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[Guide] How to brick your Desire S

How I bricked my Desire S - information on avoiding brick and an indictment of the dubious nature of HTC's S-on policy
The Desire S is a great phone so why did I want to root it?
The main reasons for rooting and s-off for me were:
Titanium backup (android built in backup is weak)
Being able to remove bloatware that takes up unnecessary spaces and unnecessarily reduces battery performance.
To try different ROMs from the community
Video screen capture
And of course I bought the phone so isn't it mine to use as I please.
Having waited a long time for a good s-off tool to come out I was getting more and more anxious to s-off.
Alpharev got together with Unrevoked to create Revolutionary.
I had previously used the Unrevoked tool to root my first generation Desire. The tool worked easily and flawlessly even on my Mac.
I later used the Alpharev bootable CD to s-off and root a later generation Desire. Again it worked smoothly and flawlessly.
Having had this positive experience I felt confident in the new tool, Revolutionary.
I read everything I could find about how the tool worked and how others were finding results. All seemed straight forward and uncomplicated so I proceeded to download and run the tool from my PC because there was no Mac version available.
Temp root and s-off went smoothly. No apparent issuse. Both Hboot and Fastboot had been successfully replaced on the phone, and CWM recovery was working.
So I added su in recovery then ran a nand backup of the whole system at this point.
Then I downloaded a Cyan 7 ported for the Desire S that was getting good reviews and feedback. The rom seemed to flash clean. After running it for a short time it stated crashing, so I decided to try an MIUI ported to Desire S. Again a ROM with good feedback and labeled as stable.
Downloaded the ROM and flashed it after a full wipe in recovery.
This time on reboot the phone hung at the HTC screen on boot for a very long time. So I wanted to do a force shutdown.
Here is where things got ugly.
The Desire S does not have a force shutdown keystroke combo as my old Desire did. So I opted to pull the battery.
Reinserting the battery and booting into recovery nothing worked properly.
CWM wouldn't mount its partitions, wouldn't flash a rom or even do a factory reset.
I tried doing some functions in fastboot mode. But nothing worked. Any command issued in fastboot mode would just lock up the phone and terminal.
At this point I was pretty worried so I got on #revolutionary and chatted with some of the big guns. I got some good feedback to test this and try that but in the end nothing worked. So I got on XDA forum and looked for others with similar issues.
What I found at this point was very troubling.
XDA user opumps had the same issue as me and had done some great research about the problem.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1150917
It becomes clear on reading, that like him, my Desire S had a fried eMMC chip. This is the internal storage device for HBoot. Once cooked your are basically F*ucked. There is no recovering from this by reformatting the eMMC. Pooched.
Doing the tests on the XDA post I found my eMMC to be pooched.
Now the question is, What fried the eMMc? Was it the S=off process or the forced pulling of the battery while the phone was boot locked?
I then took the phone to HTCs warranty center.
They tested the phone and called me back a few hours later. Your eMMC chip is fried they said. Yes, I said, Can you fix it please?
He told me that the eMMc was fried by the s-off tool I had used. Now, maybe he is full of **** and just wants an excuse to void my warranty. And, maybe not.
I told him to go ahead and fix it. He told me it would be a $200 Dollar replacement of the main board. ****. Well, what other choice do I have. Do it, I told him.
Next I got on the phone with the HTC help center. I got friendly with the lady technician on the call. After some nice chat I started probing for information on the Desire S. After a long conversation She told me that the Desire S, Incredible S, Desire HD all have the problem of frying the eMMC chip if the battery is disconnected while power is on. She said she gets calls every day with people who have fried their eMMC chip. Not through S-off but just because the battery came loose and lost contact while the phone was on or charging. The main reasons for the issue are as follows, HTC cheaped out on the eMMC chips in these phones, as the issue is specific to a particular series of eMMc. And because of a design flaw in the way the battery door closes, and because HTC did not include a force shutdown key combination to shut the phone off properly when locked.
So in the end it sounds like a lot of bad design and bad planning and poor foresight on HTC's part led to the fried eMMC on my phone. But they are not willing to stand behind their product and found an excuse to void my warranty and make me pay for the replacement Mainboard.
Now, here is where we get into the debate of should anyone s-off their phone? The main point here is no one should have to s-off. The phones should never be shipped s-on. It's bad policy to lock the bootloader. But having received an s-on phone you may very well want to s-off. If you decide to s-off just remember that you could easily brick your phone by many ways not related to s-off and your warranty will be void.
Another option is to not buy HTC because of the design flaws and their bad locked bootloader policy. To unlock and root a Samsung all you have to do is issue the command fastboot oem unlock. I don't know if Samsung phones also have the eMMc chip issue, so I can't comment there. But I certainly prefer their open policy on bootloaders.
Maybe the whole reason for locked bootloaders from HTC is beacause they are aware that they used sub par eMMc chips and are trying to reduce bricks.
Regardless this experience has made me very dubious of HTC in general.
I hope this is helpful and educational.

