Database Develop

What are my options?

AT&T Tilt. Stock. 8 mos old.
R 1.27.12.11
G 22.45.88.07H
D 1.57.00.00
Battery ran out during a conversation.
Plugged it in, tried to turn it on immediately to retrieve the number and return the call from a land line.
Must've been really dead, because it only got as far as the 3G animation before it died again
Left it to charge, but it started a loop, rebooting, then dying at the same point.
Full Battery, but now phone won't boot past the Logo screen, doesn't even make it to the 3G animation. No buttons work at that point. Must remove battery to turn off.
Soft reset and bootloader work. USB Sync driver loads on connection to PC. Device doesn't show up in Vista beyond that.
BIG IMPORTANT QUESTION: Is there any way to recover my data (contacts, SMS)? I assume I'm going to be forced to hard reset and/or flash? Could I even avoid this and repair a different way?
Thank in advance for your comments
MindBridge
[email protected]

MindBridge1 said:
AT&T Tilt. Stock. 8 mos old.
R 1.27.12.11
G 22.45.88.07H
D 1.57.00.00
Battery ran out during a conversation.
Plugged it in, tried to turn it on immediately to retrieve the number and return the call from a land line.
Must've been really dead, because it only got as far as the 3G animation before it died again
Left it to charge, but it started a loop, rebooting, then dying at the same point.
Full Battery, but now phone won't boot past the Logo screen, doesn't even make it to the 3G animation. No buttons work at that point. Must remove battery to turn off.
Soft reset and bootloader work. USB Sync driver loads on connection to PC. Device doesn't show up in Vista beyond that.
BIG IMPORTANT QUESTION: Is there any way to recover my data (contacts, SMS) either before or after I hard reset and/or flash?
Thank in advance for your comments
MindBridge
[email protected]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately a hard reset wipes the phone clean of all data. Unless there is some way you can sync the phone at this point or if you have previously synced the phone., there is no way to recover data after a hard reset.
Do you have previous backups to a storage card ? Or have you previously synced to your PC?

Any other options?
Thanks for the reply,
It's been at least 6 mos since my last sync. I can partially rebuild some of the contacts, but with received text messages I'm out of luck.
Is it possible to avoid a hard reset? or just get a full dump of the existing memory, errors and all? could then at least extract some of the info I need.
Could I just rewrite specific blocks of data or is there any way to read the info that's in the phone already?

Another option
MindBridge1 said:
Is it possible to avoid a hard reset? or just get a full dump of the existing memory, errors and all? could then at least extract some of the info I need.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It'll be worth cleaning the battery terminals and spring connectors carefully with a cotton bud/Q-tip and specialist electronic contact cleaner. Even though they may not look dirty, there can be contamination that may cause the problems you're experiencing. If you have a spare battery, also give that a try (after cleaning the spring contacts on the phone). Be careful not to get any cleaning liquid on the water damage detection sticker in the battery bay.

Still need some answers
Thanks for the suggestion. Keep em coming!
Unfortunately, I tried it, but it didn't solve the problem.
I appreciate the help, though.
I really need to know if there's a way to rescue my data.
Thanks again to all!

Any more help?
Could someone please tell me what kind of help to ask for if I take this to a local repair center.
So far 3 local shops are giving me the stock line that I have to hard reset the phone and to kiss my data goodbye--all without examining the phone.
I've worked with computers enough to know that there are some raw recovery methods. Could someone please shed a little light?
Thanks again in advance--

More info needed
MindBridge1 said:
Thanks for the suggestion. Keep em coming!
Unfortunately, I tried it, but it didn't solve the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your prompt response - keep those coming! Which did you try - cleaning the battery terminals/cleaning the spring connectors/replacing the battery with a another (and if the latter what did you replace it with)?
I really need to know if there's a way to rescue my data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pehaps it may come as no surprise that in order to stand any chance of getting data off the device (other than data on the memory card or SIM contacts), you need to have it powered up and running. What you've described are classic symptoms of power supply related issues and these tend to be caused by dirt or contamination which will need cleaning away, either that or a faulty battery.

