Vocal Voices

We had a really lovely family time, and great weather. Our accommodation was free, because we were staying in a family-owned lodge, we got 20% off meals in the restaurant and so the actual weekend was good value.

However...

On our way out of Dublin on Friday, we decided to pop into one of the airport hotels to go to the loo before getting on the motorway. Rather than go into their car park, take a ticket, find a space etc. we decided to park outside the gate and run in, so I parked beside where some building is going on, making sure not to block the building site entrance. We ran in, went to the loo, less than 10 minutes, but when we came out, a guy was just finishing clamping the car Because of where it was and the short length of time, he has to have been laying in wait. The sign was on the other side of the site, high up on a pole and not easy to spot. We think it has not been there long because the duty manager was out complaining about signs being attached to their railings without their permission. No amount of pleading got the guy to take off the clamp, so that was €120

Edward’s phone died, really died, and nothing has resurrected it (even though it was Easter ). No reason for it, but apparently Samsung phones can do this. If he cannot save it, he will need a new one and his upgrade won’t cover the cost of the one he says he would get.

Finally, he wore a brand new shirt yesterday, bought in TK Maxx recently....and it just tore Needless to say, I have the receipts for other things bought that day but not the shirt

Other than that, we had a great time!!

Oh Berlimey Osc

But good that you were together, as a family and had a lovely time.

Osc, have you tried a hard reset on the phone?

Make sure it is charged. Even if it seems bricked (broken) plug it in and charge it up. You might not get the battery icon but it should still charge, leave it overnight.

Next, the tricky bit. You might need more hands and fingers... and if you wear glasses put them on before you start. Turn the phone off or if it has a removable battery take it out, leave for a few seconds then put it back in.

To start the hard reset do the following:

Press the volume up button, the power button and the home button at the same time. Note: some devices do not have a home button

When the phone vibrates release ONLY the power button

Hopefully a menu will now appear. When you see this, you can release the remaining buttons. From now on the volume up / down toggle button lets you navigate the menu, the power button becomes the Yes / accept button

Use the volume button to highlight 'Delete all user data' then press the power button to select

Press the power button again when you highlight the Yes - delete all user data option

When the operation completes you should see 'reboot' option, highlight it and press the power button to select.

Hopefully the phone should now reboot to factory defaults, this takes quite a while and you might get a blank screen but do not be tempted to go pressing this and that, just let it be. Any user data will be lost, but that would be the case if it was bricked beyond repair. The system works for nearly all Android phones of which Samsung is one. When it starts you will have to set it up again.

Another thing to do before using the phone is to reset your Google account, the one that was originally on the phone. This is a cloud based security check by Google to stop people nicking phones and factory resetting them in order to sell them on.

Good luck.

Sorry that I cannot help with the clamping, but keeping a rechargeable angle grinder in the boot might help for next time.

Hold off with the above I have had another think.

OK. If it is not totally bricked and will turn on another option is to try Safe Mode. You might want to try this first.

First go here https://www.fjsoft.at/en/ and get MyPhoneExplorer, it's free, then install it on a laptop / PC with USB ports. Also go here https://www.samsung.com/uk/support/kies/ and get and install Kies, it is Samsung's phone synchroniser and updater.

And so to Safe Mode. Turn the phone off and leave it for a while This time when you go to turn it back on do it this way:

Press and hold the power button until the phone vibrates and / or you see the Samsung logo

Release the power button, and and at the same time press and hold the volume down button and keep holding it until the phone boots up

You can let go when you see the words “Safe mode” in the bottom-left corner

Getting the button process right can be a bit tricky and you might have to try turning off and on a few times.

Once in Safe Mode you should get some functionality back. Go to Settings and turn on Wi-Fi. Still in settings scroll right to the bottom and and look for [ ] Developer options. If it is not there open About phone, the last item on the settings list, then scroll down to Build number. Tap that item seven times very quickly. When you leave the About phone page [ ] Developer options should be just above it in the menu. Again you might have to do the tapping a few times to get it just right. You might also need to come out of Settings and go back in.

In Developer options make sure USB debugging is ticked. Exit that and go to Security and look for something like Unknown sources is ticked. Still in settings go to Backup & repair. Try a data backup and a factory reset from there, it might work.

If not turn off and restart to Safe Mode again then start Kies and connect your phone, use a Samsung lead if possible, do it in this order - plug lead into pc, make sure phone is on and the home screen is open, now plug the lead into the phone. When Kies sees your phone you can do things like emergency firmware recovery, install new firmware and device drivers. Doing those might bring it back to life as using Kies will get you the latest firmware and OS package

If nothing works then your phone is properly bricked. If it was me I would "accidentally" drop it under the car and run over it then speak with the insurance people.

Getting back to MyPhoneExplorer. It is a handy and lightweight but powerful tool. It can clear out all those message and phone logs that are sat taking up space. You can export them to computer if you really want to keep them. You can import / export contacts. That last one is useful for restoring the data wiped phone especially for shared contacts. You can do this in Safe Mode and before using Kies.

Thanks for all of that, WM. He has been trying all the recommendations and each time it begins to look as if it is recovering, but then goes again. I’ll get him to read this (it just makes my eyes glaze over )

Aha! So it is able to turn on and off... that makes it sound like a corrupt system file making the Safe Mode option the way to go.

I know that it looks complicated as an explanation, but it really is just a few button presses, in the right order, and away you go. Once in Safe Mode with the Factory Data reset chosen from Backup & recovery the phone takes over. It takes some time for the Backup my data to complete, you should do that first, but once done the reboot should get the phone working again.

My HTC died - the screen was failing so that I could not swipe properly or get the correct characters from the keypad. It would have cost more for a new screen than the phone was worth so I resurrected an old Sony Xperia Miro I had dumped in a drawer.

I charged it up, went into Safe Mode, did the reset and then used Sony's PC companion - their version of Kies - to update the firmware and OS. It is almost like having a new phone. I would certainly use Kies to get all the new goodies.

Stick with it and if you need help just shout or PM.

Frank, I printed all that off for him, but he had already tried it all I think. He is giving it all one more go today, before he smashes it with a hammer He is already looking to see what new phone he might get

Osc, that's a shame, but worth the try.

I can only think of a couple more things and both are a bit "nuclear". One is to get a USB jig for Samsung from eBay, but the only ones I have seen are for older models. The other is to flash a custom ROM lower than the one on the phone then to upgrade back to the current ROM. Forex, if the current is Lollipop go back to KitKat then up again. Both are a bit more "repair shop" options than DIY.

I once flashed an old Samsung S3 from Ice Cream to Jelly Bean, but for the time and effort - and hair-pulling - it was hardly worth it.