Database Develop

Is my USB port busted?

Tried connecting my kaiser to 2 different pc's and it won't get detected. The device will charge but activesync won't pick it up. Also its not listed in device manager! I tried disabling/renabling advanced network functionality as well has soft reset the device several times. I'm on the verge of hard reseting BUT when i put my device in bootloader mode it only says serial.. will not say USB as its supposed to
any help would be appreciated.. i'm on death v4 rom btw.
thanks in advance!

fone_fanatic said:
The device will charge but activesync won't pick it up.
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Click to collapse
Can you get an activesync connection via Bluetooth? When you inspect the extUSB connection can you see anything which looks wrong (such as a wire sticking out/in more than the others? What happened preceding this problem?
If you hard reset the device I don't see the relevance of the bootloader. It'll just restore the original image from where it's tucked away in the devices ROM. If it was working fine straight after you installed the ROM thats on it now and doesn't work after a hard restore then that points towards a hardware failure. If you have to go down the path of restoring to a different (original) ROM for returning purposes, there are ways of doing this with a microSD card - although I've not tried. I think the wiki would help there.

bluetooth activesync is working, i did a hard reset and nothing. Flashed to romeos via microsd and now its acting all strange.
After it completed the flash from microsd, i soft reset the device and it rebooted backinto bootloader.. i removed the microsd and soft reset several times and it kept going to bootloader. I attempted to hard reset as well and same thing, would go to bootloader. Removed the battery for a couple minutes and still same thing. Plugged it into USB with it off and it turn on by itself and go straight to bootloader. Unplugged the USB cable, took out the battery and put it back in, then plug the USB cable back in and this time the orange light came on as if charging and it finally booted up. The above has happened to me previously on my hermes but that was when the battery was extremely low, my battery level is currently at 97%!
now its booted into the freshly flashed rom and still same thing... charging but not being recognized by the PC... i've checked the usb port on the device and everything looks fine.
I'm lost at what to do now....

This might be a stupid reply but I had the same problem. My cable was busted so you could try another cable.

I am in the same situation here
Tried it with 3 different PCs with 3 different cables.
It's charging, Active sync pickes it up and trying to connect but fails to connect.
The only think I can come up with, I used new charger in the car. May be it killed the port
Is there any way to find out for sure?

i tried 2 cables with 2 different pcs... its only charging it and the computer won't detect the device at all. Nothing under usb in device manager.. even in bootloader, it only says serial not usb. I've downgraded to a shipped AT&T rom and Radio through the storage card but i still need to downgrade the SPL before i attempt to get a warranty exchange. IS that possible to do with through microsd yet?

I'm having the same issue. The usb port charges the phone fine with the USB cable, but teh computer does not detect the device. I also tried the headphones and they work fine as well. Help!
Update: I just tried a different usb cable, and now the computer recognizes the device, but as an unknown device.!!!!!

fone_fanatic said:
bluetooth activesync is working, i did a hard reset and nothing. Flashed to romeos via microsd and now its acting all strange.
After it completed the flash from microsd, i soft reset the device and it rebooted backinto bootloader.. i removed the microsd and soft reset several times and it kept going to bootloader. I attempted to hard reset as well and same thing, would go to bootloader. Removed the battery for a couple minutes and still same thing. Plugged it into USB with it off and it turn on by itself and go straight to bootloader. Unplugged the USB cable, took out the battery and put it back in, then plug the USB cable back in and this time the orange light came on as if charging and it finally booted up. The above has happened to me previously on my hermes but that was when the battery was extremely low, my battery level is currently at 97%!
now its booted into the freshly flashed rom and still same thing... charging but not being recognized by the PC... i've checked the usb port on the device and everything looks fine.
I'm lost at what to do now....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried these steps?
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/help/synchronize/activesync-usb.mspx

ajay6780 said:
Have you tried these steps?
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/help/synchronize/activesync-usb.mspx
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Click to collapse
Thanks for that suggestion but still no dice
The computer isn't detecting the device at all! Usually when a usb device is plugged in you can go to device manager and look under USB and see it there, but its not showing up. I've scanned for hardware changes several times and nothing.
I've now tried on 3 different computers (2 pc's and 1 mac) with 2 different USB-MiniUSB cables and nothing!!
i guess i'll just go to the at&t device support center tomorrow and hope they'll replace it on the spot and notice that i've changed the SPL...

can i ask for the people that are having this problem to do the following.
With your device unplugged from the PC open device manager. (Right click My Computer -> Properties -> Hardware (3rd tab) -> Device manager) Then expand the last tab (Universal Serial Bus Controller) and plug in your device.. if it doesn't show up then click actions -> scan for hardware changes..
I just want to make sure if your computer is detecting your device or not..

just an update with my situation. i went into the att device service center today and told them my problem... the guy behind the counter had no clue what he was doing. he just looked at it like a monkey for minutes then swapped it out for a new one. no questions asked even though it was hard spl'd, cid unlocked, and sim unlocked.
but now this device's vibration is really weak and i lost my invsishield protection on the front (kept the battery cover and my ppctechs scren protector)