Take the phone to a store and use their battery, if it doesnt' work then I would say you're SOL

ChumleyEX said:
Take the phone to a store and use their battery, if it doesnt' work then I would say you're SOL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, it has been three days dude, that is longer than I could do without my phone. Check the battery, if it is not the battery, bite the bullet and move on.
It does not have a hard drive, so it is not like you can take it apart , yank the hard disk and recover data.
We have all lost irreplaceable data at one time during a hard reset or a PC re install. Hard reset, rebuild what info you can, get your phone back working and to you and everyone listening, put your phone on a regular backup schedule! Sorry dude tough love.

Yeah, time to sync every night and save some numbers to the sim car.

Would you be interested?

i was sitting here on XDA and i saw that a user here had his phone stolen from him, and people posted several solutions like GPSTracker and latitude but the user did not have either installed. would anyone be interested in a remote brick? basically it would be like SMS commander, but you send a text that holds a password and the correct brick phrase and the phone will brick. the best(and worst) way i can see to do this would be to have an old radio on the sdcard and have the haykuro SPL on there as well. then when the phone receives the text it flashes the old radio and then the haykuro SPL which we all know would brick the phone. i am still working on possible implementation or another way of doing this(maybe run "wipe all" in terminal), but i was just wondering if anyone would be interested before i really try it out.
maybe in future if app works well our ROM devs could include in their build and then it couldn't be removed(easily). the main reason i would want something like this is so if my phone was stolen i could make it useless to the idiot that stole it.
few minor details that would need to be worked out:
won't work if SIM is changed as number would be different
if i use the terminal command "wipe all" then theif would only need to have a new ROM to install and it would be all better
on the of chance you get the phone back you would want to be able to easily fix the phone
let me know what you think, keep in mind this is a very early stage idea and i haven't put more than 20 minutes thought into it

cant lie the idea is brilliant but execution would be the make or break point, and i have a feelin this will take alot of test g1's to get working lol...and multiple devs as a team to get up off the ground. But im all for it, i have had bad luck in the past especially with sidekicks and etc and this would be a perfect idea to have.

Great idea but don't forget when restoring it (if you manage to retrieve your phone), it should only 'unlock' to a certain pass phrase pre-set by the user. If not anyone could just run the 'unlock' command to start using it again.

On the whole, a great idea.
However, I think flashing an incompatible theme with your current build would be sufficient, seeing as 99% of the people who go around stealing phones would have no idea how to fix a G1 stuck on the T-Mo/Not-Flashing-Android Screen.
Although the Old Radio+New SPL combo ensures that there will be minimal data retrieval, it also seems like overkill for the majority of circumstances, seeing as your phone would become a paperweight.

The terminal command "wipe all" will wipe the data and system partitions and crash the phone, when the person who stole it tries to reboot it it won't boot

Even if you wipe (or remove the SD card) most builds would still boot regardless. A remote kill switch has been around on many platforms for some time, hell even Microsoft have been threatening to use it on Vista for pirated builds but it has never happened.
In this case, perhaps the app would need root access, so it could remotely reboot the G1 and run a script to force a boot loop, if you wanted to go as far as rendering the mobile temp unusable.
However the G1 as it is has plenty of security flaws... I mean many of us managed to get root without issue and I'm sure any google searches will point them to this forum. There is no security for fastboot, nor accessing the recovery image so people can pretty much do as they please - If they know how.

Yeah, I don't know about bricking the phone because it would suck if eventually you did get it back. Then you're stuck with a brick phone maybe theres away around it though which could work not sure how you'd implement this though. I mean the idea is there just going to be abit hard to execute because the problem is with all these theft problems, if they have the phone off when the sms is sent then it doesn't work.

