Samsung Fascinate Locked

[yoworm]

Last night my phone went mysteriously locked.  It is asking for a password and has an option for emergency calls only.  This is not the pattern lock it appears to be asking for a password.  The only problem is that I never set a lock password.  I have tried my gmail account password and it did not work.  Of course the other problem is that I am down to three attempts left or I assume my data like pictures and apps will be wiped out.

Has this happened to anyone?

Does anyone have a solution prior to me performing a factory reset?

By the way while I have the floor I just read that Sprint has started pushing the OTA Froyo update.  I only skimmed this as my focus is on unlocking my phone but if this is true it is yet another sad day for customers of BIG RED.  I have left a message for a friend of mine who has the epic to check to see if his update is available.  I will update later when he gets back to me.  Sprint beat verizon to 4G, beat them to a family share plan for data and appears to have beat them to the 2.2 update for the Galaxy S line.  The link is below

http://thetechjournal.com/electronics/mobile/sprint-epic-4g-get-official-android-2-2-froyo.xhtml

[yoworm]

I was lucky and tried every password I could think of and it finally worked.  I removed the battery for a few minutes and each time I removed the battery the number of attempts increased to about 7 each time.  The battery had to be out atleast 10 minutes.  Just thought this may help if it happens to anyone else.

[lynsky71]

This has happened to me only I had just set up the unlock pattern and my kids got a hold of it and used up the tries not the only thing I can do is the gmail account and it won't accept my password. I need help bad. I don't want to hard reset it. Is there a way to take it to the store and they can fix it or do I have to hard reset it. HELP!!!

[Moth]

lynsky,

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I encountered the same problem when my 3 year old sister decided to have fun with my phone while I was on a run. There is a current bug with the Fascinate and if it doesn't unlock the first time you type your google password it's not going to. I tried my password, verified it by signing into my email on a computer, continued to attempt every password I've ever used, did a hard reset and nothing :/. Unfortunately you will have to take it into a VZW store and they will replace it with a new device, hopefully you don't have anything on your device that isn't backed up somewhere because it's gone 😕 ... Best of luck to ya.

[ARossetter]

WHOA THERE.. 

Before returning your phone....

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/39761478/Android---Locked-Out

If the password advice in the PDF in that link do not help, here's how you factory reset your Fascinate from home.

1) Power off the device.

2) Power on the device while holding down both the volume up and volume down keys. Your phone will boot into Android System Recovery.

3) Use the volume down rocker to navigate to "Wipe Data/Factory Reset"

4) Press Home to select.

5) Finally, at the warning screen, press Volume up to wipe, or Volume down to cancel.

6) Restart the device.

Hopefully you don't have to get to this point, but at the VERY least I saved you a trip to the Verizon store.

- Andy

[ARossetter]

EDIT: In case the .PDF is giving you a hard time, the link I posted above suggests the following:

- At the Google Credentials screen, use your e-mail address in the address field and the word "null" (without the quotes) as your password. If this works, you will be prompted to set a new pattern.

- If you have uppercase characters in your login or password, try using only lowercase for one or both.

The rest involves using adb to reset your phone, which you're already too late to attempt this anyway.

- Andy

[Duende2]

After many hours of trying all these suggestions I went to the Privacy setting and chose to reformat the phone.  I was up and running within seconds of doing that...upsets me that Verizon tech support was so quick to blow me off when they could have made this simple suggestion.

[gplease2k3]

@ ARossetter...Thanks for posting this!

However, once the fascinate is locked and is asking for your google account username and password to be unlocked, your method doesn't seem to work.  I had to research some more online for another fix.

Before you follow these steps...

***If you forgot your google account password, just use a computer to reset the password before entering your account info once your phone is reset ***

To reset your phone:

User a different phone to call the locked Fascinate

1.  Hang up the phone you used to call the locked Fascinate.

2. While The fascinate is getting ready to hang up press the "home" button at the bottom (Now you should see your homepage).

3. Look for and click on the "settings" icon  > Go to privacy.

4. Select "Factory data reset" ... your phone should restart once it's done resetting.

5. Then, just re-enter your google account username and password... and Voila!!!!

PS: You'll lose all your saved applications then, if you've used "backup assistant" before to save your contacts... just click on settings > Account & sync > Backup Assistant > Click on "Backup Now" at the bottom... then, your saved contacts will be downloaded to your phone.

***Dial *228 then, select option 2 to udpdate your roaming capabilities****

[dv30]

I have tried to hard reset the device, but it still goes back to the gmail info login screen. any ideas?