A coworker of mine found a Captivate on her road the other day. Trying to be a good neighbor, she put up found signs, posted on her community's facebook page, and has tried to answer the phone when people call. However, there is a screen lock (pattern), so she cannot access the address book or anything to try to find the owner.
Being that I'm a Captivate owner, she was asking me to help get info from the phone to help find the owner. If we still can't find the owner, she offered it to me for use for whatever.
Is there a way to read any info off the phone with the screen lock? Could I hook it up to USB and read stuff off the phone? My plan is to see if there's an external SD card that may have something on it. Other than that, if we can't find the owner, I'm supposing that I can just flash with Odin and have a blank Captivate.
belyle said:
A coworker of mine found a Captivate on her road the other day. Trying to be a good neighbor, she put up found signs, posted on her community's facebook page, and has tried to answer the phone when people call. However, there is a screen lock (pattern), so she cannot access the address book or anything to try to find the owner.
Being that I'm a Captivate owner, she was asking me to help get info from the phone to help find the owner. If we still can't find the owner, she offered it to me for use for whatever.
Is there a way to read any info off the phone with the screen lock? Could I hook it up to USB and read stuff off the phone? My plan is to see if there's an external SD card that may have something on it. Other than that, if we can't find the owner, I'm supposing that I can just flash with Odin and have a blank Captivate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The best way to do this will be to turn off the phone, pull out the external sd card, put CWM on it, put the card back in, load up CWM, connect the phone using USB, then mount the internal sd card. You just have to hope they didn't enable encryption at which point you are pretty much stuck wiping it.
I would think that AT&T would be able to find the owner by the IMEI number?
Sent from my Cappy
take it to att like DaveyBB said, and they should be able to read the sim card's number. which then they can find the number's owner and contact them
Put the external sd or sim card in your phone? Heh
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Good to see there are still decent people out there.
Hope you find the owner who is desperately waiting for his/her captivate
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA Premium App
My friend brought the Captivate in today. I pulled the SIM and put it into my phone. From there, I was able to see the contacts saved to SIM card and do a couple of reverse phonebook look ups.
The self phone number came up as a restaurant, which I thought was weird, but they also had listed two home phones. One house is right down the street from where my friend lives, so she's going over to return the phone this afternoon.
belyle said:
My friend brought the Captivate in today. I pulled the SIM and put it into my phone. From there, I was able to see the contacts saved to SIM card and do a couple of reverse phonebook look ups.
The self phone number came up as a restaurant, which I thought was weird, but they also had listed two home phones. One house is right down the street from where my friend lives, so she's going over to return the phone this afternoon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is VERY NOBLE of you guys. Glad to hear a good story out of it. Good job for doing the RIGHT THING. Now if everyone would do the same kind of thing think about how nice the world would be And no I am not a peacenick just THANKING you for your best thoughts and plans.
Sent from My KickAss Captivated CM7 OC'd 1.5Ghz/Undervolted
Related
Got a quick question for everyone, although I may already know the answer myself but it does not hurt to just ask to make sure.
My daughter come home from college this past weekend and on Friday night was attending (a non-alcohol I am sure) party, anyway several of her friends decided that it would be cool to throw her in the pool. Well they did, and looking at the many pictures I got to see I can see her holding her G1 in her hand and the look of "don't" in her face as they let her go into the water and she let go of the phone and it sank to the bottom amid all the confusion and the the several hundred kids in the pool she could not locate it at the bottom since it was white for about 10 minutes. Long story short I have insurance on it and just got the new replacement today!
This is my question I naturally want to get it rooted again and I know how to do that, but can I root the phone without a sim card? Since she took her sim card out of the wet G1 and put it in her hacked Iphone(dare i say that word) to use until I got the new G1. I want to root it, get it back to Cyan's ROM then send it to her at college so she can just put the sim card back into the new one. Is that possible by using the "skip this part" after flashing a new ROM when it asks to sign into your Google account?
thanks in advance...
Peace!
Yes i believe you can do it without a sim card. I think Stericson found a way to do it, so you might want to search and try to find it. Or why don't you put in your sim card and root it?Unless of course you don't have t-mobile.