Thanks for sharing, I removed my battery a couple of times while stuck in htc logo screen. Don't think I'll try that move again, anyway I read about holding power + vol up + vol down to force shutdown, wondering whether that works...
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA App

monkey21stc said:
Thanks for sharing, I removed my battery a couple of times while stuck in htc logo screen. Don't think I'll try that move again, anyway I read about holding power + vol up + vol down to force shutdown, wondering whether that works...
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, thanks for warning.sorry to hear your struggle, disappointed that htc use this tactic, will certainly reconsider buying an alternate make device next time of this issue persists
The volume up plus volume down plus power button combination does work, it's just but published
Very often, although have yet trio try out when the devices has hung, but certainly reboots my device .
Swyped from HTC Desire S using XDA Premium

just fyi in germay they take 184 € to repair a bricked eMMc :-(

Aye, Thanks for Sharing. I'v hade the same problem as you. I'll never buy an HTC phone again. Cheap bastards!

i need to know that every chip is different...bad for u that u got the bad one but i flash phone daily and its ok..i have same procedure every time i do that..to brick phone can happen to experts too...well if u want to risk to get root and all goodies u can say good bay to warranty..thats for sure

thanks for sharing man.
monkey21stc said:
Thanks for sharing, I removed my battery a couple of times while stuck in htc logo screen. Don't think I'll try that move again, anyway I read about holding power + vol up + vol down to force shutdown, wondering whether that works...
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that works on miui

Buy a htc with simlock.
Mine is t-mobile
When I've started my device for the first time, is was already s-off because if I turn my phone on it will show the t-mobile logo
So u can't brick your phone if you will s-off
But thanks for sharing
Next time I won't buy a htc
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA Premium App

Just remember though flash memory is extremely volatile, and ripping a battery out of a phone generally isn't a good idea to begin with, although I was lucky to read about the vol up/down + power procedure before I rooted my phone.
Very interesting post, interesting to see the bigger picture behind this issue.

so here's the deal - I am 99.9% sure that the bricked eMMC chip is a problem only in devices with a chip that was faulty in the first place. When the phone first came out, there were MANY threads on the hardware faults like "Battery cover not fitting" and "Misaligned screen". This was an issue that could't be identified easily, so it wasn't reported. Now, many people are having this issue and instead of panicking, we should do some research. I think that all the guys who bricked their phone would be living close to each other, in the same country or at least the same continent ie, this is a local issue. Also, i'm sure they had one of the other issues i mentioned above. I've not seen anyone in India or Asia with any such issues, so i think we need to find out why europe is having problems. Contact the BRICKees, i'll try making a new thread.

^^^.. yes this issue you need to find the Source.. I sold my Desire yestreday to get Hold of the Desire S but my only concern is this Dead eMMC chip.. and that is the reason I am not buying it yet... I want to identofy the ones with this issue..
really I dont want to screw up my 40K Rs on a faulty set..

