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Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems

By | July 21, 2010, 7:21am PDT

Summary: Many new Droid X customers have complained about flickering displays on the recently released device, and now Verizon has something to say.

It seems like there isn’t a smartphone these days that doesn’t launch without some sort of issue, whether it’s regarding the antenna or just an overall shortage of units.

Many new Droid X customers have complained about flickering displays on the recently released device, and now Verizon has something to say.

While the problem isn’t affecting even nearly a majority of Droid X customers, Verizon did make the effort to pen a response, as published by Engadget:

Verizon Wireless and Motorola are aware of a very small number of DROID X units that have experienced a flickering or banding display. Motorola has resolved the issue and is continuing to ship the phones. Any consumer who experiences a flickering or banding display should contact a Motorola customer support center or Verizon Wireless.

Sure seems simpler than calling an entire press conference to discuss the issue, and it definitely doesn’t seem worthy of a recall debate.

Are you a Droid X owner who has experienced problems with the display? Do you think Verizon and Motorola responded appropriately?

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Topics

Verizon Communications Inc., Motorola Inc., Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for ZDNet based in San Francisco.

Disclosure

Rachel King

Rachel King has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted in this blog.

Biography

Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for CBS Interactive in San Francisco. Before serving as a contributing editor at ZDNet in New York City for two years, she previously worked for The Business Insider, FastCompany.com, CNN's San Francisco bureau and the U.S. Department of State. Rachel has also written for MainStreet.com, Irish America Magazine and the New York Daily News, among others. Rachel has a B.A. in Mass Communications and History from the University of California, Berkeley and a M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University, where she served as art director for the student magazine, Plated.

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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
Jlvision 6th Mar 2011
My droid X is displaying a message saying

( Bootloader
30.04
Battery ok
ok to program
Connect USB
data cable)

Please tell me what I do next , or explain me what this mean?
View in thread
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I have the droid x
travis.duffy@... 21st Jul 2010
I am not having the screen issues. I absolutely love the phone. And I can hold it any way i want unlike the jesus phone.
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Lucky you.
pdq Updated - 21st Jul 2010
Droid X owners from all over are lighting up message boards with reports of fluctuating reception and dropped calls:

"At times the phone will show bars, but as soon as I go to make a call, the bars go away. Also, not able to receive calls/text, or do any data."

"I just got mine and I only have 1 bar. I may spike to 3 or drop out all together."

"Yeah I'm getting some serious signal problems. Mostly indoors where my old Droid was fine."

http://tinyurl.com/2ag3sj4

"Okay so i don't know what's up with this phone. I just got it on release date and i loved it except i get horrible signal. At my house i get four bars but it drops every 2 minutes and goes back up. Also the 3g signal is very slow...my signal just dropped too one bar and its not going back up no matter how i hold it."

http://tinyurl.com/26qxwvh

"Is anyone else experiencing poor reception on their Droid X?"

"i have poor reception with static."

"Yep my reception has been really really crappy. Rarely get full bars. Right now my ipad has full 3G bars and my Droid X is jumping between 3 bars and 1-0 bars...Speed test on my ipad is 2000+kbs while my Droid X isn't even breaking 350. This sucks."

(Ouch!)

http://tinyurl.com/2d7jk8d
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
evilkillerwhale@... 2nd Aug 2010
@pdq

You have a major problem in your thought process: While Apple has been herp-durp'ing it up with the idea that all phones have antenna problems, they were correct in their "bars don't mean squat" idea. I can write a program that shows full bars all the time, or no bars all the time. As a matter of fact, there are times that 3 bars have a better reception that 4 due to the typical peaks and valleys inherent with signal quality. If someone wants to know their reception, make a call. If it works, awesome. If not, then failure. That's just how it is.
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Funny...
Snooki_smoosh_smoosh 21st Jul 2010
According to Sam Diaz if it effect .5% of users then it should be mandatory recall.
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
mrlinux 21st Jul 2010
@JM1981 And he is a known expert in this ????
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
Droid101 21st Jul 2010
@JM1981
They did better; they admitted the problem immediately. They fixed the problem, and they are offering a fix/replacement, no questions asked.
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I guess in your world immediately means after several days
frgough 21st Jul 2010
This is obviously a design flaw. All phones should be recalled.
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
draymis 21st Jul 2010
@Droid101

A flickering screen that can be replaced is a *little* bit simpler to fix than the entire antennae system, that again, only effects >1% of users.

Take your hatting somewhere else.
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It's an eFuse symptom
ahh so 21st Jul 2010
First the screen flickers. Then it epically fails by lockdown. Then a trip to Motorola is in order for a wrist slap and an unlock fee.
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
NetAdmin1178 21st Jul 2010
@JM1981
Well, in that case there's no problem anyway - according to Verizon, it only affects .1% - nice try though
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
babyboomer57 21st Jul 2010
@NetAdmin1178 Dammit you beat me to it.