Busted? or just won't work
Hi all,
I have been coming to these forums for a little while and only posted a couple of times. I felt this was important. I was having the same problem. Tried the cables, resets, ROM changes the works. I have had my at&t tilt htc 8925 for 36 days when I reported the problem to them. But it actually started about 10 days before. At&t tech support was very rude and accusatory when it came to them "helping" me. I, like probably all owners of a phone like this treat it like gold. It is very important to me. So when I contacted tech support and was told it was probably abuse or I had "buyers remorse" (I don't want to return the phone I just want it fixed!?)
The best they can do and they do not budge on this is for me to return the phone for an exchange. BUT, and this is a BIG AT&T but, the phone they exchange it with is refurbished. Something someone has returned. I do not want a phone that has been returned. I want mine fixed. "This is my phone, there are many like it but this one is mine" Know what I mean? When I bought the phone the guarantee was "we'll just replace it with a new phone" and I like 1000's of others did not ask if that "new phone" was refurbished. It is. Now advocates will tell you as they did me, refurbished is actually BETTER than new. Huh? Then why aren't all phones sold refurbished ones? And if they are so great, take mine back, give me one of those "crappy" new phones and give mine to someone who wants a sweet refurb. I am outraged by the whole mess.
I have searched forums and complaint sites. The bad usb port problem is NOT an isolated incident. There are a lot of people with the same "it charges but won't sync" problem. This is a known problem they refuse to address. Their stand, send in for refurb.
Personally I would like to see a recall fix class action against at&t. It can be fixed but they just don't want too. I thought I would be relatively safe buying for a huge company. They spend millions on advertising to simply leave their customers twisting in the wind after 30 days. Very bad business.
That's the rant. So I decided that if the warranty was useless anyway I'd take a shot at it myself before sending out for repair myself. There is a place in California PPC Tech http://www.pocketpctechs.com/main.asp?area=home that will fix the usb for $79 and ship it back to you in a few days. They seem to be reputable and a lot of people are opting to fix this problem themselves.
How did I fix mine? by altering the mini usb end of the sync cable. I tried other cables and connectors but I think it has something to do with the contact points. The only way mine would work was if I plugged it in, wiggled it slowly and with a little bit of pressure at times, around until the screen brightens. That means it has made a connection, then don't move. Hold very still. It took both my hands. Wait for what seems like 2 mins and it would start to sync. Based on this. my repair (before I send it to California for repair, which I may end up doing anyway) is make sure the plug on the phone is straight and not damaged. If you can get the phone to sync this way you may be able to crimp the mini end of the usb very very slightly to make the connection you are manually doing by wiggling it around. It took a lot of small tweaking but it now syncs about 29 out of 30 times. That's about as good as it gets.
So good luck to us all. If you can't get it to work yourself send it out west to PPC Tech. In this economy the phone companies like at&t better start getting their customer service back on track before they have no customers to service, It has happened to the biggest before. Wake up AT&T! The days of the business model of massive turnover and new signups is coming to an end as people tighten their belts. Treating current and future users poorly is a sure fire way to put yourself out of business.

here is my gift to you all..
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=362679
read this post and check EVERY SINGLE LINK in the first post...i had this issue and i ended bending my usb plug every which way until finally i broke the plastic seperator off and in turn smashing the second pin from the left on the top off (the one in charge of activesync) over and over until it broke...i didnt really care i could still flash by sd but then i smashed the + power pin and so i was on the phone with att for many many hours explaining to them that its a known issue to users but not to the company and they finally sent me a replacement..i should have just searched my butt off before trying to deal with a problem/fox it myself (yes i dissasembled it and soldered the pin back on and it broke off multiple times causing me to dissasemble it many many times and smashing it again and i ended up getting alcohol on the water damage void pad which i replaced) learn from me...if you ever have ANY problems that are significant..dont try fixing JUST GET A REPLACEMENT...who cares if its a refurb..if the refurb sucks then send it back until they send you a new kit...after 5 returns you get a new kit soo just keep sendin back them refurbs until your happy

oh and to make it easy on yourself because if you tell att you have a usb problem its NOT covered under warranty and will take you many many hours like me to convince them otherwise (which someone eventually will understand because certain people ARE familiar with this problem at ATT it just depends who you get and how many times youve been elevated in support)..what you need to do is IF YOU CAN return your spl back to stock (if you manage to get a long enough connection with activesync) but if not dont worry too much att doesnt really check spl just that you have the shipped rom on there so load the shipped rom (found on here) on your sd and flash back and just make up some excuse that it isnt working right and youl get a replacement or if you can get the spl revrted jus throw your device in bootloader by a failed flash (pull the usb out during flash) and say its stuck in the funny colored screen lol

jaysjob, i've been dealing with ppctechs for a long time (probably since '03-'04) they're very reputable and highly recommended. They actually got the contract to be the authorized repair center for I-Mate about a year ago.
But why would you pay $79 for something where u can get a complete replacement? Yah it might be a refurb but my device that i turned in was all scratched up from drops.. the images on the start, ie, and messaging buttons by the d-pad had scratched off.. and now the device i got looks brand new (i actually think it is a new one but i never asked if it was a refurb or not)
pazookie, what your saying is true.. always take advantage of the warranty if you have it. If you dont and you want to repair it yourself, know what your doing! I'm very handy and have done many lcd replacements and other various repairs on cellphones (nokias, HTCs, sony ericsson, samsung, motorola, u name it!)
My little brother has the n82 and he bought the black case, I told him to wait for me and i'd help him do it but he got impatient and he thought it was gonna be a simple swap. He ended up breaking his LCD doing it which set him back $80!
anyways i'm happy now with a new device but i'm gonna go back tomorrow and get it replaced again because the vibrate is extremely weak!