Got the same problem, accidentally bricked a DS with a faulty Samsung eMMC, barely 3 weeks after buying it and 2 weeks after S/OFF'ing and rooting it... (btw, isn't it strange that Samsung chips that you find in Samsung branded phones don't seem to have this problem, but strangely the chips sold to their competitors seem to always be somehow sub-par ? Clever and sneaky way to undermine the competition, if you ask me. But at the same time, I bought a SGS2 as replacement in the meantime. ^^ even though it heats up a bit, it's way better than the DS )...
Haven't RMA'd the DS yet, I'm trying my damnedest to find a way to S-ON again and trash the remainder of the partition table -so the service center won't gimme **** about it.. So far I've been able to revert back from Alpharev SOFF to PVT ENG SOFF (0.98.2000), but even this has been horribly hard to achieve.. The "secret fastboot command" to totally brick a NAND didn't work, of course. Had to do it all by hand, in the dead of night, losing many hours of sleep in the process.. :/
It's really shameful that HTC is using such deviant ways to cover their own ****ups and to shirk the payment of their dues.. So I really got no qualms about trying to con them into replacing the device under warranty either. "tit for tat", or so they say.. And they shouldn't be surprised if I never ever again buy a phone from them either, that's really bad PR if y'ask me...
PS : I just got one of those mischievous ideas that often occur to me during sleepless nights : I've read here and there about how dangerous flashing a radio is, and it should only be done if necessary, yadda-yadda-yadda... (heck, I was at my 4th radio flash -just for the fun of it, didn't even have any reception or battery problems to justify it- when I bricked my DS, and I can tell y'all that it wasn't what ****ed it up :S)
Let's just imagine -that's a hypothesis, of course- that I attempted flashing a new radio, and one of my cats "accidentally" jumped on the desk and ripped the usb cord away from the phone, making it drop down on the floor, dislodging the battery in the process.. Wouldn't this brick it nice and proper, and render the NAND totally unreadable even for a HTC service center ? xD
I guess they got a XTC device at hand, but would that help in such a case ?

Can someone confirm what exactly is meant by pressing Power and Volume + and - at the same time? Press Power and press both ends of the volume rocker switch at once? Is that it?

first press the two volume buttons and then power until it shuts down.
worked for me at least -I just learned about that trick a trifle too late

your story said that it includes desire HD? wow i didn't know that honestly when my old DHD freezed i always pull the battery out and no problems at all it's just that the constant carmode problem irritated me and ended up selling it and bought a Desire S...not yet rooted and S-Off but will do later...so it's not the S-off process it's the battery thingy...it sucks for that to happen

Thanks for guide. I'm really scare of eMMC chip problems. I never tried to S-OFF coz of eMMC chip problems. Don't wanna to make void the warranty

Thanks for sharing! I have removed my battery a few times already to force shutdown. Don't know if I'll ever try it again. Maybe as a last resort, but at least I know the risks now. Thanks again!
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA App

Cool thanks for Sharring
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA App

i work my whole life with pc, hardware, software, flashed everything from set-top boxes to mobile phones.
seriously, i can't believe that anybody can fry the eMMC (a ****ing simple NAND-based flash memory) cause he puts SOFTWARE on it - thats what it build for!!!
you can brick your phone if you destroy the bootloader or something without a possibility to fix it, this won't destroy any hardware on your phone - but thats a different story.
the only reason for s-on is to take you the chance to deinstall the bloatware which they pollute their devices.

