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How to completely wipe phone

So my wife in her infinite wisdom, bought a Galaxy S6 off some guy at her work to replace my aging HTC M8. The catch being that he forgot his Samsung credentials, so he couldn't log in, and therefore is selling the phone to make up for his stupidity.
Before buying it, she checked the IMEI and its clear, along with the fact that the guy had all the original stuff that came with it, and it was almost brand new.
Now my question is, how can I bypass this? How can everything be erased for this isn't an issue? I've odined it to a fresh ROM, even Nand Erase All, but its still stuck with it. I know previous versions there was ways around it, but I can't seem to find one with this.
Currently running AT&T build G920AUCU2AOF3, which I believe is 5.0.2.

The phone is still logged into his old Samsung account? That shouldn't happen if you reset the phone. It should boot into a fresh rom with zero accounts connected to the phone
Sent from my SM-G920T using XDA Free mobile app

otariq said:
The phone is still logged into his old Samsung account? That shouldn't happen if you reset the phone. It should boot into a fresh rom with zero accounts connected to the phone
Sent from my SM-G920T using XDA Free mobile app
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Yes. Especially if he used the NAND Erase All.

Whilst off. Volume up, home button + power button. Boot to recovery then format device, erase all user data. Unless the previous owner had cerberus installed, as this inhibits the power button when locked....

The previous owner was an older guy that probably forgot his screen lock, googled how to reset it, found a tutorial on XDA, and messed that up. He had that "I have no idea what tech is" vibe, so I doubt he had Cerberus installed.
How does the Samsung Reactivation lock manage to stay on even over a fresh Odin install?

Any ideas?

Flash twrp and factory reset and format

Bump.

theking_13 said:
So my wife in her infinite wisdom, bought a Galaxy S6 off some guy at her work to replace my aging HTC M8. The catch being that he forgot his Samsung credentials, so he couldn't log in, and therefore is selling the phone to make up for his stupidity.
Before buying it, she checked the IMEI and its clear, along with the fact that the guy had all the original stuff that came with it, and it was almost brand new.
Now my question is, how can I bypass this? How can everything be erased for this isn't an issue? I've odined it to a fresh ROM, even Nand Erase All, but its still stuck with it. I know previous versions there was ways around it, but I can't seem to find one with this.
Currently running AT&T build G920AUCU2AOF3, which I believe is 5.0.2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check out my SM-G92xx Helper Post, link in my signature below...

A simple hard reset (phone off, volume up+home key+power button) should do the trick.
I bought my phone on Swappa, and even tho the seller already did a full wipe, I still did it anyways and it started the phone with the initial phone set up where I had to sign into my gmail, samsung account, etc

Id use samsung smart switch. It wipes and downloads then flash the latest firmware for your phone
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

Please help, shady Nexus 5

Hello everyone! I'm in need of advice and I'm not sure where I can find it.
A couple of days ago, I've been tricked into buying a Nexus 5 from a shady guy. I know, shame on me, I was simply stupid and I can't say what was in my mind.
Long story short, after buying the phone, I noticed that the charger doesn't work so I tried contacting the guy, but he vanished - his profile, with all his adds, was deleted 2 hours after selling me the phone.
I searched the phone's IMEI and it doesn't appear to be stolen, which makes me believe there is something rotten in Denmark with this phone. So far so good, it appears to work (although, it has some problems connecting to wi-fi and freezes from time to time), but I keep asking myself - what in the hell is wrong with it?! What should and what can I do to verify this phone and calm my worried mind? In case the hardware is ok, doing a hard reset would fix all potential threats that arise with a phone in this situation - it has been rooted and I'm not sure what might be on it, malware and stuff like that?

Try to install a custom ROM on it & If it's a fake one, it won't flash it... Then you can be sure that you have been tricked into buying a shady N5

I recommend flashing the latest MM release from Google using fastboot commands. After flashing all partitions, flash the userdata.img file, immediately boot into recovery, wipe data, wipe cache, reboot.
The intermittent wifi could be be to a hardware or software issue but you won't be able to know for certain until you eliminate the software possibility by flashing back to stock.

audit13 said:
I recommend flashing the latest MM release from Google using fastboot commands. After flashing all partitions, flash the userdata.img file, immediately boot into recovery, wipe data, wipe cache, reboot.
The intermittent wifi could be be to a hardware or software issue but you won't be able to know for certain until you eliminate the software possibility by flashing back to stock.
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Thank you for your prompt reply. I'm not really familiar with android or IT, in general. Is this tutorial adequate for flashing the latest MM release?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/google-nexus-5/general/tutorial-how-to-flash-factory-image-t2513701

Yes, that tutorial should be fine.

audit13 said:
Yes, that tutorial should be fine.
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Click to collapse
Ok, I followed the steps listed here droid-life.com/2013/11/05/how-to-flash-nexus-5-factory-images and I believe I've installed the latest MM. I wiped the data/factory reset and it appears to work.... But the wi-fi still has issues, although it's significantly better now.... What does this mean? Also, can I now connect to my google account and others without the fear of malware or spyware or anything like that?

