Help Broken screen, how to reset

[lkreykes]

Hello everyone, I cracked my screen and now it does not show anything but the phone powers on because I can hear it make noises when I turn it on. So I want to sell it for parts, but not until its set to factory defaults so no one can access my personal data. The question is, how? Can someone get me through the steps, like when I turn it on and push power, vol up, vol down, for how long until I let go of power button (when Samsung logo appears), then how many times I press up/down to get to factory reset, and what buttons to push to enter my selection? Now, don't go and risk resetting yours on accident, but if anyone knows or wants to experiment, that would be more than greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

 

[ExpHP]

(EDIT: If you haven't rooted the phone, please skip to my next post!)


My instructions use CWM recovery, so as backwards as it may sound, you will want to flash CWM recovery if you still have stock.

If you need to install CWMR, do this to enter download mode:
1. Make sure you aren't plugged in so that the phone doesn't go idle to charge.
2. Do a battery pull.
3. Hold down Vol Down + Power as you are inserting the battery, and keep holding them down for about 10 seconds afterwards.
4. If you don't hear the phone start, you've succeeded.
5. Press Vol Up. Heimdall should be able to detect the phone now and flash to it.

You will also need a full stock zip for your phone's version (for FF1, I used the stock zip here (make sure to get the odexed, unrooted one). I don't know where to find a full EI2 zip ). When you have it, put it on the root of the SD Card (I hope you have a MicroSD adapter) and name it "update.zip". The name does matter.

____________

Once you have CWMR flashed and update.zip on the SD card, you are ready to factory reset your phone. First, enter recovery mode:
1. Make sure you aren't plugged in so that the phone doesn't go idle and charge.
2. Pull the battery.
3. About 1 second after putting the battery in, hold Vol Down + Vol Up + Power for about 6 seconds and then let go.
4. Wait 30 seconds. If you hear the phone start up, try again.
5. Press Vol Down ONCE. Don't touch the onscreen softkeys.
6. Wait 30 seconds. If you hear the phone start up, you were in download mode. Try again.
7. Press Vol Up ONCE to go back to the top of the menu.

From this point on, you will use the hardware keyboard ONLY. Using the volume buttons can potentially toggle a display option that can mess you up.

Now then. To factory reset:
(*) Down x2, Enter (wipe data/factory reset)
(*) Down x7, Enter (confirm)
The length of time this will take depends on how much data you have. My fairly fresh phone took 45s, but I'd say wait 3 minutes to be safe.

After this, to unroot:
(*) Down x4, Enter, (Install zip from sdcard)
(*) Down, Enter, (apply /sdcard/update.zip)
(*) Down x7, Enter (confirm)
Updating takes... 2 minutes? I'd wait longer to be sure.
(*) Hit the SEARCH key (upper right) to return to the top menu.

Then, reboot.
(*) Just hit Enter.

Then listen for the phone starting up. Assuming you do hear it, then after 2 minutes or so (the first boot takes forever), try hitting the Volume Up key. The keyboard should light up. If it does, you've succeeded. Most probably.

 

[ExpHP]

Actually, I had assumed you rooted the phone. Reading your post again, it seems more that you just want to reset it.

So if you didn't root it, you can use a much simpler and shorter method using the stock recovery:

-Do not flash CWM. Do not get update.zip. This method will not require any special software or hardware.
-Follow steps 1-7 above for entering Recovery mode.
-Volume Down twice (to select the third option, factory reset)
-Press Home (you can use the keyboard Home if the screen keys are broken)
-Volume Up to confirm.
-Wait a minute or two, and press Home again (to reboot).
-You should hear the phone start up. If not, wait a few more minutes and try pressing Home again.

 

[lkreykes]

Thank you so much!!