My G1 locked up - Is my only option a factory reset

[FairySkates<3]

Oh just one other thought...

Your phone needs internet access to be able to verify your Google account. You are in range of a wireless access point that it can connect to and/or you have a SIM card in it that has a data plan?

To do a factory resest (I've never done this, but I understand this is how you do it), you make sure your phone is off, and then you HOLD the Home and the Power buttons at the same time all the way past the T-mobile G1 loading screen (about 15 seconds or so). You'll then see a screen with an arrow pointing to the G1. Press the Home and Power buttons again at the same time and it should start a factory reset.

[king Joshua the first]

Hi Guys,

I had the same issue with the phone where i locked G1 with too many attempts for the pattern.

I followed the instructions for factory reset.....my phone is stuck on a screen which is an- - exclamation mark in a triangle with a mobile phone on the side.

Is this the factory reset sign? or have i done somthing wrong?

Regards,
VJ

[scene1918!<333]

Yep - That's what you see when you hold down the Home and End call (power) key for 15 to 20 seconds to do a factory reset. When you see the image you describe you just open the keyboard and press Alt and W together to complete the factory reset.

I know I said press Home and Power keys again in my last post. There seems to be two ways to do it. So if pressing those again don't work try Alt + W.

[TherealmcCoy]

This does not work. This only removes the lock pattern screen from locking your G1. If you are locked out at the login screen, deactivating the pattern does not get rid of the login screen prompt. You will continue to be prompted for the login. It will allow you to access your home screen if you flip your phone, but you will need to do this each time you want access to the phone, which is annoying.

The solution to this, without having to install the SDK or resetting your phone, is to login from within the TMobile 3G network.

Make sure you reset your google password through the website and then power off your G1. The trick is to make sure that you are attempting to login from within the T-Mobile 3G network.
***It will not validate your username and password over the wireless network. ***
If this still doesn't work, power it off and back on and give it some time to authenticate you within the 3G network.

Once you're in, make sure you disable pattern lock and never use it again!!!


Dan

[bren_jim]

...or 2G surely? Otherwise a LOT of G1 owners (anyone who lives outside of 3G coverage) would not be able to validate the first time they power up the phone.

I agree with everything else you said - thanks for keeping people right.

[drusilla]

Just ran into this issue and you rock for this post!!

I spent about 5 minutes freaking out.. then i found this and the reset worked!!

Not only that but all my apps are saved in my market downloads.. so I should be back to normal in no time.. Thanks!!

[69chrger]

You're welcome - thanks for saying thanks.

[sanndnsurf]

Hi, i had this problem this morning and found a somewhat pathetic solution.

To clarify i had the following situation:
The pattern had been entered incorrectly too many times leading to a prompt for email and password. It would not accept the correct email and password. I tried for 3 hours with every possible permutation adding dots, caps, @gmail, @googlemail etc (3 hours!!!!!)

The solution is:
enter correct email address
enter "null" (without quotation marks) as password.

You are then prompted to enter a new pattern twice and then you are into our phone without factory reset etc. No data loss.

Hope this helps.