apairofscissors said:
How I bricked my Desire S - information on avoiding brick and an indictment of the dubious nature of HTC's S-on policy
The Desire S is a great phone so why did I want to root it?
The main reasons for rooting and s-off for me were:
Titanium backup (android built in backup is weak)
Being able to remove bloatware that takes up unnecessary spaces and unnecessarily reduces battery performance.
To try different ROMs from the community
Video screen capture
And of course I bought the phone so isn't it mine to use as I please.
Having waited a long time for a good s-off tool to come out I was getting more and more anxious to s-off.
Alpharev got together with Unrevoked to create Revolutionary.
I had previously used the Unrevoked tool to root my first generation Desire. The tool worked easily and flawlessly even on my Mac.
I later used the Alpharev bootable CD to s-off and root a later generation Desire. Again it worked smoothly and flawlessly.
Having had this positive experience I felt confident in the new tool, Revolutionary.
I read everything I could find about how the tool worked and how others were finding results. All seemed straight forward and uncomplicated so I proceeded to download and run the tool from my PC because there was no Mac version available.
Temp root and s-off went smoothly. No apparent issuse. Both Hboot and Fastboot had been successfully replaced on the phone, and CWM recovery was working.
So I added su in recovery then ran a nand backup of the whole system at this point.
Then I downloaded a Cyan 7 ported for the Desire S that was getting good reviews and feedback. The rom seemed to flash clean. After running it for a short time it stated crashing, so I decided to try an MIUI ported to Desire S. Again a ROM with good feedback and labeled as stable.
Downloaded the ROM and flashed it after a full wipe in recovery.
This time on reboot the phone hung at the HTC screen on boot for a very long time. So I wanted to do a force shutdown.
Here is where things got ugly.
The Desire S does not have a force shutdown keystroke combo as my old Desire did. So I opted to pull the battery.
Reinserting the battery and booting into recovery nothing worked properly.
CWM wouldn't mount its partitions, wouldn't flash a rom or even do a factory reset.
I tried doing some functions in fastboot mode. But nothing worked. Any command issued in fastboot mode would just lock up the phone and terminal.
At this point I was pretty worried so I got on #revolutionary and chatted with some of the big guns. I got some good feedback to test this and try that but in the end nothing worked. So I got on XDA forum and looked for others with similar issues.
What I found at this point was very troubling.
XDA user opumps had the same issue as me and had done some great research about the problem.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1150917
It becomes clear on reading, that like him, my Desire S had a fried eMMC chip. This is the internal storage device for HBoot. Once cooked your are basically F*ucked. There is no recovering from this by reformatting the eMMC. Pooched.
Doing the tests on the XDA post I found my eMMC to be pooched.
Now the question is, What fried the eMMc? Was it the S=off process or the forced pulling of the battery while the phone was boot locked?
I then took the phone to HTCs warranty center.
They tested the phone and called me back a few hours later. Your eMMC chip is fried they said. Yes, I said, Can you fix it please?
He told me that the eMMc was fried by the s-off tool I had used. Now, maybe he is full of **** and just wants an excuse to void my warranty. And, maybe not.
I told him to go ahead and fix it. He told me it would be a $200 Dollar replacement of the main board. ****. Well, what other choice do I have. Do it, I told him.
Next I got on the phone with the HTC help center. I got friendly with the lady technician on the call. After some nice chat I started probing for information on the Desire S. After a long conversation She told me that the Desire S, Incredible S, Desire HD all have the problem of frying the eMMC chip if the battery is disconnected while power is on. She said she gets calls every day with people who have fried their eMMC chip. Not through S-off but just because the battery came loose and lost contact while the phone was on or charging. The main reasons for the issue are as follows, HTC cheaped out on the eMMC chips in these phones, as the issue is specific to a particular series of eMMc. And because of a design flaw in the way the battery door closes, and because HTC did not include a force shutdown key combination to shut the phone off properly when locked.
So in the end it sounds like a lot of bad design and bad planning and poor foresight on HTC's part led to the fried eMMC on my phone. But they are not willing to stand behind their product and found an excuse to void my warranty and make me pay for the replacement Mainboard.
Now, here is where we get into the debate of should anyone s-off their phone? The main point here is no one should have to s-off. The phones should never be shipped s-on. It's bad policy to lock the bootloader. But having received an s-on phone you may very well want to s-off. If you decide to s-off just remember that you could easily brick your phone by many ways not related to s-off and your warranty will be void.
Another option is to not buy HTC because of the design flaws and their bad locked bootloader policy. To unlock and root a Samsung all you have to do is issue the command fastboot oem unlock. I don't know if Samsung phones also have the eMMc chip issue, so I can't comment there. But I certainly prefer their open policy on bootloaders.
Maybe the whole reason for locked bootloaders from HTC is beacause they are aware that they used sub par eMMc chips and are trying to reduce bricks.
Regardless this experience has made me very dubious of HTC in general.
I hope this is helpful and educational.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please change the title of the thread to "how not to brick your desire s". The current one sounds really fun and why any one would want a guide to brick their phone.
Sent from Desire Aj'S using XDA eXtra Premium App!

[Q] Desire S - Unable to power on

Hi Guys,
I was installing some games on market and all of a sudden, the phone freeze. I removed the battery and now it's dead. It will not power on at all. What could have happened to the phone?