fone_fanatic said:
jaysjob, i've been dealing with ppctechs for a long time (probably since '03-'04) they're very reputable and highly recommended. They actually got the contract to be the authorized repair center for I-Mate about a year ago.
But why would you pay $79 for something where u can get a complete replacement? Yah it might be a refurb but my device that i turned in was all scratched up from drops.. the images on the start, ie, and messaging buttons by the d-pad had scratched off.. and now the device i got looks brand new (i actually think it is a new one but i never asked if it was a refurb or not)
pazookie, what your saying is true.. always take advantage of the warranty if you have it. If you dont and you want to repair it yourself, know what your doing! I'm very handy and have done many lcd replacements and other various repairs on cellphones (Niki's, HTCs, sony ericsson, samsung, motorola, u name it!)
My little brother has the n82 and he bought the black case, I told him to wait for me and i'd help him do it but he got impatient and he thought it was gonna be a simple swap. He ended up breaking his LCD doing it which set him back $80!
anyways i'm happy now with a new device but i'm gonna go back tomorrow and get it replaced again because the vibrate is extremely weak!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi fone
Thanks for the reply.
Yes, I agree with you. If the phone has something else that is messed up like you were saying a scratched screen or buttons. It's just that I am as careful as I can be to keep the phone in nice condition just to send it back for maybe one that someone didn't take the same care of.
Mine works good now. I think it has something to do with when I crimped the cable end. It make a tighter fit. I think that may be the key to mine and others problems. For sure it is becoming more and more clear that there is a design flaw whether att wants to acknowledge it or not.
Thanks for your input about PPC too. If I do end up having to fix it that's probably the way I'll go if that is still the only thing wrong. Otherwise it's in for the warranty as you suggested. I KNOW I'm not that smart.

Im having this same issue and it is definately not a cable problem.

tayloryork said:
Im having this same issue and it is definately not a cable problem.
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if u think its a hardware problem then take it to a service center. The guys there just follow step by step guides on how to diagnose phone issues. For me he saw a crack in the usb jack on my device and just replaced it. If you send it in to HTC i think theres a higher risk of them figuring outu the device is hard spl'd and wont honor your warranty.

tayloryork said:
Im having this same issue and it is definately not a cable problem.
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Click to collapse
taylor, I'm not saying it is a cable problem. I am saying it is a hardware port problem. I "fixed" mine, probably temporarily, by crimping my usb cord so that it holds more firmly in the port. I did say if you have the same problem and you use the same test I did ie: move it slightly, Gently, not like others I have heard stories of where they ram it from side to side until it snaps off, that you might be able to do what I did. I thought others with the same problem might be able to use this workaround until at&t figures out it is not an isolated incident with thousands of people having the same problem thats all. Hope this helps.
jj

I had a similar problem. Phone would charge fine, but windows didnt even recognise anything was plugged in. Interestingly the bootloader changed to USB when the cable was connected, and Serial when unplugged.
As it turns out (thanks Flying Kiwi for suggesting the obvious I had overlooked) the middle top pin was recessed too much into the plastic guide, so I stabbed it a bit with a scapel and all is well.
So it seems that the Serial/USB section of the bootloader cant even be trusted.

[Q] usb not working on SGS Captivate, just for charging

Alright, I tried first with the stock rom: different usb cables, kies, installing uninstalling samsung drivers, double twist, on a mac and on windows 7, and nothing works, no matter what I tried, none of that could show me the notification bar asking for what to do with the usb connection. Of course I tried setting the phone on debugging mode and on mass storage, also ask everytime, etc.
Finally I decided to leave the stock rom and move to Cognition froyo, in order to discard a hardware issue. Thanks to Rom manager I could make it without needing the usb at all.
Once in Cognition v2.3b8 I crossed my fingers and looked to the sky (even considering that I'm atheist) and plug in the usb to my computer.... and nothing happens besides the phone charging.
Can I say right now that this is definitely a hardware issue?
Some people here are use to say, "if it's charging, definitely it's a drivers issue", but after moving to a new rom, and trying in three computers (two windows and one mac) it is a drivers issue that I can fix without buying a captivates motherboard?
Please help me out here and I'll buy you a beer, a blue moon one if you like ;P

Have you played with your USB settings; debugging, mounting SD card etc?

dionieins said:
Alright, I tried first with the stock rom: different usb cables, kies, installing uninstalling samsung drivers, double twist, on a mac and on windows 7, and nothing works, no matter what I tried, none of that could show me the notification bar asking for what to do with the usb connection. Of course I tried setting the phone on debugging mode and on mass storage, also ask everytime, etc.
Finally I decided to leave the stock rom and move to Cognition froyo, in order to discard a hardware issue. Thanks to Rom manager I could make it without needing the usb at all.
Once in Cognition v2.3b8 I crossed my fingers and looked to the sky (even considering that I'm atheist) and plug in the usb to my computer.... and nothing happens besides the phone charging.
Can I say right now that this is definitely a hardware issue?
Some people here are use to say, "if it's charging, definitely it's a drivers issue", but after moving to a new rom, and trying in three computers (two windows and one mac) it is a drivers issue that I can fix without buying a captivates motherboard?
Please help me out here and I'll buy you a beer, a blue moon one if you like ;P
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm pretty sure there's a problem with your USB cable if it's not the drivers. Try using a different cable and check.. Should work!

I am having the same issue and I took it to AT&T device warranty center and they found that the USB side on the phone had some water corrosion in it and therefore my warranty is voided. I also went down the path of installing drivers, different OS but this seems to be close. now If some can tell me how to clean this port...awesome

Is the water sensitive patch under the battery still white?

rockosifraldi said:
I am having the same issue and I took it to AT&T device warranty center and they found that the USB side on the phone had some water corrosion in it and therefore my warranty is voided. I also went down the path of installing drivers, different OS but this seems to be close. now If some can tell me how to clean this port...awesome
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First make sure its not the usb cable. Main power leads in cable usually hold up but smaller wire leads are much more fragile and the only symptom you may get is either wont be recognized and/or usb registers as data connection on the dropdown menu. Ive had a captivate with a corrosion problem but Ive also had a Samsung cable that had broken shorted out data lead but still charged fine.
You can clean port with fingernail emery board cut to shape and stripped on one side of board to proper thickness. Its a five minute mod to a 99 cent board.

rockosifraldi said:
I am having the same issue and I took it to AT&T device warranty center and they found that the USB side on the phone had some water corrosion in it and therefore my warranty is voided. I also went down the path of installing drivers, different OS but this seems to be close. now If some can tell me how to clean this port...awesome
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've seen long threads of people who reported the same issue: no actual water damage, but a messed up USB port and their warranties being unjustly denied. Try cleaning the contacts in the phone's microUSB port with a coffee filter dabbed in rubbing alcohol, or scratching at them with a thin wire.
I'm currently having USB port issues with my brand new replacement Captivate (phone sometimes randomly thinks it's plugged in when it isn't, thinks it isn't plugged in when it is), haven't had any luck fixing them yet.