You can skip that part if its an adp version. But I can't remember if cynogen's rom has that option.
TurboTsi said:
Yes i believe you can do it without a sim card. I think Stericson found a way to do it, so you might want to search and try to find it. Or why don't you put in your sim card and root it?Unless of course you don't have t-mobile.
You can skip that part if its an adp version. But I can't remember if cynogen's rom has that option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Turbo Tsi... thanks, I have T-Mobile as well... I thought I had read somewhere in these forums that the phones were sim card specific? Meaning that once it is registered to that phone with the sim inserted then that sim follows that phone? If that is not the case I will be doing the rooting tonight... And yes Cynogen's rom has that option... guess I should just try it...!
peace
I'm 99% sure it will work fine if you put your sim card in to do it, but you should also be able to do it fine without the connection, just flash flash flash, then send it to her and she can put hers in and do the initial set up.
Thanks
Thanks going to go at with my sim card installed and see what happens...
peace
Robbie, this is what you need
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=452316&highlight=register
big credit goes to JesusFreke
phuthanvinh said:
Robbie, this is what you need
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=452316&highlight=register
big credit goes to JesusFreke
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome link thanks Phuthanvin!!!!!
updated my vivid to ics today, everything was fine untill i tried adding a new phone number to my sim card.
After hitting save i get "unable to save contact. sim card error"
i still had access to my other phone numbers and calls/internet
i figured maybe the card wasnt sitting right in its socket, took it out put it back, and then i get "No SIM card"
Took it out a couple more times and it still said "no sim card"
put it back a final time everything was back to normal until i tried adding a new phone number
"unable to save contact. sim card error" again.
Not sure if this is a ICS problem or a hardware problem, but any help would be appreciated
its neither saving contacts to sim cards is no longer supported feature
seriously? where did you find that out from...
also, not sure if this matters but the last two phone numbers i added before ics were erased as well, all other contacts are fine
Hasnt been supported in awhile...contacts sync to google,obsolete function
ive been using the sim card for ALL my contacts since i got this phone 4-6 months ago, never had a problem.
like i said before unless ICS changed something then i should still be able to use the sim for contacts
and if sim cards are obsolete like you say they are then why are service providers still using them.
its hard to believe that they would just discontinue the use of sim cards for contacts for no apparent reason
Can use them sure, itll read them...adding contacts is another story,the added contacts on 3.0 were not saved to sim ill bet they were saved to phone and seen in your contacts for sure...it is not a supported [email protected] to sim any longer...no sense arguing or debating about it....on 3.0,3.5 and now 3.6 that feature has never [email protected] to sim...you can save to csv,back up from sdcard sync with google...thats about it....sony software allows this but not htc's..and to address why they would not allow it...well you can only store up to 250 contacts on a sim....google is unliminted...sim cards are used for more than backing up contacts too...lol...thats how your able to get service
PoNGxB said:
ive been using the sim card for ALL my contacts since i got this phone 4-6 months ago, never had a problem. like i said before unless ICS changed something then i should still be able to use the sim for contacts
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im telling you that i was able to save contacts to the sim, how else would they be on there in the first place. and there is a point in arguing about it because your saying that sense 3.0 is unable to save to sim, and i know for a fact that it can
ok you know better than me....ask away then...enjoy your night boss ...)
and if there is no such function anymore why is it that when i add a contact, under contact type there is SIM, phone, and google. if like you said the function is no longer in use why would they even put it in the drop down menu
and you said the contacts saved on 3.0 were saved on the phone, then why is it that when i change phones MY NUMBERS ARE ON THE NEW PHONE.
i never said i knew better than you, i was asking for help and you came on your high horse and said a bunch of stuff that makes absolutely no sense.
