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So I have been using my imate PDA2k without a hitch, purchased it unlocked, and was using a local carrier somewhere in Europe (Voda). Went to T Mobile in the same country and put the sim in - BOOM - white screen on startup and it seems to have reset because I heard the pings to indiate screen alignment.
Took it home, used My Mobiler to looksee what is happening. Its all working fine, the screen and everything, its just white! And after several Power/Reset button resets everything is still there but on the device - white screen only. Power on battery and backup indicated 100% but backup battery for a while said "needs replacing" - then on settings now its 100%
The touchscreen works! I reinstalled the password and when I touch the white screen in the places of the four numbers, its ok!
But its all white! What can I do?
hi and welcome to the forum.
there are basicly two options to what could have happened, either something got messed up with the rom and after the sim changed it was triggered and went completely wrong or while changing the sim, you accidently caused a hardware defect.
another way to try that is: put the device into bootloader mode!
the way to do that is press power+record+reset. maybe hold the power+record a little longer after resetting.
if your device screen shows SERIAL V2.0x (where x is a number from 5 to 7), apparently your hardware is ok and just your rom broke. in that case, after you claimed you already hard resetted, you might want to flash that rom again. if i read your post correctly, you are still running wm2003se. if your carrier does not host your rom anymore, you can always refer to xplode's shipped rom archive here: http://firmware.atspace.com/Blueangel.html
if your device still shows only white, either when trying to access bootloader mode, or after re-flashing, yo might have harmed your hardware. you might want to check for a replacement screen. if you want to have a look inside your device, whether the display cable maybe broke, here is a link to the service manual: http://rapidshare.com/files/336406555/HTC_Blue_Angel_Service_Manual.pdf
i don't think it can have anything to do with the backup battery, but if that really was the reason, here you find a thread with someone, selling them: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=551886
or you could upgrade your rom to wm5 or above, then the backup battery is not needed at all.
Thanks for the great response!
So I waited about an hour of using it with My Mobiler but with a white screen only on the device, and then waited a bit, and and just pressed power and reset again to see if yet another reset would work - and it did.
It was so strange that the previous times I tried to reset it didnt seem to work at all. But I knew that the screen was ok because I used My Mobiler and could press the password for the device on the white screen ok, guessing where the numbers were, and it activated fine.
So strange, but its all ok now. Thanks guys - this device is 5 years old!
mymobiler is a remote connection to the device, so that does not necessarily shows, that the screen is working, because it uses the usb port to determin, what the display would show, just like a remote desktop connection to a pc can work, even when your vga or dvi cable is broken, because picture information is sent through lan or wlan then, with a virtual graphics driver. also for some people, the touch feature worked fine before without the screen showing anything, because that is also another layer, that is transmitted through the digitizer. it could really have indicated that your display flex cable was broken, which is why i went both ways in my answer.
i am glad to hear it works again, just posted to clarify a few things
also, if you ever get tired of wm2003, make sure to have a look at d-two's wm6.5.3 rom in my signature and in this thread here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=569869
back in the day, when i still used wm2003, i felt quite excluded in mobile developments of the last few years, because many 3rd party applications would just work on wm5 or above and with that rom you can be up to date and use a lot of new features, which make the phone feel less like an old pda and more like a new phone. but now, that your device works again, of course that is completely optional.
Great Tony!
Although I am a little afraid to flash the rom to WM5 or 6 I should give it a go.
Im happy with the BA the way it is with some GUI software!
Thanks again!