Removing the battery often causes damage to eMMC on our device, there are multiple threads on that matter. If it doesn't boot at all just send it for warranty repair.
Sent from my HTC Desire S

Evilmystic said:
Removing the battery often causes damage to eMMC on our device, there are multiple threads on that matter. If it doesn't boot at all just send it for warranty repair.
Sent from my HTC Desire S
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Holy Moly... I bought this phone from Singapore. HTC Australia does not honor warranty on handsets purchased overseas.

jazzaddict said:
Holy Moly... I bought this phone from Singapore. HTC Australia does not honor warranty on handsets purchased overseas.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check this thread to test whether your chip is really fried or not:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1150917

Guerde said:
Check this thread to test whether your chip is really fried or not:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1150917
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there's really nothing I can do, it will not power on at all. Can run adb to do any troubleshooting. I mean if the phone freeze, what can be done other than removing the battery?
I don't have any custom ROM running on it, but I did S-OFF it with XTC clip months ago

jazzaddict said:
there's really nothing I can do, it will not power on at all. Can run adb to do any troubleshooting. I mean if the phone freeze, what can be done other than removing the battery?
I don't have any custom ROM running on it, but I did S-OFF it with XTC clip months ago
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The best way to reboot a not responding phone is connecting it to pc and running "adb reboot" command.
Sent from my HTC Desire S

Try the vol up + vol down + power hard reset..it helped..at least for me...
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA App

monkey21stc said:
Try the vol up + vol down + power hard reset..it helped..at least for me...
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this works for me too, but i dont think it works for others. im not sure.

monkey21stc said:
Try the vol up + vol down + power hard reset..it helped..at least for me...
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wish I've known this earlier. Do you think I will get charged GST (consumption tax) if I send this back to HTC Singapore for RMA. Stuff above S$400 will get taxed.

jazzaddict said:
I wish I've known this earlier. Do you think I will get charged GST (consumption tax) if I send this back to HTC Singapore for RMA. Stuff above S$400 will get taxed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm i'm not too sure though. You can try contacting the service center in Singapore. I believe the shipping fees will be taxed but not the repairs if covered under warranty.
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA App

thanks for this information mate

Seems to be the common ingredient to a brick. I'm in the same shoes. The only Desire S's in Australia is with friggin' Telstra, so we all have to resort to buying overseas. I just hope I'm never in your situation, but I probably will.
Are you going to send it overseas for repairs? Keep us posted mate.

Seems to be the common ingredient to a brick. I'm in the same shoes. The only Desire S's in Australia is with friggin' Telstra, so we all have to resort to buying overseas. I just hope I'm never in your situation, but I probably will.
Are you going to send it overseas for repairs? Keep us posted mate.

decoyknox said:
Seems to be the common ingredient to a brick. I'm in the same shoes. The only Desire S's in Australia is with friggin' Telstra, so we all have to resort to buying overseas. I just hope I'm never in your situation, but I probably will.
Are you going to send it overseas for repairs? Keep us posted mate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, you're right about this. What's point about handset exclusivity? It's an anti-competition practice and should be ruled illegal. You can read about the problems I have with HTC Singapore GWS. here

If you have access to do so, try a different battery before sending the phone back under RMA (an potentially wasting some of your money).
My first Desire S did exactly as yours has: it froze, would not respond to any input... and failed to turn back on after the battery was removed and reinserted.
Thankfully, I had a spare battery (I always buy more than one spare battery for every portable device, just in case). After inserting the new battery, connecting the phone to my PC via USB, and using "adb reboot recovery" from cmd (subsequently wiped the cache and rebooted the phone courtesy of ClockworkMod) solved my problem entirely.
Have the same handset, working perfectly for the last 4 months.
It may not be exactly the same issue for you, but it's worth a shot, right?
P.S.
One way to help avoid frying the eMMC is to disable HTC's "Fast boot" option (I can't remember under which menu it is located, but someone else hopefully will be able to post it in a reply).
The "Fast boot" option essentially places the phone in "sleep" mode, even when it's powered off... meaning that the some-what minute risk of frying the eMMC would persist even if you think the phone is "powered off". Disabling "Fast boot" means that when you shut down the phone, it really IS powered off, and thus removing the battery in this state would pose no risk to the eMMC.
Hope it helps someone!

[Q] Opinions please!

