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.
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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..
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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] Samsung Nexus SCH151 -- Desperately Need Advice

Hello Everyone,
I'd be eternally grateful for any technical advice and wisdom anyone that can help with my issue! I have a previously rooted phone that I have to return for a warranty, but the bootloader is unlocked and I can't lock it again.
Here is the problem, my phone completely shuts off about 10 seconds after the screen turns off. It's a full shut down, not just the screen not turning back on.
Some other symptoms:
My phone won't power on while it's plugged into the wall outlet. I have to remove it from the charger for it to turn on. But it will charge while the phone is ON and I plug it into the wall outlet afterwards.
My phone will automatically shut off when I plug it into any USB cable connected to a computer that's on (however, it doesn't automatically shut off if I plug it into the wall charger while it's on)
When I press power and volume down for ODIN or volume up + volume down for the bootloader screen, both screens will only show up briefly, then the phone will immediately shut down. I can't access either menus.
I have tried swapping out my battery with my wife's, and it does the same thing. Her phone works perfectly fine with my battery, mine doesn't work with either. (We have the same phone).
I rooted my phone a little less than a year. It became unrooted quite a while back when I accidentally ran a stock update. I never messed with it since. I'm EXTREMELY rusty with rooting and custom firmware and flashing, etc., so I apologize in advance.
I'm terrified because I'm sending out my phone under that Samsung warranty because all of my tech sense tells me there's a hardware issue going on; it's not my fault. However, aren't they going to see the big "Unlock" icon under the google logo when they get my phone, and immediately say I have a voided warranty? The representative said they'd charge me $300 if they phone was "damaged".
I almost wish my phone were a complete brick and wouldn't turn on at all. But at this point without access to a bootloader menu and my phone being unrooted and not able to work with it on my computer, I'm not sure what I can do.
It's already restored completely to factory defaults through the android interface. But that "unlock" icon is still there when it boots.
Anyone have any advice for me at all? Again, if my terminology is off or I'm not being clear in some way, I apologize. Let me know and I'll clarify and/or give any more information required.
I have about three days to figure this out before the prepaid shipping box and my new phone gets here.
Thanks so much in advance.
Sincerely,
Darkencypher

Just for clarification, its the Samsung Galaxy Nexus SCH-I515.
Thanks
Darkencypher

Last chance
As I'm running short on time before my new phone gets here, I figured I'd give it another shot at seeing if anyone out there knows how to help me.
I'm nervous that the "unlock" logo that appears below the Google logo when I boot my samsung galaxy nexus means that my warranty is void. I was able to restore it back to factory defaults, but I can't remove that "unlocked" icon because the phone is so severely disabled in its current state do to some hardware problem that keeps it shutting off.
I'd settle for anyone even knowing how to turn my phone into a paperweight at this point. I'd rather it not turn on at all when they get it lest they see I've unlocked my phone and void my warranty even though I'm certain I have a hardware problem due to manufacturer defect.
Also, on a side note if anyone reads this and knows a little bit more about troubleshooting phones based on symptoms: I downloaded a program called Wake Lock and set it to keep the CPU running in the background even when the screen is off. It doesn't appear to shut off anymore when the screen turns off.
Thanks again,
Darkencypher

[Q] GT-8013 16gig wifi only, stuck on logo screen and wont go into recovery mode

I have done hours of searches and can't find the answer to my problem. Hopefully someone here can help.
My GT-N8013 is stuck in the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 logo screen. I can't even turn it off without it bringing this screen right back up. It only goes dead when I unplug it and let the battery run out of juice.
I can get it to restart into Odin Download mode, but not into the recovery mode. I can install roms and CWM and stock roms using both Kies and desktop Odin3, and I get "pass" status with no errors, most the time, when I do rom update, but I can't get to the restore screen with the power + volume up button, then releasing the power button and holding down the volume up button only. It just stays on the Logo screen.
I hold down the power + Volume down button and it will restart into the Warning screen that allows me to hit the volume down to go to the download screen or volume up to cancel and restart. Both the volume up and down buttons work for this action so I'm sure the buttons are working okay.
I thought maybe the battery wasn't charging right and that was preventing it from going into recovery mode, but I can charge it for a while and unplug it and the screen will stay on the logo screen for a long time, so I think the battery is okey.
Samsung just said I should send it in, but it is out of warranty and I don't want to put much more money into this devices since it is old and a new version is out now, but I hate to think a great device like this that worked so well for so long is now going to be worthless because I can't figure out how to fix it. Hardware seams to be working fine and just a few days ago, the software was working fine. I'm so confused.
Leading up to these events, I had it turned off for a few weeks because I was traveling and going on airplanes and never ended up using it on the trips so it remained turned off. When I turned it back on, there was a OTA system update that I wasn't sure what it did. Didn't appear to do anything noticeable. Still worked normal. Then a few days later I did a personal data wipe because I was going to sell it and get the new Note 10.1. I went through the new setup process without problems, everything was fine. I sold it to a guy and a day later he contacts me and says it isn't working properly and I've been dealing with this ever since. It didn't appear to have any physical damage and the custom binary download count was at "No" so I don't think he tried to load any custom roms. I don't think this guy is tech savvy enough to do anything but plug it in and use it normal, so I don't suspect foul play.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Check this
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2477626
Sent from my GT-N8013 using Tapatalk HD