i also had different gui improvements installed on wm2003, but still it didn't feel to fingerfriendly, which is important for me, because, let's face it, the BA is a modern phone, not some geeky 90s PDA , so fumbling around with a stylus is just not cool. also, whenever i looked on engadget i was incredibly envious of all the cool apps and GUIs. whenever i looked at ppc freeware pages i saw that most games, media players, browsers... would just work with wm5 or above, and after i found out, that it is incredibly easy to make your BA become a modern device (i would even go as far as calling wm6.5.3 a 2010 phone), i decided i want that, to kick every iphone's butt, to install any app i want, not to be forced to install 20 programs after a hard reset anymore, because everything already works fine and looks nice. i mean, these days, you hard reset, the extrom installs windows marketplace for you, you log in with your live account, it downloads everything you had installed/bought from there, including microsoft myphone and when you start myphone, you are already logged in, so it syncs all your pim data with the internet, and you have everything back. back in the day i was afraid i would lose everything i set up for ages if i ever had to hard reset, these days it just takes an internet connection and 20minutes of your time, to have your phone completely back up after flashing a new rom. it is amazing. before upgrading (the procedure for windows xp is to be found in the 2nd post of the link above) you should still make a backup of all your data, either through pimbackup (freeware by dotfred) at http://www.dotfred.net/ or with spb backup, available at spbsoftwarehouse as a trial version, in case you want to go back. about those backup apps, pimbackup is great because you can schedule backups of all your important information, also stuff that is not synced, like sms or the call history and restore it to any other rom or even other device, but it does not back up your installed programs (most of which you won't need anymore anyway.). spb backup on the other hand makes a backup of the entire system, and can restore the exact state of the device after a hard reset, including all installed programs and those programs settings, on the downside, those backups are worthless on another rom, just work for hard resets.
that was just a fair warning, because not everybody is happy with wm6.5's battery life and performance, especially when coming directly from wm2003. i started with wm6.0 and so i am used to those disadvantages, and since the roms get better with every new release, it is actually an improvement for me every time.
also i need to tell you, that by tomorrow, there will be a new rom released build 23518 by egzthunder1. yes, although the number is not higher, that rom is newer. but since none of us know, if that rom has any bugs, it might not be right to start with that one right away, you should probably try the one from my signature / from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=569869 (same thing) because there, the bugs are known and listed. when you have found your way around the new OS, you can still switch roms in about an hour, as stated above, you travel light with the new roms, and as long as your pim data is backed up and you follow the instructions, everything will be fine.
with best regards,
Chef_Tony
EDIT: oops, double post
Chef_Tony said:
if you want to have a look inside your device, whether the display cable maybe broke, here is a link to the service manual
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if I can post this here, kindly let me know if this is the wrong thread to post.
I have xv6600 yes I am still using it
It seems that I have broken my Display cable as I don't get any display.
But sometimes when I Slide the keboard in and out many times I do get display.
I took it to the local mobile reparing shop and he says that the cable is broken but I will have to change the complete LCD, as it's not possible to change only the display ribbion.
I was a bit worried in changing the complete lcd as I am not sure what quality of LCD he is going to use.
I would like to know if it is possible to change only the display ribbion. and where can I get one. Your help will be greatly apprreciated I really love this handset and don't want to leave it
Thanks in advance
have a look in the service manual, there you will find the exact display used in the device. there is a photo of it on page 55.
Thanx a lot Tony for your quick reply, this forum is great I have learned a lot from this forum over time.
I saw the display from the service manual, infact the mobile repair guy had opened my phone and shown me the display, but I was concerned if there is any chance that i can just repair or change the ribbon instead of the complete diplay.
i haven't opened up my device, yet. i'm glad i never had to, but from all lcds i know, i think that the flex cable is integrated in the display unit and only has a plug on the other side, so you cannot detach it. also, you should think about costs. the cable alone probably wouldn't be any cheaper than the entire display and if you had it assembled in a local shop, changing the flex cable only (if possible) would be much more work than replacing the entire unit, so causing more costs. actually, i believe the cheapest way would be, buying an entire new BlueAngel. new devices go for 100eur here in germany. the official retail price for a display unit alone is 130eur.
Does anyone have any ressources about the internal Software Structures of the Desire? I'm especially interested in the part where the netlock is checked ... questions here are: in which software module is this stuff checked - or which hardware part is responsible for the check?
What do you call the 'netlock' ?? The carrier / simlocking stuff?
AFAIK that's done in the SPL and / or the radio firmware.
Most qualcomm chipsets work with two processors. The real application cpu on which the android OS runs, and a second (slower) processor dedicated on handling all the radio-like functions. Managing the gsm / 3g connections, gps communication, apparently talking to the QDSP chipset for camera control, etc...
