www.chinaphonearena.com

Hi,

I have a Samsung badged S5 clone with a couple of problems:

1.. the phone cannot pick up a mobile signal, the bar indicator at the top of the screen shows full bars, with a small red cross beside, when I try to dial it says mobile network not available, this is definitely a phone problem, as I have tried a number of different sims, from different networks, all return the same error message.

2.. When I try to go to the recovery menu, It flashes, "unable to find update.zip", and boots to the normal screen. If I try to enter download mode, I get a screen with about 6 options in Chinese (I think it's Chinese).

So, three questions:

1.. Is the network problem more likely to be a hardware fail, or a software problem?

2.. How can I get into the recovery menu?

3.. What are the Chinese worded options, and can I use any of them to resolve 1 or 2?

My phone is un-rooted.

Phil

Hey Phil! Welcome to the forums, man.

In regards to your network problem, I'd start by trying to ensure the IMEI numbers are intact and valid. There are some write-ups in our "Tutorials" forum that should walk you through this.

In regards to the Chinese worded options, I don't believe it will help you. This thread has more information: [Only registered and activated users can see links Click here to register]

What version of Android is your phone running?

Do you mind posting a screen shot of your crossed-out bars of service? Might help people better identify it if they've seen it before.

Hi Wuddawaste,

Thank you for the welcome.

There is an IMEI number in place, not sure how to check it is a valid number?

The android version is 4.4.2 according to CPU-Z

Not sure how to get a screen shot from my phone onto the pc?

Phil

Can you connect your phone to WiFi? If so, you can post directly from the phone, or email it to wherever, or use AirDroid to connect your phone to your computer.

In other thought: you might want to check that you have your data connection on and both 2G/3G enabled for your phone.

It's bizarre that you have full bars, but no connection.

Are your sure your phone supports the frequencies your carrier uses?

I think the right question to ask here should be, did the phone work at all when it was brand new (straight out of the box, unrooted, before custom recoveries, ROMs, etc.)?

I don't think we can do much to help if we don't have all the details - we must have somewhere to start from.