Samsung S10 - Phone has been flashed with unauthorized software & is locked

[imseansmom]

An update installed last week & it was stuck on the lock screen. I googled & was able to reboot the phone & everything seemed ok. It was acting funny today so I rebooted it & it just kept rebooting over & over. Finally stopped & I was texting & calling people. Set the phone down & it rebooted itself & now is on this lock screen. There's a little black box in the upper left corner with red letters that say "Secure Check Fail: Modem" I really need my phone & I don't know what to do. My carrier is Verizon if that makes a difference. TIA. ~ Linda

 

[MoreDef]

Did you happen to buy it used, say, from the Amazon Renewed program? I've been reading about a lot of phones that claim to be unlocked, but have actually been flashed and thus bricked.

 

[mustang7757]

Check this thread

https://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=997292

 

[Guif28]

Hello @mustang7757,

I experienced this problem with my Samsung A70 which I bought brand new in a legit Samsung store last 2019. After receiving an update last February 27, 2021 (Android 10 last patch before Android 11) my phone behaves abnormally. Unlike the cases here that they can't use the phone and stuck at the "Security Check Fail" screen, mine was restarting from time to time. I do experience random restart every day and it will go over and over until it heats up. At some point during these restarts it will prompt the bluegreen screen with the red text "Security Check Fail: Modem" and says that it has been flashed with unauthorized software (in which I did not do since the update i downloaded was official Samsung OTA). What I do is just turn it off then power it on again. AFter some time my phone will work again perfectly. I do upgrade the phone to Android 11 hoping for this to be fixed unfortunately I still encounter the random restarts. I already contacted Samsung with regards to this matter and said that the Android 11 update was just and early release and not yet the official update for Android 11. They told me to wait this May 2021 for the official update and hopefully fixed the issue. Btw restarts happen only when i use my data connection, but if i use wifi my phone works fine. Also i noticed that when I play games with good graphics my phone cant handle it and force restart which does not happen to me back then when I'm still at Android 9 and early Android 10 patches.

 

[mustang7757]

Hello @mustang7757,

I experienced this problem with my Samsung A70 which I bought brand new in a legit Samsung store last 2019. After receiving an update last February 27, 2021 (Android 10 last patch before Android 11) my phone behaves abnormally. Unlike the cases here that they can't use the phone and stuck at the "Security Check Fail" screen, mine was restarting from time to time. I do experience random restart every day and it will go over and over until it heats up. At some point during these restarts it will prompt the bluegreen screen with the red text "Security Check Fail: Modem" and says that it has been flashed with unauthorized software (in which I did not do since the update i downloaded was official Samsung OTA). What I do is just turn it off then power it on again. AFter some time my phone will work again perfectly. I do upgrade the phone to Android 11 hoping for this to be fixed unfortunately I still encounter the random restarts. I already contacted Samsung with regards to this matter and said that the Android 11 update was just and early release and not yet the official update for Android 11. They told me to wait this May 2021 for the official update and hopefully fixed the issue. Btw restarts happen only when i use my data connection, but if i use wifi my phone works fine. Also i noticed that when I play games with good graphics my phone cant handle it and force restart which does not happen to me back then when I'm still at Android 9 and early Android 10 patches.

Hi, welcome to AC!

Sounds like the latest update has a bug , you can try to reinstall the firmware with Odin to see if it can help you .

 

[Guif28]

I'm actually planning to do that, however, since May is just right around the corner I'm gonna wait for Samsung so-called official Android 11 release. In case it still didn't solve the issue, i might downgrade to Android 9 or Android 10 early patches. Does removing the Google accounts and Samsung account in my phone enough to avoid the FRP lock. Also i red that i need to enable debugging and tick OEM debuging. Would that be all i need to do if try to re-flash or downgrade?

Thank you @mustang7757

 

[mustang7757]

I'm actually planning to do that, however, since May is just right around the corner I'm gonna wait for Samsung so-called official Android 11 release. In case it still didn't solve the issue, i might downgrade to Android 9 or Android 10 early patches. Does removing the Google accounts and Samsung account in my phone enough to avoid the FRP lock. Also i red that i need to enable debugging and tick OEM debuging. Would that be all i need to do if try to re-flash or downgrade?

Thank you @mustang7757

Hi, no need to remove accounts when flashing , if you go to andriod 11 u be limited to andriod 10 , you'll need latest odin and frija tool for the firmware download them from xda forums and a pc .

 

[Guif28]

Hi, no need to remove accounts when flashing , if you go to andriod 11 u be limited to andriod 10 , you'll need latest odin and frija tool for the firmware download them from xda forums and a pc .

Hey @mustang7757. I already reflashed the firmware manually. Unfortunately I still experienced the same behavior. One thing i noticed was, whenver i tried inserting my sim card it will freeze and crashed immediately. Sometimes it will not crash the moment i inserted the sim however as soon as i turn on data connection it will freeze and crash again. Multiple times. I don't have any crash issues when connected wifi network. I do have 2 simcard on my sim tray and switching their slots doesn't show any difference.