Those two processors communicate with a bit of shared RAM. The 'radio firmware' is the software running on those second processors. Little (or even none?) hacking is done on that, we just collect the different versions we find in the field and see what the differences are, results are different person to person.
The SPL is the earliest stage of booting / turning on, mostly the thing that makes sure the radio and OS are started up, and checks what kind of buttons are held to go into recovery or fastboot modes and the like. Compared to normal PC's, see it like the BIOS or maybe even the step before that.
I don't know where the carrier locking is done on the Desire, but seeing as people who flashed the latest radios suddenly get a 'locked' message again, it's probably _before_ the radio image, so that'll be in the SPL.
Details about that are sparse to say the least.. of all the hackers / modders / rom-cooks, only a little handful on the whole of XDA made modified SPL's, and mostly in the Windows Mobile domain. It's also the most guarded piece of design I think by HTC, since it controls all the protection mechanisms.
So good luck finding info .
First things first:
By reading and following this guide,
you accept *ANY* and *ALL* responsibility
for the possible damage, loss of data and/or other
consequences to your device which may follow.
All the following procedures have been tested on a US Motorola Xoom Wifi only. They *might* (and probably do) work on other devices, including the 3G, Euro, etc., but are not guaranteed to do so.
Now that we're straight, let's get to the point.
Foreword:
Once I had this problem of accessing my brother's MAC filtered access point. I had my notebook MAC added to the access list, whilst my Xoom was left out. Of course, my brother was out and I didn't know the AP credentials. It was then, when the idea of a MAC change came to me.
During my brief "on the spot" research I discovered a file named 'bcm4329.cal' residing at '/system/etc/wifi/'. It has a line, notably 'macaddr=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx'. Changing the contents, however, did not yield any changes to my MAC address. That time, I left the issue unsolved, but later, tinkering with my Huawei U8500, I discovered something that helped solve my Xoom MAC issue.
The solution was quite straightforward, but involved a kernel recompile. So, here I am, offering several kernel modules (drivers) - for the stock 3.2 kernel and for the Tiamat 2.0.0-2.2.0 kernels.
Prerequisites:
a stock 3.2, Tiamat 2.0.0 Katana, Tiamat 2.1.0 Tachi or Tiamat 2.2.0 Odachi running Motorola Xoom Wifi
ClockworkMod Recovery installed (author uses ClockworkMod 3.2.0.0 R4c by solarnz)
Procedure:
The procedure involves changing the appropriate wifi kernel module to a 'patched' one which allows MAC change through the 'bcm4329.cal' file. All this will be done in ClockworkMod Recovery.
1. Download one of the attached files (according to your running kernel version which you will find in Settings -> About tablet -> Kernel version)
2. Place the appropriate file on your SD card
3. Boot into Recovery by rebooting, waiting until the Motorola logo appears, count to 3, press the Volume down button, then the Volume up button
4. Select 'install zip from sdcard'
5. Select 'choose zip from sdcard'
6. Browse to your 'mac_change_mod_xxx.zip' (steps 1 and 2)
7. Select 'Yes - Install mac_change_mod_xxx.zip'
8. After its done it's job, reboot by returning to the main menu and choosing 'reboot system now'
Voila! You now have a Xoom with a custom MAC address. You can change it by editing the 'macaddr=...' line in the '/system/etc/wifi/bcm4329.cal' file. The author uses Root Explorer for this.
NOTE: The kernel module will probably be removed when installing a new kernel, so the procedure should be repeated.
Great work!!
LOL, I love it. I just changed my MAC address to look like an Apple Laptop. Even shows up that way on scanners that resolve the OUI to the manufacture. Now I'm stealthy!
Did I mention I luv it. Maybe tomorrow I will look like a Commodore 64!
is purpose just for personal preference? What would be the benefit of changing it?