If there's no visual residue on the charging port, they cannot rightfully void your warranty. The captivate has 2 LDI's(Liquid Damage Indicators), one on the battery and one on the phone itself, behind the battery. As long as those two are white, and as long as there isn't a bunch of green crap on the charging port, they will replace it.
I work at AT&T, and we deal with this everrrrrrrrry day. 3 big rules with warranty swaps; LDI's need to be white, charging ports need to be intact and not corroded, and there needs to be no physical damage, any scratches or dings that you can feel with a fingernail are considered physical damage. We help people who terlet their phones get warranty exchanges sometimes, nothing an exacto knife and some raw effort can't fix. AT&T is a weak beast, be assertive and they will bend to your will.
In all honesty though, just make the charging port as clean as you can and call in. Ask for a supervisor, tell them it's a documented defect with a recent wave of Captivates, and you won't hang up until they exchange it for you.

well thanks for the help, now I'm gonna check the white indicators and if the phones usb needs to be clean

dionieins said:
well thanks for the help, now I'm gonna check the white indicators and if the phones usb needs to be clean
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well I cleaned the phone and still is not working, this is a hardware issue definitely

dionieins said:
well I cleaned the phone and still is not working, this is a hardware issue definitely
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had that problem with my brand-new second Captivate out of the box. Not going to deal with warranty and bull**** water damage accusations, this is being returned to the retailer first chance I get.

I've had something weird happen as well. I've had my Captivate plugged into my PC using USB Debugging at least 10 - 15 times today. I also clicked "Mount" so I could transfer files that I have backed up.
Now suddenly it stopped working. I have jumped around using every port on my laptop (all 4). I have noticed it's acted weird before.
But now (without anything plugged in at all) the laptop keeps popping up saying USB Device Not Recognized.....even though I'm not trying to plug anything in.
Should I reinstall the Samsung 32 bit drivers? I did uninstall Kies today because I had no use for it. It was annoying to have Kies open every time I plugged in.

I have a captivate lying around which have the same problem, i/e the USB cable works fine for charging but not for PC connectivity.
Since it is a development phone, I just reverted to using adb wireless widget.
Other than that, after reading this thread, it seems to be a common issue.

I got my phone exchanged (again) and no USB or GPS problems this time. I got a grainier-looking screen though...meh can't complain really, since this is the only Captivate I've owned that doesn't have any major/hardware-related problems.

My USB not working ended up being my laptop (not phone). I had to unplug the power supply....shut down for a few minutes.....reboot and it worked. I had tried reinstalling the drivers but it did nothing.

mikegy2002 said:
First make sure its not the usb cable. Main power leads in cable usually hold up but smaller wire leads are much more fragile and the only symptom you may get is either wont be recognized and/or usb registers as data connection on the dropdown menu. Ive had a captivate with a corrosion problem but Ive also had a Samsung cable that had broken shorted out data lead but still charged fine.
You can clean port with fingernail emery board cut to shape and stripped on one side of board to proper thickness. Its a five minute mod to a 99 cent board.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I appreciate the advice use some acetone to remove the green stuff but phone is still being difficult when trying to connect to the pc ...be nice if samsung came up with something so there wouldnt be a possibility that water would get in the port

I've had this problem since i got my phone, and i've had it for months now.
Always thought it was drivers.
My last try was with the new AIO captivate tool box app and the drivers their.
For those of you that got replacements how did you go about this.
just go to the store? Or is there a number to call to do it over the phone?
It's just annoying not being able to transfer pictures and such off my phone, hell it worked with my iPhone. I know you can setup wifi file transfers, but if i'm at a friends house it would be nice just to be able to plugin the phone and transfer files too it.

I fixed this problem selling out the phone. Not joke.
BUT, thing is, that the buyer, couple days after the purchase, told me that he fixed this issue by simply restoring the phone to the stock rom through odin 1 click.
Why I didn't try that easy fix? Simply because I thought that the phone was already in the stock rom :S
Lesson learned: always double check if you're in stock rom or not. (obviously you don't need to do this if your purchased the phone brand new!)

It's really weird, a week ago my phone suddenly freezing while I was out, I took the battery off and put it back but it was stucking on AT&T logo scree. I've tried that for few times nothing changed, put it away and the next day tried for few more times and this time came up (also recovery mode and 3 buttons didn't work too).
Everything was look fine but had a problem it was when I plug the USB cable it's just showing the charge status, means couldn't connect the Phone to PC ,I tried with some other cables and PCs, also put hair dryer if possibly water went in but the problem was from the phone.. also when took the USB off the charging status was keep going. first thing I thought it would be the ROM, I had some other ROM in the memory to I flashed to another ROM, but the problem was still there.
tried many times nothing changed, I was almost wanted to grab a new one, till 2 nights ago after a week while it was charging I suddenly noticed that it can connected, I straight away got backups copied to PC and flashed to Stock, now everything looks fine after few days and it works good.
any suggestion on that? is it could be water inside or something?
My ROM was Cognition 2.3 at that time
hope it's not gonna happens again.

I had the same problem and it was a bad USB port any phones made before December '10 have had a lot of problems. Warranty gave me a replacement without question.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA Premium App

[Q] Captivate USB port not working. Warranty expired. Options?

