Related
I've had the great misfortune of bricking my phone within the first few hours of owning it. I should have known something was up, it wouldn't reboot when I changed the language to English, and I'd have to hard reset it (delete everything) and then let it load in Chinese again. Well, in an attempt to fix what I thought was a rom issue, I went through the song and dance of trying to root my phone.
I'm still not fully clear on how to do it, as it seems there's more to it than just what the tutorials say.
Anyway, like the title of this thread says, there's a pretty good way to figure out if your phone is really bricked, no need to ask or wonder anymore.
If your phone only boots to the htc magic screen (and then stops), and is unable to load bootloader, fastboot, usb connections, or anything else, it's bricked. 100%. You have to take it back. Don't bother searching the forums for the answer, I've wasted hours going through every related thread and trying every possible solution. Without the ability to access the fastboot screen, you're out of possibilities. Untill someone comes out with an unbricker which goes deeper than fastboot, there is absolutely no way to fix it.
A semi brick is much better on the other hand. There are plenty of ways to fix your phone, provided you're only semi bricked. I would define semi bricked as being able to enter fastboot, but being unable to boot the phone as normal. This can happen with a bad flash, or a mis step during a tutorial. I'm not exactly sure how easy it is to change a semi brick to a full brick, but my full bricking happened after semi bricking it while loading a new rom on it.
So. to summarize, if your phone WON'T go into the boot menu by pressing vol-down+power, you're in need of a new phone.
If you can still get into the boot menu, and access your phone through usb, you're ok, just get help (via a tutorial) before going any further, unless you're completely certain of what to do next.
Tis a shame to send a device, which is physically undamaged, to the digital graveyard. But such is life.
Caid.
444.
EDIT
on a side note, before my phone reset itself into it's endless loop of unloading, I noticed the screen flash an image of a box with what looked like a red arrow coming out of it. It was right in the center of the screen. This was in the recovery-RAv1.0H.img menu. What's that all about?
Did you try other key combinations such as Home+Power, or Back+Power?
I'm sorry but I think you're misunderstanding it all a little bit...
Caid444 said:
I've had the great misfortune of bricking my phone within the first few hours of owning it. I should have known something was up, it wouldn't reboot when I changed the language to English, and I'd have to hard reset it (delete everything) and then let it load in Chinese again. Well, in an attempt to fix what I thought was a rom issue, I went through the song and dance of trying to root my phone.
I'm still not fully clear on how to do it, as it seems there's more to it than just what the tutorials say.
Anyway, like the title of this thread says, there's a pretty good way to figure out if your phone is really bricked, no need to ask or wonder anymore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's easy if you follow the guides... I did it in two different phones with no problem at all in any of them... Anyway, let's stay on topìc
Caid444 said:
If your phone only boots to the htc magic screen (and then stops), and is unable to load bootloader, fastboot, usb connections, or anything else, it's bricked. 100%. You have to take it back. Don't bother searching the forums for the answer, I've wasted hours going through every related thread and trying every possible solution. Without the ability to access the fastboot screen, you're out of possibilities. Untill someone comes out with an unbricker which goes deeper than fastboot, there is absolutely no way to fix it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wrong. If your phone boots to the HTC Magic screen, the bootloader is doing it's job. The bootloader just takes you there. The linux kernel and ramdisk takes you to the boot animation, and there is where android really starts.
If your phone shows the first htc logo, or the Vodafone branded screen, you can start in bootloader mode. To make that you just have to remove the battery, put it back, and press and hold BACK + END KEY. From that, you can fastboot.
Also, and unless you destroyed the recovery partition, you can also boot in recovery mode, by pressing END KEY while holding HOME (no need to keep them both hold, just home button)
Caid444 said:
A semi brick is much better on the other hand. There are plenty of ways to fix your phone, provided you're only semi bricked. I would define semi bricked as being able to enter fastboot, but being unable to boot the phone as normal. This can happen with a bad flash, or a mis step during a tutorial. I'm not exactly sure how easy it is to change a semi brick to a full brick, but my full bricking happened after semi bricking it while loading a new rom on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would call a semi brick this:
Your phone goes into an endless loop while booting.
Your phone gets stucked on the first boot logo.
You can't get access to the recovery partition.
Your phone boots all the way but then gets stucked.
Your phone gone bad during a software update.
That, all, can be solved by reflashing the affected region. There are tutorials for everything but if you need I can write some hints on each case (I suffered them all ).
Caid444 said:
So. to summarize, if your phone WON'T go into the boot menu by pressing vol-down+power, you're in need of a new phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, VOLDOWN+POWER starts in Hboot mode. From there you can go back to fastboot mode, but hboot is used to make a software upgrade using complete images or running htc diagnostic images (SAPPDIAG.IMG, SAPP*.IMG /NBH).
Caid444 said:
If you can still get into the boot menu, and access your phone through usb, you're ok, just get help (via a tutorial) before going any further, unless you're completely certain of what to do next.
Tis a shame to send a device, which is physically undamaged, to the digital graveyard. But such is life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you can't get USB working on fastboot mode, or on recovery mode, your phone has probably a hardware fault. It happened with some of the first revisions of the Vodafone branded magic, don't know about htc branded ones though..
NOTE: Not talking about missing drivers, if you don't have drivers, that's another problem, but the computer should at least detect the device. Also, if your phone is off, and you connect the charger (or usb) and the orange led lights up, the bootloader should be ok.
