After hard reset samsungS7 unable to sign in to wifiAp. Can't unlock phone

[AC Question]

Hi there guys,

So I have a problem with a Samsung S7edge .

While upgrading Android nougat the phone got stuck then turned off.
Had other several problems so I've decided to factory reset the device.
Now this is the problem.

As soon the device tries to connect to a wifi, in order to sign to the account linked to the phone and unlock it, I keep receiving the same message:

"Unable to sign in to WI-FI AP.
An unauthorized factory reset has been performed on this device. The sign-in screen cannot be accessed."

I do know my Google account linked to the phone, but seems there's no way I can proceed.

How can I do or who can I contact?

Thanks

Fabrizio

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Does this happen on any wi-fi network, or just your home network?

 

[Fabs fabs]

Welcome to Android Central! Does this happen on any wi-fi network, or just your home network?

Thanks for replying.

It does happen with every Wi-Fi network I connect to.
I can access the advanced wifi option though.

As soon I connect to the internet, the message of "unable etc etc" pops up.

One more info, all this happened while I'm traveling in Asia (so not in the country where I bought the phone), don't know if that could be a reason of extra security.

 

[B. Diddy]

Are you in China, or some other country where Google services are blocked? If so, that might be why, since an unauthorized reset would trigger Google's Factory Reset Protection, and ask you to enter your Google username and password. If Google services are blocked, then that might prevent this step from occurring, effectively locking you out of the phone while you're there.

 

[Fabs fabs]

I'm in Cambodia at the moment.
That might be the reason.
So you saying that if I try to connect in another country, it might actually let me go through with the Google sign in.
Do you know if there's a way to check wich countries are actually locked by Google?
It's because I'll be traveling southeast Asia for a while and you can imagine without the phone is quite a problem.

Thanks again

 

[B. Diddy]

As far as I can tell, Cambodia doesn't appear to block Google services, so I'm not sure why you're having difficulty. It could be the ISP that provides the wi-fi access you're trying to connect to, but you mentioned trying different wi-fi hotspots. Do you know if all of those hotspots were from the same ISP?

I was trying to find a current list of countries that block Google services, but surprisingly, I haven't been able to find that easily on the web.

EDIT: This gives some good info: https://www.google.com/transparencyreport/traffic/disruptions/#expand=Y2013,Y2017

 

[Fabs fabs]

Update:
You were right, once got to Vietnam I could actually login to my Google account and the phone works, even though not properly.

Once connected to the internet ,even to different WiFi, it keeps logging off and on , every 2 minutes. So not restarting but just going back to the lock screen in a similar way as it was restarting.
Eventually sometimes it overheats and gets quite hot.
The problem doesn't happen if the phone is not connected to the internet.
It does the same in safe mode.
I've tried different things like clearing cache or shutting down background apps but seems it doesn't fix the problem.
Quite interesting.

I probably have to try to reset the device again, unless you have other suggestions.

Thanks