Scholar
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89 Messages
Lock Screen PIN Stopped Working
Strangest thing just happened to me... On my Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini, the lock screen PIN doesn't work. I've been using the same PIN multiple times daily for 7 months now and have never changed it. But this morning I wake up, try to go into my phone, and it keeps saying Incorrect PIN. (What the heck?)
I've tried restarting the phone, shutdown & restart, removing battery & SIM, but no luck.
Any ideas?
No one else has access to my phone, so it's just me using it.
I also have a SIM lock set on my phone; well, the SIM itself. So, whenever I startup the phone, I get asked for the SIM PIN. I've always had it set to the same PIN at the phone itself. The SIM PIN still gets accepted OK.
I'm currently hoping to have the phone ask me for the Google account password, since I've read that the phone might use that as a backup for unlocking the screen.
I rarely download apps, and when I do, it's just the popular ones from Google Play, like Maps, YouTube, Skype, etc. So, I highly doubt my phone has any malware on it. I'm super careful about that.
I do remember the phone downloaded a Samsung Security Policy Update a few days ago. I wonder if that was buggy perhaps?
This is very frustrating, as I can't access my phone until I get this fixed!
jts
Scholar
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89 Messages
9 years ago
Ugh. It's so frustrating to be locked out of one's own phone. And not knowing the cause either.
I've now entered an incorrect PIN 50 times. Does anyone know when it'll start asking me for my Google account password?
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jts
Scholar
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89 Messages
9 years ago
I've now entered an incorrect PIN 125 times. I don't think it'll be asking me anytime soon for my Google account. I don't know why it never asked me, nor does the AT&T rep I spoke to.
Looks like it's time to Master Reset the phone. Ugh. I'll be spending the next several hours re-setting things up, downloading apps, adjusting settings, etc.
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jts
Scholar
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89 Messages
9 years ago
Device wiped. Spending hours now reinstalling everything. 😞
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johninsj
Professor
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3.1K Messages
9 years ago
Yep. the wipe is the "solution" unfortunately.
I've not ever seen any android phone forget its lockscreen pin. Not sure how yours did.
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jts
Scholar
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89 Messages
9 years ago
In addition to the Samsung Security Policy update that came through recently, AT&T had a patch that downloaded too -- the built-in Software Update feature. It wasn't a new Android version like releases in the past, but just some misc patches.
Between the 2 of them, I wonder if some bugs were introduced.
Also, something I do on my phone that most people probably don't do... I disable most of the apps that I'll never use, despite being built-in apps. No, I've never rooted my phone, but many of the AT&T apps I disable, and I wonder if some of them might be tied too deeply into the OS.
Again, the 2 weird issues with my phone were that it forgot it's lock screen PIN, and that I was never asked for my Google account/pw. Odd.
I hope other people that experience this find and post to this thread.
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