Hey all, I bought a Captivate when it first came out, and I loved it. I rooted it and have been playing with roms since forever.
A couple months ago, my computer stopped recognizing the USB device, and after much troubleshooting I figured it was the USB port on my Captivate.
I called AT&T, and they told me I had 7 days left on my warranty, but that they could offer me an Atrix at a very low rate instead of replacing the captivate. I decided to bite, and now I have my Atrix, and I love it, but I still have this Captivate and I'm trying to figure out what to do with it.
I'd like to sell it, since it's not really doing me any good, but were I to do that, i'd at least like to either return it to stock, or install like CM7 on it.
Do you guys think I could still exchange it at the local AT&T branch?
Is there a way to install either the stock rom or CM7/MIUI on it without a working USB port?
Anything I didn't think of?
I can get files onto it via both micro sdcard and through the wireless, and the rest of the phone works fine.
Maybe if I switch my default phone back to the Captivate and ask them to replace?

What rom are you on now? And which boot loaders
Sent from a phone controlling a computer controlling a different phone

Same situation
It appears I got some water from the rain in my USB port, and I never bothered to close my little slide cover thing. Anyways.. Things were very weird last night. First the camera would crash, then the phone stopped booting up. Finally, and I think when things finally dried out.. it booted, but the USB which worked before the boot issue no longer works. It charges.. but I think I fried my port.
Now I would like to take this back, problem is.. my phone is rooted, and I doubt AT&T will grant me a new phone with a non-stock ROM (running CyanogenMoD7 android 2.3.7).
Im lucky to have a service center located right near me, so i don't have to go through the hassle of the phone tech run-around. I just need to go there and I should be able to get a new device since I still am under warranty.
My problem is this.. Should I just "drop" the thing to avoid them freaking out because my new ROM?
John

If it's willing to charge, there's still a chance you might be able to get data to the phone. Have you tried putting the phone in a bag of rice (to make 100% sure it's dried out) or tried swabbing the USB port with something thin enough to fit in the usb port, wrapped in a piece of cloth with rubbing alcohol on it (to clean the USB contacts)?
If neither of those things work, and it still won't connect, then I guess the decision to perform a non-controlled hardware restructuring is up to you, and whether you're willing to risk the cost of your phone.

Bricked Captivate Assistance

Hi team. I've searched the forums for answers and even though I've read a thousand excellent posts, none (of course) fit my situation specifically. I'll try to be as brief as I can.
My AT&T-branded, Chinese imported Captivate was only three weeks old when I first soft-bricked it trying to do an update using Kies (thanks Samsung!) and then because it would only go into download mode, I tried using Odin to reflash back to where I was. The flash didn't take and I was left with nothing; no charging icon, no computer recognition (Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit using the generic Samsung Android phone drivers downloaded from somewhere on XDA) and no boot/download mode; in other words, hard-bricked and nothing working.
I bought myself a riffbox and spent a long time reading various forum posts about using it; I own a computer repair company and have flashed a million motherboard, modem, router and other firmwares over the past 15 years and have even done a Samsung S2 and a Galaxy Pad in the last week so am reasonably comfortable with the process, even though I'm not hugely experiences yet with the riffbox.
Anyway, I imported and soldered the recommended panasonic socket to the JTAG point and made myself some PCB adapters to fit and break out the Riffbox cables. That's all done and dusted and today I used the Riffbox on my Captivate for the first time, apparently detecting the 'dead body' and flashing the ROM successfully (the box and software would soon tell me if something wasn't right). While I hoped it would, I didn't expect my phone to boot straight away, but did expect it to go into download mode, as suggested in the JTAG literature with the Riffbox. This is where it all gets bent out of shape.
I always get into download mode with my Captivate by dropping the battery and then replugging with the Vol + and - buttons held. I have tried all methodfs I can find on XDA but all either don't work or do the same thing, that is, my phone enters download mode for about ten seconds, then drops out again. During that time, all USB devices 'hang' while the computer tries to fathom what the hell is connected there and Andy just holds his shovel and laughs at me before disappearing once again into the inky blackness of a dead screen. The device manager shows an unknown device detected before letting it go again and mouse and keyboard control resumes. Weird. I thought it might be a flat battery but I've charged that so it has plenty of juice. When plugged via USB, there is 4 volts at the battery terminals (measured with the battery out) so it would charge when plugged in (wall wart or USB cable) even though no icon shows.
Like any good tech I went back and reflashed using both the recommended ROM and 'last resort' option in the Riffbox (Clone Gremlin Zone flash) and the phone still does the same thing; enters download mode then off. I made up a USB dongle/jig using exactly 301 kilohms of resistance (measured digitally) across pins 4 and 5 and followed the various videos/explanations to get into download mode that way but this does not work on my phone, leading me to think something else is broken.
Bottom line is that it seems the phone doesn't have to be connected via USB to enter download mode but if Windows cannot load the phone, then I cannot use Odin or Heimdall to reflash it. I don't think it is drivers because it worked OK before the brick (well, not perfectly but it did connect and I had USB drive support etc.) and besides, I have tried reinstalling drivers to no avail. Can anyone suggest anything I can try (shipping it to some guy in the USA is not the answer I'm going for here so please don't waste your time or mine). As far as I can see, I have done everything the people here suggest and the JTAG/Riffbox instructions to the letter but it just does not want to happen. I'd rather not lose the phone and since I eventually want to offer this sort of service in my business, I want to get it to work on my own phone for my own pride and knowledge.
Cheers from Christchurch New Zealand.