Caid444 said:
on a side note, before my phone reset itself into it's endless loop of unloading, I noticed the screen flash an image of a box with what looked like a red arrow coming out of it. It was right in the center of the screen. This was in the recovery-RAv1.0H.img menu. What's that all about?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the recovery mode. With that you can unbrick your phone
Also, as another hint, if you're new to linux OSes, you might want to take a look at some manual on terminal commands. If your main software is bricked, it's possible that your SDCard doesn't get mounted on recovery mode, depending on wich recovery image you're running. Provided you have an update.zip on the sdcard you need to run, you might have to mount it manually.
To do that, you have to start the phone in recovery mode, and run an "adb shell" on the PC.
When you have a shell opened, you'll have to mount the sdcard manually:
mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 /sdcard
Then, on the phone you can use the option to run sdcard update.zip to restart the software upgrade procedure.
Regards!
Before I reply, I'd just like to say thank you very much for your extremely in depth reply.
biktor_gj said:
I'm sorry but I think you're misunderstanding it all a little bit...
It's easy if you follow the guides... I did it in two different phones with no problem at all in any of them... Anyway, let's stay on topìc
Wrong. If your phone boots to the HTC Magic screen, the bootloader is doing it's job. The bootloader just takes you there. The linux kernel and ramdisk takes you to the boot animation, and there is where android really starts.
If your phone shows the first htc logo, or the Vodafone branded screen, you can start in bootloader mode. To make that you just have to remove the battery, put it back, and press and hold BACK + END KEY. From that, you can fastboot.
Also, and unless you destroyed the recovery partition, you can also boot in recovery mode, by pressing END KEY while holding HOME (no need to keep them both hold, just home button)
I would call a semi brick this:
Your phone goes into an endless loop while booting.
Your phone gets stucked on the first boot logo.
You can't get access to the recovery partition.
Your phone boots all the way but then gets stucked.
Your phone gone bad during a software update.
That, all, can be solved by reflashing the affected region. There are tutorials for everything but if you need I can write some hints on each case (I suffered them all ).
Actually, VOLDOWN+POWER starts in Hboot mode. From there you can go back to fastboot mode, but hboot is used to make a software upgrade using complete images or running htc diagnostic images (SAPPDIAG.IMG, SAPP*.IMG /NBH).
If you can't get USB working on fastboot mode, or on recovery mode, your phone has probably a hardware fault. It happened with some of the first revisions of the Vodafone branded magic, don't know about htc branded ones though..
NOTE: Not talking about missing drivers, if you don't have drivers, that's another problem, but the computer should at least detect the device. Also, if your phone is off, and you connect the charger (or usb) and the orange led lights up, the bootloader should be ok.
That's the recovery mode. With that you can unbrick your phone
Also, as another hint, if you're new to linux OSes, you might want to take a look at some manual on terminal commands. If your main software is bricked, it's possible that your SDCard doesn't get mounted on recovery mode, depending on wich recovery image you're running. Provided you have an update.zip on the sdcard you need to run, you might have to mount it manually.
To do that, you have to start the phone in recovery mode, and run an "adb shell" on the PC.
When you have a shell opened, you'll have to mount the sdcard manually:
mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 /sdcard
Then, on the phone you can use the option to run sdcard update.zip to restart the software upgrade procedure.
Regards!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To the first answer.
It's not THAT easy, the guides are kinda (you should already know what you're doing at this point) in nature. It's confusing for newcomers, as we've no idea what to expect, that and there are a multitude of variations. More specification as to which guide works with which model, and which updates would be nice.
As for the second part, I could not get the phone working with any button variation pressed. I'm sorry I was not more clear in my description, to begin with. I could press (and hold) any button (or buttons) + power (end key) and the phone would just vibrate (briefly) and then display the original screen "htc magic"(endlessly). The orange light does come on when plugged into the usb or computer, but only while it is off, as soon as the device turns on, the light turns off.
Another thing of note is that, after bricking it, I had to remove the battery to turn it off (every time if it was on), and if I put the battery back in while it's plugged into the usb port of the computer, the phone would turn back on without pressing any buttons. It's also completely unresponsive or detectable by my computer after bricking it. The only other thing I can get it to do is make the orange light blue by holding the action button and turning on the device. That way the light on top of the device is blue when it turns on. Still unresponsive at that point.
This is my first android device, but not my first htc device (I've had MANY MANY different ones.) so I'm a bit familiar with trying different combinations to get a response.
I am not the first person who's had this happen, unfortunately. There have been a couple others, who've described the exact same encounter. Perhaps it's a mistake that I made, and perhaps they also made it themselves. I would like to figure out how it's happening, though, and perhaps write a tutorial for people like us unlucky few.
Again, a really big thanks. I've sent my phone back and am getting a new one soon. I much appreciate your reply, however, as it's probably the most understanding and considerate reply I've seen on these forums.
Cheers.
Caid.
444
One more quick question out of curiosity, when you press and hold back and press end to turn on the device (it still goes to the htc magic screen) SHOULD it go to a different screen, other than the "htc magic" screen? Or is that a process that runs without some sort of visual notification on the device itself?
The usb was completely unresponsive after this happened, but in the event that bootloader may have been running, (only possible if it runs without any visual notification on the device itself), I'll go pick up the device and see if my usb drivers on my computer just became unresponsive after being accessed too many times. Sometimes windows does that, right? Perhaps a reboot would have allowed fastboot and the drivers to connect again, if the device was trying to talk to the computer, but I just didn't know on account of not having any notification.
So, again, should pressing back and power bring me to a different screen? or would it also look like it was hanging on htc magic screen?
Caid.
444
p.s. Sorry for the confusing wording, I'm tired and trying very hard to be as specific as possible.
back+end/power should lead you to the fastboot screen right after it shows the HTC Magic screen or whatever splash screen you have installed.