Not on a high horse....lol...just have asked att about it have tested myself since getting the device....doesnt work...if your contacts were there then they transferred them at the [email protected] also they sync with google automatically as soon as you set up [email protected] being there. If you think im on a high horse and took the statements in that manner then thats on you....my apologies....spoke from what research and dev i have done and do with this and other devices....
all im saying is i dont use google sync, i dont sync anything with my phone. and ive added contacts to my sim before and i know theyre on the sim. i can edit delete old contacts but not save them i find it strange that they would just discontinue the use of sim cards
Xda is seriously going down the crapper when people argue with a master dev and accuse him of being on a high horse ... Knowing that the dev is saving the vivid from obscurity
I haven't..and am still not able..to save contacts to sim since my inspire with 3.0
lol just cause people are of authority doesnt make everything they say true
PoNGxB said:
lol just cause people are of authority doesnt make everything they say true
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok well when your up at three in the morning with a new Rom release, or up all night answering questions about how to flash said Rom, or answering the same questions over and over again, or dealing with people whom Apparently have never even seen a high horse , then you will have room to criticize...
Come on now. Mine don't save to sim either. I really don't care as long as they show up every time I turn on the phone.
WC has ripped the software apart numerous times plus re-built them over and over again. Authority has nothing to do with it, understanding the inner workings through life experiences does.
Authority??...I have no authority I simply spoke on what i know to be fact now again from the work ive done on this and other android devices....thats all...if you feel i am wrong thats your choice to search for the answer that appeases you....the answer will be the same
PoNGxB said:
lol just cause people are of authority doesnt make everything they say true
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're new this month...which means you weren't around last month for the drama. I suggest you stop now or a ban will more than likely be in your future. You're not helping anything
I know I have other threads on this but decided to give all my symptoms and what I have done up till now in one thread.
Ok, so to begin........ I had the power button problem on my Captivate as well as other problems, phone would get hot and smell and do weird things. So I decided to buy a broken phone off ebay and change out the motherboard.
I swapped boards and the new board had a lock on it so I couldnt get into the phone so I restored it to factory defaults. After that I was able to get into the phone and it works great except for the fact it will not connect to the network! So I have a camera and a wifi device.
Here is a list of problems I see.....
When phone boots up without sim card it doesnt ask for a sim card to be inserted
when sim card is inserted it doesnt read it (card and card holder work fine on other motherboard)
No network but wifi works fine
Baseband version - unkown
phone number - unknown
mobile network type - unknown
service state - out of service
mobile network state - disconnected
imei - unknown
imei sv - unknown
I have tried pretty much everything I have read on the forum....
Rooted phone and installed a custom rom and corn kernel - no luck
Mobiletechvideo method - no luck
moved efs folder from old motherboard to new motherboard - no luck
did a CWM backup on old motherboard and copied it to new motherboard and ran CWM recovery - no luck
tried Galaxy S unlock and no matter what I do only get the FFFFFF code
Flashed other modems - no luck
in hex editor my nv_data.bin files look fine.......
00188008|2e|34|00|00|00|00|ff|41|.4....A
00188010|54|54|00|00|00|00|53|47|TT....SG
00188018|48|2d|49|38|39|37|5a|4b|H-I897ZK
00188020|41|41|54|54|00|00|00|00|AATT....
So anyway, Im at the end of my rope so hopefully I can get some insight before I just give up (which I keep saying I'm going to do but havent yet, lol)
Thanks!
It may not matter, but have you tested someone else's SIM card in the phone that's not detecting yours? If it won't read two different cards, but all the software parts are looking like they're functioning correctly, it's possible you have a lemon SIM card reader.
I don't know if that's something that could be replaced, but if you test it and it won't read the second card, it might be worth getting in contact with Josh (connexion2005) at mobiletechvideos to see if replacing the SIM card reader is something they can do.
jmtheiss said:
It may not matter, but have you tested someone else's SIM card in the phone that's not detecting yours? If it won't read two different cards, but all the software parts are looking like they're functioning correctly, it's possible you have a lemon SIM card reader.
I don't know if that's something that could be replaced, but if you test it and it won't read the second card, it might be worth getting in contact with Josh (connexion2005) at mobiletechvideos to see if replacing the SIM card reader is something they can do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I have tested other sim cards and they dont work either. I had thought of this too but I put the sim card reader/holder on the other motherboard and it reads fine.