I have the exact same symptoms. (No recovery mode / stuck on boot screen even after fresh stock rom installed). Out of the blue after working fine the day before.
Anyone know:
a) of anything further that I can try to resurrect this
b) if I might still have any joy getting warranty service from the shop I bought it from in the UK / Samsung if they send it back to them. I have more than a year left on the 2-year warranty they provided, and have only ever run/attempted to run stock. However as I have been out of the UK my custom binary count has increased to 7 as I have tried to reinstall Stock Roms myself to fix the problem. (However OS version still shows as Samsung Official, not custom)
Thanks so much if anyone can help me

Custom binary 7 = warranty void .
I would try flashing Philz recovery tar through Odin and try recovery mode .

Galaxy S7 won't turn on but will charge(kinda)

I've had this phone for about 2 months now, and from the beginning, it's had an issue where it would randomly freeze, restart, and get stuck in a boot loop for random amounts of time. Sometimes it would be fine after 2 minutes, sometimes it would need 10. I kept thinking this was a firmware issue - the phone WAS rooted with TWRP installed, but none of my past phones have had this issue and hardly anybody online seems to have had it, either - and just thought that maybe installing a custom ROM would fix it, but never got around to doing so.
3 days ago, my S7 went into a boot loop again, so I just decided to put it down and let it do its thing. After 20 minutes, however, it still wasn't booting, so I booted into TWRP, and cleared the cache and Dalvik cache. Another 20 minutes later, I went into panic mode and started doing Nandroid backups of my stuff. I decided that I had no other choice but to commence with finding a ROM to replace stock. In the meantime, I just plugged it in and let it keep looping, hoping against hope that it would just fix itself like it always did.
About half an hour later, I was ready to install the ROM I'd decided on. I went and picked up my phone, but all that I saw was the screen was black, and the blue notification LED was lit up. I tried holding Vol- + Power to start booting it into TWRP, but nothing happened. The phone didn't vibrate, the screen didn't change, and the LED stayed lit. I tried holding every button combination possible, for even as long as a minute, but the phone refused to respond. I tried plugging it into my computer, but Windows didn't detect anything.
Skip to today, and the phone's battery has long since died(the LED isn't lit up, so I can only assume...), and I just decided to plug the phone in for the hell of it just to see if maybe it would maybe work again. To my astonishment, 2 minutes later, the battery icon came up on the screen, but the charging animation wasn't there. When I held Vol- + Power, the phone actually responded and restarted! Though, it wouldn't boot past the Galaxy S7 splash screen, and when I tried to boot it into TWRP, it went back to being a brick. I let it sit for about 10 minutes, plugged it in, and this time tried to get it into Download Mode, and it worked!
I downloaded the Switzerland version of the G930F firmware, flashed it in Odin, and everything seems to have worked. Odin says it succeeded, but when the phone tried to restart, it got to the splash screen, and after a few minutes, the screen went black again. When I plug it in now, the Galaxy S7 screen will come up, but now I can't seem to get into Download Mode anymore(though, it DOES still seem to respond to me pressing Vol- + Power).
Does anyone have any idea what's going on? I can only seem to find 3 or 4 other threads on various forums about this problem, but none of them have any answers. People just keep saying the usual "Hold Vol- and Power to make the phone restart", but in case I haven't made it clear, THAT ISN'T WORKING.
And before you suggest that I return it to where I bought it for a replacement or refund: I bought this phone on eBay from a seller who said it was in pretty much mint condition. When the phone arrived, there was not a dent or scratch anywhere on the phone, even around the charger port, so I have no reason to believe he was lying. When I asked him about any possible problems with the phone's operational stability the other day, he says he tested it for about 2 weeks, and that he didn't notice anything.

Sounds like a hardware fault, not much else you can do other than flashing stock and factory resetting, which you've done
Considering it had a fault from day 1 it sounds like that fault finally caught up with it
Likely scenario if sent for repair, new motherboard replacement needed

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.
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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.