Bricked my 920... careful of a hard reset

[DavidC1980]

I'm in the same boat. Got my phone last night, now it's a nokia branded paperweight. Email sent to Mr Elop deatiling my previous experience with the Lumia 900 (returned 3 and switched to a Samsung GS3) and how 4 chances is more than enough.

 

[Frantics]

Same exact story happened to me, this is uncanny.

I got my replacement yesterday but I had to drive all over the state just to find the exact red one since all the nearby AT&T stores were sold out.

So I got my fresh unit in factory default, loaded my backup from the bricked one, but this time, I did not install any apps except for a few I use (Twitter and Rdio) so I could determine if apps were causing the background battery drain of my first unit.
But I actually installed and used Nokia Drive last night after getting it because I had to use it to get home (the AT&T store I drove to get the phone was in a a neighboring city I don't frequent.) I blocked Nokia Drive from background tasks after this.

So I charged my fresh phone overnight from zero, and today, it's been two hours since I unplugged it and it's still at 100%, I did a bit of the people hub, a FB video, some email syncing. I have NFC off, Cellular Data on, WiFi on, a bunch of emails syncing manually and no background tasks. But I don't have much apps and no third party Live Tiles yet.

But with this fresh start, my battery is holding excellently and my 920 is cooler unlike the first unit I had (the one with tons of apps installed).

I'll use it regulary and monitor it today but so far, things are looking up and much better.

 

[Emcee]

What color phones are people having good/bad luck with? My red bricked, but I'd be willing to switch to any color but white if it'll work well.

 

[mammaldood]

I want to try this, but I'm scared since I have cyan and I can't get that replaced just by going into a store. I guess I'd be happy with a white 920, though...

Anyway, when one does a hard reset, does it delete EVERYTHING, including e.g. music I've downloaded to the phone? And is there any merit to doing a soft reset instead of a hard reset?

Also, when you guys did your hard reset, was your battery fully charged or what?

 

[hasasimo]

To all of you whose devices bricked after a hard reset, may I ask what color your phones were? Just wondering if there's any correlation like there was with some of the Lumia 900's issues... I'm not a phone racist .

 

[Frantics]

To all of you whose devices bricked after a hard reset, may I ask what color your phones were? Just wondering if there's any correlation like there was with some of the Lumia 900's issues... I'm not a phone racist .

Mine was red. AT&T version. Plugged to the stock default charger when I did the factory reset from the settings option. Got stuck in the "spinning gears" screen.

 

[5tephen]

My 920 was black. Just wanted to update on my situation:

As I said before I had e-mailed Nokia about my phone messing up yesterday morning. I just got home for lunch about twenty minutes ago, and there was my brand new Nokia Lumia 920 already delivered from UPS waiting on me Went ahead and did the factory reset out of the box, and it booted up just fine afterwards. They also sent an envelope and a return shipping label so all I have to do is drop the broken one off at the UPS store later! Easiest time I've ever had dealing with a phone manufacturer. When I've tried dealing with Samsung and HTC in the past, I've had to practically jump through hoops to get anything done. Nokia did it with no issues. This is my first Nokia device, and I don't think I'll ever go back to another!

 

[anon(157335)]

To all of you whose devices bricked after a hard reset, may I ask what color your phones were? Just wondering if there's any correlation like there was with some of the Lumia 900's issues... I'm not a phone racist .

Mine was black.

I really wish I had been paying more attention to the forums over the last couple of days and had read this thread. I was having issues with notifications and below par battery life so tried a factory reset last night. I plugged it in, used the reset option in the About screen, and an hour later I was still looking at two gears spinning on the display. I left the phone plugged in overnight, and when I got up this morning I saw the Nokia logo on the screen. I unplugged it and the phone immediately turned off and wouldn't respond to any button presses at all when unplugged; when I plugged it back in it got as far as the Nokia logo again and died. The factory reset button combination didn't work either.

