Database Info

Some Captivates Unable to Use Three Button Recovery

It appears that some newer Captivates being sold suffer from not being able to reboot into download or recovery mode using the three button (VOL UP + VOL DOWN and PWR) combination. These phones will not respond to these key combinations. If you have one of these phones, you have a significantly higher risk of bricking your phone irreversibly since you cannot three button reboot into download mode from a failed flash.
The first two Captivates I used did not have this problem. The two Captivates I got this week both DO have this problem. Others who have purchased their Captivate recently (in the past week) have discovered this problem as well. This indicates it may be more common in newer Captivates.
A number of Galaxy S I9000 have experienced this problem and they have put pressure on Samsung Canada via Facebook to fix the problem. For those affected, I suggest we do the same for our Captivates:
http://www.facebook.com/SamsungMobile?v=wall
Examples of Captivates that can't use three button recovery:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=8066648
and from I9000 users:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=765703

Asked and answered my own question. Relevant information condensed into the post above.

Pretty sure you can still do it... try this
shut down your phone, plug in the usb cable and wait for the battery to come up, then do the key combo.

I call user error. How and why stop key combos? I wouldnt think it would happen.

smokestack76 said:
I call user error. How and why stop key combos? I wouldnt think it would happen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've went through 2 cap's also, both cannot do it. I have to use ADB to kick into recovery. Also, in the SRE thread another user had the same issue. All bought within the last week..

Thanks for the heads up. I was planning on swapping mine out because it isn't consistently detecting my SIM card; looks like I should wait for a bit and see if this is a temporary issue.

I swapped mine so its the so called newer one. And i can still use the buttons just fine. Even tried with another one today and still worked fine. So i dunno.

To clearify some issues. Power off. Hold power and BOTH volume buttons down. Thats the key here. Once the att screen comes on wait. Dont do anything. The screen turns off. THEN the screen comes back on. Thats right twice. THEN release the power button. ONLY the power button and continue holding the volume up AND down. You will see recovery menu.

thats exactly how we are doing it. its the download that is having issues though, not recovery. thats holding both vols, pluggin in USB. it should go to Download mode, but it doesnt.

Ok just tested. Same thing with usb plugged in takes you to download.

Make sure odin is up and running. And usb is plugged in when u power off. Not sure if its needed but thats how i tested it.

Worked fine here plugging in a usb after powed off.

If this does not work for you please post a system dump. Or pm me for more help. Kinda wonder why so many users have these issues :-(

I was having these problems as well.. When I first got that phone I tried to boot it into recovery mode, and it wouldn't work.. THe only way I was able to get it into recovery mode was through quick boot.
So while I was flashing the SRE v 1.2.2a somehow it got stuck in a loop of installing the files over and over..
I tried putting the phone into download mode via every button combination people suggested.. I literally am not exaggerating that I spent 4 hours trying over and over..
Today i sent it back rma.

Take your phone back if 3 button recovery mode does not work
malfuncion said:
I've went through 2 cap's also, both cannot do it. I have to use ADB to kick into recovery. Also, in the SRE thread another user had the same issue. All bought within the last week..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is my suggestion. Take your phone back if it does not do the 3 button recovery mode. Otherwise you will sooner or later brick it and not be able to recover:cool. Take it from someone who has bricked one that could not do the 3 button recovery mode. I lucked out and got a new phone that does do the 3 button rec now LOL. Test the phone in the store to ensure it can go into recovery mode.

smokestack76 said:
To clearify some issues. Power off. Hold power and BOTH volume buttons down. Thats the key here. Once the att screen comes on wait. Dont do anything. The screen turns off. THEN the screen comes back on. Thats right twice. THEN release the power button. ONLY the power button and continue holding the volume up AND down. You will see recovery menu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did this for about 2 hours on both devices. No joy. If you follow the links I posted in the first post, you'll see that a number of I9000 devices have this problem and now a couple of ours do as well. It has to do with the way they are flashed from the factory.
I can certify (unless I have gone completely mental) than I am doing it the right way. I had two Captivates before this that I could put into download and recovery easily using the vol up + vol down + pwr combo. The last two, no way. Also cannot do the vol up + vol down then plug in USB with ODIN running and ready to get out of brick mode (i.e. computer -!- phone). Which means once bricked, always bricked.
I've attached build info for the device. JF6, built 8.11.2010, hardware is REV0.4.

