S4 will NOT unlock regardless of my PIN all of a sudden

[Michael MacLennan]

After a month of owning the S4, my phone asked me for a PIN. I'm not sure what prompted it but I gave it. Now, I have to use this stupid PIN if I want to unlock my phone. Which means that if I want to take a quick photo or check the internet etc, I have to input this PIN. I decided to browse through the setting to see how I could disable the PIN option and just swipe the screen away. I did this fine with my S2 before so I thought I could with the S4.
I unchecked GMAIL and Kaspersky (the protection I purchased) and it went to the lock screen immediately with that damn PIN again. When I input that PIN that I had been using, the one that I created that always worked....it wouldnt accept it. Said "incorrect pin". There IS NO other PIN. Now I can't unlock my phone! You'd think that the obvious thing for them to do was send a reset to one of my many email addresses associated with the phone but nothing! The warnings mentioned in "unchecking" those boxes DID NOT say that it would render my phone useless and unusable!
Can anyone help?

I need my phone back and now its just a paperweight after paying a fortune for it.

Thanks, in advance.

Michael

 

[iFebby]

I need my phone back and now its just a paperweight after paying a fortune for it.

Thanks, in advance.

Michael

I'm not sure what triggered this but a solution will be to perform a factory reset via android recovery but it will cause you to lose internal memory files and all memory except sim card information and sdcard but for the sake of precaution remove your sim and sdcard (if you use one).

Optional step worth a shot before factory reset: Try installing kies on your computer to check if it reads your phone via USB to backup your internal memory.



1: power down phone.

2: Press and hold Volume Up key + Home key then press Power key (keep them pressed, all three, read next step).

3: Keep the above keys pressed intill the Samsung logo appears. Once the llgo shows up you may let go.

4: phone should reboot into stock recovery that shows clear data/Factory reset menu.

5: press Volume Down on your phone to scroll to Wipe Data / Factory Reset then press the power button.

6: press the following.option.with the power button "Yes delete all user data"


7: all done now! (Hopefully no more paper weight). Reboot your phone bh selecting" Reboot System Now" with vol keys and pressing power button to confirm reboot.


This should get your phone back and running with a fresh start non the less.


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Michael MacLennan]

Thanks a lot for that. I really appreciate it. Lost everything but once bitten, twice shy. I'll know better next time to watch what I do with phone settings.
Thanks again!

Michael

 

[iFebby]

I'm glad you got your phone working again by following my steps. Next time just be more careful with those programs.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2

 

[remarbarquilla]

Oh same problem I am experiencing with my phone. Second time S4 made me down.

 

[Michelle Rooney]

my phone keeps turning back on locked... i can't figure this out

 

[Susie Kahler]

Basically this exact scenario just happened with me about 1 month after getting the Samsung Galaxy S5. It is so frustrating! I do not want to factor reset, so am still exploring other options so see what can be done. Any further suggestions anyone has come up with?

Thanks!

 

[glitchghost]

i just had the same issue after owning a galaxy s4 for a year and a half - i set a pin on my own to protect my data, and have changed it before, but not for multiple months now. was fixed by rebooting the phone. does anyone know why this happened? is it a known bug, or a rare case? i'll be looking up new information after i post this.

 

[anon(10267937)]

I had the same issue. All I had to do was take out SIM and SD card and restart the phone. It accepted my PIN codes after that.
If that doesn't work I'd recommend a hard reset/ factory reset. (Don't forget to take out SIM and SD.)

 

[8thrule]

I had the same issue. All I had to do was take out SIM and SD card and restart the phone. It accepted my PIN codes after that.
If that doesn't work I'd recommend a hard reset/ factory reset. (Don't forget to take out SIM and SD.)

This worked for me.

THANK YOU.

 

[clout571]

I had the same issue. All I had to do was take out SIM and SD card and restart the phone. It accepted my PIN codes after that.
If that doesn't work I'd recommend a hard reset/ factory reset. (Don't forget to take out SIM and SD.)

Made an account just to say : Thank you very much !! It worked perfectly.

 

[Nempie Blues]

I had the same issue. All I had to do was take out SIM and SD card and restart the phone. It accepted my PIN codes after that.
If that doesn't work I'd recommend a hard reset/ factory reset. (Don't forget to take out SIM and SD.)

THANK YOU. It worked. whew!

 

[Chulu58]

I'm not sure what triggered this but a solution will be to perform a factory reset via android recovery but it will cause you to lose internal memory files and all memory except sim card information and sdcard but for the sake of precaution remove your sim and sdcard (if you use one).

Optional step worth a shot before factory reset: Try installing kies on your computer to check if it reads your phone via USB to backup your internal memory.



1: power down phone.

2: Press and hold Volume Up key + Home key then press Power key (keep them pressed, all three, read next step).

3: Keep the above keys pressed intill the Samsung logo appears. Once the llgo shows up you may let go.

4: phone should reboot into stock recovery that shows clear data/Factory reset menu.

5: press Volume Down on your phone to scroll to Wipe Data / Factory Reset then press the power button.

6: press the following.option.with the power button "Yes delete all user data"


7: all done now! (Hopefully no more paper weight). Reboot your phone bh selecting" Reboot System Now" with vol keys and pressing power button to confirm reboot.


This should get your phone back and running with a fresh start non the less.


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2

A few years later....thank you