Home+end/power should lead you to the recovery screen.
ok, it was bricked. Thanks for the answer.
Caid.
444
Caid444 said:
Before I reply, I'd just like to say thank you very much for your extremely in depth reply.
To the first answer.
It's not THAT easy, the guides are kinda (you should already know what you're doing at this point) in nature. It's confusing for newcomers, as we've no idea what to expect, that and there are a multitude of variations. More specification as to which guide works with which model, and which updates would be nice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem, we all should be here to learn, and to help (except for the trolls)
This is the guide I followed for both Vodafone branded Magics: http://android-dls.com/wiki/index.php?title=Magic_Rooting
Maybe not for now, but for the next magic you get it may come handy
Caid444 said:
As for the second part, I could not get the phone working with any button variation pressed. I'm sorry I was not more clear in my description, to begin with. I could press (and hold) any button (or buttons) + power (end key) and the phone would just vibrate (briefly) and then display the original screen "htc magic"(endlessly). The orange light does come on when plugged into the usb or computer, but only while it is off, as soon as the device turns on, the light turns off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When the phone is off with the charger connected and you press the power button, the light goes off, as for the others, you really should be able to enter the SPL if it could the magic bootlogo and vibrated upon boot...
Maybe you didn't try enough or maybe your bootloader behaved differently than mine... I should be more clear anyway, to get to the bootloader, the best way to make it go to the bootloader is press and hold back key, then while holding it, hold the power button too. It should take about a second or two before showing the three skater droids.
Caid444 said:
Another thing of note is that, after bricking it, I had to remove the battery to turn it off (every time if it was on), and if I put the battery back in while it's plugged into the usb port of the computer, the phone would turn back on without pressing any buttons. It's also completely unresponsive or detectable by my computer after bricking it. The only other thing I can get it to do is make the orange light blue by holding the action button and turning on the device. That way the light on top of the device is blue when it turns on. Still unresponsive at that point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you put the battery while USB or charger is connected, the phone boots up, that's the normal behaviour. About the blue led, that's the Radio bootloader. That's quite dangerous to play with, but it gives a lot of other functions. Another sign that your phone wasn't completely dead Even if you wipe the SPL (the three skater droids), you may be able to boot into the Radio bootloader and write or boot another one to fix it. But that's waaaay harder
Caid444 said:
This is my first android device, but not my first htc device (I've had MANY MANY different ones.) so I'm a bit familiar with trying different combinations to get a response.
I am not the first person who's had this happen, unfortunately. There have been a couple others, who've described the exact same encounter. Perhaps it's a mistake that I made, and perhaps they also made it themselves. I would like to figure out how it's happening, though, and perhaps write a tutorial for people like us unlucky few.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess the first advice when you start tricking with a phone is be careful with what you're doing. That's the good thing of fastboot.
When booting on fastboot mode, you can pick, for example a recovery image, and boot it without overwriting the original rom:
Code:
fastboot boot [recovery_image]
Then, when you see it's working, you can flash it:
Code:
fastboot flash recovery [recovery_image]
fastboot flash boot [boot_image]
fastboot flash system [system_image]
fastboot flash data [data_image]
You can't do that with the system.img since it's too big, but you can do it also with a boot.img
About the key combinations on the phone, it goes like this:
Code:
BACK + END KEY -> Fastboot mode (you shouldn't see the boot logo)
VOLDOWN + END KEY -> Hboot mode (you shouldn't see the boot logo)
ACTION (trackball center) + END KEY -> Radio Bootloader (you shouldn't see the boot logo)
HOME + END KEY -> Recovery mode (you should see the boot logo, then get the recovery menu)
SEND + MENU + END -> Reboot the phone (while the phone is on)
Maybe there are more (android has kind of 'safe mode' but I don't know it it goes there automatically if there's a problem or if it has to be called manually)
Anyway, I hope these things will be useful for the next phone, and for anybody who's a bit lost on this
Regards!
Let us know where you live , so maybe one can help you , I live in Sweden and will be glad to help you if you are near ;-)
Hey! Thanks again for all the help, and the offer to come help. Unfortunately, I'm in China. Coming here from Sweden (although it's a single large landmass) would take quite a bit of time
I appreciate all the support, though. Very cool community we're building here for the magic.
Caid.
444
htc semi-brick?
Hi to all. I'm in the same condition described in this tread; after installing SPL i get the htc block in Vodafone brand red screen.
None keys combination bring me to the boot menù. Only Action(trackball) + power have effect, but with a black screen...
Any suggest?
What do you do if you can boot into fastboot but can't flash anything because absolutely everything gives the error "FAILED (remote: signature verify fail)"?
I have a card reader and have tried just about every sappimg.zip, every boot.img, every recovery.img i could find. I can't even boot a recovery img because the screen just hangs at the HTC Magic logo.
I don't know what kind of warranty i have on this thing, but i might take it in tomorrow and see if i can get it replaced. I've only had it for just under two weeks.
Newbie need help
ok so i can still go to recovery mode but everytime i reboot my phone the mytouch 3g logo never goes away im new to Android but not htc can somebody plz help me out.
gruppler said:
What do you do if you can boot into fastboot but can't flash anything because absolutely everything gives the error "FAILED (remote: signature verify fail)"?
I have a card reader and have tried just about every sappimg.zip, every boot.img, every recovery.img i could find. I can't even boot a recovery img because the screen just hangs at the HTC Magic logo.