One of the possible uses of MAC changing is described in the head of this thread. IMHO it's the most useful one. Other purposes may not be so legit, but the author takes no responsibility ;-)
tdaliviu said:
One of the possible uses of MAC changing is described in the head of this thread. IMHO it's the most useful one. Other purposes may not be so legit, but the author takes no responsibility ;-)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol I guess I was too dumb to understand what you did in the op, but I will still put this on my sd card just in case I find a use or need it
Purpose for MAC change
Maybe I did explain myself in a little too a technical language The basic idea is that if you have a wireless access point (i.e. a router) that accepts only one of your devices (i.e. your notebook), but does not accept your Xoom, you can try and change the Xoom's MAC address to mimic the notebook. The only thing to remember is that you can not use two devices with the same MAC on a network at once. If you follow that rule, you're golden.
P.S. Ah, and forgot to mention that this update will not work on the 3.2.2 for 4G Xooms.
tdaliviu,
Question for you. Since I applied this update I have noticed that my "WiFi Disconnect Policy" keeps reverting back to "When Screen Turns Off" no matter what I change it to.
I am not saying this patch is the cause, but what do you think are the possibilities? Again, I love the capability, and will live with the issue even it turns out to because of this patch, but I just wanted to check your thoughts on it, or see if you thought it might be something to do with the Tiamat ROM.
Thanks for looking at this.
UPDATE: Well I may have gfinally gotten the disconnect settings to stick. Instead of just changing it, letting it sit and coming back later to find out that it didn't, I changed it to the setting I wanted, then immediatley rebooted. Now it seems to be holding the setting. I will let go for a while and see what it does. Will provide an update either way. Thanks again.
For those wondering what this MOD might be good for, there are multiple things. Some ethical and some not so ethical. For instance, as "tdaliviu" mention, if you are trying to simply get around a MAC address problem, you might need to change it. If you were into hacking/cracking or just sniffing around wireless nets that weren’t yours and you didn't want to be discovered or tracked via your MAC. If you just want anonymity. I like it from this standpoint and that of security.
For instance, assume you are sitting in an Airport with your Xoom WiFi up and running, and someone is scanning the airwaves for likely targets to hack. If they seem your MAC address, they will know you are coming from a Motorola device, and might even be able to tell it is a Xoom. If there are any known security flaws, they automatically know which exploits to use against you to gain access. Just being a Xoom might make you a more attractive target. Who knows. But, if you can change your MAC address so that it appears as belonging to a different kind of system, say a "network device" like a wireless repeater, wireless AP, or some other boring target then not only would the attacker not know what exploits to run, but they would most likely just leave you alone without any further investigation or possible portscans.
And of course if you want real anonymity, you might consider changing the name your Xoom provides to DHCP servers when requesting an IP Address. Right now it uses "android_xxxxxxxxxx" with the x's being some number that is specific to your Xoom. I believe that could be used to track back your identity as well. I found several threads and ideas on how to do this. I used the one at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=760314.
Anyway, thanks again for the MOD!
Quite a strange issue there, Krpto1973. At a loss to what might be the problem. I myself am running Moray, so will do some testing...
Well like I said, I may have gotten it taken care of. It's been holding steady since I set it and immedialty rebooted. It probably had nothing at all to do with your MOD. If anything changes I will let you know.
Guess I spoke too soon. After it sat idle for quite a couple hours, I came back and found it with "No Internet Connection". Once it fully woke up(just a second or so) it immedialty reconnected but when I checked the WiFi Disconnect Policy settings, it was back at "When Screen Turns Off".
Any thoughts?
Sorry, tested on my side. No such problem... Did you do a wipe when you switched to Tiamat's ROM? Maybe there are some leftovers from Stock? I am almost outruling a module problem since it's compiled from Tiamat's source using Tiamat's config.
Krpto1973 said:
For those wondering what this MOD might be good for, there are multiple things. Some ethical and some not so ethical. For instance, as "tdaliviu" mention, if you are trying to simply get around a MAC address problem, you might need to change it. If you were into hacking/cracking or just sniffing around wireless nets that weren’t yours and you didn't want to be discovered or tracked via your MAC. If you just want anonymity. I like it from this standpoint and that of security.
