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Unable to boot into recovery

J

JonWanObi

Lurker
Hi,

I've started a new job and the person before me left their work phone (Nokia G11), however they didn't remove their password. I've tried booting into recovery but it gets stuck on a screen which says "Android One" and "FASTBOOT MODE" in the top left corner and it won't progress any further.

I can turn the phone on and get to the pin unlock page, but that's it.

Does anyone know how I can unlock/reset this phone? There's no data on there I want to keep, just need to fully reset it. The problem I'm facing is USB Debugging isn't enabled so the PC won't recognize it.

Thanks.
 
I agree with the previous comments, this is a work phone so it's a work-related problem. It's not your responsibility to waste your own time on this.

Note that this isn't an issue you're going to be able to fix even if you could just boot the phone up into its Recovery Mode. Even if you do a Factory Reset, the issue about the phone being registered to the previous owner is still going to there.
Keep in mind there's a lot more involved than the usual baby-logic claims that a Factory Reset actually 'wipes a phone clean'. The internal storage media in your Android device is divided up into several different partitions. Most of them are dedicated solely to the Android operating system, with one being set aside as the general user data partition. Those system-level partitions are protected and restricted, that user data partition isn't. A Factory Reset only wipes that user data partition clean, it does nothing to any of the system partitions. An Android phone cannot actually wipe itself clean, if that was actually possible that would also have to involve the operating system to magically restore itself. Add to this that when you first set up a phone, one of the first required tasks is enter a valid Google account I.D. (Gmail name and password). That's something that gets embedded into the installed operating system, so its essentially now integral to the Android OS running on that phone. Whatever data the previous owner had saved, would be in that user data partition. Since they didn't (or wasn't allowed to do, given they apparently don't still work there) remove their Google account, the only option for that phone is to manually replace the installed Android OS with a 'clean' Android OS (typically referred to as flashing the ROM, or flashing the firmware). That's a doable task on your part but it is a lot more involved and time-consuming, especially if you haven't done so a few times. But really, your employer is the responsible party in this. Unless they're going to be paying for the time required to get this phone back to fully functional conditional.
 
Thanks to everyone's replies.

So funny enough I'm working in their IT department but the team here don't do much with mobiles. I've got experience for doing custom ROM and flashing roms (and that's what I'm trying to do here - Boot into recovery, wipe the data and then wipe the partitions too, then reinstall Android using either a stock ROM or custom ROM). But I can't boot into recovery (it just hangs on the 'Android One's screen with "Fastboot mode" displayed in the top left corner and I can't get passed it. I've tried using adb through cmd to boot into recovery but because USB debugging isn't enabled (and I can't log in to enable it) that doesn't work either.
 
If you are unable to access the recovery mode or enable USB debugging on the Nokia G11, there is still an option you can try to perform a factory reset on the device. Please note that this method may vary depending on the specific model and Android version of the phone, but you can give it a try:
  1. Make sure the phone is powered off.
  2. Press and hold the Volume Up button and the Power button simultaneously for a few seconds until you see the Nokia logo on the screen. Release the buttons when the logo appears.
  3. You should enter the recovery mode menu. In the recovery mode, you can navigate using the volume up and down buttons and select options using the power button. If you are stuck at the "Android One" and "FASTBOOT MODE" screen, it's possible that the phone is in fastboot mode rather than recovery mode. Try using the volume buttons to navigate to the "Recovery" option (or any other available option) and press the power button to select it.
  4. If successful, you should see an Android robot with an exclamation mark. Press and hold the Power button, then press and release the Volume Up button once. This will bring up the recovery options.
  5. In the recovery menu, navigate to the "Wipe data/factory reset" option using the volume buttons and select it using the power button.
  6. Confirm the factory reset by selecting the appropriate option (usually "Yes" or "Confirm").
  7. Wait for the reset process to complete. Once finished, you should see an option to reboot the device. Select it, and the phone should start up in a factory-reset state.
It's important to note that performing a factory reset will erase all data on the phone, including apps, settings, and personal files. Make sure you have backed up any important data before proceeding.
 
Have you tried "fastboot reboot recovery"? If the phone is in fastboot mode then it's ready to accept fastboot commands, after all.

(Admittedly I've not played with a Nokia, and phones I have fiddled with have had an actual fastboot menu rather than just a blank screen, so I don't know whether this is normal).

However, if it still has the previous owner's password it presumably still has their account as well, so won't a factory reset just trigger factory reset protection, leaving you with the same problem (except it will be their Google login credentials you need rather than a lockscreen password)? I'd be disappointed if a simple stock firmware flash removed FRP (I've seen websites that claim that for some phones, but given how easy it is to get stock firmware for some of the most expensive phones out there it would be a horrible flaw in the anti-theft system for this to work generally).

I don't know whether there even are custom ROMs for this phone. Last I heard Nokia didn't allow OEM unlocking of their bootloaders, which would make it unattractive for developers. There's no sign of development forums or threads for most Nokia devices over at xda-developers.

Can't you just tell the company to give you a working phone? Or is this now a personal challenge to fix it? ;)
 
FlorenceE said:
If you are unable to access the recovery mode or enable USB debugging on the Nokia G11, there is still an option you can try to perform a factory reset on the device. Please note that this method may vary depending on the specific model and Android version of the phone, but you can give it a try:
  1. Make sure the phone is powered off.
  2. Press and hold the Volume Up button and the Power button simultaneously for a few seconds until you see the Nokia logo on the screen. Release the buttons when the logo appears.
  3. In the recovery mode, you can navigate using the volume up and down buttons and select options using the power button. If you are stuck at the "Android One" and "FASTBOOT MODE" screen, it's possible that the phone is in fastboot mode rather than recovery mode. Try using the volume buttons to navigate to the "Recovery" option (or any other available option) and press the power button to select it.
  4. If successful, you should see an Android robot with an exclamation mark. Press and hold the Power button, then press and release the Volume Up button once. This will bring up the recovery options.
  5. In the recovery menu, navigate to the "Wipe data/factory reset" option using the volume buttons and select it using the power button.
  6. Confirm the factory reset by selecting the appropriate option (usually "Yes" or "Confirm").
  7. Wait for the reset process to complete. Once finished, you should see an option to reboot the device. Select it, and the phone should start up in a factory-reset state.
It's important to note that performing a factory reset will erase all data on the phone, including apps, settings, and personal files. Make sure you have backed up any important data before proceeding.
Click to expand...
how can you do a hard reset, if you can't access recovery mode?????
 
JonWanObi said:
Hi,

I've started a new job and the person before me left their work phone (Nokia G11), however they didn't remove their password. I've tried booting into recovery but it gets stuck on a screen which says "Android One" and "FASTBOOT MODE" in the top left corner and it won't progress any further.

I can turn the phone on and get to the pin unlock page, but that's it.

Does anyone know how I can unlock/reset this phone? There's no data on there I want to keep, just need to fully reset it. The problem I'm facing is USB Debugging isn't enabled so the PC won't recognize it.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Hello Jon Wan Obi, did you find a solution? I'm having the same problem here with a Nokia G10
 
Jemz2 said:
Hello Jon Wan Obi, did you find a solution? I'm having the same problem here with a Nokia G10
Click to expand...
can you get into recovery? what happened to the phone? did you do something? was this a random event? what exactly is your problem? can the phone boot up?

just remember, the more details we get, the better we can help.

the op posted this in May 23rd and was last seen on May 25th. has not been back since, so don't hold your breathe too long as i doubt he will come back and answer you......just saying.
 
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