I don't know what kind of warranty i have on this thing, but i might take it in tomorrow and see if i can get it replaced. I've only had it for just under two weeks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Instead of flashing something, you boot a recovery image, and then, from there, you flash whatever you need (using adb & flash_image for example)
PS: Be a little patient, if fastboot is letting you boot a recovery image, the recovery needs to boot, and that takes a little while, and while it's booting, you see the bootlogo until the menu appears. Also, you can try running adb shell after boot process started to try to get an error message (or at least to know if the thing is booting in some way)
I couldn't boot any recovery images. I had tried a few different Hero ROMs but decided i wanted to use Cupcake again because i have a 32B board and it just doesn't have enough RAM, though Swapper makes it usable at least. I don't know what exactly i did, but i've learned a lot from my mistakes. Everything i tried failed the signature check because the hboot version didn't match. If i could just flash the 1.33.2005 hboot again, i would have been in business, but no matter which recovery image i tried, it just sat there doing nothing. And believe me, i waited.
Fortunately, T-Mobile gave me a new device after i took it in and played dumb. And I just rooted it =]
Caid444 said:
ok, it was bricked. Thanks for the answer.
Caid.
444
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why not flashing it with an RUU from HTC. Not sure that would work but it is worth trying.
Hi there, people!
First of all, thanks because while I was reading ur posts I realized that my phone had been bricked, 100 %
I tried official ROM upgrade to Android 1.6 using the folowing steps
1. Copied radio zip to my sd card by renaming it in update.zip
2. Recovery screen was started by pressing HOME+END key
3.Applied update.zip, process was going on: Opening package, verifing package, installing radio...and message about success was shown and phone restarted
4. Phone stucked on HTC Magic logo screen...15 minutes
5. I removed a battery, put it back and tried to reach recovery or boot mode again
6.Unsuccessfully! Phone vibrates and turns on...but always stucks on the HTC Magic screen
7. USB does not recognize my phone is connected (I tried any adb and fastboot commands)
8. So, I just pray to give me a new phone if my warranty will be accepted
iivanovic said:
Hi there, people!
First of all, thanks because while I was reading ur posts I realized that my phone had been bricked, 100 %
I tried official ROM upgrade to Android 1.6 using the folowing steps
1. Copied radio zip to my sd card by renaming it in update.zip
2. Recovery screen was started by pressing HOME+END key
3.Applied update.zip, process was going on: Opening package, verifing package, installing radio...and message about success was shown and phone restarted
4. Phone stucked on HTC Magic logo screen...15 minutes
5. I removed a battery, put it back and tried to reach recovery or boot mode again
6.Unsuccessfully! Phone vibrates and turns on...but always stucks on the HTC Magic screen
7. USB does not recognize my phone is connected (I tried any adb and fastboot commands)
8. So, I just pray to give me a new phone if my warranty will be accepted
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same problem. I get up hboot and fast boot menus can not get it in recovery. try to add in sappimg but no luck
I'm having the exact same problem...
Any solution yet?
Hello! I can assure you that your phone is not fully bricked! Awhile ago I flashed a new radio only to discover that I hadn't done my research and was a complete and total idiot. I flashed the 1.76.xxxx on a 32B. It didn't like it. I got a quick HTC logo that disappeared then the phone never responded again. When I say never responded it was dead. no combination of buttons would get any response. If you can get into fastboot you have options. All that's necessary is to make sure you have the appropriate sappimg file. Try the Unlockr's gold card method file. He has a .zip file that may work for you. Just make sure that you find an image that is compatible with your board (32A or 32B). Hope this helps!
Test methods need to unbrick my magic, so far I've tried one that I have not worked. If someone want to try things that I communicate them and I try.
After an upgrade of radio has been fried. I can not get into recovery, or fastboot. Even so I try to send commands and the command window stays and even restart <waiting for device> clicking to enter recovery fastboot or does nothing.
Excuse the translation but my English is very bad and I use the google translator
edugg said:
Test methods need to unbrick my magic, so far I've tried one that I have not worked. If someone want to try things that I communicate them and I try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wow so much information don't know where to start!!!
hard to say..someone managed to the the phone to respond to fastboot/adb by starting up ADB..
wait for the waiting for device msg, then connect the phone to usb and turn it on.
if all method fails, bring it back to claim for warranty.
edugg said:
Test methods need to unbrick my magic, so far I've tried one that I have not worked. If someone want to try things that I communicate them and I try.
After an upgrade of radio has been fried. I can not get into recovery, or fastboot. Even so I try to send commands and the command window stays and even restart <waiting for device> clicking to enter recovery fastboot or does nothing.
Excuse the translation but my English is very bad and I use the google translator
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What OS are you using on your computer?
zeroplace said:
What OS are you using on your computer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tested with Windows 7, Vista and XP and the same.
You know any way to flash as factory?
Will it actually turn on or does it just flash a red led when you press power?
bonesy said:
Will it actually turn on or does it just flash a red led when you press power?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Starts, appears the splash but only gets to that point
In that case it isnt bricked its just stuck...Bricked is when it wont turn on at all
Do you have a nandroid backup?
Have you taken the battery out and the power lead so it has no power?
i have had this problem
If you have a backup get it ready, Once you have let the phone power down totally (battery out and no lead) hold back and press power (keep holding back) this should get you into fastboot.if it doesnt unplug the lead and try again.
If thats successful.... using your nandroid files
FASTBOOT COMMANDS
fastboot erase system -w
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash userdata data.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
Sorry if you cant get this to work i have to go out and wont be back to check till tomorrow so just giving you all the info
bonesy said:
In that case it isnt bricked its just stuck...Bricked is when it wont turn on at all
Do you have a nandroid backup?