For instance, assume you are sitting in an Airport with your Xoom WiFi up and running, and someone is scanning the airwaves for likely targets to hack. If they seem your MAC address, they will know you are coming from a Motorola device, and might even be able to tell it is a Xoom. If there are any known security flaws, they automatically know which exploits to use against you to gain access. Just being a Xoom might make you a more attractive target. Who knows. But, if you can change your MAC address so that it appears as belonging to a different kind of system, say a "network device" like a wireless repeater, wireless AP, or some other boring target then not only would the attacker not know what exploits to run, but they would most likely just leave you alone without any further investigation or possible portscans.
And of course if you want real anonymity, you might consider changing the name your Xoom provides to DHCP servers when requesting an IP Address. Right now it uses "android_xxxxxxxxxx" with the x's being some number that is specific to your Xoom. I believe that could be used to track back your identity as well. I found several threads and ideas on how to do this. I used the one at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=760314.
Anyway, thanks again for the MOD!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fantastically stated there, sir. I wasn't aware of the DHCP request issue. You've successfully made me that much more paranoid.
Hmm this mod doesn't seem to work on 3.2.1 (breaks wifi functionality). Planning on updating by any chance?
Sorry, but I'm on Tiamat's Moray ROM right now, which is based on the 3.2 kernel. I certainly plan on an update when Tiamat releases a ROM based off 3.2.1 (or 3.2.2 for that matter).
If you attach a patch ill add it to the repo and give you bunches of credits
Oh, didn't quite expect such a turn of events One patch coming up...
mac_change_mod patch
Here's the patch. It's quite obvious, though took some time to figure it out. It's against the stock Makefile, but as I understood, there were no changes to the WiFi module from Team Tiamat.
Is it going to make it to a future release of Tiamat ROM/Kernel or will it live only as a patch file in the repo?
Code:
--- /home/liviu/Desktop/Xoom/Makefile 2011-08-03 09:27:45.000000000 +0300
+++ /home/liviu/Desktop/Xoom/stock/drivers/net/wireless/bcm4329/Makefile 2011-08-01 21:27:35.395212384 +0300
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
-Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Werror -DOOB_INTR_ONLY -DCUSTOMER_HW2 \
-DDHD_USE_STATIC_BUF -DMMC_SDIO_ABORT -DDHD_DEBUG_TRAP -DSOFTAP \
-DEMBEDDED_PLATFORM -DARP_OFFLOAD_SUPPORT -DPKT_FILTER_SUPPORT \
- -DGET_CUSTOM_MAC_ENABLE -DSET_RANDOM_MAC_SOFTAP -DCSCAN -DHW_OOB \
+ -DSET_RANDOM_MAC_SOFTAP -DCSCAN -DHW_OOB \
-DKEEP_ALIVE -DPNO_SUPPORT \
-Idrivers/net/wireless/bcm4329 -Idrivers/net/wireless/bcm4329/include
Sweet. Cooking and testing. I don't see why this cant make a release. We gotta play with it a bit, but I like this mod. Goes nice with the BT5 concept too
I have a customer that has an Asus Vivo with Windows 8 RT, and somehow he has lost/forgotten his password. I am new to the Windows RT environment, thus I can see why people dislike it. I was wondering if there is anyway to mount the Tablet to a PC to back it up; a way to possibly reset the password with out resetting the whole device to factory defaults; for I am lost and have searched the web for ways to do so, but no one seems to have an answer. Any help or suggestions would be very much appreciated.
Thank You
Jamie
If it was set up using a Windows Live account (or "Microsoft account" as they're now called), just use the standard paswword reset function on the website.
If it was using a local account (possible but not a great idea on RT) then the best bet is Safe Mode (Shift+F8 during bootup; might be possible with a Touch or Type cover but probably easier via USB) and log in as Admin, then force a password reset of the account. Possibly useful info: http://www.howtogeek.com/107511/how-to-boot-into-safe-mode-on-windows-8-the-easy-way/
As a side note, resetting the whole device, if it was using a Microsoft account, is relatively painless; your apps will need to be re-installed but you won't be charged again, your email and such will need to re-download but should already be configured, all in all it's fairly straightforward. Now, if there's documents on the tablet that for whatever reason aren't anywhere else... that's a problem if you reset it. No way to pull the storage and mount it in another PC, either.
