Develop Bugs

broken lcd screen, need to unlock and wipe data to sell

My bro broke his S4 lcd screen 2 times within 1 month. We already had it repaired once that costed over $250 to replace the screen. Somehow tmobile f'ed up when we bought the phones and they did not add insurance to ours plans even though they said over the phone over 5 times that it was on all of phones. We are trying to cut our losses and now we have to sell all of our phones and rebuy them to get the insurance that we requested in the first place. My bro's lcd is still broken and now we are trying to sell it. How can we sell my bro's s4 with the broken screen for the most money so we can throw less money into the pit. I was thinking if we got it factory unlocked we could probably sell it for $100 more. His screen wont turn on at all. It seems that everything is working except the screen. Are there any ways to unlock the phone, back up everything and erase everything before we sell it with a non functional screen? How much do you think that could fetch on ebay and do you think it will sell for less once the note 3 comes out? Thanks.

Have you tried hooking to PC via USB cable to see if you can access the sd card?
That way you can get pictures off the phone and delete the one on the phone.
If you have "wipe device" enable in Google settings you could wipe all the data from the phone before selling it. Without a working screen it's kinda hard to do much. Does the screen still react to touch or is it completely dead?

If the touch screen still works buy an mhl cable and connect to your TV so u can navigate to setting and do a reset or even unlock it.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk 4

Thank you for all of your suggestions.
baseballfanz said:
Have you tried hooking to PC via USB cable to see if you can access the sd card?
That way you can get pictures off the phone and delete the one on the phone.
If you have "wipe device" enable in Google settings you could wipe all the data from the phone before selling it. Without a working screen it's kinda hard to do much. Does the screen still react to touch or is it completely dead?
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Click to collapse
Is the wipe device setting need to be turned on or is it on by default? How does it work/activate? He somehow needs to get some information from an app. Is there a way that I could just copy the data while connected to a PC and somehow load it on my phone so he can get the info that he needs. I have not used Samsung Kies, do you think that could help me out in any way? Are there ways to control the phone through a command prompt while connected to a PC, his phone is rooted? If somehow I could do a nandroid backup that would help things a lot. If I can't wipe the phone through googles settings should I just delete as many files on the internal sd I can without corrupting the phone. I don't know which files are crucial without breaking the phone. Where should I start? Thank you.
aznmode said:
If the touch screen still works buy an mhl cable and connect to your TV so u can navigate to setting and do a reset or even unlock it.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do have an mhl adapter but I do not think that the screen is responsive. However, the soft keys are reacting. I do not have the mhl adapter with me right now to test it out. Doesn't the screen need to be first unlocked for it to show up on the TV? Lucky, I did not set it up with a complex unlock method. However it still could be very difficult to unlock the screen. If this does not work out do I have any other options? What about the value for resale? Should I try to sell it before the unveiling of the note 3 or do you guys think that the value will not drop much?
I noticed that the screen that was used to replace the original broken screen was a little less vibrant and clear than mine. The repair guy swears that the screen was made by Samsung. Are there other companys now making screens for the S4 that are inferior to the originals? Could that be why the screen broke so soon? Thank you all for helping me.

Wipe device feature would have to be turn on by the user (not default)
https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager

[Q] Cracked screen and no access to files

Howdy,
My wife's screen got shattered the other day. It turns on, but does not respond to touch at all. When I plug it in via USB to a PC it does not pull up as a drive (only charges). The phone is not rooted, runs stock Sprint firmware, and for some reason I am unable to get into the recovery mode (fast boot or whatever). I was thinking I could buy a female usb to micro usb male, plug in a usb mouse and use that to enable mass storage, but it looks like that isn't supported from what I could tell. Is that correct?
If it isn't supported, any other ideas to try to get data off of the phone?
Thanks!

Is adb debugging checked?
-Whiplashh
"I think a ducks opinion of me is heavily influenced by whether I have bread or not."