I wouldn't mind having this. If someone snatched my G1 out of my hands and got away, I would just use my friend's cell 1 minute later to make my phone a paper weight, then have peace of mind. lol

Dladu said:
Yeah, I don't know about bricking the phone because it would suck if eventually you did get it back. Then you're stuck with a brick phone maybe theres away around it though which could work not sure how you'd implement this though. I mean the idea is there just going to be abit hard to execute because the problem is with all these theft problems, if they have the phone off when the sms is sent then it doesn't work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i am noting the issues, what i am planning is something similar to SMS commander, when the phone gets a text that says a certain thing it does something. if the phone is off then the text will still arrive when the phone is powered on, hell i could probably even remove the recovery screen and then the person would need to fastboot the phone.
sms commander just "listens" for the text of an incoming message and if it matches a certain phrase it runs a command. obviously i would need root, but at this point if you haven't rooted your phone this(if it works) woulud do it.
with that said, i am researching the APIs to see what would need to be done, i used to have something like this on my old 8525 and i never had to use it, but i'm paranoid about stuff like this

i love this idea, there was this time when i had sold my touch pro on craigslist but the buyer had ripped me off! so that just pissed me off!
(good name ideas)
Cold-Droid
Lock Me
Ban-Droid
Dream Lock
Use me...Not!
Where's My owner
or just a plain app called
"Brick"
This app would be cool if it detected the owners sim card so if it were ever replaced it would say wrong sim card enter passkey (which they will not know)
and if they were to ever put the sim card back in then still it will tell you(sim card has been removed please eneter passkey)
or something like that! just an idea!
kind of like sim lock but instead of sim being locked, the device will be locked!

Why you would want to destroy a phone?
Just remote wipe your data, thats enough. Write that as an app!
Not bricking!

Have you guys used/considered Mobile Defense?

So here is my idea for this application.
Instead of completely bricking the phone, make it so that if the SIM card is removed, or the secret SMS message is sent that it does a complete phone lock and displays a message on-screen stating "This phone is suspected to have been lost/stolen. Please call XXX number to return the property.". All the while sending precise GPS locations updated every x minutes to a preset Email address and/or send a SMS to a preset phone number. This way the real owner may be able to easily recover the phone and none of the information is exposed. The only way to unlock it is to put in a code to unlock it. After x amount of days without being recovered, the program will issue a recoverable brick all the while showing the same message. After x more days after the soft brick, the phone will format all ROM and be unrecoverable. By that time, the real owner would have already gotten his/her replacement G1 if they had insurance, and the thief will have a fancy paperweight.

Great idea

Is this going to get anywhere?

that'd be funny if you could lock the phone at a screen that has a customized text.
Like F**K YOU B*TICH
or maybe
If Found Contact -
ETC. and it just stays at that screen. wonder if thats possible
edit- i shoulda read page 2 haha. same idea as Setnev lol.

Returning a bricked phone

So, I have successfully bricked my phone (not by choice). I am a long time WinMo user and I have never even come close to bricking a phone. Today was exactly one week from when I bought my first android phone and I bricked it.(not blaming android, I love android)
I have tried EVERYTHING, to no avail.
My phone is on the phone++!++computer screen.
So, first thing tomorrow morning, I am headed to the AT&T store for replacement (I will act dumb and get the phone).
My questions are -
1.Will my information (contacts,emails,etc.) on the phone be checked or in any way violated?
2.If they do find out that I had rooted the phone, after I have already walked out of the store, can they do anything about it?

1: Yes, the contacts and all other data on the phone itself is still there, and will all still be there when Samsung / AT&T *un-bricks* the phone.
2: They "could", but I am not knowledgable enough to know if they "will".
Or, save yourself the hassle, and the negative moral karma, and read here:
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=731989
I've intentionally (with much failure), tried to "break" the phone so that I'd know how to fix it.
The above linked post will not only recover you from your "phone++!++computer" issue, but actually works so far as the dreaded "orange hex dump".

TehDave said:
1: Yes, the contacts and all other data on the phone itself is still there, and will all still be there when Samsung / AT&T *un-bricks* the phone.
2: They "could", but I am not knowledgable enough to know if they "will".
Or, save yourself the hassle, and the negative moral karma, and read here:
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=731989
I've intentionally (with much failure), tried to "break" the phone so that I'd know how to fix it.
The above linked post will not only recover you from your "phone++!++computer" issue, but actually works so far as the dreaded "orange hex dump".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tried everything. I don't want to return this phone, but there is no option left.
None of the methods work and I am pretty experienced in this stuff. So, its not that I am messing up on the methods, its just that there was a batch of phones that had the key combos disabled.