ok so I am basically screwed then. I just called AT&T and they wont warranty the device. Do I have to call samsung? I got that number: 18889874357.
AT&T didnt even know what a recovery mode was, they wanted to walk me through the factory reset on the phone itself.
Has this issue been confirmed with Samsung?

Called Samsung this morning- actually just got off the line. I spoke to about 3 people, then finally got to level 3 support. They stepped me through the same steps I have read everywhere- the 3 button reset. He actually had me try it a few different ways too. After a second, he put me on hold to see if there is some other way to put the phone into recovery or download mode, but after 5 minutes he came back and had no good news. He had a couple things he googled but they didnt work- of course. He basically resolved the call with "I don't know what to do..." So I then asked if this is an RMA'able problem and he said he didnt think so since the phone functions fine but put me on hold again for another 5 minutes. Finally he came back and said he can setup an RMA to do a factory reflash. It is a 2day air to send it to them, then a flashing, and a 2day back. Should take about a week or so. He suggested I maybe go to AT&T and possibly get it replaced that way first so I will head over to corporate this evening. If that doesnt work then I'm sending it off to Samsung...

I had much difficulty getting into recovery. But it turned out to be a matter of timing. Using the usb cable plugged in seems to change the criteria and made it easier to get into recovery.
What I do now. Phone is off. Wait at least 10 sec after shutdown to ensure it is fully off. In low light you may see a small amount of light coming from the screen then it goes black.
Press both volumes then the power button and hold till the att screen pops up. After att screen is on (the initial screen not the animation) for one or two second. Release power then volume quickly. If that doesn't work try it as design gears describes with the usb cable.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk

Dani897 said:
What I do now. Phone is off. Wait at least 10 sec after shutdown to ensure it is fully off. In low light you may see a small amount of light coming from the screen then it goes black.
Press both volumes then the power button and hold till the att screen pops up. After att screen is on (the initial screen not the animation) for one or two second. Release power then volume quickly. If that doesn't work try it as design gears describes with the usb cable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried umpteenth different timings. Now that I have one of my original Captivates back, the difference is clear. I can get it into recovery/download 100% of the time. On both the new ones, 0% -- as in never. It's gonna be a fun conversation at the AT&T store trying to tell them that:
1. The phone is broken because I can't get it to switch into a mode mainly reserved for engineers.
2. I will test the replacement they give me for the same problem and return it if doesn't work.
3. Repeat step 2 until I find one that works.

[Q] (SOLVED) Bricked/Bootloop weird

Hey guys,
I got an infuse from a friend. When she gave it to me it was all stock and functional minus the fact that it would bootloop. When you would turn it on it would show samsung, turn off, samsung, turn off... About 3 seconds per on time. It would do this whenever it had the battery in or was plugged in. At first I was able to get it into download and then flash stock OEM. This fixed the problem, then I got into recovery and flashed a custom rom. All of this worked fine. Here's the problem
I tried restoring to the stock that I got the phone to before the custom rom was installed. This took 25 seconds and I knew something must have been wrong but I rebooted anyway. When rebooting I was faced with my original issues up above. Unfortunately its rebooting too quickly to put it into download mod. By the time I press the volume buttons and insert the usb it already boots and then starts over. If I do it quickly enough it goes to charge and bootloops to charge. The problem is that the phone bootloops whenever the battery is in. I don't have to press power for it to start.
Pretty frustrated and really would like some help. Thanks
EDIT: I ****ING FIXED IT!!! I swear this isn't a joke... I was reading a forum that had this problem and they all were saying they got angry and threw it/hit their phone and it booted up. Sitting there I eventually started entertaining the idea. I did a quick survey of the library I am in and... smacked it on my fist. THEN THE ****ING THING BOOTED UP!! What the hell!! SO excited. If it happens again, most efficient way is to drop the device on the top off the phone on a carpeted floor from about 2 feet