Have you taken the battery out and the power lead so it has no power?
i have had this problem
If you have a backup get it ready, Once you have let the phone power down totally (battery out and no lead) hold back and press power (keep holding back) this should get you into fastboot.if it doesnt unplug the lead and try again.
If thats successful.... using your nandroid files
FASTBOOT COMMANDS
fastboot erase system -w
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash userdata data.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
Sorry if you cant get this to work i have to go out and wont be back to check till tomorrow so just giving you all the info
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tried many times to do this and nothing ever stays <waiting for device> and does nothing
Phone is not bricked, so this shouldnt be a problem.
If you cant get into fastboot with current setups, then use another recovery image and a custom rom.
(all that stuff is on SD-card.. its not that hard)
Update SDK.
daihiep said:
Phone is not bricked, so this shouldnt be a problem.
If you cant get into fastboot with current setups, then use another recovery image and a custom rom.
(all that stuff is on SD-card.. its not that hard)
Update SDK.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great! And how should the recovery image and custom rom be put into the Magic? Sledgehammer?
The problem that almost everyone seems to not understand is that it's impossible to access fastboot, adb or any other (known) means.
The magic will hang at the first splashscreen no matter which buttons are pushed during power up. If the track ball is pressed during power on, the led lights up blue (still hanging at first splash). All other combos of buttons during power on makes no difference at all.
I have tried keeping fastboot waiting while power cycling the device (as explained in another thread), but there are no reaction. I have tried in xp, vista and linux.
I have also tried with a gold card, but since the phone seems unable to get any further than the first splash, this will not work.
So unless someone has a _NEW_ method to actually enter fastboot/ADB mode, these devices are BRICKED!
People have been discussing what the criteria for calling a phone a brick, but as far as I have care my Magic can only function as a paper weight and can therefore be called bricked.
Help
I have the same problem , the fastboot can not acces, i stay at the vodafone logo.
Any ideas?
HHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPP.
frankiboy1 said:
Great! And how should the recovery image and custom rom be put into the Magic? Sledgehammer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
take out the sd card, put it in a usb adaptor and copy them over.
Also search for a thread "how i unbricked my phone"
frankiboy1 said:
Great! And how should the recovery image and custom rom be put into the Magic? Sledgehammer?
The problem that almost everyone seems to not understand is that it's impossible to access fastboot, adb or any other (known) means.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Think before answering.
Btw, question answered by htcmagic.
daihiep said:
Think before answering.
Btw, question answered by htcmagic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I repeat: The problem that almost everyone seems to not understand is that it's impossible to access fastboot, adb or any other (known) means.
Having a recovery image and a custom rom on the SD card is useless if you are not able to get the phone accessing those files.
I have tried the "how I unbricked my phone" method (like I wrote in my first post) without any success. If you read the whole "how I unbricked my phone" thread you can see that there are several guys that did not have success with this method.
I have done a lot of thinking.... and searching...
Thanks
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=571457 try there
Wrong HBOOT = real brick
Guys,
With a wrong HBOOT (what happend to me), the phone is a real brick...
And they refused to repair it... I bought a new phone. But I keep the old one in case someone break his screen. Then I can get the mobo.
just curious.
superkikim said:
Guys,
With a wrong HBOOT (what happend to me), the phone is a real brick...
And they refused to repair it... I bought a new phone. But I keep the old one in case someone break his screen. Then I can get the mobo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you brick it?
Btw, have you tried to run any RUU update?
At least singapore one.
Dear forum,
I kind of hesitated to start a thread for my problem, but after a long time I still haven't found a solution. I have contacted HTC (no answer yet), but hope to resolve my problem in meanwhile instead of waiting 1 month+ for a replacement.
I got the -by now familiar- freeze, and after rebooting it would go beyond the HTC logo, then stay stuck in a backlit black screen mode. Tried removing the battery, sim card, sd card etc. Then decided to boot into recovery (vol down + power) which worked, but any option would freeze the phone, like factory reset which I tried first.
Right now, the phone already freezes at the carrier logo, and I can't even get into recovery again (vol down + power). The phone won't respond to the key presses, and eventially boot and freeze at the carrier logo. The weird thing is that before, after a lot of trying and re-inserting the battery, it would eventually boot and work just fine for about 1 in 10 tries.
Does anyone have any ideas what I could try? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
edit: Okay, after a while I finally managed to get into HBoot again! Now what should I do to get my phone resetted/fixed? I guess it's not possible for me to flash another ROM or something as i'm not rooted. Details shown are: S-OFF, HBOOT 98.0002
can you get into recovery from bootloader?
Seems like I now consistently can boot into HBOOT. When I choose recovery, it will reboot, show the carrier logo, show the green logo with circular arrows, and then switch to the phone logo with a red exclamation mark for two seconds. Then, it shuts off. Also, when I tried that just now, it buzzed for like 6 times very fast after turning off.
On the second try, exactly the same happened: red exclamation mark, screen off, +- 6 fast buzzes.
After doing that, it doesn't respond to vol down+power or power at all. After reinserting the battery, I can get back into HBOOT
edit: it didn't want to boot into HBOOT, but now it does again. Anyhow, chosing recovery is still green logo, red logo, screen off and some buzzes. The phone doesn't show up in "adb devices" neither.
Whatever you are going to do; do not root your device as it will void your warrenty.
Is there anything else i can try doing? The situation so far:
-normal boot just stays stuck into carrier logo
-hboot->recovery gives a reboot, green logo, switch to red logo, screen off and +- 6 fast buzzes, then nothing. Needs battery reinsertion to be able to respond to vol down + power again
-hboot->factory reset just freezes on the same screen, no response, needs battery removal
-noshow in adb devices (update: show in fastboot!)