Once you get the new phone there is nothing they can do because they have already agreed to replace it. All they do with it is send it off to be refurbished and it is completely wiped clean. I agree with the others that you have not tried *everything* because I have yet to read a post on any forum about a legitimate bricking of this phone.

ukulele_ninja said:
Once you get the new phone there is nothing they can do because they have already agreed to replace it. All they do with it is send it off to be refurbished and it is completely wiped clean. I agree with the others that you have not tried *everything* because I have yet to read a post on any forum about a legitimate bricking of this phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can tell you that by flashing ONLY the pit file in odin another user and myself were able to succesfully make the phone unresponsive to all buttons, all methods and all pulls of the battery. it literally turned into a brick...then again i would call this an illegitimate method after realized how simple it is now. as long as i can get power to the phone thou i have to agree ive been able to save it every time now

ukulele_ninja said:
Once you get the new phone there is nothing they can do because they have already agreed to replace it. All they do with it is send it off to be refurbished and it is completely wiped clean. I agree with the others that you have not tried *everything* because I have yet to read a post on any forum about a legitimate bricking of this phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seriously?
I was up for six hours last night trying to fix the damn thing. I don't want to replace the phone just because I want to beat the system. I have never ran into problems when I am modding. I always figure it out, but when the phone is absolutely unresponsive to all keys, what am I going to do?
Anyways, this thread can be closed now.

That same screen (http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/8420/hum1e0.jpg) happened to me yesterday. I thought I had tried all of the key combos but I missed one.
Try the following: (I know you said you tried all of the methods, but I thought it was worth mentioning just in case)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=731989 (Method 3)
I hope if you have not tried that yet, that it will work for you and save you the hassle of going to ATT.
Alec5216

seems pretty complicated to flash this phone. My last one-Nokia N900- is very easy to work with. It never get bricked.

alec5216 said:
That same screen (http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/8420/hum1e0.jpg) happened to me yesterday. I thought I had tried all of the key combos but I missed one.
Try the following: (I know you said you tried all of the methods, but I thought it was worth mentioning just in case)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=731989 (Method 3)
I hope if you have not tried that yet, that it will work for you and save you the hassle of going to ATT.
Alec5216
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried that too, nothing. I got it exchanged. No hassle.
AT&T store rep just said the phone will be factory reset and there is nothing to it.
Anyway thanks for the help folks, really appreciate it.
Lets hope, I don't bust this one because the phone I just got is also impervious to key combos. I tried getting into recovery (just for the heck of it), it didnt work with the keys, had to do it with "adb reboot recovery".

[Q] How to secure my phone (Xperia Z) before sending away for repair?

This is a bad week. Yesterday I dropped my Xperia Z onto the pavement, and it got a major damage at the polyamid frame on the upper right corner. It could have benn worse. no display or back glass broken. Oh, and the cover for the headset plug has to be replaced, too. See the sad picture attached. Repair will cost about 112 Euros (and I think another 100 Euros for spare parts) Today my SanDisk 32GB micro SDHC died from one second to another. Completely dead. It's not even recognized anymore, regardless in which PC or Android Device I put it in.
However, enough self-pity, my question is: How do I secure my whole phone from curious repair-workers? My smartphone is essentially full of sensible and private Data. Emails, Texts, Photos, all the Apps with stored Logins (Facebook and the likes).
My first idea is the Android built-in Encryption under Settings > Security > Encrypt Phone. I've never done that, because it says it takes a whole hour, and there is no information about this encryption can be reverted. Because maybe some App stops working, or it makes the whole phone slow. And now the most important question: Is it worth the effort? Is it really secure facing an autorized sony repair staff member?
Secondly I came up with the thougt of doing a backup. Maybe the Repairman calls me and says he has to do a full service test to ensure every internal bit an piece is still working after repair. Which might mean he has to have access to the phone (and the service menu). Since I have encrypted and locked my phone, this can only be done via factory reset. So I should have an complete backup. Has anyone ever tried the built in backup and restore? Does it really backup everything? Every App, evry Data, every setting (widgets and stuff), well plain and simple - a copy of my phone current state? At the moment it only offers me to backup system files and data, might be due to the fact that there is no sd-card and the internal memory has not enough space.
Any other backupsolutions? My phone is not rooted, and rather shouldn't be (warranty issues)