Faulty power button. Do a search.
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda premium

Los maizak
psal217050 said:
Faulty power button. Do a search.
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Am I looking for a replacement or what? Thanks for the speedy reply

psal may be on to something however it sounds like you are not trying download mode correctly - if you had the battery pulled and the usb disconnected it could not be rebooting.
Edit: If the power button is sticking, most likely no need to replace- here is a video of how to replace the screen, not what you are doing but the point is it shows how to take the phone apart so that you can clean the power button. Hope this helps : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WS5I0SpL6c

Pony Express said:
psal may be on to something however it sounds like you are not trying download mode correctly - if you had the battery pulled and the usb disconnected it could no t be rebooting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It reboots only when I put the battery in. So the moment I put the battery in to try and get it into recovery it starts booting immediately. It doesn't give me enough time to actually press volume up and down and then insert usb. If i do it fast enough it just boots to charging mode and boot loops to that instead of the samsung splash
Edit: I have already taken apart the phone. Not really sure what I should clean. It looks completely fine and acts similarly to the volume buttons. How would you recommend I clean it?

Pony Express said:
psal may be on to something however it sounds like you are not trying download mode correctly - if you had the battery pulled and the usb disconnected it could not be rebooting.
Edit: If the power button is sticking, most likely no need to replace- here is a video of how to replace the screen, not what you are doing but the point is it shows how to take the phone apart so that you can clean the power button. Hope this helps : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WS5I0SpL6c
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not so sure that this is a hardware issue. Why would the problem disappear when I flash the OEM but then return everytime I restore to the faulty stock. I already took apart and the power button seems pristine.

With this extra info, it is pointing more toward a sticking power button with a hardware issue still something to consider... have you tried pulling battery, install usb, hold both volume buttons (no power button) and while continuing to hold vol buttons insert the battery ?
Edit: If the issue is indeed in the faulty rom, delete it and use something different.

Pony Express said:
With this extra info, it is pointing more toward a sticking power button with a hardware issue still something to consider... have you tried pulling battery, install usb, hold both volume buttons (no power button) and while continuing to hold vol buttons insert the battery ?
Edit: If the issue is indeed in the faulty rom, delete it and use something different.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure how I would delete the rom because I cannot boot the phone, boot to recovery, or boot to download. I did try having the usb in, holding volume and then putting in battery. It didn't work. Do you think a jig would work? Thanks

Yes, I think for such a small price it is worth a shot- best of luck !!
It would also be worth mentioning to be certain you have a good usb cable as well as a good usb port on the puter.

aeppacher said:
Hey guys,
I got an infuse from a friend. When she gave it to me it was all stock and functional minus the fact that it would bootloop. When you would turn it on it would show samsung, turn off, samsung, turn off... About 3 seconds per on time. It would do this whenever it had the battery in or was plugged in. At first I was able to get it into download and then flash stock OEM. This fixed the problem, then I got into recovery and flashed a custom rom. All of this worked fine. Here's the problem
I tried restoring to the stock that I got the phone to before the custom rom was installed. This took 25 seconds and I knew something must have been wrong but I rebooted anyway. When rebooting I was faced with my original issues up above. Unfortunately its rebooting too quickly to put it into download mod. By the time I press the volume buttons and insert the usb it already boots and then starts over. If I do it quickly enough it goes to charge and bootloops to charge. The problem is that the phone bootloops whenever the battery is in. I don't have to press power for it to start.
Pretty frustrated and really would like some help. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use this to go to stock old version:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1116251
Then open kies mini connect your phone on kies update and upgrade to the newest GB version.
At this point u are on a stock if u want root try this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1613523
Option C is the better

daemonlmrj said:
Use this to go to stock old version:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1116251
Then open kies mini connect your phone on kies update and upgrade to the newest GB version.
At this point u are on a stock if u want root try this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1613523
Option C is the better
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't do this because in order to go to download mode the phone needs to be off. The moment I insert the battery it automatically starts bootlooping

Pony and psal are prolly right. Try fixing your power button.