Another update: after messing arround with the drivers which didn't seem properly installed, I know have my device showing up in "fastboot devices".
Please, I feel like I'm so close to fixing this. What could I do next? Fastboot in some different recovery with more options or something? Anyone?
Could I simply run the RUU for my 3UK branded phone now?? If I get the RUU from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1002506, it seems that the RUU is "signed", which would result in S-ON? While right now my phone is S-OFF?
edit: So, I ran the proper RUU, it will find my device, propose me to downgrade from 1.47 something to 1.37 or so. Click next. Then it stays on the "rebooting the bootloader" phase indefinitely
maxxur said:
Another update: after messing arround with the drivers which didn't seem properly installed, I know have my device showing up in "fastboot devices".
Please, I feel like I'm so close to fixing this. What could I do next? Fastboot in some different recovery with more options or something? Anyone?
Could I simply run the RUU for my 3UK branded phone now?? If I get the RUU from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1002506, it seems that the RUU is "signed", which would result in S-ON? While right now my phone is S-OFF?
edit: So, I ran the proper RUU, it will find my device, propose me to downgrade from 1.47 something to 1.37 or so. Click next. Then it stays on the "rebooting the bootloader" phase indefinitely
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Slow down maxxur, wait for this quesstion to be out there for long enough for someone to answer it.
Dont go on a battery pulling spree, coz that is the first and most tempting response on a frozen phone. But i hope you know what that can do to this phone...
Give the xda community some time to figure this out. Hold your ground till then. Need to go in to the theatre now. Will get back in the evening and try to figure this out.
Try running the RUU while in the fastboot menu (usb mode). Also my suggestion is not to make the process more complicated by downgrading - just reflash 1.47...
Thanks for the response guys
The RUU I found was 1.37. Could you point me to a 1.47 RUU for the 3UK network?
Also, running that RUU when in Fastboot USB mode is what I tried. The info on the RUU shows that it hangs indefinitely at "rebooting bootloader". That is expected, as when I try to manually reboot bootloader in my fastboot menu, my phone will also freeze.
I'm wondering if running a different recovery image could be of any help? Last night I tried running CWM recovery to see my options, by entering "fastboot boot recovery.img" but i'd get a "remote: not allow" error.
Have not noticed that you are not rooted!
Why don't you try the revolutionary tool? If you have luck it will restore your bootloader if it is broken (keep in mind that is not the best option because it will break you warranty). Then you will just need to flash an eng hboot and run the RUU, or better try some custom ROM
But in my opinion the best option for you is to go for a replacement rather to try yourself, since you dont have any custom software on it it has to be covered by your warranty (probably it is a faulty device to go like this from nothing).
Thanks for the suggestion. Are there any other safer options for me?
Could I try extracting the rom.zip from the RUU and manually put it on the SD card, then try to flash it in CWM recovery? Since "fastboot boot recovery" doesn't work though, could I try "fastboot flash recovery" to get CWM on there? Atm the "stock recovery" seems to be dead anyway, as when I choose it in HBOOT, the phone simply freezes.
maxxur said:
Thanks for the suggestion. Are there any other safer options for me?
Could I try extracting the rom.zip from the RUU and manually put it on the SD card, then try to flash it in CWM recovery? Since "fastboot boot recovery" doesn't work though, could I try "fastboot flash recovery" to get CWM on there? Atm the "stock recovery" seems to be dead anyway, as when I choose it in HBOOT, the phone simply freezes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course you can if you are eager to try this. When you run the RUU, even when there is no phone connected there is a folder in your C: drive created (I assume that you are using Windows). Open your Windows Explorer and search for the rom.zip. When you have it copy it somewhere and close the RUU screen. Then if you open the RUU all the *.img files are there. You can try flashing the stock recovery or hboot or whatewer using the fastboot command. But I have to say again the best option for you is to bring the phone for a repair before you end up with something irreversible and void your warranty.
Thanks for keeping me sane on what to do with my problem Mentally, I came to the point where I'd go flash CWM recovery on my phone and try to flash that RUU rom from there, but you helped me get around that thought and now I made arrangements for HTC to come and pick it up. I'll keep you guys posted!
PS: you've got to love our desire s community, it's the best.
Cheered too early
Now HTC suddenly responds that while entering my phone in their warranty service thingy and the phone seemed to be 3G UK branded, they told me they "can't" do repairs for those.
Seriously, HTC is trying to troll me saying the inner hardware could differ between a UK and a Belgian Desire S?? Could this be true in any way?? :/
Maybe some parts are cheaper but with the same parameters...but I thought that when you have a branded phone you should seek your warrancy support from the carrier's office?!?
Sent from my HTC Desire S
Options for solution!
Option 1: Copy rom.zip (from RUU_Saga_HTC_Europe_1.47.401.4_Radio_20.28I.30.085AU_3805.06.02.03_M_release_199410_signed) to your sd rename it to PG88IMG.zip and let m boot into hboot.
If option 1 is not ok try option 2.
Option 2: Boot in to fastboot connect it to your computer and on your computer open dos/terminal run fastboot oem rebootRUU then after that run ruu RUU_Saga_HTC_Europe_1.47.401.4_Radio_20.28I.30.085AU_3805.06.02.03_M_release_199410_signed.
If option 2 not OK then there is option 3.