besserde said:
This is a bad week. Yesterday I dropped my Xperia Z onto the pavement, and it got a major damage at the polyamid frame on the upper right corner. It could have benn worse. no display or back glass broken. Oh, and the cover for the headset plug has to be replaced, too. See the sad picture attached. Repair will cost about 112 Euros (and I think another 100 Euros for spare parts) Today my SanDisk 32GB micro SDHC died from one second to another. Completely dead. It's not even recognized anymore, regardless in which PC or Android Device I put it in.
However, enough self-pity, my question is: How do I secure my whole phone from curious repair-workers? My smartphone is essentially full of sensible and private Data. Emails, Texts, Photos, all the Apps with stored Logins (Facebook and the likes).
My first idea is the Android built-in Encryption under Settings > Security > Encrypt Phone. I've never done that, because it says it takes a whole hour, and there is no information about this encryption can be reverted. Because maybe some App stops working, or it makes the whole phone slow. And now the most important question: Is it worth the effort? Is it really secure facing an autorized sony repair staff member?
Secondly I came up with the thougt of doing a backup. Maybe the Repairman calls me and says he has to do a full service test to ensure every internal bit an piece is still working after repair. Which might mean he has to have access to the phone (and the service menu). Since I have encrypted and locked my phone, this can only be done via factory reset. So I should have an complete backup. Has anyone ever tried the built in backup and restore? Does it really backup everything? Every App, evry Data, every setting (widgets and stuff), well plain and simple - a copy of my phone current state? At the moment it only offers me to backup system files and data, might be due to the fact that there is no sd-card and the internal memory has not enough space.
Any other backupsolutions? My phone is not rooted, and rather shouldn't be (warranty issues)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2116920
There you go.
But anyways, I'd say root your phone install cwm and do a nandroid backup. Save the backup file(s) somewhere else (not on your phone duh). Then do a factory reset and send the phone like that.

Dsteppa said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2116920
There you go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wasn't sure if my question concerning encryption is right in the Troubleshooting forums. But if so, maybe an admin can move the thread?
According to your answer I assume the aformentioned stock backup solution isn't that useful at all?
What's with the encryption security?

Recovering photos of the internal storage (mtP)

Hi.
Im sorry for the lackluster thread, im kinda in a hurry having my sister in law over who lost 1k photos by pressing something she doesnt remember.
I think its been resetting the phone.
Its running kitkat so its mtp which makes accessing the memory hard.
Is there a way to recover the phones, maybe rooting it (which i think that i can manage to do but i fear to overwrite the data doing it) it?
thx!

If she reset the phone and wiped the memory, then you are out of luck...
But maybe, you can take a look at EASEUS: http://www.easeus.com/mac/mac-data-recovery-resource/photo-recovery-freeware/free-recover-photo-from-android-phone.htm

Thank you so far!
After unlocking and rooting it seems to work, it found some icons and its working and working...i know how long it can take.
Now she has to go home and ill try another day but it made me optimistic to get the icons, so maybe the factory reset didnt delete the pictures.

it's possible, however, a long and complex process. I would only recommend to do it if the info you lose is really important.

cuyo11 said:
it's possible, however, a long and complex process. I would only recommend to do it if the info you lose is really important.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is about 1000 (she said, i think its about 500^^) children photos so yes, it is worth all the work i guess.
Im going to try again later this evening, so far i rooted the phone and the software had first results but we didnt have time to finish.
If anybody comes up with another great idea im totally open, whilling and skilled enough to do about anything but i think that the worst part will be the hours its gonna take to find and then rescure all the data, this time i can say goodbye and they let it work over night