Follow up.
davenz said:
Hi team. I've searched the forums for answers and even though I've read a thousand excellent posts, none (of course) fit my situation specifically. I'll try to be as brief as I can.
My AT&T-branded, Chinese imported Captivate was only three weeks old when I first soft-bricked it trying to do an update using Kies (thanks Samsung!) and then because it would only go into download mode, I tried using Odin to reflash back to where I was. The flash didn't take and I was left with nothing; no charging icon, no computer recognition (Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit using the generic Samsung Android phone drivers downloaded from somewhere on XDA) and no boot/download mode; in other words, hard-bricked and nothing working.
I bought myself a riffbox and spent a long time reading various forum posts about using it; I own a computer repair company and have flashed a million motherboard, modem, router and other firmwares over the past 15 years and have even done a Samsung S2 and a Galaxy Pad in the last week so am reasonably comfortable with the process, even though I'm not hugely experiences yet with the riffbox.
Anyway, I imported and soldered the recommended panasonic socket to the JTAG point and made myself some PCB adapters to fit and break out the Riffbox cables. That's all done and dusted and today I used the Riffbox on my Captivate for the first time, apparently detecting the 'dead body' and flashing the ROM successfully (the box and software would soon tell me if something wasn't right). While I hoped it would, I didn't expect my phone to boot straight away, but did expect it to go into download mode, as suggested in the JTAG literature with the Riffbox. This is where it all gets bent out of shape.
I always get into download mode with my Captivate by dropping the battery and then replugging with the Vol + and - buttons held. I have tried all methodfs I can find on XDA but all either don't work or do the same thing, that is, my phone enters download mode for about ten seconds, then drops out again. During that time, all USB devices 'hang' while the computer tries to fathom what the hell is connected there and Andy just holds his shovel and laughs at me before disappearing once again into the inky blackness of a dead screen. The device manager shows an unknown device detected before letting it go again and mouse and keyboard control resumes. Weird. I thought it might be a flat battery but I've charged that so it has plenty of juice. When plugged via USB, there is 4 volts at the battery terminals (measured with the battery out) so it would charge when plugged in (wall wart or USB cable) even though no icon shows.
Like any good tech I went back and reflashed using both the recommended ROM and 'last resort' option in the Riffbox (Clone Gremlin Zone flash) and the phone still does the same thing; enters download mode then off. I made up a USB dongle/jig using exactly 301 kilohms of resistance (measured digitally) across pins 4 and 5 and followed the various videos/explanations to get into download mode that way but this does not work on my phone, leading me to think something else is broken.
Bottom line is that it seems the phone doesn't have to be connected via USB to enter download mode but if Windows cannot load the phone, then I cannot use Odin or Heimdall to reflash it. I don't think it is drivers because it worked OK before the brick (well, not perfectly but it did connect and I had USB drive support etc.) and besides, I have tried reinstalling drivers to no avail. Can anyone suggest anything I can try (shipping it to some guy in the USA is not the answer I'm going for here so please don't waste your time or mine). As far as I can see, I have done everything the people here suggest and the JTAG/Riffbox instructions to the letter but it just does not want to happen. I'd rather not lose the phone and since I eventually want to offer this sort of service in my business, I want to get it to work on my own phone for my own pride and knowledge.
Cheers from Christchurch New Zealand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since none of the gurus here bothered to respond I'll do it myself in case someone else finds the same issue.
Turns out the battery was faulty; I replaced it and succeeded in getting the phone into download mode with both the jig and the usual methods. Then the computer would not recognize the phone, the dreaded 'unknown device' in the device manager. I was using the factory cable that came with the phone but tried a third-party one I had for a Chicom HTC copy I had lying around and this allowed the phone to be recognized by Windows (go figure). I used Odin to unbrick/reflash and it is all go now, interestingly both cables now work for the phone within Windows so it is always worth trying something even though it makes no real sense to do so.

Darn, that is exactly what I was going to say to do!
Next time, try a rotating disc nebulizer, which you can redesign with respect to the principle parameters that determine its analytical performance. The flow pattern of the aerosols you will attain can be optimized by altering the shape of the inner chamber for optimum aerodynamic characteristics. Furthermore, the optimum angle of impact needs to be established using particle size distribution and mass transport efficiency as criteria. Any analytical characteristics you determine will be through monitoring the emission signal from an aqueous standard. The accuracy has to be assessed by using reference steel and iridium samples.
It is easy to construct, and the fundamental component is a rotating disc onto which a liquid sample is introduced. It should require no additional spray chamber and be easy to operate effectively. Once in operation it should produce aerosols with mean droplet diameters of approximately 0.50 µm.
You may then utilize inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry to determine the defect.:good:

^
ROFLMAO !!!!
Sent from my SGH-I897 using xda premium

Rotating Disc Nebulizer
-SGA- said:
Darn, that is exactly what I was going to say to do!
Next time, try a rotating disc nebulizer, which you can redesign with respect to the principle parameters that determine its analytical performance. The flow pattern of the aerosols you will attain can be optimized by altering the shape of the inner chamber for optimum aerodynamic characteristics. Furthermore, the optimum angle of impact needs to be established using particle size distribution and mass transport efficiency as criteria. Any analytical characteristics you determine will be through monitoring the emission signal from an aqueous standard. The accuracy has to be assessed by using reference steel and iridium samples.
It is easy to construct, and the fundamental component is a rotating disc onto which a liquid sample is introduced. It should require no additional spray chamber and be easy to operate effectively. Once in operation it should produce aerosols with mean droplet diameters of approximately 0.50 µm.
You may then utilize inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry to determine the defect.:good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is excellent advice and ordinarily I would agree 110%, however I have found that the later model Rotating Disc Nebulisers have an inherent fault in the flange valve regulator, which in turn affects the lead mercury ratio and results in even harder bricking of susceptible devices. If, however, you feather an older nebulizer with the updated underhead/overhang mod then even the nastiest conflibulator inversion is easily bypassed. Just for information's sake...

davenz said:
This is excellent advice and ordinarily I would agree 110%, however I have found that the later model Rotating Disc Nebulisers have an inherent fault in the flange valve regulator, which in turn affects the lead mercury ratio and results in even harder bricking of susceptible devices. If, however, you feather an older nebulizer with the updated underhead/overhang mod then even the nastiest conflibulator inversion is easily bypassed. Just for information's sake...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OMG, that was some seriously original stuff! Anyone try Googling "conflibulator inversion"? This is the only result, lol!
Glad to hear your flashing worked out, I think the process you followed is a lot more in depth than many of us would ever undertake...