I have sent my sensation back for repair after totally bricking it in the process of returning my device to s-on.
My phone was completely dead, no response from charging, no response from computer adb, fastboot just DEAD!
I tried to supercharge my battery to make sure the recovery was not to blame but no joy there either.
My question is, with my phone in this state, will htc repair be able to tell that i have voided my warranty?? I told them that this happened during an ota update
Any opinions or comments from those who have done the same would be appreciated.

bobsie41 said:
I have sent my sensation back for repair after totally bricking it in the process of returning my device to s-on.
My phone was completely dead, no response from charging, no response from computer adb, fastboot just DEAD!
I tried to supercharge my battery to make sure the recovery was not to blame but no joy there either.
My question is, with my phone in this state, will htc repair be able to tell that i have voided my warranty?? I told them that this happened during an ota update
Any opinions or comments from those who have done the same would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Sorry to hear about your predicament.
Did you actually manage to get S-ON ?
If not ,then it will be obvious what you have done.
No point in lying about it .
Just come clean or they will think you are taking the p*$$

malybru said:
Hi,
Sorry to hear about your predicament.
Did you actually manage to get S-ON ?
If not ,then it will be obvious what you have done.
No point in lying about it .
Just come clean or they will think you are taking the p*$$
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bricked my phone in the final step of returning to s-on...fastboot reboot-bootloader.....ok.....no response from phone DEAD.
Since posting i have checked the tracker for my phone repair and it says that it has been shipped today with no mention of cost. Obviously i haven't recieved the device yet but it looks very promising.
After reading many nightmare stories regarding htc uk repair service, if the information that i have just seen on the tracker is true i.e. phone recieved on 22nd. - dispatched on 23rd., i think that is excellent service especially considering the nature of the fault.
I'll be more buoyant when the phone is in my hands though!

malybru said:
Hi,
Sorry to hear about your predicament.
Did you actually manage to get S-ON ?
If not ,then it will be obvious what you have done.
No point in lying about it .
Just come clean or they will think you are taking the p*$$
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, they will try to find every reason to make sure the repairs are not covered under warranty...if they dont, then you can say it was your Good Luck!!!

bobsie41 said:
I bricked my phone in the final step of returning to s-on...fastboot reboot-bootloader.....ok.....no response from phone DEAD.
Since posting i have checked the tracker for my phone repair and it says that it has been shipped today with no mention of cost. Obviously i haven't recieved the device yet but it looks very promising.
After reading many nightmare stories regarding htc uk repair service, if the information that i have just seen on the tracker is true i.e. phone recieved on 22nd. - dispatched on 23rd., i think that is excellent service especially considering the nature of the fault.
I'll be more buoyant when the phone is in my hands though!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Hope all goes well.

Well, as I know, some people sent their sensation back to repair with ENG OFF and did not really got into any trouble with warranty problem.

Think about it...How would they know? You cant get the phone to boot up, so how would they? They will just reflash the phone through the original process or replace the board inside. They dont have the time and money to go looking for evidence of you voiding the warranty. Its cheaper for them to reflash the phone than to see what you did. Not sure how they do it, but I know they have a method that most of us cannot do. Wont cost them much, at all. Im sure its related to a jtag. They will hook up the board to a device that will reflash the software.
Matt

Just an update to the situation.
I recieved my phone back today fully repaired, new PCBA-mainboard etc. etc. un-branded, un-locked. Was told it would have the latest os installed but came with 2.33 but i've successfully upgraded it. Now to play (a lot more carefully this time!).
For those who totally brick there phone like i did, take heart from my escapade but, perhaps i was just lucky!

Another dead phone

Hi, I have flashed many different roms with no problems on HD2 and Desire S. This evening I thought I would try another Rom (why oh why), so duly wiped and done the usual preparation, but this time it just stuck at HTC for over half an hour, tried rebooting but nothing, tried all the ways on the forum to restart without taking the battery out, in the end I made the stupid mistake of taking the battery out and putting it back in . Well you know the rest, dead phone fried chip I think.
Now my questions are 1) its on contract from Tmobile 6 months ago, the device is obviously S-off so am wondering if I can still get it fixed by them. 2) How much does it cost to have a fried emmc chip replaced if I send it to HTC.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I sent it to HTC without the battery and got a repaired phone free of charge
Sent from my HTC Desire S using xda premium