I would start by installing Avast Antivirus - Play Store.

It is possible that there is a problem with the wifi chip in the phone. I have two motherboards where wifi cannot be enabled anymore.

Still having wifi issues. I think you are right. Someone said that 5.0.1 and 5.1.1 burn some chip on the motherboard... Anyways, thank you for your kind support!

Who knows what happened to the phone before? Maybe the guy used it to make calls in the rain and the components have been exposed to water? Just to make sure that this is not the case, you could open the device and check if you see some water marks. If this is the case, use rubbing alcohol to clean the PCB, let it dry and assemble the device again.
That´s always a problem with devices you get from shady guys. You never know what happened to them before.

Recovering lost data after a catastrophic mistake?

Hi all! Apologies if this is a repeat. I was up until nearly 5am last night, trying to fix this, and I sifted through the 125 pages of the help thread AND the other threads on this site, but nothing seemed to help me out. Right now I've got a phone that I had to factory wipe, and I'm devastated by the loss of almost a year of memories. I'm really hoping someone can help me!
I have a SM-G903V through Verizon (who were not at all helpful when their cloud failed me so miserably) and it was upgraded last week with the standard update. Prior to this it was stock and had never been rooted (although I dabbled in rooting several years ago with a Nook Tablet).
Yesterday, while transferring pics to my computer, I accidentally deleted an entire file with the most recent pictures (basically my whole 'camera' folder ever since we upgraded to S7 last October). I attempted to use a recovery program (FoneLab) to retrieve the files, but found that the root portion failed everytime. Through research, I learned what we all obviously know now -- that the bootloader is locked. I used a tutorial I found that was dedicated to my phone specifically, to try and unlock the bootloader so that I could recover the lost stuff.... and ended up in the dreaded boot loop. Every single method of getting out of the loop failed -- including the factory wipe!! I ultimately had to use Odin to completely reinstall the firmware and now everything (EVERYTHING!!!) is gone. All my settings, my music, my pictures and videos (including my snarky gif folder for Twitter use!!! )... the only thing the cloud restored was my contacts (anything older than about a month ago) and texts. Some of it is still on my PC from the original recovery attempt with FoneLab, but the good stuff is completely gone.
HELP! Am I screwed? Is there no hope of getting any of it back? I feel like it has to still be buried in the phone somewhere, because nothing ever really goes away..... but I don't know how to get it back. I've cried many tears and lost a whole lot of sleep in the last 18 hours. We lost stuff from a whole vacation, a wedding, countless family events, all of the videos/stuff we were compiling for my son who is hoping to enter the national development program for USA Hockey.... I feel like the worst mom ever.
:crying: Can someone help me?
I'm not completely a noob, and my husband is actually an IT tech, but he doesn't do a lot with Android. His coding background is in credit union software. But a lot of the coding lingo on this site goes a bit over my head.

Sounds like a complete nightmare! I made a mistake with an app (Package Disabler) which resulted in a factory reset and I lost so many photos etc too!
If you root your phone there might a chance to recover the files (warranty might be void). I doubt it though since you have done a factory reset which probably means the data is overwritten.

Cabaline16 said:
Hi all! Apologies if this is a repeat. I was up until nearly 5am last night, trying to fix this, and I sifted through the 125 pages of the help thread AND the other threads on this site, but nothing seemed to help me out. Right now I've got a phone that I had to factory wipe, and I'm devastated by the loss of almost a year of memories. I'm really hoping someone can help me!
I have a SM-G903V through Verizon (who were not at all helpful when their cloud failed me so miserably) and it was upgraded last week with the standard update. Prior to this it was stock and had never been rooted (although I dabbled in rooting several years ago with a Nook Tablet).
Yesterday, while transferring pics to my computer, I accidentally deleted an entire file with the most recent pictures (basically my whole 'camera' folder ever since we upgraded to S7 last October). I attempted to use a recovery program (FoneLab) to retrieve the files, but found that the root portion failed everytime. Through research, I learned what we all obviously know now -- that the bootloader is locked. I used a tutorial I found that was dedicated to my phone specifically, to try and unlock the bootloader so that I could recover the lost stuff.... and ended up in the dreaded boot loop. Every single method of getting out of the loop failed -- including the factory wipe!! I ultimately had to use Odin to completely reinstall the firmware and now everything (EVERYTHING!!!) is gone. All my settings, my music, my pictures and videos (including my snarky gif folder for Twitter use!!! )... the only thing the cloud restored was my contacts (anything older than about a month ago) and texts. Some of it is still on my PC from the original recovery attempt with FoneLab, but the good stuff is completely gone.
HELP! Am I screwed? Is there no hope of getting any of it back? I feel like it has to still be buried in the phone somewhere, because nothing ever really goes away..... but I don't know how to get it back. I've cried many tears and lost a whole lot of sleep in the last 18 hours. We lost stuff from a whole vacation, a wedding, countless family events, all of the videos/stuff we were compiling for my son who is hoping to enter the national development program for USA Hockey.... I feel like the worst mom ever.
:crying: Can someone help me?
I'm not completely a noob, and my husband is actually an IT tech, but he doesn't do a lot with Android. His coding background is in credit union software. But a lot of the coding lingo on this site goes a bit over my head.
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Click to collapse
Because of Oding flash and/or the factory reset (in Recovery I think) your data is lost. the key to encrypt the interal space would be deleted. I don´t think that there is any way to recover the data.