And if you have the problem, the screen is totally whacked out. Engadget has some video of it on youtube. It appears to be some sort of damage like you would get from a severe jolt (drop), not an actual screen flaw. The fact that Motorola has already fixed the problem indicates it was something simple.

Waiting for the Droid 2 launch next month. Supposed to be on the 12th.
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
Pete "athynz" Athens 21st Jul 2010
@NetAdmin1178 And where are you getting that figure from?
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
NetAdmin1178 Updated - 21st Jul 2010
@athynz
http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/20/verizon-confirms-droid-x-screen-issues-but-says-theyre-not-wid/

...which is the same link posted in this article... had you bothered to read it.
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
William_P 21st Jul 2010
@JM1981 Mandatory recalls are only for safety issues.
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
Pete "athynz" Athens 21st Jul 2010
@William_P Yes but it was a tongue in cheek reference to the Apple haters who were frothing at the mouth screaming about how Apple should recall the iPhone... at least that is how I took it.
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
danihzd 21st Jul 2010
Of course it is easy if there is a manufacturing problem. But when the problem is in design like for iPhone, a recall cannot fix aything untill the product is redesigned. But that will be another phone then happy
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Well, Apple COULD play it that way but ...
mwagner@... Updated - 21st Jul 2010
@danihzd ... I can envision some simply iPhone 4 modifications which could be done fairly simply (and quickly) which would fixe the iPhone 4 in small cosmetic ways that would not "require" Apple to rename the product. If duct-tape works (as Cansumer Reports claims), so would a thin layer of clear plastic, or a dielectric coating, applied to the antennas before assembly.

This whole Apple antenna problem is about the EGO of Steve Jobs more than it is about a faulty design. Apple CAN fix this problem (fairly easily) if Jobs will admit that there IS a problem.
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
babyboomer57 21st Jul 2010
@mwagner@... Isn't it funny how someone you admired for his talent and vision can make you hate him in such a short amount of time? I have never been an Apple fan, but I have been an admirer of the products they have introduced the past 10 years or so. Now, his attitude towards everyone over this iPhone 'problem' has just ruined all of that.
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Yes, they have! For one simple reason ...
mwagner@... 21st Jul 2010
They have acknowledged that there WAS a problem and that NOW it is fixed. By inviting customers to report a problem with a phone they own with either Verizon or Motorola, they are acknowkledging that they will take care of their customers. That's all people really want or expect from their product vendors. "If I have a problem, they will take care of it."

This is a far cry from a press conference which opens up with "What problem?" "Oh, eveyrone has that problem!" "Here is a limited-time workaround."
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
pdq 21st Jul 2010
@mwagner@...

I do think it's interesting that everyone seems to be happily parrotting Motorola's line that "it is fixed", without actually knowing what the fix, or the cause of the problem, is. Bad screens, traumatized screens, display cables, software? Or do we all just need to take Motorola at its word on this (something that would never fly for a certain other manufacturer of popular smartphones)?
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
jpdemers@... 21st Jul 2010
"Sure seems simpler than calling an entire press conference to discuss the issue, and it definitely doesn?t seem worthy of a recall debate."

If the press went apeshit over this the way they did over the iPhone antenna, a press conference probably *would* have been necessary. The solution is the same: bring it back if you aren't happy with it.

Judging from Apple's latest results, the haters' howling is just more free publicity. Rational people conclude, "Best phone in the world? OK - I'm smart enough to hold it right."
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
babyboomer57 21st Jul 2010
@jpdemers@... You said:

"If the press went apeshit over this the way they did over the iPhone antenna, a press conference probably *would* have been necessary. The solution is the same: bring it back if you aren't happy with it."

First of all, Motorola has already fixed the problem before the word hit the street, and second of all if you HAVE the problem the phone is unusable, so returning it is the only thing you CAN do unless you just like paying a cell contract with nothing to use with it.

Your buddy Steve has no intention of fixing the iPhone problem for existing owners, just giving you a way to cover it up, along with your beautiful device that was designed to be looked at.

Sure you can return it if you don't like the 'fix', but in the Droid X case, you have no choice but return it- and Verizon and Motorola are all apologies for the problem when you do.

def apology: An expression of regret at having caused trouble for someone, unless you are the CEO of Apple, Inc. which negates the need for same.
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
jpdemers@... 21st Jul 2010
@babyboomer57 "if you HAVE the problem the phone is unusable" Right. Keep that hysteria coming.
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
non-biased Updated - 23rd Jul 2010
@babyboomer57

"First of all, Motorola has already fixed the problem before the word hit the street,..."
If they fixed the issue before word hit the street (people started complaining) then they new about the issue before the units were sold and did it anyway. If that's the case it's the same thing that Apple has been bashed endlessly about but in this case it's alright?