How can you hard reboot if needed

I'm considering upgrading from my S2 to the S6 but I'm concerned about situations where, in the past, my S2 was locked up such that the only way to fix it was to pop out the battery.
Trying to power it off through the button didn't work, screen was unresponsive.
With the S6, since you can't just pop the back off and pop the battery out, what would one do in this situation?

marklyn said:
I'm considering upgrading from my S2 to the S6 but I'm concerned about situations where, in the past, my S2 was locked up such that the only way to fix it was to pop out the battery.
Trying to power it off through the button didn't work, screen was unresponsive.
With the S6, since you can't just pop the back off and pop the battery out, what would one do in this situation?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hold power until it restarts. If for some reason that doesnt work then hold Home+Power+Vol Down until it reboots.

Do NOT hold power+vol down+home. That puts it in download mode.
It's not an S2, I can't imagine this happening. Hasn't happened on my last 3 phones that did not have removable battery.

natypes said:
Do NOT hold power+vol down+home. That puts it in download mode.
It's not an S2, I can't imagine this happening. Hasn't happened on my last 3 phones that did not have removable battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So what if it goes into download mode. I'm just saying if whatever reason it doesn't restart with power then try the latter.

Gizmoe said:
So what if it goes into download mode. I'm just saying if whatever reason it doesn't restart with power then try the latter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Still, I wonder what happens in a situation where (in the past) you needed to pull the battery to do a hard restart. It's looking like you can't do that now.

marklyn said:
Still, I wonder what happens in a situation where (in the past) you needed to pull the battery to do a hard restart. It's looking like you can't do that now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That isn't the case anymore. The power button is made to bypass the system now by holding it down due to non removable battery. I guess worse case scenario you could just let it die and then boot into recovery and factory reset. The download mode hard reset function should always work regardless of the state of the system. Then when in download mode just hold down the combo again until the screen goes black. Then you can just start it up again. Not sure why the other poster thinks going into download mode is a dramatic scenario.

Update: I just read samsung built in a specific function just for this. Hold volume down and power for 10 seconds and phone will power off.

Gizmoe said:
Update: I just read samsung built in a specific function just for this. Hold volume down and power for 10 seconds and phone will power off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope that is really the case. And my phone is a S4, no clue why I said S2. duh.
I know that on rare occasions my phone was so foobared that the only way I could unlock it was to pop the battery out but then again on an S4 there may not have been a power off button combination under the same circumstances.

I found that I had to hold all 4 buttons on my Verizon S6 to get it out of download mode. This boots it into "Maintenance Boot Mode" which gives you some special boot modes alongside a normal boot option.

Gizmoe said:
Not sure why the other poster thinks going into download mode is a dramatic scenario.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Either you know something download does that I do not, we are not on
the same page or you're confusing download mode with recovery mode.
Download mode has no options on the phone for a hard reset. It's just
download mode. Recovery mode offers hard reset as well as factory reset.

natypes said:
Either you know something download does that I do not, we are not on
the same page or you're confusing download mode with recovery mode.
Download mode has no options on the phone for a hard reset. It's just
download mode. Recovery mode offers hard reset as well as factory reset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Getting into download mode is just a method. Never said there was any selectable options. I think you weren't understanding me. Anyways Samsung has built in a feature to hold power and volume down which will take you to a screen where you can do 5 different options. 1 is a factory reset.