Whiplashh said:
Is adb debugging checked?
-Whiplashh
"I think a ducks opinion of me is heavily influenced by whether I have bread or not."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is not. I was under the impression that it required root which this phone does not have.

Coldfirex said:
It is not. I was under the impression that it required root which this phone does not have.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't. It is in developer settings.
You can not in no way get into bootloader/recovery?
-Whiplashh
"I think a ducks opinion of me is heavily influenced by whether I have bread or not."

For some reason no. When I try I just get the LG bootscreen and then it cycles as long as I am holding down the vol and power button. Works just fine on my LGoG which is rooted, etc.

Should Plan A not work...
I don't mean to get ahead of you, and I don't know of a way to retrieve your information without being able to select "Connect as Media Device" on your touchscreen...but if you plan on getting the same replacement device from Asurion (Sprint Insurance), you could very easily do a motherboard swap between your defective phone and your replacement.
Assuming you file a claim online or at your local Sprint store, just be sure (if asked) to NOT have your replacement device be sent pre-activated. That way, when your motherboards get swapped between the two devices, your original ESN will still be active in its new body. All of your original data (pictures, contacts, SMS, music, etc) will be there. Device works just like it did before, and you'll be sending back the new motherboard with your broken screen. You get all new parts, like your charging port, speakerphone, LCD\TSP, etc but you get to retain all of your information. Asurion doesn't care what ESN they get back, as long as it's the model\brand device they believe it's supposed to be (Optimus G for an Optimus G).
I've been repairing phones at a Sprint store for over 3 years, so if you cannot get your information retrieved and want to try swapping motherboards, please let me know. The swap would take you roughly 45 minutes if you've never done it before, or bring it to a local Sprint store. I'm sure there are also plenty of others on this site who could help as well, but good luck!
Andrew

Coldfirex said:
Howdy,
My wife's screen got shattered the other day. It turns on, but does not respond to touch at all. When I plug it in via USB to a PC it does not pull up as a drive (only charges). The phone is not rooted, runs stock Sprint firmware, and for some reason I am unable to get into the recovery mode (fast boot or whatever). I was thinking I could buy a female usb to micro usb male, plug in a usb mouse and use that to enable mass storage, but it looks like that isn't supported from what I could tell. Is that correct?
If it isn't supported, any other ideas to try to get data off of the phone?
Thanks![/QUOTE
Ha, I just broke mine and had the same problem...I had ADB Debugging checked which allowed me to plug my device in and use a windows program called "MyPhoneExplorer" to bring up the OG screen on my desktop "remote control essentially" and navigate thru my phone like it was in my hand via mouse. Anyway, since you don't have debugging on you might be SOL. There may be other programs that are similar that will work without " Debugging " on. The only other thing that is relatively inexpensive you can do is just buy a new screen or an old OG someone is selling that has a good screen and LCD... I bought one, in good working condition and with a good ESN for $72 a couple days ago....Just swapped out the guts....and Whalla :laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Thanks for the last resort. I dont think I am that brave though.

I had the same issue without insurance and had to replace screen digitizer. It's not that hard off you can follow instructions and have a hair dryer.lol
Sent from my LG-LS970 using xda app-developers app

[Q] Phone Run Over

Hey guys,
Just signed up to ask a few questions, a very good friend of mine had her phone (T-mobile Samsung Galaxy SII SGH-T989) run over the other day. Needless to say she is not very tech savvy. She has a new S4 now. Now the problem is, that being she is not so tech savvy she didn't back up (ever?) So i am looking to somehow recover lost pictures and contacts if possible.
Now I have a small background in building computers and taking stuff apart so I agreed to take a look at the phone. The screen is shot. but besides that the other internals look fine. Nothing is broken as far as i can tell. When I plug the phone in with the battery nothing comes up at all, except when i leave it plugged in for a little bit the LED under the camera will flash about once every minute or so.
So i guess the question i have is did the motherboard somehow short circuit when it was run over? Has anyone had experience with a situation similar to this before?
And is there a way to get the phone on long enough to recover the lost info?
Help would be much appreciated if possible.
Justin

As phones don't have an actual hard drive, I doubt you can recover anything from a phone that isn't running.
Sent from my N5, N7, Moto X, G Tab 3 or S2.....