Option 3: Boot in to fastboot connect it to your computer and on your computer open dos/terminal run fastboot oem rebootRUU after that run in dos/terminal fastboot flash zip rom.zip (extracted from RUU_Saga_HTC_Europe_1.47.401.4_Radio_20.28I.30.085AU_3805.06.02.03_M_release_199410_signed)
Let me know if one of these option worked for you if not I can help you with reflashing your hboot again.
NikMel,
Thank you so much for the tips. Currently I'm trying the first HBOOT + .ZIP method. It detected it, asked me to update and is now showing a pink "Updating" sign. How long should this normally take? I have a strong feeling it simply froze again, and it really turns out to be a hardware problem.
Is that updating next to radio?
If yes it will take realy long so wait!!
Greetings! First of all, I would like to thank anyone who takes the time to help me diagnose and resolve this issues, let alone anyone who takes the time to read this thread.
I've been having issues with my Xoom (ICS 4.0.0) for about 3 weeks now.
A brief history of the issue's occurrence:
-I unrooted the device and returned it to stock.
-Everything was fine and dandy until one day it spontaneously said something along the lines of 'Android is upgrading..', and then performed a reset.
-Since resetting, it bootloops.
The device only turns on when plugged into a charger and hard reset.
The device only turns off when allowed to boot loop for minutes and then hard reset (it simply does not reset, and just turns off).
I'm not the most technically-savvy person with android devices but here are some things I've done/noted.
When trying to use adb commands, it does not recognize the device or properly issue commands.
I've tried wiping data/clearing cache to no avail.
EDIT: I've tried fastbooting, but the bootloader will not unlock. When trying to unlock, it simply resets and then acts as though it was never unlocked.
I have no idea how to return it to a stock image. All I know is that I have a micro-SD and some spare time.
Could anyone help me understand what exactly is going on with my Xoom?
If I can provide you with any more information, please let me know.
Thanks again. (=
If it was stock and spontaneously upgraded it sounds like a bad OTA upgrade. I've been rooted from the start so never have taken an OTA upgrade...don't you need to accept it or can it just upgrade on it's own?
Anyway, can you get it into fastboot mode?
Volume up and power, then at dual core screen, press volume down...if you see something like "entering fastboot mode" you're not bricked. You do not have to re lock your bootloader. Just make sure you have downloaded the correct stock files for your Xoom model to your PC and flash it.
If you haven't done so, just google 'recovering Xoom using fastboot' and you should get some good information.
Good luck!
Remember to grab the MZ604 files if you have the Wifi only version of the Xoom.
http://developer.motorola.com/products/software/ <------ Grab the files here. The files are for the US version of the Wifi Xoom only.
Instructions to return it to stock
1) First you need the Moto Drivers - Read this thread to START you - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=981578
Should have these drivers installed if you have rooted your Xoom before.
2) Make sure you have the latest SDK - adb and fastboot should be in /platform-tools -
http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
Should have the android SDK if you have rooted your Xoom before.
3) Place all the downloaded stock image files into the SDK Tools folder.
4) If you are booting up from scratch, you can get the Xoom in fastboot mode by doing the following. Use command prompt to perform the rest of the steps
Hold VolDown and Power button will boot unit for fastboot mode
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot flash userdata userdata.img
fastboot erase cache
fastboot oem lock
If you Xoom is booted up already follow the commands below using command prompt to perform the steps
adb reboot bootloader <---- reboots the Xoom into fastboot mode.
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot flash userdata userdata.img
fastboot erase cache
fastboot oem lock
As Always If This Was Helpful Hit the Thanks!
Yeah, what Mjamocha said...
okantomi said:
Yeah, what Mjamocha said...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL Thanks.
okantomi said:
Anyway, can you get it into fastboot mode?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I can. But so far nothing has been successful in terms of fastboot commands.
okantomi said:
You do not have to re lock your bootloader. Just make sure you have downloaded the correct stock files for your Xoom model to your PC and flash it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I try to execute fastboot commands such as 'fastboot flash boot boot.img'.. it says the following:
Device still locked. Device must be unlocked first. Failed to process command error(0x8)
Whenever I try to unlock the bootloader, it appears to be successful at first and then the device reboots. But it just reboots to a bootloop, and the bootloader still says its locked. Perhaps I made a mistake in communication. The bootloader is currently locked and will not unlock, as just described.
When I try to unlock it and it reboots, even if I access the fastboot menu right away, it still says the device is still locked.
Thoughts?
Can you get into recovery? With the Xoom off (to make sure it's really off, hold volume up + power for a few seconds), hit the power button and when you see the M logo, wait a very brief moment (like a fraction of a second) and hit the volume down button. When it says "recovery" on the top left, hit the volume up. If you can get in there, either restore a nandroid (if you have one) or do a factory reset.
slacka-vt said:
Can you get into recovery? With the Xoom off (to make sure it's really off, hold volume up + power for a few seconds), hit the power button and when you see the M logo, wait a very brief moment (like a fraction of a second) and hit the volume down button. When it says "recovery" on the top left, hit the volume up. If you can get in there, either restore a nandroid (if you have one) or do a factory reset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I can get into android recovery. However, within a second of switching into recovery mode, the robot falls down and there appears to be a red triangle caution sign containing an exclamation point.
When trying to do a factory reset, it says all data is wiped (as normal). Upon rebooting, it continues to bootloop. So essentially the factory reset and cache clear options in the Android Recovery menu do not produce the expected results.
Pretty odd. I didn't mess with the Xoom at all prior to this issue.