What's your beef with RT from what you've seen of it so far (which it sounds like probably consists of nothing but the boot screen and the login screen)? It's only meaningful distinction from full Win8 is the need for ARM-compiled apps and the restriction of third-party code, but the first is a fact of life for any ARM-powered tablet (damn near all of them until quite recently; still most of them) and the second is easy to bypass. From an administrative position (i.e. trying to reset a password) it's identical to Win7.
I appreciate the quick response. Unfortunately this is tablet was not setup with a Microsoft Account, but was setup with a Local User account.
The only way it seems you can get into the options for boot with this tablet is holding the shift key and restarting it while you are at the login screen. I have tried to hold shift and tap f8 at a fresh start-up and the tablet continues to boot to the login screen.
Now when I hold Shift and restart the tablet, it goes right to Choose an Option, then I click Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > and there all I have is Automatic Repair, Command Prompt (Which you can't use without logging in to the local user account), and Startup Settings.. Under Startup Settings the only options it has is: Enable low-resolutions video mode, Enable boot logging, Dissable Automatic Restart on system failure, and Disable early-launch anti-malware protection.. It seems to me that this Asus Tablet with Windows RT does not have safe mode..
Thank You,
Jamie
Windows RT doesn't support safemode. It's possible to get at with some BCD tweaks, but it's not very straightforward.
Actually, pretty easy to get to it just using msconfig (assuming you can boot into Windows first). The downside: no touchscreen drivers, no Touch Cover drivers, no support for many of the peripherals. You'll need a USB keyboard, and probably a USB hub and USB mouse as well. A less "minimal" configuration might work better.
If you think there's a reasonable chance you'll need Safe Mode in the future, I recommend adding a second boot option to the main boot list (just clone the default one) and configuring it for Safe Mode. That's probably the easiest way... but it has to be done proactively.
GoodDayToDie,
Where you say "Actually, pretty easy to get to it just using msconfig (assuming you can boot into Windows first)," what do you mean by "(assuming you can boot into Windows first)?" I can boot into windows, but I cannot login because my customer has forgot his password.
This is a reason why I have an issue with Windows 8 RT, for there is no Safe Mode by default.. Micorshaft seems to be like Apple, thus locking the OS down to where you do not have full capabilities to fix an issue with there OS. It is too bad that you cannot run typical diagnostic tools off of a disc, because of the Hardware that they chose for the tablets... Only if they would keep a traditional chipset for both Linux (android) and Microsoft (Windows 8 RT), you could do all that you could with x86 and 64bit architecture. They need to keep things simple and compatible, instead of using prioritized junk.
Sincerely,
Jamie
I mean "boot into an interactive Windows session". If you can't get past the login screen, *you* aren't really into Windows (the machine might be running it, when I said "you" I meant you, personally). That's as true for RT as for any other OS.
Out of curiosity, what would you do if the client came to you with a BitLocked laptop and said they forgot the password for that? Well, obviously you'd tell them to use the recovery key. But it turns out they ignored the advice of the BitLocker installer and never saved the recovery key anywhere. Not good, right? OK, now what if it was a smartphone, and they forgot the PIN? There's a policy in place from their employer that ten failed PIN attempts in a row will will wipe the device. Now what?
They're screwed. Just like your client is here.
Look, the default configuration of Safe Mode on x86 versions of Windows is a security liability. It's a trivilally exploitable direct-to-admin elevation of privileges... assuming you have physical access to the device. On desktops, and to a lesser extent on laptops, that's not really a concern; the assumption is that if the attacker has physical access, it's already game over. On tablets, that's much less true. Tablets are sealed devices; there's no easy way to get the hard drive (or rather, the flash memory chip) out of one. They're designed to be highly mobile, and to a certain extent are designed to be shared - certainly many of them are used at kiosks and the like. They're also both easy and attractive targets for theft. The threat model is very different.