Unfortunately not a single corporate store within 20 miles of me had any matte black 920s in stock, but I found one store that had a few white ones left. The rep that assisted me was very helpful, and in the end I didn't need to pay a restocking fee to swap out to a white 920 (I had to pay the $35 fee, but he credited my AT&T account for $35 to even things out).

The white is definitely a fingerprint magnet, but I think I prefer the feel of it over the black. It doesn't feel as slippery to me. Swapping out to a white was actually a good thing since it's the color I wanted originally but on launch day (all any of the stores had here was black last Friday).

My new one is charging right now, hopefully I won't have any issues with it.

 

[RyoTGZ]

My 920 was black. Just wanted to update on my situation:

As I said before I had e-mailed Nokia about my phone messing up yesterday morning. I just got home for lunch about twenty minutes ago, and there was my brand new Nokia Lumia 920 already delivered from UPS waiting on me Went ahead and did the factory reset out of the box, and it booted up just fine afterwards. They also sent an envelope and a return shipping label so all I have to do is drop the broken one off at the UPS store later! Easiest time I've ever had dealing with a phone manufacturer. When I've tried dealing with Samsung and HTC in the past, I've had to practically jump through hoops to get anything done. Nokia did it with no issues. This is my first Nokia device, and I don't think I'll ever go back to another!

What color and did you buy yours from AT&T? Does it have the vibration rattle?

 

[hasasimo]

Mine was black.

I really wish I had been paying more attention to the forums over the last couple of days and had read this thread. I was having issues with notifications and below par battery life so tried a factory reset last night. I plugged it in, used the reset option in the About screen, and an hour later I was still looking at two gears spinning on the display. I left the phone plugged in overnight, and when I got up this morning I saw the Nokia logo on the screen. I unplugged it and the phone immediately turned off and wouldn't respond to any button presses at all when unplugged; when I plugged it back in it got as far as the Nokia logo again and died. The factory reset button combination didn't work either.

Unfortunately not a single corporate store within 20 miles of me had any matte black 920s in stock, but I found one store that had a few white ones left. The rep that assisted me was very helpful, and in the end I didn't need to pay a restocking fee to swap out to a white 920 (I had to pay the $35 fee, but he credited my AT&T account for $35 to even things out).

The white is definitely a fingerprint magnet, but I think I prefer the feel of it over the black. It doesn't feel as slippery to me. Swapping out to a white was actually a good thing since it's the color I wanted originally but on launch day (all any of the stores had here was black last Friday).

My new one is charging right now, hopefully I won't have any issues with it.

Are you going to try a factory reset on this new one just to make sure it'll actually reboot (while you can still return/exchange it)? I just got my L920 and I'm afraid to try a factory reset since I got the phone from Ebay (more of a hassle to exchange/return).

 

[5tephen]

What color and did you buy yours from AT&T? Does it have the vibration rattle?

Black, and I bought it in store. My replacement came from Nokia though, and I haven't noticed a rattle that seems excessive like some people seem to have experienced. Also, on my first 920 the capacitive buttons were a yellowish but on this Lumia they're more white.

 

[anon(157335)]

Are you going to try a factory reset on this new one just to make sure it'll actually reboot (while you can still return/exchange it)? I just got my L920 and I'm afraid to try a factory reset since I got the phone from Ebay (more of a hassle to exchange/return).

I thought about it, but after my first factory reset I'm too scared.

 

[5tephen]

I thought about it, but after my first factory reset I'm too scared.

When I got my second Lumia I did the factory reset right out of the box

 

[blnwp]

Glad we have a thread. I bought the phone on release day(Friday) and because of not so stellar battery life I did a hard reset on Sunday to find it only stuck on gears for hours until the battery ran out. When I booted it back on, it was stuck on Nokia logo. I took it to the ATT store and they agreed for swapping a new one but unfortunately there wasn't a single 920 black available anywhere near the city. So the store person did an online order for store pickup and it was shipped on Tuesday. The stupid thing is now usps.com has no progress at all in the package. It has been in USPS sort center, Memphis for past 4 days. I don't know what is wrong with USPS. I went to store yesterday and they confirmed the phone has not arrived yet. I'm livid and wishing I never bought this phone on launch day.

