid something else has fried. I have until tommorrow or so to try anything else.

 

[karthakon]

I did this and still nothing. My PC acts like it's not even there. I just get the green light for few seconds then nothing. The phone should be charged as I left it all night on the charger, but I plugged it in for about 30 minutes then unplugged and tried this. Nothing. Odd how it was working just fine 2 days ago with the same damage. Of course two days ago my son didn't ask me to back anything up either. Lesson learned I guess.

This was one reason I didn't like this phone. If my phone locks up, I can pull the battery. Then I KNOW its off. I can't tell what state this phone is in or even if I can shut it down or access anything with damged screen being blank. If the above method should force it to pop up as a USB drive, then I'm afraid something else has fried. I have until tommorrow or so to try anything else.

This might go without saying, but just in case... you need to make sure you have Motorola's device drivers installed on your computer. You can find them here: https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/answers/prod_answer_detail/a_id/89608/p/30,6720,8577

 

[broderp]

This might go without saying, but just in case... you need to make sure you have Motorola's device drivers installed on your computer. You can find them here: https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/answers/prod_answer_detail/a_id/89608/p/30,6720,8577

Yep, did that first thing last night.

I don't believe the phone is set up for USB, of course I cant access it now..

I believe the PC driver software installed OK.

 

[sloosecannon]

If the PC doesn't recognize it, you're not even booting. If it wasn't set up for USB, the computer would see it but not be able to access anything. Odd, because you should be able to.
So what happened before it went dead? Did you leave it on and let it go dead?

If not, your circuit board may be broken, in which case you're SOL

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk 4

 

[jco23]

I have a Razr M with a broken screen. The damage is to the upper left hand corner. The phone actually worked for several days like this, then just stopped. I can not tell what mode it's in or anything at this point. When I plug it in to charge, the green LED lights for a few seconds then goes out. Not sure if this is normal, as this was my sons phone and I never used it. Of course my son doesn't know either. Go figure. The phone was in an Otterbox (Defender Series) when it experianced a crushing force....

The issue is that I need to get his personal info and pictures off the phone before we send it back. (We had insurance).

So the question is:

How can I tell if the phone turned on. (We've pressed so many buttons etc...)
Is there a way to reset the phone to restart, so we can be sure it's on.
How can I access the files? (Is there a keystroke to power it up in USB mode?

The phone is the Razr M (XT907) from Verizon. I have down loaded and installed the motorola drivers on my PC, but no luck there. I'm no expert, but the damage seems really limited to the upper left hand corner, front and back side. I have watched several Youtube video's and don't believe anything super critial is located there, just the rear speaker on back and LED on front. The glass has broken (cracked) further down a bit, and I can see inside the phone just a little. The inner structure (plastic with the LED inside for thoise famliar with the insides) is mint.

ANY help would be appreciated. Thank you!

here's a shot in the dark:

there is an app called "Plan B" on the google play store. the app was designed for folks to install it on their device AFTER the phone went missing (this is assuming, of course, that the phone is turned on and is able to send/receive data). from this app, I think you can back up your contacts, pictures, etc. so, see if you can turn the phone on (you should see the green LED light up) by pressing and holding the power button for 3 seconds. then, via your PC, go to the google play store (sign into whose ever account was setup with google), and install Plan B (or lookout). I think google device manager may do the same thing, but that could require you to go into the phone and adjust the settings.

going forward, I would advise folks to use google as their ONLY source for contacts - that way, when they change phones, reset devices, flash, etc., all of that information will download automatically.

regarding pics/vids, I would suggest to make sure that folks set their camera to save to the external SD card - that way, all you need to do is pop out the sd card, and all of them will be saved there. or, you can upload them to picasa web album (google's online photo/video storage).

hope this helps, and good luck.

 

[broderp]

If the PC doesn't recognize it, you're not even booting. If it wasn't set up for USB, the computer would see it but not be able to access anything. Odd, because you should be able to.
So what happened before it went dead? Did you leave it on and let it go dead?

If not, your circuit board may be broken, in which case you're SOL

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk 4

Don't know. It's my sons phone, I knew it was broken, but I also saw that it was working. He never mentionad a word about storing stuffon his internal memory as opposed to the SD card. It was only after it stopped working did he say anything about it.

I'm real curiuous now, had he had extremely private info on there, passwords to bank accounts, credit card info etc... how would aperson be sure when you send a phone back it doesn't get recyled, repaired? I know they would wipe it clean, but I also know for a fact that anyone in this type of industry will look around first before wipingh it. Do bad I cant destroy the phone further to avoid it being even considered for repair and not just the incinerator. :silly:

 

[sloosecannon]

Don't know. It's my sons phone, I knew it was broken, but I also saw that it was working. He never mentionad a word about storing stuffon his internal memory as opposed to the SD card. It was only after it stopped working did he say anything about it.

I'm real curiuous now, had he had extremely private info on there, passwords to bank accounts, credit card info etc... how would aperson be sure when you send a phone back it doesn't get recyled, repaired? I know they would wipe it clean, but I also know for a fact that anyone in this type of industry will look around first before wipingh it. Do bad I cant destroy the phone further to avoid it being even considered for repair and not just the incinerator. :silly:

That shouldn't be an issue. Assuming they can get it booted, they'll probably go to recovery to check for root. They don't need to boot it all the way. Chances are the insides of the phone might be reused, but there's not much that you can do about that unless you want to just buy a new one...

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk 4

 

[jco23]

Don't know. It's my sons phone, I knew it was broken, but I also saw that it was working. He never mentionad a word about storing stuffon his internal memory as opposed to the SD card. It was only after it stopped working did he say anything about it.

I'm real curiuous now, had he had extremely private info on there, passwords to bank accounts, credit card info etc... how would aperson be sure when you send a phone back it doesn't get recyled, repaired? I know they would wipe it clean, but I also know for a fact that anyone in this type of industry will look around first before wipingh it. Do bad I cant destroy the phone further to avoid it being even considered for repair and not just the incinerator. :silly:

i really would not worry about that. my banking app does not store my password on it, and this phone is not compatible with google wallet. also, when they get these devices, the first thing they do (I would imagine) is to do a complete factory reset. given that the phone is damaged, there is really nothing that they can do.

a new thought though - I think there is an app called airdroid that allows you to view your phone's screen on your computer. see if that works.