Hi Dan. Can you tell me the process you went through and is your a contract phone

Can you boot into Recovery or Bootloader? The bootloop can be caused by many reasons, not only eMMC

Hi, can't boot into anything , the phone is just dead, doesn't do anything, no power.

correct me if im wrong but dosnt emmc failure still boot? im not 100% sure thats your problem

Ok, but I tried everything to power up with no luck, I know there was at least 80% battery when I used it, also nothing when I plug it in to the mains.

pandollar said:
Hi, can't boot into anything , the phone is just dead, doesn't do anything, no power.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a completely bricked phone (whatever the reason that caused it). But in this case the repair cannot state that it is S-Off. So go ahead for a replacement. There is a way to unbrick it (JTAG), but never heard so far that the HTC repair centres use that - all the problematic devices were just replaced, not repaired. Good luck

Ok, I will have to try and get them to replace it then. Many thanks for your help.

amidabuddha said:
This is a completely bricked phone (whatever the reason that caused it). But in this case the repair cannot state that it is S-Off. So go ahead for a replacement. There is a way to unbrick it (JTAG), but never heard so far that the HTC repair centres use that - all the problematic devices were just replaced, not repaired. Good luck
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This is great..I have two bricked phones lying about that I have no idea what to do with...

virtu0s0 said:
This is great..I have two bricked phones lying about that I have no idea what to do with...
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Find a person in your area that owns a JTAG, there is a great chance to fix them.

Did i just brick my phone?

I think i just bricked my phone. I am trying to return to S-on and after following all the instructions in the main sticky, i wrote the SUPERCID back to tmobile, and put in the writesecuflag 3 command, and rebooted the bootloader. Now the phone will not turn on at all. Won't power on regular and cannot turn it on into the bootloader. When i plug the phone into the computer QHUSB-DLOAD comes up in the device manager as to what it is saying it is attatched as. Adb shows no devices and RUU's cannot find the device. Omg i really hope i didnt hose this phone.

Did you flash first the ruu that came with your phone?
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using XDA App

and1kar said:
Did you flash first the ruu that came with your phone?
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using XDA App
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Nope i used the tmous 1.50.

I am pretty sure you forgot to run the RUU, and sadly yes I have to inform you that it is bricked :/

xsteven77x said:
I think i just bricked my phone. I am trying to return to S-on and after following all the instructions in the main sticky, i wrote the SUPERCID back to tmobile, and put in the writesecuflag 3 command, and rebooted the bootloader. Now the phone will not turn on at all. Won't power on regular and cannot turn it on into the bootloader. When i plug the phone into the computer QHUSB-DLOAD comes up in the device manager as to what it is saying it is attatched as. Adb shows no devices and RUU's cannot find the device. Omg i really hope i didnt hose this phone.
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Sounds like you bricked it, yes :s

Thanks for the replies guys.

Since i got it from craigslist my only hope is paying htc to repair it i'm assuming?

It should still be covered by the original warranty right?

LooieENG said:
It should still be covered by the original warranty right?
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Just got off the phone with HTC. It is still covered under their warranty. Hopefully since all my void stickers in good standing, I have no physical damage, was able to get the CID back to Tmous and the write secureflag3 went through, there will be no reason to deny it. Here is hoping! I think EXT4 recovery is still on there though. Hopefully it will be so bricked that they will have to reset it and reload the software to be able to do anything with it

Hope you manage to get it fixed!
A question, I have yet to root my XE, but is SUPERCID a must on a sim free phone if you want to flash roms?

the fact is that if it is so bricked that it won't turn on at all they won't check it further. many members achieved to get a new phone as replacement

Just make sure you tell HTC you are the original owner and didnt get it from craigslist.Also DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES Mention any hacking forums like XDA,or ROOT, Just claim that it said "an update was available" so you chose to update and the battery died.I've had free repairs under warranty by using that same advice, A friend of mine mentioned root on his nexus one and they charged him for repair even though it was a month old as he voided the warranty

bonesy said:
Just make sure you tell HTC you are the original owner and didnt get it from craigslist.Also DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES Mention any hacking forums like XDA,or ROOT, Just claim that it said "an update was available" so you chose to update and the battery died.I've had free repairs under warranty by using that same advice, A friend of mine mentioned root on his nexus one and they charged him for repair even though it was a month old as he voided the warranty
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I definitely didnt mention xda or flashing roms or anything, and I told them i received it as an anniversary gift (even though i really did get it from craigslist). Told them i rebooted the phone and it just never came back on. Which really is what happened while leaving out a few details lol.