Please help with my Samsung galaxy 6 edge (sm-g925A)

So, about a month ago I decided to factory reset my phone. I got it to factory binary mode, that was what I wanted to do because the phone kept messing up, getting hot, etc. I figured I’d reset it, download my apps back that I used a lot and everything else would be erased so I could start fresh, rather than going through every single thing in my phone and deciding what to get rid of, and what to keep.
Of corse, I have a AT&T phone that apparently makes this complicated with the Samsung factory reset protection. I got this phone from someone I used to have a relationship type of connection with, and I did ask for the help from them, they couldn’t remember the login info for their old phone.
Basically what I’m asking here is when in factory binary mode, with FRP on, can I get back to the phones regular system? I’ve never done this before, and now I regret it more than anything. I didn’t backup my phone or anything, I’ve tried several times reading countless thin about flashing a phone and blah blah, so, does ANYONE know what I should do? I recently lost my job and buying anything isn’t an option, espicaly those websites that say you have to pay to get the FRP deleted.
Is there ANYTHING I can do a thing this point? I’ve heard with the FRP still on, that I can’t download the stock rom back or really do anything, is this true? Can anybody please help! This is my last resort, I’ve spent countless hours trying to google and read articles and this forum was the only place I saw people actually getting help and getting their problems resolved.
Thanks for your time, and the replies. Sorry if this is the wrong sub forum, I’m new here.

Bringing up my post, still no replies yet.

Android OS corrupting itself?

Wondering if this is isolated to my phone or if its systemic. I have never modified my phone, its stock from Google directly. Twice now, the phone starts running slow/acting strange, then will reboot and say that the system is corrupted and will not load. I tried to sideload the latest OTA to recover, but doesnt take. I literally have to do a full hard reset to get the phone back. The phone has done this to me twice now randomly. I have never had a phone, especially not modified at all, just randomly corrupt itself let alone do it twice. Has this happened to anyone else?
Wondering if I should have Google send me another phone.

iceman4357 said:
Wondering if this is isolated to my phone or if its systemic. I have never modified my phone, its stock from Google directly. Twice now, the phone starts running slow/acting strange, then will reboot and say that the system is corrupted and will not load. I tried to sideload the latest OTA to recover, but doesnt take. I literally have to do a full hard reset to get the phone back. The phone has done this to me twice now randomly. I have never had a phone, especially not modified at all, just randomly corrupt itself let alone do it twice. Has this happened to anyone else?
Wondering if I should have Google send me another phone.
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For me this sounds like a hardware failure and I'd try to get the phone replaced.

Probably the NEW in house TITAN chip.
There must be something on your device. Factory reset it. Should be yohr best bet.

dirtyreturn said:
Probably the NEW in house TITAN chip.
There must be something on your device. Factory reset it. Should be yohr best bet.
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I agree and think it could be hardware. I have Factory reset the phone twice already.

The firmware flash may have become corrupted therefore factory resets are useless.
Flash data has a limited lifespan usually this doesn't become an issue but it can.
Reflash and see if it holds. Otherwise it's likely a memory chipset or mobo failure.

This happened to me. Was running one of the developer previews and chalked it off to that. lost everything I didn't back up the night before (out of habit from messing with my phones I do daily backups of the important folders and phone data). The only thing that worked for me was re-flashing factory image and start fresh. Hasn't happened again for me.,

I had a similar experience about a month or two ago. Same situation, stock firmware on an unlocked device direct from Google. I had thankfully backed up about a week prior.

EvilRubberDuck said:
I had a similar experience about a month or two ago. Same situation, stock firmware on an unlocked device direct from Google. I had thankfully backed up about a week prior.
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For the system to go corrupt by itself is rare unless there's a hardware fault.
More than likely it was 3rd party software that caused it. Launchers, power management apps are prime suspects.
Androids are typically a very stable platform.