On x86 versions of Windows, if you're concerned about a local-access attacker, you use BitLocker and you set a strong password on it. You also change the admin password, so even if somebody gets through BitLocker (or they got to your machine while it's running already), they can't trivially gain full control over it. That's because protecting against local attackers is not the expected level of protection needed, so it's not the default configuration.
On tablets, if you're *not* concerned about a local attacker, you might do things like enable Safe Mode (which, from a security perspective, is actually Unsafe Mode), or disable BitLocker key protectors (possible even if an Exchange policy forces you to turn BL on). Similarly, if you weren't worried about forgetting your password, you might use a local account and not bother to create a password reset disk (yeah, that's still possible. Nobody ever does it, but it's possible). That's because the most likely attack, by far, will be somebody who has stolen the whole device and therefore the default configuration is to provide whatever security which can be offered in the face of such a situation.
Apparently, if you are worried about local attackers but *aren't* worried about losing your password, and then you lose your password anyhow, the thing you do is go complain to an IT shop. The IT guy then comes and asks an online forum how to do his job. The forum gives him the help they can. The IT guy then rants about Microsoft when the help offered is "insufficient".
Here, pop quiz for you: Which of the following people is it the fault of that the customer can't access their account?
1) Microsoft, who provide at least five different ways to reset the password (online account, password reset disk, enabling the Admin account for normal login, creating a second Admin account, or enabling a Safe Mode boot option) plus allow you to have the tablet remember the password for you (auto-login) or use no password at all.
2) Myself and the other members of this forum, who are offering what help we can, unpaid, of our own free will, because we care enough about this OS that we'll help people adapt to it and hope for nothing more than a "thanks"?
3) You and any co-workers you might have, who despite doing this for a living, are unfamiliar with the security model of a new OS... but are willing to pile abuse on that OS and its developers when they close a security hole that you expected to find open?
4) Your customer, who ignored Microsoft's advice about using an online account (justifiable, but a nonetheless questionable decision given the intended use of RT) and also ignored or avoided good password management techniques (like using a hard-to-remember password without creating a way to change or reset it, and without writing it down anywhere)?
I'll give you a hint: it's not 1 or 2.
Oh, and you can totally run diagnostic tools. Hell, the tablet comes with a bunch of them built in, but you can also boot off USB. Yeah, they need to be compiled for ARM, but - as I just pointed out - Microsoft ships a suite of them with the tablet. They even include a tool that can solve an unrecoverably lost password: wipe the system and start again. On previous Windows versions, you'd probably to do a full re-install at that point! Think of the time saved. However, "login as admin without any password" (what the default configuration of Safe Mode allows) is *not* a diagnostic tool. It's a gaping security hole.
Also, Safe Mode is totally still available. However, much like logging in *all the time* using the built-in Administrator account (possible by default on XP and before, disabled by default on Vista and later), allowing anybody who wanted to to boot into a full-permission no-password (by default) account was deemed too dangerous on RT. I was suprised when I discovered Safe Mode missing from the RT boot menu as well... for about 5 minutes. Then the obvious reason for it clicked. I went and enabled Safe Mode on my tablet anyhow, because it *is* a potentially useful diagnostic tool... (although, since neither theTouch Cover nor touchscreen work in Safe Mode, it's actually really hard to use) but I also changed the Admin password, so for your use case it wouldn't do any good anyhow. That's OK; I have the ability to reset my own password if needed. Admittedly, MS could have taken care of this themselves by removing the ability to log into disabled accounts when using Safe Mode, instead of disablign the mode by default... but that wouldn't have done you any good either.
I think the tl;dr version of what GoodDayToDie said is as follows:
The fact that you can't get into this tablet isn't microsofts fault at all, its the customers fault for being a complete and utter moron who can't remember a password and completely ignored the fact that the windows 8/RT setup process really wants you to make an online account rather than a local one which if he had done wouldn't have left us in this position.
Safe mode is a total security liability. That's why in my school they have disabled safe mode and also password protected the bios which is setup so you can only boot from the hard disk. There is then a sensor on the case which triggers when the side panel is removed which then causes the bios to prompt for password just after the POST check on next boot. Stupidly they have soldered the screws down on some machines, hilarious watching them trying to get the machines open again, they sit there with dremels trying to cut new slots for another screw driver why they don't just remove the solder with the hot air guns and soldering irons in the workshops is beyond me.
