Strange behavior with new Lumia 920

[Noiralef]

Hi everyone, I got my new Lumia 920 today, and it is driving me crazy. The main problem is that I cannot open any apps (like e.g. settings) - I just get a loading screen for a few seconds, then back to the home screen.

Details:

• I bought the phone "unused" from a private seller on amazon marketplace, and it did look unused to me (even though the packaging was opened). I couldn't find that "SIM key" but used a paperclip for inserting my SIM card.
  I applied a screen protector, but I tried removing it and the problems stayed.
• When the phone first started (the battery was completely drained so it took a while until it was possible) I could go through the startup settings and connect to my Wifi. Creating a microsoft account didn't work for some reason so I skipped that. I allowed the phone to apply the settings provided by the carrier.
• But now whenever I try to open something, I get a loading screen for a few seconds and then I'm just thrown back to my home screen. Exceptions are only preinstalled third-party apps like "HERE city lens" or "DB navigator" (for German trains) - they start but they don't seem to function properly. I can also get to the bing search menu, and there in the settings - but after a few seconds in those settings I'm thrown back to the home screen...
  Still, the tiles are apparently working. The messenger tile shows a few unread messages, in the people tile there's a lot going on and in the background of the photos tile there is some picture.
• In the beginning, my battery symbol was constantly on "charging" even if the phone was unplugged. Right now it is the other way around.
• I have not once been able to shut the phone down correctly. It always gets stuck either in "goodbye" or even before showing that screen. By pressing power + volume down I can get it to restart. (Afterwards I'm not connected to Wifi anymore.)
• I tried doing a factory reset (power + v.down, hold v.down until exclamation mark, press v.up v.down power v.down). This time I kept the preselected language (which is German, the first time I changed it to English) and I was able to log into a Microsoft account that I had created on my laptop. But now everything is still the same as before.

 

[DennisvdG]

Sounds like you got screwed.

 

[Noiralef]

That's what I'm afraid of, of course but I don't get it. I mean, it's not like it is a fake phone or it is bricked or whatever. The symptoms look more like a software problem to me...

****. Guess I'll have to try and return it. I'm not exactly hopeful...

Edit: Update: I installed Nokia Software Recovery Tool, it recognizes the phone and offers to install a new software version. Let's see...

 

[DennisvdG]

That was my next suggestion, good luck!

 

[Noiralef]

After a few tries, the firmware update suddenly worked! Now I have Lumia Cyan and the phone is almost fully functional only the camera is not working...
Seems like I'm not the only one with this problem, but I couldn't find a solution yet. I'll start a new topic for this.

 

[DennisvdG]

Alright, good luck.