TWRP seemingly bricked my pixel

So I was trying to make a backup with the latest twrp and I got this error code: createTarFork() process ended with ERROR=255.
I figured, to hell with it I'll reboot. Twrp asked if I wanted to install the twrp app, I said no. Screen goes back, never to turn on again. No button combo holding for any length of time helps. Bummer, right? I was running DU at the time.
Now I'm worried about the RMA, I hope they don't deny me after they get it back into the warehouse.

stonew5082 said:
So I was trying to make a backup with the latest twrp and I got this error code: createTarFork() process ended with ERROR=255.
I figured, to hell with it I'll reboot. Twrp asked if I wanted to install the twrp app, I said no. Screen goes back, never to turn on again. No button combo holding for any length of time helps. Bummer, right? I was running DU at the time.
Now I'm worried about the RMA, I hope they don't deny me after they get it back into the warehouse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does anything happen when you plug the phone into the wall or into the PC?
Have you tried just holding down power for a while?

are you on beta hardware. i noticed today my phone was unresponsive installing twrp it would go black and disconnect from pc. what i had to do to get it to turn back on since it stayed lik that even holding the power button for a while was just hold the volume key and power for a couple min down and power if that dont work try volume up and power just random pushes to get the phone it will go to some debugging screen then just holding buttons till it restarts

exad said:
Does anything happen when you plug the phone into the wall or into the PC?
Have you tried just holding down power for a while?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cgrimm9 said:
are you on beta hardware. i noticed today my phone was unresponsive installing twrp it would go black and disconnect from pc. what i had to do to get it to turn back on since it stayed lik that even holding the power button for a while was just hold the volume key and power for a couple min down and power if that dont work try volume up and power just random pushes to get the phone it will go to some debugging screen then just holding buttons till it restarts
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried every button combo. Plugged it in to wall overnight and computer. No response. Makes me paranoid about twrp for pixel because I was rebooting from there, but then again it doesn't seem to be a big problem in the community

stonew5082 said:
I've tried every button combo. Plugged it in to wall overnight and computer. No response. Makes me paranoid about twrp for pixel because I was rebooting from there, but then again it doesn't seem to be a big problem in the community
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought I was in trouble a couple times. I had to hold volume down and power button for a long time. Finger started to go to sleep

cgrimm9 said:
are you on beta hardware. i noticed today my phone was unresponsive installing twrp it would go black and disconnect from pc. what i had to do to get it to turn back on since it stayed lik that even holding the power button for a while was just hold the volume key and power for a couple min down and power if that dont work try volume up and power just random pushes to get the phone it will go to some debugging screen then just holding buttons till it restarts
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also had the same situation go on as well. I'm not sure what's is happening but when I boot TWRP the thing just becomes unresponsive and a black screen. I had to hold the buttons for nearly 30 seconds before it worked. Pixel isn't a friendly device to mod. :-/

mac796 said:
I thought I was in trouble a couple times. I had to hold volume down and power button for a long time. Finger started to go to sleep
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's bizarre! I'll try when I get home. I wonder what's causing this. Did it ever happen again to you? And were you using twrp when it happened?

stonew5082 said:
That's bizarre! I'll try when I get home. I wonder what's causing this. Did it ever happen again to you? And were you using twrp when it happened?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I was using twrp, I was flashing test build. But it put me into a loop. U got a black screen, and if your computer won't even recognize it , you may be out of luck. I have been using rc2 I know it's not great for restoring backups, but it works good for everything else

That is so strange. I have never come across this issue before. Unfortunately, if you can't seem to get your PC to recognize the device, I don't think there's anything you can do. I guess we will have to be wary about using TWRP. I haven't had any weird issues myself with TWRP but I know others have. Here's hoping google will honor your warranty. I think they will, I don't think see them spending the time to look into what caused your phone to die so I think you'll be able to get a replacement without much hassle.
If you wouldn't mind, please keep us updated.

exad said:
That is so strange. I have never come across this issue before. Unfortunately, if you can't seem to get your PC to recognize the device, I don't think there's anything you can do. I guess we will have to be wary about using TWRP. I haven't had any weird issues myself with TWRP but I know others have. Here's hoping google will honor your warranty. I think they will, I don't think see them spending the time to look into what caused your phone to die so I think you'll be able to get a replacement without much hassle.
If you wouldn't mind, please keep us updated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So far so good, sent then phone in and sold the replacement. I'm getting the OnePlus 3t instead.