I wonder what would them HTC guys think if they are already among us

same thing happened to me the other day on my evo 3d...gonna send it in to htc as well...hope they won't know...what are the chances of them getting the phone to turn on??
xsteven77x said:
I think i just bricked my phone. I am trying to return to S-on and after following all the instructions in the main sticky, i wrote the SUPERCID back to tmobile, and put in the writesecuflag 3 command, and rebooted the bootloader. Now the phone will not turn on at all. Won't power on regular and cannot turn it on into the bootloader. When i plug the phone into the computer QHUSB-DLOAD comes up in the device manager as to what it is saying it is attatched as. Adb shows no devices and RUU's cannot find the device. Omg i really hope i didnt hose this phone.
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poktangju said:
same thing happened to me the other day on my evo 3d...gonna send it in to htc as well...hope they won't know...what are the chances of them getting the phone to turn on??
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From everything i read online it really seems hit or miss depending on the technician you get. More often than not they seem to let things slide even if it seems obvious that they should have been able to see it was rooted etc. Here is hoping . I'm gonna send it out tomorrow and will keep this thread updated with developments if anyone is interested in how it went. I have read some HORROR stories about people sending there phone to HTC and it become missing in action for MONTHS. I really pray to christ that does not happen to me.
O/T a little bit, but how come with just about any other "thing" in life a warranty is good and is tied to the object and not to the person. Even though i got this phone off of craigslist, why should that have ANYTHING to do with it. The phone is the phone and the warranty is the warranty regardless of whose possession it is in. I just don't think tmobile should be able to do that. Also i think it's BS that if you buy a brand new phone and it breaks 2 days later, they give you a refurb and not a new one. How do they get away with this ****!

i think im gonna take my chances as well...the person i talked to at htc did say that if the damages were caused by me then i would have a choice to pay them to fix if not i would have to pay $35 to get the phone back...so this could end up costing the shipping to send phone and the $35 to get the phone back.
xsteven77x said:
From everything i read online it really seems hit or miss depending on the technician you get. More often than not they seem to let things slide even if it seems obvious that they should have been able to see it was rooted etc. Here is hoping . I'm gonna send it out tomorrow and will keep this thread updated with developments if anyone is interested in how it went.
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Just wondering how this has progressed. Did you send your phone to HTC? Did they say what the potential repair costs could be?

Well i sent it out on 12/21 and they received it on 12/28. On the tracking website, it says "In repair". From experience, if it is going to have any issues or gonna charge you any money, it says under review until you have spoke to them and made arrangements or paid them. One thing that is pissing me off good is that every day, the day it says it was received is changed. So everyday i have checked, it went from saying received on 12/28, to 12/29, to 12/30, and now 1/1. So i dont know if that is just the way the system works, or if they are trying to sheist me and take forever and a day like some of the horror stories i have read. Not really sure what their is to do but send a replacement since it is hard bricked and cannot be resuscitated even with professional tools from all the research i have done online. In the meantime, i bought a galaxy s 2 and am LOVING it, except for the lack of development in comparison to here in sensation land!

did you get your phone back?
xsteven77x said:
Well i sent it out on 12/21 and they received it on 12/28. On the tracking website, it says "In repair". From experience, if it is going to have any issues or gonna charge you any money, it says under review until you have spoke to them and made arrangements or paid them. One thing that is pissing me off good is that every day, the day it says it was received is changed. So everyday i have checked, it went from saying received on 12/28, to 12/29, to 12/30, and now 1/1. So i dont know if that is just the way the system works, or if they are trying to sheist me and take forever and a day like some of the horror stories i have read. Not really sure what their is to do but send a replacement since it is hard bricked and cannot be resuscitated even with professional tools from all the research i have done online. In the meantime, i bought a galaxy s 2 and am LOVING it, except for the lack of development in comparison to here in sensation land!
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