-SGA- said:
OMG, that was some seriously original stuff! Anyone try Googling "conflibulator inversion"? This is the only result, lol!
Glad to hear your flashing worked out, I think the process you followed is a lot more in depth than many of us would ever undertake...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I wasn't about to throw away 350 bucks (our money, which is worth about three chickens and a bag of salt in anyone else's currency) and since I pride myself in being able to fix anything, the challenge was set in motion when I discovered (via this excellent resource) that the Captivate was a) hard to brick (I found it pretty easy to be honest) and b) the hardest to unbrick.One poster claimed that if you can unbrick a Captivate you can unbrick anything, so I had to give it a go. After all, what did I have to lose?
As I mentioned, I intend to diversify my computer repair business into mobile gadget repairs anyway and I can think of nothing more noble than unbricking phones. I learned an incredible amount on the way through the whole process and while just having the tools doesn't make me an expert, I'm happy to work my way toward that goal and if I help others on the way, well, it's a win/win.
Thanks for the entertaining posts and cheers from Christchurch, New Zealand.

I sure hope you tried locating the flux capacitor before going through all that work. Could have saved you from having to go through the whole "Seismic Declan Brown Eyed Goose" process.

Glad to hear you are de-worse-ifying your biz.
You should add the left-handed skyhook-bipolar-transmogifier-probe to your tools. I am told its use dramatically improves GPS performance, and provides immediate position locks to some position, however distant from where you thought you were.
-written whilst sipping high temperature psychoactive botanical filtrate in my ceramic gravitational containment vessel with plalangeal bracket (aka coffee in my mug).
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using xda app-developers app

Thanks
wwcjr91 said:
I sure hope you tried locating the flux capacitor before going through all that work. Could have saved you from having to go through the whole "Seismic Declan Brown Eyed Goose" process.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now you tell me! The entire Seismic Declan Brown Eyed Goose scenario had me stumped there for a while but after referencing 'Nocturnal Urinary Releases and other Stories', the famous Declan-decoding text by I. P. Nightly, a liberal application of lubricating gel in all the right places had the whole thing well in hand...
And as for the left-handed skyhook-bipolar-transmogifier-probe, that's again where I went wrong with a newbie mistake. Sadly I ordered the right-handed skyhook-bipolar-transmogifier-probe and of course it didn't moglify the selindicular quadronizer at all. In fact, it broke it off at the chalisticator and left me up the paddle without a creek, so to speak. Nevertheless, a little old-fashioned luck and a tap with the old thorificating polookanizer soon had things back on track.
Now all I need is another Speckled Jim for the halitosinifer (do you REALLY want to know?) and all will be well in my world (which is not like other worlds if posts on XDA are anything to go by...)
Thanks all for your excellent input, it has been a journey through the looking glass!

well i really liked the "brilliantly" thought of posts about the legendary tools mentioned... hehe
i was really looking forward to more comments to lighten up the mood
pls keep posting
3 cheers
btw i am also stuck at dead hard brick on my cappy
regards

alot of youtube videos provide help on unbricking

...'last resort' option in the Riffbox (Clone Gremlin Zone flash)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please.
Someone know what Gremlin Zone exactly is?
Location in OneNAND ? Or somewhere else?
Maybe adresses or dump of Gremlin Zone would be nice.
Thanx in advance.
Best Regards

adfree said:
Please.
Someone know what Gremlin Zone exactly is?
Location in OneNAND ? Or somewhere else?
Maybe adresses or dump of Gremlin Zone would be nice.
Thanx in advance.
Best Regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the person to ask would be AdamOutler. You're asking for some deep knowledge in general

[Q] Headless Mobo data retrieval.

Hey guys bout to beat my head against a wall on this one.
A buddy of mine "tired" to replace his front glass on his Moto X and ended up destroying it. Apparently he cooked it pretty well with a hair dryer on high in the process of trying to the glass off and fried the LCD and digitizer and possibly more. Anyway he brought me over a bag of parts and asked if i could retrieve his data. He was running unrooted stock with a locked bootloader and I'm assuming debugging turned off but not sure.
So this is the part i start hitting my head against the wall. After reassembling it without the LCD/digitizer assembly pluged in, I pluged it in via USB and it installs it's self as a MOTOROLA PHONE, and seams to be using the USB INPUT and HID Compliant Vendor Defined Device drivers. I cant for the life of me get it to use the right drivers. I've installed Motorola's driver/device manager and run the Motorola driver installer but nothing is working.
Really don't know that much about the Moto X as I don't own one myself but i'd assume that it should install as a specific device and not a generic MOTOROLA PHONE as well as using MTP drivers instead of USB INPUT
Basically though, short of the driver issues, my main question is. Is there anyway of pulling data from a headless, bootloader locked, ADB disabled device? I personally don't think there is but just in case i thought i'd ask.
Would rather not buy a new LCD/Digitizer assembly for $70 if the main board got fried from the heat of the hairdryer, but might have to if there's no other way, at least then I could see what going on.
Have checked though the forms and didn't see any other similar topics on this, so if I missed it please link it.
Thanks ahead of time.
~Ninjaboy837