Not defending how Apple did or didn't handle the whole issue but if one gets a pass then the other does as well. If you want to bash SJ for his particular involvement and attitude that's fine.

??and second of all if you HAVE the problem the phone is unusable, so returning it is the only thing you CAN do unless you just like paying a cell contract with nothing to use with it.?
Do you mean the iPhone antenna issue makes it unusable or the Droid X screen issues make them unusable? If you are talking about the iPhone then that?s complete BS but if you are talking about the Droid X what I read didn?t lead me to believe it was unusable. Would I return it for a replacement, of course but it?s still usable.
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
babyboomer57 23rd Jul 2010
@non-biased -

Verizon and Motorola fixed the problem as soon as THEY heard about it, they didn't wait for the press to start in on them about it. Like someone else said, they aren't saying what the problem was, so we don't know what it was or how many it affected. As you can see only a couple of blogs even wasted time on it, it was so insignificant.

And yes, I was referring to the Droid X, not the iPhone as far as the problem making the phone unusable. I hope you checked out my link to the YouTube videos after you got through trying to trash my post. There are only a couple of videos, but one shows huge white bars filling the screen, and the other show the display flipping vertically like TV's would do way back when, before vertical hold was controlled automatically.

Have a great day.
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
non-biased 26th Jul 2010
@babyboomer57 I didn't trash your post, I simply made some observations and ask which phone you were referring to. Did they do a better job at handling this than Apple, sure they did. Doesn't change anything about my post though. I ask if you were referring to the iPhone and you were so the rest of the comment irrelevant.
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
evilkillerwhale@... 2nd Aug 2010
@jpdemers

How is it not unusable? If there is no screen, and this one doesn't have a keyboard... then... you can't do anything...

How is that hysteria?
He pointed out that it's easier to know if your phone is defective with the Droid X, which it is. If it doesn't work, it's broken. The iPhone requires you to look at signal and other mess.
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Not exactly
jlongino@... 21st Jul 2010
@jpdemers@...

The press didn't go apesh*t over this because Motorola didn't respond with an egomaniacal, deny-any-problem-exists attitude.
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
babyboomer57 21st Jul 2010
@jpdemers@... Look at the freakin' videos on YouTube if you would like to see for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFqIOmmFQ48

Happy now?
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
netquestz 21st Jul 2010
That ones really funny. Now if you buy into the "jesus phone" hype and you can overlook the antenna thing you are now referred to as "smart enough" to operate the "jesus phone" correctly too. Do you people hear yourselves talking? Do you have a CLUE why the rest of the world look at you like crazy religious apple nuts? And you paid top dollar for this kind of treatment too. This is how one whom is "smart enough to hold the phone correctly" thinks?

Motorola took care of it, plain, simple and fast. Motorola has been around the block hundreds of times more than Steveie Wevie and they know what to do when they have a product issue. They have been making commercial and mil spec grade communications equipment for decades.

Face it, Motorola outclasses Jesus Juice Junk and Verizon handled this with equally good grace compared to A Trash & Trash.
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No, not really...
SonofaSailor 21st Jul 2010
@jpdemers@...

Apple released the iPhone 4 three days before the end of the quarter, so these results don't have any of the problems or drama baked in. We will have to wait until October to see what this does to Apple's bottom line (or the iPhone's portion of it anyway)
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
DannyO_0x98 21st Jul 2010
Ms King:

"While the problem isn?t affecting even nearly a majority of Droid X customers"

is an awkward construction.

Did you mean the issue affects few of the phone's users?
Very few? Did you mean the issue affects, say, 25% (one half, and so not nearly, a majority) of customers?
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Oh You Want My Opinion
DannyO_0x98 21st Jul 2010
The satisfactory remediation of problems is between the customer and the seller. We do get press releases and, perhaps, even press conferences because companies 1) have a duty to investors to report issues of a material nature, and 2) they are a type of response in a p.r. crisis and everyone understands that the response is driven by the nature and depth of the crisis.

Really, though, unless I have the product, and the problem, my opinion on the fix is even more meaningless than usual.
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
Pete "athynz" Athens 21st Jul 2010
What? They need to recall it! It's a major issue and a manufacturing defect that they knew about from the beginning and didn't want to fix because it would delay the launch!!!

Wow, that's what it feels like to spread FUD and to be a hater...