Here's an interesting twist......
started looking around in root explorer and looked at dev/block, only folder in there is dev/block/void and it is empty. Maybe this could be the cause? If so anyone know how to fix it, lol
This very well may be a modem defect. Do you have the background story for how it became this way?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
connexion2005 said:
This very well may be a modem defect. Do you have the background story for how it became this way?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was a phone with a broken screen I bought off ebay, took the motherboard out and put it in my phone which has a bad motherboard. Hasnt worked since I switched it out so that as far back as I can go. If it was a modem defect would the wifi still work?
I just got my Note stolen a few hours ago, I am so pissed right now, but hey what can I do... I live in Nicaragua, so no warranty and no police claim will get it back for me...
Tomorrow I will call my carrier and see if I can block my phone through IMEI number so the son of a **** that stole it cannot use it...
I never kept my gps enabled unless I was using it so no tracking software will be able to track my phone, I already blocked my number with my carrier so I guess there is not much I can do to track it, but I would like to sign out of everything on my phone, and I was just wondering if I changed passwords on every service installed on my phone would the theif still be able to login if I had checked the "remember me" or "stayed logged in" options?
Thanks,
Chaosin1983 said:
I just got my Note stolen a few hours ago, I am so pissed right now, but hey what can I do... I live in Nicaragua, so no warranty and no police claim will get it back for me...
Tomorrow I will call my carrier and see if I can block my phone through IMEI number so the son of a **** that stole it cannot use it...
I never kept my gps enabled unless I was using it so no tracking software will be able to track my phone, I already blocked my number with my carrier so I guess there is not much I can do to track it, but I would like to sign out of everything on my phone, and I was just wondering if I changed passwords on every service installed on my phone would the theif still be able to login if I had checked the "remember me" or "stayed logged in" options?
Thanks,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to install plan b from the market. You can install it remotely from Google play using a web browser and should be able to get the GPS coordinates of your phone providing the thief has not removed your Google account. Do it asap to increase your chances.
+1 Good idea, However The phone will need to have internet access to receive the remote download.
Dont suppose you had Lookout installed ?? On my device it is un-installable, and i can remotely turn GPS on / off, Track the phone, Wipe everything, Lock the device, and even make the phone scream !! (useful for when you are tracking and a close enough to hear it)
I hope you get it back !!
Changing the password won't let the thief use any of the services you have logged into. The app should request him for the new password. Do it ASAP!
I feel for you man! Had my iPod touch, Optimus 2X and Galaxy SII stolen!
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA
first of all sorry you, that's one of the worst things that can happen to a phone.
if you think the theft is using your phone only with a different simcard you have the following options:
- try planb (as already mentioned above) to locate your phone.
- if you have a google account on the phone, try android lost that will gain you the full control over the phone including locating it, taking photos of the cameras and wiping the complete data of the device out. its a really great tool .
- if you have a Samsung account on your phone, try the samsung dive website with this you can also do things like locating or wiping data view call logs and so on.
if all the above fail you should change the passwords of all your accounts used on the phone, especially the email accounts. also try to contact your provider, really few of them provide a location service based on the imei number of the device. and also some of them offer the service to put the device's imei number to a ban list so the phone is useless at all because it cant login in to the gsm network.
*EDIT*: go to the police and let them give you a document that the phone is stolen, and the imei and serial numbers. give this document to samsung and they will put the device to a blacklist, so the device wont get service/support/repair anymore.
i hope some of this become useful to you
Best thing would be to:
1- Track it (with the app said above) or with Samsung Dive!
2- Find the perp
3- Beat him with a cow bone
4- Retrieve the phone
5- Send it to me for inspection
Hi guys, thanks for your help, I installed Plan B a few hours after the OP, but still no email...I would gladly beat the crap out of the theif, but I fear I won't see my note again, I have already ordered another one, this time I will install every tracking anti theft app available...
Anyhow, after this, I installed Lookout on my Girlfriends Note, and tried out the tracking, the tracking is not that accurate, it positions the phone within a 2 Km radius...any other app that would be more accurate?
Thanks,
Im using avast and i have to say its working well, it has a ton of features, you can make mobile data persistent with a single text making tracking that bit more accurate
combine it with the screaming feature of lookout and you should be able to hear it if you are close enough.