This is not easy, but can be done. I have done similar recoveries several times…
You’ll need:
1) The equipment & ability to remove a surface mount soldered chip, and re-solder it onto another board *without* damaging it.
2) Another identical phone to host the transplanted chip.
3) A service manual, or someone with intimate knowledge of the device, to identify the correct chip…
Note that if the pix were encrypted this will not work…

Screen problem

Hey guys I hope someone can help me the other day i unlocked the bootloader with the nexus root toolkit and after a reboot from twrp (rooting it) my screen died. I dont know if its a coincidence that just after rooting it the screen was missbehaving (it was like and old tv) i tried flashing stock rom and unroot via toolkit but nothing happened, it still the same so then I sended my phone to a repair shop thinking it was a hadware problem and they say it was the screen wich was pretty strange to my cause ive never dropped the devicee it just doesnt make sense to me, they changed the screen and nothing happened. then they told me my phone was overheating(wich is not true at all) and probably it was a problem with the charging port. and they cant fix it cause they dont have the tools and bla bla bla (basiclly they dont now what it is and theyre throwing excuses to me).
What do you think i should do send it again to other place or keep trying hoping its a software failiure i have to say that ive used the stock charger all the time exept for the cable i use to conect it to my pc wich doesnt have usb type c.
I HOPE SOMEONE CAN HELP ME CAUSE MY DEVICE IS UNUSABLE AND I HAVE TO USE AN IPHONE
THANKS BY ADVANCE SORRY FOR MY REDACTION MY ENGLISH SUCKS.

I believe this issue is usually caused by a damaged or loosened flex cable to the display.

@bblzd thanks for the reply but i have a cuestion when you replace the screen i think youre forced to change the flex right? if not how dificult its to change it

ricardo99831390 said:
@bblzd thanks for the reply but i have a cuestion when you replace the screen i think youre forced to change the flex right? if not how dificult its to change it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe it would be attached to the phone and reatached to the new display however I don't know for sure. Possibly an ifixit teardown video would make that more clear.

Broken Mix 2. Help. Help. Please.

Hello,
My wife has broken her Mi Mix 2.
It fell down and all cracked.
Not booting or even charging.
I wanted to know if there is a way to retrieve her photos by opening up her phone and getting to the storage chip on the board.
And somehow connecting it through usb to the pc.
From my private investigations online, i found that it is a Samsung brand 128GB UFS chip and glued to the 'mother'board?
If it is encrypted, we have the phone pin, google account password etc.
I watched McGyver as a kid and know how to use a screwdriver.
Thank you for helping in this period of global confinement.
Stay safe. Live long and prosper. Thank you.

You may be able to remove the chip but I've got no idea how you would interface with it, and even if you could interface with it, I'm not sure it would be readable like a standard storage device. Sorry man.
If I were desperate for the images I would try buying other old Mix 2 models and salvaging parts to try and match some working ones together.

Kaji said:
You may be able to remove the chip but I've got no idea how you would interface with it, and even if you could interface with it, I'm not sure it would be readable like a standard storage device. Sorry man.
If I were desperate for the images I would try buying other old Mix 2 models and salvaging parts to try and match some working ones together.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are chip readers on the market. Some specialised users have reader for it. This is not a cheap task. The reader it self cost about 3k . This type of service involves high costs afaik. Is definitely possible to be made.

Thank you
Got it. Thank you Kaji and Andr6. :good::good::good:
I guess i will keep the phone as is. And send it to China to be restored if it can be.
They might have the things needed there.