I have all my apps updated and software also. I also noticed that sometimes before completely crashing, the network signal on both carrier of my phone turns unavailable (the circle with diagonal line in center) then it restarts. My plan is to buy a new sim card and see if it will manifest same behavior. I will post update here

 

[mustang7757]

Hey @mustang7757. I already reflashed the firmware manually. Unfortunately I still experienced the same behavior. One thing i noticed was, whenver i tried inserting my sim card it will freeze and crashed immediately. Sometimes it will not crash the moment i inserted the sim however as soon as i turn on data connection it will freeze and crash again. Multiple times. I don't have any crash issues when connected wifi network. I do have 2 simcard on my sim tray and switching their slots doesn't show any difference.

I have all my apps updated and software also. I also noticed that sometimes before completely crashing, the network signal on both carrier of my phone turns unavailable (the circle with diagonal line in center) then it restarts. My plan is to buy a new sim card and see if it will manifest same behavior. I will post update here

Ok definitely, keep me posted

 

[Guif28]

Ok definitely, keep me posted

My unit works fine now. I downgraded from Android 11 to Android 10 May 2020 release. Also i use Chile firmware version instead of my local country release (which is Philippines). Surprisingly Android 10 November 2020 release behaves the same, thay's why i use CH version not PH. It restarts so frequent that i cannot even finished the initial setup of the phone after a factory reset. Removing the sim card will helps to finish the setting up process but as soon as i plugged the sim back it automatically freezes and crash, and it will do this over and over until it heats up. Btw I'm talking about firmware releases in the Philippines. A guy from reddit said that it might have something to do with the last Android 10 security patch.

 

[mustang7757]

My unit works fine now. I downgraded from Android 11 to Android 10 May 2020 release. Also i use Chile firmware version instead of my local country release (which is Philippines). Surprisingly Android 10 November 2020 release behaves the same, thay's why i use CH version not PH. It restarts so frequent that i cannot even finished the initial setup of the phone after a factory reset. Removing the sim card will helps to finish the setting up process but as soon as i plugged the sim back it automatically freezes and crash, and it will do this over and over until it heats up. Btw I'm talking about firmware releases in the Philippines. A guy from reddit said that it might have something to do with the last Android 10 security patch.

Glad its fine now , it's possible the Phillipine firmware might have a bug

 

[Guif28]

Glad its fine now , it's possible the Phillipine firmware might have a bug

Yes indeed. I think that's what happens. Btw I upgraded to Android 11 last night using Singapore firmware (XPS) the flashing was smooth even the setting up process was completed the first try. No restart happened during the whole initial process and setup. Sim card was inserted the first boot and I can say that it is really a fixed one. Upon checking on the software information i was shocked to see that it shows Philippine Open-line version (XTC) which was same version as my last Android 11 update. I've tested quite a few things like data connection, hotspot, bluetooth, downloading apps via data and wifi,.. man everything works well. It's too early to say that my phone was finally fixed after the buggy update last February but this is a very good and promising performance right now. If it does fixed the previous issue then i saved myself from spending 200USD for a circuit board replacement that the Samsung Service Tech told me.

 

[mustang7757]

Yes indeed. I think that's what happens. Btw I upgraded to Android 11 last night using Singapore firmware (XPS) the flashing was smooth even the setting up process was completed the first try. No restart happened during the whole initial process and setup. Sim card was inserted the first boot and I can say that it is really a fixed one. Upon checking on the software information i was shocked to see that it shows Philippine Open-line version (XTC) which was same version as my last Android 11 update. I've tested quite a few things like data connection, hotspot, bluetooth, downloading apps via data and wifi,.. man everything works well. It's too early to say that my phone was finally fixed after the buggy update last February but this is a very good and promising performance right now. If it does fixed the previous issue then i saved myself from spending 200USD for a circuit board replacement that the Samsung Service Tech told me.

I'm really happy to hear this, thanks for the followup

 

[Guif28]

I'm really happy to hear this, thanks for the followup

Just to give update and feedback to the workaround that i did. I can finally say it was fixed. No errors and any problems encountered for the past 8 days of using it. Everything works perfectly fine.

So to all who's having a problem with recent updates you might want to try what i did.

Also you may want download your firmwares from SamFw. I find it more credible than SamMobile. It's a personal preference and based on my experience. But still it's all up to you.

 

[mustang7757]

Just to give update and feedback to the workaround that i did. I can finally say it was fixed. No errors and any problems encountered for the past 8 days of using it. Everything works perfectly fine.

So to all who's having a problem with recent updates you might want to try what i did.

Also you may want download your firmwares from SamFw. I find it more credible than SamMobile. It's a personal preference and based on my experience. But still it's all up to you.

Glad to hear it
Sammobile, sam firm ,frija are all good sources to get firmwares