Ninjaboy837 said:
Hey guys bout to beat my head against a wall on this one.
A buddy of mine "tired" to replace his front glass on his Moto X and ended up destroying it. Apparently he cooked it pretty well with a hair dryer on high in the process of trying to the glass off and fried the LCD and digitizer and possibly more. Anyway he brought me over a bag of parts and asked if i could retrieve his data. He was running unrooted stock with a locked bootloader and I'm assuming debugging turned off but not sure.
So this is the part i start hitting my head against the wall. After reassembling it without the LCD/digitizer assembly pluged in, I pluged it in via USB and it installs it's self as a MOTOROLA PHONE, and seams to be using the USB INPUT and HID Compliant Vendor Defined Device drivers. I cant for the life of me get it to use the right drivers. I've installed Motorola's driver/device manager and run the Motorola driver installer but nothing is working.
Really don't know that much about the Moto X as I don't own one myself but i'd assume that it should install as a specific device and not a generic MOTOROLA PHONE as well as using MTP drivers instead of USB INPUT
Basically though, short of the driver issues, my main question is. Is there anyway of pulling data from a headless, bootloader locked, ADB disabled device? I personally don't think there is but just in case i thought i'd ask.
Would rather not buy a new LCD/Digitizer assembly for $70 if the main board got fried from the heat of the hairdryer, but might have to if there's no other way, at least then I could see what going on.
Have checked though the forms and didn't see any other similar topics on this, so if I missed it please link it.
Thanks ahead of time.
~Ninjaboy837
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now , I'm not a hardware specialist or anything ,but , do you suppose you could somehow "Directly" access data from the NAND chip ?
Ref: " https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Motorola+Moto+X+Teardown/16867 "

I did a little research on the NAND chip, unfortunately there is an NDA in place, so you probably won't be able to find out what the pins are to access it. I have been wrong before. Problem with using the hair dryer on high is that heat=energy in motion, which can cause electron flow.
If your friend didn't take appropriate precautions, ie grounding himself, ESD pad, dry hands, it is possible he shorted the entire assembly, and all his data is destroyed, especially if he didn't disconnect the battery.
Finally, the bag of parts=sensitive electrical components in a heavily charged static bag. Chances are that could've killed any chance of getting data.
The reason that your computer is recognizing the device as a Motorola Phone and that is it is as a failsafe, the processor isn't completely dead and is doing what it can to help you, by trolling you.
Good Luck!

I picked up a 4.4.2 Moto X with a bad battery and a bad (broken panel, no display) screen assembly. It did the same as what you're describing when hooked up via USB. After installing a good battery and plugging in a working screen it booted right up without any trouble. Before the parts the phone would light a green LED in the earpiece when plugged into the charger. Unless he really super baked the crap out of it you can probably get it working with a screen and possibly a battery.
If you do need a screen I was looking at the $52 dollar option on ebay myself before I found another option, it's auction number 251892071870 .

I'd suggest trying this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2786395
You'd be able to run the recovery by pressing all three buttons when the device is off to get to the bootloader. Then when you guess that its loaded press volume down once, then volume up once. Then wait 10-30 seconds for recovery to load

tormin said:
I picked up a 4.4.2 Moto X with a bad battery and a bad (broken panel, no display) screen assembly. It did the same as what you're describing when hooked up via USB. After installing a good battery and plugging in a working screen it booted right up without any trouble. Before the parts the phone would light a green LED in the earpiece when plugged into the charger. Unless he really super baked the crap out of it you can probably get it working with a screen and possibly a battery.
If you do need a screen I was looking at the $52 dollar option on ebay myself before I found another option, it's auction number 251892071870 .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I might just have to try that, i did notice with the battery out and connected via USB the phone shows up as a USB INPUT, but as soon as you plug in the battery and the X8 computing system then it switches to MOTOROLA PHONE.

mrmidnight said:
I did a little research on the NAND chip, unfortunately there is an NDA in place, so you probably won't be able to find out what the pins are to access it. I have been wrong before. Problem with using the hair dryer on high is that heat=energy in motion, which can cause electron flow.
If your friend didn't take appropriate precautions, ie grounding himself, ESD pad, dry hands, it is possible he shorted the entire assembly, and all his data is destroyed, especially if he didn't disconnect the battery.
Finally, the bag of parts=sensitive electrical components in a heavily charged static bag. Chances are that could've killed any chance of getting data.
The reason that your computer is recognizing the device as a Motorola Phone and that is it is as a failsafe, the processor isn't completely dead and is doing what it can to help you, by trolling you.
Good Luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, some people don't realize the big affects of not following little precautions.
Found a article on hackaday about reading NAND chips in place on the pcb might give that a try if all else fails.
http://hackaday.com/2010/12/24/reading-nand-flash-chips-without-removing-them/
http://www.uchobby.com/index.php/2007/05/05/read-embedded-flash-chips/

raddacle said:
I'd suggest trying this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2786395
You'd be able to run the recovery by pressing all three buttons when the device is off to get to the bootloader. Then when you guess that its loaded press volume down once, then volume up once. Then wait 10-30 seconds for recovery to load
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When booting in to the Moto X's recovery does it start ADB? I'm not sure if ADB is enabled or not, but it's worth a shot. I've gotten spoiled with My TWRP recovery auto enabling ADB on recovery boot.
ooo just saw this, there might be hope after all
Ricky Divjakovski said:
for people who dont have adb enabled, i suggest you contact a kernel developer to automatically enable it in the default.prop and sideload the kernel in recovery!
i broke my S3 on stock so nothing was enabled.
i enabled adb via the default.prop and compiled the kernel and flashed in recovery(sideload).
now i have full control over the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Ninjaboy837 said:
When booting in to the Moto X's recovery does it start ADB? I'm not sure if ADB is enabled or not, but it's worth a shot. I've gotten spoiled with My TWRP recovery auto enabling ADB on recovery boot.
ooo just saw this, there might be hope after all
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm you know what, you're right. It seems Nexus devices have adb on stock recovery- Moto's don't. Though what you found might be gold, I hope you can bust out a modified kernel- or know someone who does.
EDIT: Though I don't know how you're going to get the Update.zip on the phone to flash it. Worse comes to worse you could plug a mouse into the phone and play a guessing game of what you're clicking on