Try samsung dive
http://www.samsungdive.com
Lol samsung dive will dissapear when factory reset
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2
Little late for the original poster but Cerberus is a nice app too. I got in on a free promotion. I have it activated and don't even think about till I get an email saying that I changed my sim. You can remotely hide the app, wipe phone/sdcard have a login screen pop up appear, record video and or audio and map in real time.
Even though I think tracking your kids is creepy, I can see how some parents would love to install it on their kid's phone.
Thanks again for all the info, I will try all these once my new phone gets here.
I have a question though, all of these tracking apps need data connection on the cel phone's side...correct? What if the theif turns off data connection? Is there one that works with only GPS?
Well in avast, you can remotely activate data network even if the thief switches it off, It also has stealth mode where it hides all traces of being installed.
If you are rooted it can even withstand a factory reset.
Chaosin1983 said:
Thanks again for all the info, I will try all these once my new phone gets here.
I have a question though, all of these tracking apps need data connection on the cel phone's side...correct? What if the theif turns off data connection? Is there one that works with only GPS?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GPS also needs data connectivity.
ravi_buz said:
GPS also needs data connectivity.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've used GPS trakcing with data off before ...it will track you even if the map does not render...afterwards when you get connectivity the map will be displayed along with your tracking info.
GPS don't requires data connection thogh, tracking won't work without data connection.
GPS fix the position without data connection, but for tracking you need to pass that information to server, which needs data connection.
can i unblock a samsung galaxy note ?
hey everyone !
so i got scammed in ebay and i got a samsung galaxy note n7000. the guy said it worked perfectly and stuff...buuut no !! when i got the phone it wont read any sim card so i just figured it was from the sim card reader. when i took it to my retailer they told me the phone was stolen/lost and the original owner kinda blocked it so no one can use it. i have access to the phone and everything except that it wont read my sim card. i contacted the guy i got from on ebay and filed a claim and everything but i know these things can take FOREVER before i can get my money back. the guy i got it from told me he bought on ebay too in november 2012. i dont wanna sell the phone again on ebay and scam more people i tried looking for the original owner so we can figure out a deal but i couldnt.
is there anyway i can fix this phone ?!! or can i contact the samsung store maybe and they can find the original owner ?!! please help...anyone ?!!!
Strange. Post could be chameleon or possibly victim of stolen phone.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
salmavic said:
hey everyone !
so i got scammed in ebay and i got a samsung galaxy note n7000. the guy said it worked perfectly and stuff...buuut no !! when i got the phone it wont read any sim card so i just figured it was from the sim card reader. when i took it to my retailer they told me the phone was stolen/lost and the original owner kinda blocked it so no one can use it. i have access to the phone and everything except that it wont read my sim card. i contacted the guy i got from on ebay and filed a claim and everything but i know these things can take FOREVER before i can get my money back. the guy i got it from told me he bought on ebay too in november 2012. i dont wanna sell the phone again on ebay and scam more people i tried looking for the original owner so we can figure out a deal but i couldnt.
is there anyway i can fix this phone ?!! or can i contact the samsung store maybe and they can find the original owner ?!! please help...anyone ?!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
maybe, but how do I know you didnt steal it yourself/know you bought a stolen phone?
Salmavic please return that phone to chaosin! Lol jk
_______________
Via GT-n7OOO using xda app-lite
hello ALL!
i am an AVID android user, and have been using xda for YEARS, even contributed many things to this site, in way of help, mods, and other things, never built roms but worked closely as a tester with some big developers.
recently while riding my bike home from work, i saw a phone scattered in pieces down the street. i picked up all pieces and put back together when i got home, and surprisingly it turned on with no issue, didn't even need to charge battery.
so now, i cannot access it because it has a pin passcode(ive tried all your "run of the mill ones" Plus after a few guesses and then battery dying, , it is NOW telling me I HAVE to WAIT 2680 MINUTES until next attempt....seriously?!?! 2680 MINUTES?!?! THATS NEARLY TWO DAYS!!!!!!
anyways
i need someones help here, i am TRYING to return this device to it's owner, but without a valid passcode to enter, i cannot get into their contacts and try to call anyone they might know in order to return the device.
so if ANYONE knows of a toolkit, or command line thing i can do/use in order to remove/change this pin lock, i would be very grateful.
i DONT want to wipe the device and end up without ANY info on the owner or even anything that might help me return it.
