Help Encrypted S5 Sport Not Accepting My Boot Password

[MrKram]

Hi Android Forums,

I have a Android S5 Sport from Sprint with the latest Marshmallow version and the data encrypted. It's been working perfectly until I restarted it this afternoon. On the boot screen where I enter my password to decrypt the phone and enter the OS, I put it in and it says incorrect password. I've tried entering it many times and also a capitalization variation, but no luck. I estimate I've had 15 password attempts so far.

I've been using the same encryption password forever, even back when my phone was encrypted with Lollipop. I haven't changed any system settings recently and am not sure if something changed with my phone or it's my user error.

Is there a chance the encryption password was corrupted or changed somehow? I'd love to have my password work so I don't lose my recent photos I haven't backed up with a phone wipe. Any ideas?

 

[lunatic59]

If you're referring to the password you use to unlock your phone, you could go to Android Device Manager and choose the lock & reset password option. Mind you, you have to have an active data connection on your phone for this to work.

 

[MrKram]

Hmm, I tried using Android Device Manager and reseting the password. Since Location is currently turned off, Android Device Manager can't update my password.

 

[lunatic59]

Do you also have data/WiFi off? That might be why the old password is failing as it can't be verified.

 

[MrKram]

Mobile data and WiFi should still be active. I keep WiFi constantly on.

 

[lunatic59]

On the off chance something funky happened during startup, have you rebooted the phone since? Other than that, the only thing I can think of is to keep entering your password until it locks you out (20 tries maybe?) and then you need to unlock with your Google account credentials.