Moto Razr Maxx HD ecrypted, reset, bricked

[kieranc]

So I've had my Razr Maxx HD encrypted for some time now, as it's required by my employer's Exchange server, and I use the phone for work email as well as personal/gmail. It's been working fine this way for about a year. No strange events recently, until....
Yesterday, while doing a Google search, the phone just started crashing. All sorts of services started throwing "sorry, but xxx has stopped responding/working/running/etc.) one after another. I shut the phone down with a long power button + voldown press, then powered back on. As usual, when rebooting, the system asked for my PIN to decrypt the storage. This happens every time I reboot and the PIN is a simple 4-digit number that I have never forgotten. However, this time, it would not accept my PIN nor any other password/code/PIN I could fathom.
So, I tried a factory reset/wipe (I back up everything regularly so I didn't care about doing a factory reset). To my surprise, upon rebooting after the factory reset the system was STILL asking for a password to decrypt the storage, and nothing I tried would work. Incidentally, the PIN that should work would cause the system to hang a bit, then respond with the "try again" message. Any other PIN or password I entered would instantly result in "try again" (no pause/hang).
So I'm at a loss. Verizon says I need a new phone, but I refuse to accept that, as the system is still responding to boot menu stuff. I just can't get past the decryption password part. Is there a way to wipe the system and all evidence of encryption? I would have thought a factory reset would do this, but apparently not.
Thanks in advance for any tips/advice/suggestions/commiserations...

 

[Sajo]

You could try one more factory reset from the recovery menu. If my memory is correct, turn the phone off. Hold volume up and power and keep holding through the Moto logo until you see the android symbol (on his back). Then let go of the buttons and push volume down & volume up. Let go of volume up followed by volume down. On the recovery menu there are options to clear cache, factory reset, etc. Use the volume up / down keys to navigate to factory wipe and then power to select; then you have to scroll down to the Yes option. Some people claim that a factory reset from here is more thorough than from the Settings > Privacy > Factory Reset option inside the phone. I don't know if that is true or not, but I have read that several times. I guess at this point it can't hurt to try.

 

[kieranc]

You could try one more factory reset from the recovery menu. If my memory is correct, turn the phone off. Hold volume up and power and keep holding through the Moto logo until you see the android symbol (on his back). Then let go of the buttons and push volume down & volume up. Let go of volume up followed by volume down. On the recovery menu there are options to clear cache, factory reset, etc. Use the volume up / down keys to navigate to factory wipe and then power to select; then you have to scroll down to the Yes option. Some people claim that a factory reset from here is more thorough than from the Settings > Privacy > Factory Reset option inside the phone. I don't know if that is true or not, but I have read that several times. I guess at this point it can't hurt to try.

That's the procedure I already used, twice. I couldn't do the settings menu version because I can't get the phone to boot. It stops at the point where it asks for a password to decrypt the storage (which, again, is normal; it always has done this, and I've always entered my 4-digit PIN without problems. Now however it won't accept my PIN, so I can't get the phone to finish booting.)

 

[Sajo]

That's the procedure I already used, twice. I couldn't do the settings menu version because I can't get the phone to boot. It stops at the point where it asks for a password to decrypt the storage (which, again, is normal; it always has done this, and I've always entered my 4-digit PIN without problems. Now however it won't accept my PIN, so I can't get the phone to finish booting.)

Oh, OK, I was not sure how you did the FDR. In that case, I am not sure what advice to offer. Everything I have ever read about encrypting phones, states that a FDR will remove the files and remove the encryption. Maybe someone else here has some good advice. If Verizon is offering a replacement phone, that might not be a bad idea. I have used their CLNR phones twice now and they looked and functioned like new (I know that's not always the case though).

 

[kieranc]

Accidental duplicate post. Sorry!

 

[bweN diorD]

So I've had my Razr Maxx HD encrypted for some time now, as it's required by my employer's Exchange server, and I use the phone for work email as well as personal/gmail. It's been working fine this way for about a year. No strange events recently, until....
Yesterday, while doing a Google search, the phone just started crashing. All sorts of services started throwing "sorry, but xxx has stopped responding/working/running/etc.) one after another. I shut the phone down with a long power button + voldown press, then powered back on. As usual, when rebooting, the system asked for my PIN to decrypt the storage. This happens every time I reboot and the PIN is a simple 4-digit number that I have never forgotten. However, this time, it would not accept my PIN nor any other password/code/PIN I could fathom.
So, I tried a factory reset/wipe (I back up everything regularly so I didn't care about doing a factory reset). To my surprise, upon rebooting after the factory reset the system was STILL asking for a password to decrypt the storage, and nothing I tried would work. Incidentally, the PIN that should work would cause the system to hang a bit, then respond with the "try again" message. Any other PIN or password I entered would instantly result in "try again" (no pause/hang).
So I'm at a loss. Verizon says I need a new phone, but I refuse to accept that, as the system is still responding to boot menu stuff. I just can't get past the decryption password part. Is there a way to wipe the system and all evidence of encryption? I would have thought a factory reset would do this, but apparently not.
Thanks in advance for any tips/advice/suggestions/commiserations...

try this https://www.dropbox.com/s/bpjghbbv0v6r4v5/DROID_RAZR_HD_Utility_1.3.gpt fix.rar
put the phone into fastboot then run the utility. its a one click, it will work or fail.