ANY IDEAS ???
I HAD SEEN MENTION OF WINDOWS PHONE RECOVERY KIT
would THAT be useful in this situation?
or basically am i stuck with resetting the phone and HOPING something is left on sdcard that will have info as to the owner of device???
ashclepdia said:
hello ALL!
i am an AVID android user, and have been using xda for YEARS, even contributed many things to this site, in way of help, mods, and other things, never built roms but worked closely as a tester with some big developers.
recently while riding my bike home from work, i saw a phone scattered in pieces down the street. i picked up all pieces and put back together when i got home, and surprisingly it turned on with no issue, didn't even need to charge battery.
so now, i cannot access it because it has a pin passcode(ive tried all your "run of the mill ones" Plus after a few guesses and then battery dying, , it is NOW telling me I HAVE to WAIT 2680 MINUTES until next attempt....seriously?!?! 2680 MINUTES?!?! THATS NEARLY TWO DAYS!!!!!!
anyways
i need someones help here, i am TRYING to return this device to it's owner, but without a valid passcode to enter, i cannot get into their contacts and try to call anyone they might know in order to return the device.
so if ANYONE knows of a toolkit, or command line thing i can do/use in order to remove/change this pin lock, i would be very grateful.
i DONT want to wipe the device and end up without ANY info on the owner or even anything that might help me return it.
ANY IDEAS ???
I HAD SEEN MENTION OF WINDOWS PHONE RECOVERY KIT
would THAT be useful in this situation?
or basically am i stuck with resetting the phone and HOPING something is left on sdcard that will have info as to the owner of device???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could try to put the SIM in an other phone, he might have contacts stored on his SIM.
Also same thing with the SD Card but doubt there'll be anything helpful in there.
On WP unfortunately there is no way to remove the lock without doing a hard reset which will wipe everything except the SD Card and contacts on the SIM so it's the same as inserting the SD and SIM in an other phone, better not hard reset it so the owner doesn't loose all he has on there.
I like how you use the word "unfortunately" about there being no way to bypass the one crucial security feature of the phone... The lock screen is there for a reason! If you'd tried messing with my phone that way, it would already have wiped itself.
To the OP, leave it powered on and connected to the Internet, and the owner will be able to find it eventually. The "my Windows Phone" (or whatever it's called now) website allows the owner to get the phone's GPS location, and also to display a message (such as "please email me at <this address> if you found my phone!") on the screen. If they never come for it, then... free phone, I guess? I'm not usually a fan of "finders keepers" but there's no excuse for a WP owner not even trying the existing tools to get the phone back, if they want it back at all.
If you really want to go above and beyond the call of duty, I suppose you could check the SIM from the phone and see what carrier it's for, then call the carrier and see if they have any way to get in touch with the phone's owner...
This has likely long been resolved, but here's what I would do.
Take the SIM, put it in another phone. Check "about" to see what the phone number is. Call that number.
If you get an answer, there's your missing phone's owner with a new phone and SIM card. Let them know you found their phone. No answer, leave voicemail.
PepperdotNet said:
This has likely long been resolved, but here's what I would do.
Take the SIM, put it in another phone. Check "about" to see what the phone number is. Call that number.
If you get an answer, there's your missing phone's owner with a new phone and SIM card. Let them know you found their phone. No answer, leave voicemail.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you are correct, has been resolved, good tip though thank you, found owner and was told to keep device, they had gotten new one, they don't know how it ended up on side of street, but I ended up giving to someone I had worked with who was in need of an at&t device.
Thank you, and all others, for all assistance.
Ended up that the owner actually knew someone that I was working with at the time, small world huh, funny how it all worked out, was just happy to help everyone out in the end. Was just a funny circle of events that led to the device getting to who has it now.