Cant shutdown to charge devic

I just purchased the 6x and I was going to root and get some stuff done before getting it setup for a relative.
However, i screwed up the twrp recovery flash and messed it up. I've found the directions to get it back on track, however I can't charge it enough to actually let the recovery run. The battery is dead and when i plug it into the charger it just keeps turning back on and sticking at the "Your Device is booting now". I've attempted holding the power button down to force it to shutoff, but it doesn't seem to have any effect.
Anyone else run into this issue and managed to get past this problem?

You can try pressing the up volume + power. Also you can try down volume + power. Also you can press all 3 buttons and keep them held down. Hopefully one of those combinations can help you. Else you will have to let the phone battery completely die (overnight) and then plug the charger in.

fc3211 said:
You can try pressing the up volume + power. Also you can try down volume + power. Also you can press all 3 buttons and keep them held down. Hopefully one of those combinations can help you. Else you will have to let the phone battery completely die (overnight) and then plug the charger in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately I've done all of these options. Letting it drain over night is what got me into this situation actually. I can get myself into fastboot to follow the instructions I have, install the boot/recovery/system images. And can even get the boot for installing update.app to start, but from what i can tell it doesn't have the juice it loses power and shuts down. then when it gets just a enough juice, it automatically turns back on and sits at the "booting now" screen.

Are you sure you held down the power button long enough? Try holding it for 5 minutes straight and dont let go no matter what
I am not sure what else to suggest to you, will wait for one of the more experienced members to chime in. You may have to physically open the phone and disconnect the battery if nothing else works. And that is not an easy job if you look on YouTube to replace the battery on this phone takes at least an intermediate level of skill with micro-electronics.
All I can tell you is to please not lose hope. I had a situation 3 or 4 days ago where I had FRP lock on and nothing I tried worked and I was ready to sell the phone on eBay for $50 and cut my losses but the older members of this forum helped me and after hours of frustration I finally have a working phone again. If worse comes to worse comes to worse than your final option will be to try to get service from Huawei, maybe lie to them and say that you accepted ota update and that the Huawei update caused all the problems. Or better story than that: Tell them you where mugged at the Mall and thief stole your phone but then 3 days later you saw the same thief again at another Starbucks and confronted the thief and took your phone back again. But it appears the thief must have tried to flash TWRP or something because now phone is messed up. Maybe they will believe that. Haar-Haarr
But that is a worst case scenario, probably it wont come to that. My phone was doing the same thing as yours, I forget what I did to interrupt it from rebooting on its own. But really all you can do is try a combination of the buttons and hope the dang phone will finally just power off. Its too bad you cannot boot into TWRP and select POWER OFF

Try booting into eRecovery. Plug your device to the charger and turn the phone on. When you're on the bootloader warning, press and hold Vol+ button until it boots. eRecovery should let you to charge your device. It also has a battery indicator.
BTW, don't forget to download your phone firmware. It may be necessary for fixing your phone if you messed up an important partition.

Panchoso4D said:
Try booting into eRecovery. Plug your device to the charger and turn the phone on. When you're on the bootloader warning, press and hold Vol+ button until it boots. eRecovery should let you to charge your device. It also has a battery indicator.
BTW, don't forget to download your phone firmware. It may be necessary for fixing your phone if you messed up an important partition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't seem to get to recovery.
After working on it more yesterday, i'm not entirely convinced it is the battery causing me the issues. After flashing the .img files in fastboot, i can sometimes get it to start recovery (both volume buttons and power) and it will start installing the update but it stalls and reboots at 5%. Based on what i've read on the other threads, this has to do with not getting the right firmware matched from what as on there before. Problem is i jumped so quickly into unlocking the bootloader and trying to root i never paid attention to my build number in the OS to know what to flash back to. I've tried multiple TeamMt firmware search website, as well as the official one from Huawei.