Seriously I'm happy they were proactive about the minor screen flickering issue... unlike Apple's response to the minor reception issue.
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
babyboomer57 21st Jul 2010
@athynz Glad you enjoyed the feeling! happy

Seriously though, this is not a minor screen flickering problem, and there is no way they left the factory in that condition. Something happened to them along the way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFqIOmmFQ48

Whatever it was, it affected (according to Verizon) less than .1% of customers and has been remedied. Keep in mind, Verizon has not sold 3 million Droid X phones yet, so we are talking about many less than the number of iPhones that have been returned so far (over 50,000).

And to clarify: most of us that have been bashing the iPhone 4 have not been directing our attacks at the phone, but at Apple/Steve Jobs for the way they/he have responded to the problems, which I find personally disrespectful to Apple Fans. We are on Your side.
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How is it the vast majority of
CowLauncher 21st Jul 2010
of iPhone complainers don't even own one? I think it is pretty clear for iPhone owners, if you have a problem with the phone return it...no questions asked. This is not happening. The return rate is lower than it was for the 3GS, ergo, people are not having problems to even the minutest level suggested in the blogs.

What I find really fascinating is how fast a meme can spread. Jobs had to react cause this thing was way out of control.
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No need to own one
jlongino@... 21st Jul 2010
@CowLauncher

Owning a Apple product isn't necessary to see how poorly Steve reacted to the situation. His actions lacked class--to put it mildly. I have no real issue with the phone, or interest in purchasing one, but I do have issues with Apple's arrogant Corporate image.
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
francismahon 21st Jul 2010
Sounds like a shipment of Droid?s fell of a forklift somewhere along the supply chain, and suffered some impact damage?
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
az49erfn 21st Jul 2010
HOLY CRAP!!!!! EVERYONE MAKE A PUBLIC OUTCRY ABOUT HOW MUCH THIS PHONE SUCKS NOW OKAY.....isn't that what all you apple haters would do! LOL....Funny how this would have been such a huge deal if apple had a problem with their phone....oh wait! oops
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
atari_z 21st Jul 2010
definitely doesn?t seem worthy of a recall debate ? Screen flickering on a smartphone makes it unusable IMHO. Of course if this affects a small number of phones this is really not a problem, but if it affects a fair proportion of users. And FYI, I have yet to encounter a dropped call on my iPhone 4 thank you.

I don't want to overreact on this problem, I just wanted to show some difference of processing compared to another "problem".
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
NetAdmin1178 22nd Jul 2010
@atari_z
If you wanted to "show some difference", you might have pointed out that it didn't take Verizon and Motorola about 3 weeks to finally address the issue; and rather than pointing fingers at other manufacturers and giving away a band-aid approach to "fix" the so-called non-issue, Verizon and Motorola are actually replacing the defective phones.
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
xrayangiodoc 21st Jul 2010
I don;t have a Droid. I recently switched from Verizon to T-Mobile and the Nokia Nuron I got for FREE was crashing the free GPS app. I brought the phone back to the T_Mobile store and they did an immediate swap, no hassle whatsoever. Everything works fine now. While not a full blown smartphone, the Nuron delivers much of the functionality without the $30/month data surcharge.
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
Droidx Updated - 25th Jul 2010
I have one of these rare defective Droid X phones. What they fail to mention, when you call them (if you call Motorola, you'll be directed to contact Verizon), they put you in queue with everyone else trying to buy one. If you didn't purchase from Verizon directly, you're told to get a refund, then order another one (sold out launch day). It's going to take a minimum of 3 weeks to replace a device that was defective when I bought it, and that's if they aren't bought up by everyone that didn't get one launch day. They aren't denying the issue, but they certainly have NOT taken care of it, yet!
Only "one tenth of one percent" and they don't have enough available to offer exchanges or even warranty replacement?
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
lauraqs 27th Jul 2010
@Droidx Oh man I feel you! Verizon's customer service sucks!
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
lauraqs 27th Jul 2010
Mine worked for approximately 30 hrs after which it froze then about 2/3 down on the screen it stop responding, froze and is now flickering out of control. It is completely unusable. I contacted Verizon and they told me I needed to pay for a replacement and that they would refund me once the defective device is received. They would then issue me $199 back and the other $100 would be reissued in the form of a rebate. I was like WTF! I just paid and I have to pay again???!! I ended up going to a store and they are going to give me another device after I pointed out how ludicrous this was. I suspended my service and my replacement device won't arrive until after it ships on 8/3. Talk about being hosed!!!??? Major WTF?!
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RE: Verizon responds about Motorola Droid X display problems
Jlvision 6th Mar 2011
My droid X is displaying a message saying

( Bootloader
30.04
Battery ok
ok to program
Connect USB
data cable)

Please tell me what I do next , or explain me what this mean?

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