Try flashing just a recovery img to hopefully get your recovery working again. I think you can flash a custom recovery even if the bootloader is locked (i could be wrong but worth a shot) I attached the Rogue "recovery-rogue-1.3.0.img". Try a "fastboot flash recovery recovery-rogue-1.3.0.img"
EDIT: Sorry, I guess you can't flash a custom recovery with a locked bootloader.
slacka-vt said:
Try flashing just a recovery img to hopefully get your recovery working again. I think you can flash a custom recovery even if the bootloader is locked (i could be wrong but worth a shot) I attached the Rogue "recovery-rogue-1.3.0.img". Try a "fastboot flash recovery recovery-rogue-1.3.0.img"
EDIT: Sorry, I guess you can't flash a custom recovery with a locked bootloader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, just tried it to no avail. Thanks so much for your help anyway. (=
I'm not sure what to do now.
I would keep trying to unlock it using different USB cables and different USB ports on your computer. I've had unlocks fail a bunch of times and for some reason, it was because of a $hity USB cable and/or a bad port on my computer.
slacka-vt said:
I would keep trying to unlock it using different USB cables and different USB ports on your computer. I've had unlocks fail a bunch of times and for some reason, it was because of a $hity USB cable and/or a bad port on my computer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hear ya. I've tried 2 different cords and 3 different computers. I'm using a Mac (10.6.8) right now, but have used 2 PCs (Vista + 7).
Out of curiosity, when you tried to flash the custom recovery, did you get the same "device still locked" error or did it appear to flash but then recovery failed?
slacka-vt said:
Out of curiosity, when you tried to flash the custom recovery, did you get the same "device still locked" error or did it appear to flash but then recovery failed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got the 'device still locked' error. Weird, huh?
How about trying to lock it again even though it says it's locked -maybe it's stuck in an "in-between state"? Try a "fastboot oem lock" and if it finishes then try a "fastboot oem unlock". I know, I'm grabbing at straws here. I thought I bricked my Xoom last week. All I did was an "adb reboot bootloader" and the device went to a black screen. Volume Up + Power did nothing. I ended up buying a T5 (Torx 5) bit at the store, removed the back cover and disconnected the battery for 30 seconds using a piece of paper to separate the contacts. The Xoom booted right up after that.
slacka-vt said:
How about trying to lock it again even though it says it's locked -maybe it's stuck in an "in-between state"? Try a "fastboot oem lock" and if it finishes then try a "fastboot oem unlock". I know, I'm grabbing at straws here. I thought I bricked my Xoom last week. All I did was an "adb reboot bootloader" and the device went to a black screen. Volume Up + Power did nothing. I ended up buying a T5 (Torx 5) bit at the store, removed the back cover and disconnected the battery for 30 seconds using a piece of paper to separate the contacts. The Xoom booted right up after that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I tried that. Won't lock or unlock successfully. Locking produces no difference, and unlocking produces the same 'device still locked' error. This is getting out of hand! Thanks so much for your advice. You think I should open it up?
I hate to be so persistently annoying about this, but could anyone possibly suggest a method of working around the locked bootloader?
Is there anything I can do with an SD card to remedy the device's stubborn foolery?
I think you should give it a try, I have bricked my xoom a few times and have always been able to flash the stock imagine to recover. You really have nothing to lose by pulling the battery pin just be careful.
Sent from my Xoom using xda premium
I don't know if I'm technically-equipped enough to do that. )=
Sounds easy, but I imagine it would be rather easy to screw something up? Essentially what I should do is unseat the battery, right?
cherlamperter said:
I don't know if I'm technically-equipped enough to do that. )=
Sounds easy, but I imagine it would be rather easy to screw something up? Essentially what I should do is unseat the battery, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have looking for a utube how to guide but no luck, I just might make one for you so you will know what to expect. Give me a few and I will get back to ya.
Sent from my Xoom using xda premium
Hi,
I have refereed to earlier threads for same problem but could not resolve the issue. That's why I am initiating a new thread.
I was trying to unlock my htc one s and was trying to install a custom rom. But I don't know which step goes wrong. Now my phone is not starting and I am not even able to go to recovery mode by volume button. When I try to start the phone it stuck on 'this build is for development purpose only'.
Please help.
Regards,
Meher Chandan
It is kind of difficult to help since you are not telling what you have already done...
However, I'm just guessing that your phone may be in a reboot loop with fast reboot/poweroff enabled. This means it is never really powered off. Try to hold down the power button when you see the HTC screen, at least for 10 seconds (more may be required). That should force a hard shutdown. After that, you should be able to boot into fastboot, and so, into recovery.
FWIW, I've installed CM 12.1 and I still got the red warning message. It does not bother me, however.
I got similar case in the old day. Boot up the phone first to wakeup it and force it power off and immediately connect to PC when the screen goes blank.
Try "c:\>adb reboot bootloader" now, sometimes it will fail and report device not found(then unplug the usb cable, reboot it and power off and connect to PC again), you might be need to try many times to make it success(I'v tried like 10 times) and once you get it working, it will reboot into bootloader and now fastboot(c:\>fastboot devices) and recovery also working.
meherchandan said:
Hi,
I have refereed to earlier threads for same problem but could not resolve the issue. That's why I am initiating a new thread.
I was trying to unlock my htc one s and was trying to install a custom rom. But I don't know which step goes wrong. Now my phone is not starting and I am not even able to go to recovery mode by volume button. When I try to start the phone it stuck on 'this build is for development purpose only'.
Please help.
Regards,
Meher Chandan
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is boot.IMG file on your ROM.zip (you have installed) extract it in your fastboot folder and reboot your phone into boot loader and then goto your PC command promot and flash boot.IMG (fastboot flash boot boot.img) from fast boot folder.
Sent from my One S using Tapatalk