 

[Only Mama Knows]

I tried to reset my Cyan 920 in hopes of better battery life and now it's bricked. Won't go past the Nokia screen. I've been fighting with AT&T all morning, b/c they have the worst customer service in world history. They don't have any 920s in stock at the stores around here (Queens, NY), and they tried to charge me a $35 restocking fee. The idea that I would give them a single penny to restock a broken phone is one of the more hilarious things I've been told in a while. My other option is to mail it back to AT&T and wait (possibly weeks) for them to get another cyan in stock and ship it to me.

Anyway, I called Nokia directly and they seem more helpful, but I'm still waiting for someone there to call me back with a final solution. I'm really wanting to leave Apple, but Nokia, and especially AT&T, are making that process much harder than it needs to be.

 

[Marcio Marinho]

Just had the same thing happen to me. Was having issues sending sms/email, and the phone complained of corrupt files. Did a reset, go stuck in the spinning gears and now the phone is stuck in the Nokia logo... Obviously had to happen 2 hours before I'm supposed to travel for 2 weeks...

Very disappointed that Nokia doesn't provide a tool to flash your phone like other manufacturers.

It was an unlocked black model from France...

 

[blnwp]

The very disappointing thing is that Nokia has not come forward this time and acknowledged any of the issues we've been having. Not only hard reset bricking. Battery life, getting warm, vibration, scratches, auto brightness, soft daylight photos etc. Not that I had every issue I said but these were widely reported but we're yet to see any official acknowledgement from Nokia. Remember 900 where they acknowledged an issue immediately and issued an update? This seems to be not happening with 920. Hoping for the best.

 

[Frantics]

Just had the same thing happen to me. Was having issues sending sms/email, and the phone complained of corrupt files. Did a reset, go stuck in the spinning gears and now the phone is stuck in the Nokia logo... Obviously had to happen 2 hours before I'm supposed to travel for 2 weeks...

Very disappointed that Nokia doesn't provide a tool to flash your phone like other manufacturers.

It was an unlocked black model from France...

There's actually a flashing tool floating around called the Nokia Care Suite. I considered that as my last resort when my first 920 got bricked and if I can't find an exact replacement (thankfully, ATT replaced mine).

I haven't tested the Care Suite yet though because I'm on a Mac and it only runs on x64 Windows (My Bootcamp Windows 7 is 32 bit).

Even then, I can't find any AT&T 920 ROMs yet when mine got bricked so that would've been a dead end for me. (I found a stock 920 ROM and the Rogers version on Tuesday, I don't know the situation now). As a side note, even the techs in the AT&T stores I went to told me they didn't have the flashing software yet (they probably didn't have the ATT 920 ROM yet too) so there's no way they could fix a bricked 920 in store right now.

So with this new one I have, which is performing a lot better than my old one, I'll hold off system restoring it, at least until I could confirm that AT&T could flash it in store, since replacement 920's are so hard to find right now.


EDIT : Just tested an install. The Nokia Care Suite will actually run with VC++ 2010 Redistributable x86 so it will run in 32 bit Windows 7.

 

[roffir]

Same problem here, birck after a hard reset.
From Nokia: If your Nokia Lumia 920 is still frozen, switch the power Off. Press and hold the Volume down and connect the charger, if succeed an exclamation mark (!) is shown on the screen. Then input Keys in the following order:
a. Volume up
b. Volume down
c. Power
d. Volume down

This worked for me but it will FACTORY RESET your phone...

 

[saminsimi]

So how exactly do you "switch it off" when it's stuck at the Nokia logo?