You might be able to edit the bcd to enable safe mode, but I suspect that the tpm will fail checks and refuse to give the bitlocker key if you do that. I know it'll cause integrity checks to fail on x86/x64. If you have the bitlocker key then you can mount it in recovery and back up all the files, but you'll only have that if it's a registered ms account, or the owner went way out of his/her way to get it beforehand.
As ar as MS goes, this isn't their fault. This is your customer's fault and nobody elses. Getting rude and arguing won't solve anything. There is no real need for safe mode on RT, except for security exploits such as what you want.
I did put Safe Mode on my machine... it actually doesn't appear t upset BitLocke to do it, so long as I suspend BitLocker once, reboot, and re-enable it. The check for "has my boot process been messed with?" happens right before where you would get the boot screen. Booting an alternate option from the Windows bootloader doesn't appear to bother it at all.
GoodDayToDie said:
I did put Safe Mode on my machine... it actually doesn't appear t upset BitLocke to do it, so long as I suspend BitLocker once, reboot, and re-enable it. The check for "has my boot process been messed with?" happens right before where you would get the boot screen. Booting an alternate option from the Windows bootloader doesn't appear to bother it at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bitlocker checks the state of the BCD before it releases the key. By suspending and restoring it you're saying that the new state is what it should be at. If you didn't suspend it and edited the BCD it should refuse to boot.
I've a Win Jr LTE phone & the update ran while I was out, despite telling it not to run updates without my express permission - it has now screwed up touchscreen so the phone is entirely unusable. Does anyone have any suggestions?
NB: telling me to "do a hard reset & lose everything" is NOT a suggestion I want to hear, since its not a viable option in this case, since backup on the phone hasn't worked since I got it on multiple cards & via onedrive.
I can't use browser or keyboard, anything with controls at bottom of screen is useless, there (of course) is no obvious way of re calibrating touch screen so the phone is effectively useless.
Apologies if in wrong place but the site doesn't seem to do anything other than lag, or make choices for me I didn't select.
I would strongly recommend NOT installing this (version ends. 67) as it appears as buggy as usual Microsoft efforts and has been bricking some phones completely I have since found out.
Jemma
the issue is known (by now, think it wasnt the prior cause otherwise the device should not have received the update). the problem is somehow the os uses a wrong resolution 540X960 instead of 480X854 which ****s up the touch
two options: opt in into release-preview-ring of the insiderprogram and get the .82. maybe it already fixed the problem. second option: going back...
use external display application on your pc or pair a bluetooth mouse/keyboard if its impossible to reach the insider options (be ware: if you havent signed up as insider before it may take up to 24hrs till you will find new builds)
Yeah, I had guessed it must be something like that, because the touchscreen reacts differently from one side to other and from top to bottom.
It's frustrating though because I can remember screw ups like this from Microsoft 20 years ago and they're still making same elementary mistakes, and it's not as if specs for these phones are hard to find or there's unknown multitudes of windows 10 phones out there, like with Android..
Windows 10 honestly has the potential to be excellent but if someone with 20 years IT engineering experience can't fix it for herself because the tools just aren't there then what hope non technical people? And they are just the people who will give Windows 10 traction.
Has anyone managed to find any files that set environment variables like in android?
PS if someone builds an equivalent of the Nokia E7 running Android or Windows 10 let me know, I'll happily bite their hands off, much prefer a good hardware kbd.
im pretty sure there is no way on the blu devices to interop it and made registry editing possible (should be an easy task to modify the setting for the screen resolution). you could sideloading vcreg after activating dev mode, but im pretty sure it wont be able to write reg values and cant research atm where the value for the resolution is stored
vcreg works only on Lumia
I've tried the feedback and the insider updates and I can't get to either of them because of the screen. Is it possible someone could put this up on feedback for me as I'm sure I'm not the only person with this issue.. Microsoft would only have to release a very small patch fix to solve this issue..
Thanks in advance