So it seems my phone has become a shiny paperweight. The thing is, I don't really understand why it happened. I've been reading how other people arrived at the same situation and although some symptoms are similar, I didn't do any of those things. I wasn't flashing anything, I didn't drop the phone etc
This is what happened: about 24 hours ago, I was using my phone as a GPS (google maps and waze) when it froze. No biggie, it had happened a few times before so I pulled out the battery, waited a few minutes, put the battery back and pressed the power button. The phone started as usual, it got past the HTC splash screen, the boot animation started. A few seconds (maybe 5) into the boot animation, out of reflex, I pressed the power button to turn off the screen. Don't ask why, dunno. As I've said, reflex. So the screen went black. And it stayed that way.
Since then I've been trying to bring it back to life. No luck yet. Here's the status of the phone:
Battery is not empty - when my phone froze yesterday it was about 80% full. I tried a different battery, no change
When I plug in the USB cable to charge it, the orange/green LED that usually lights up, well... doesn't
When I press the power button, the screen backlight turns on for 2 - 3 seconds, then turns off. Pressing VolDown+PWR does the same thing. I know it seems like a battery issue, but I'm pretty sure it isn't
The computer does not see the phone anymore when connected through an USB cable. 'adb devices' doesn't return anything and I don't see anything in the Device Manager (I was hoping for a QHSUSB_DLOAD but no such luck...)
The phone is a HTC Sensation 4G, HBOOT 1.17 (I think), S-OFF, rooted, was running InsertCoin 3.4.6/Android 2.3.5. As I've mentioned, I wasn't doing any of the things that usually lead to a bricked phone like trying to S-OFF/S-ON, flash a ROM etc. I'm currently reading the internets in an attempt to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. These are the questions I'm trying to get an answer for:
When the phone boots, is it not in read only mode? At least when it gets to the boot animation part.... And if so, even if the power button is pressed... shouldn't the phone just turn off and that's it?
Since the phone seems to be as responsive as a... well, brick... If I send the phone to HTC to repair it, will they be able to tell it was S-OFF and all that?
Does this sound like something that JTAG could fix?
Thanks in advance for any help or info.
stealth.kid said:
So it seems my phone has become a shiny paperweight. The thing is, I don't really understand why it happened. I've been reading how other people arrived at the same situation and although some symptoms are similar, I didn't do any of those things. I wasn't flashing anything, I didn't drop the phone etc
This is what happened: about 24 hours ago, I was using my phone as a GPS (google maps and waze) when it froze. No biggie, it had happened a few times before so I pulled out the battery, waited a few minutes, put the battery back and pressed the power button. The phone started as usual, it got past the HTC splash screen, the boot animation started. A few seconds (maybe 5) into the boot animation, out of reflex, I pressed the power button to turn off the screen. Don't ask why, dunno. As I've said, reflex. So the screen went black. And it stayed that way.
Since then I've been trying to bring it back to life. No luck yet. Here's the status of the phone:
Battery is not empty - when my phone froze yesterday it was about 80% full. I tried a different battery, no change
When I plug in the USB cable to charge it, the orange/green LED that usually lights up, well... doesn't
When I press the power button, the screen backlight turns on for 2 - 3 seconds, then turns off. Pressing VolDown+PWR does the same thing. I know it seems like a battery issue, but I'm pretty sure it isn't
The computer does not see the phone anymore when connected through an USB cable. 'adb devices' doesn't return anything and I don't see anything in the Device Manager (I was hoping for a QHSUSB_DLOAD but no such luck...)
The phone is a HTC Sensation 4G, HBOOT 1.17 (I think), S-OFF, rooted, was running InsertCoin 3.4.6/Android 2.3.5. As I've mentioned, I wasn't doing any of the things that usually lead to a bricked phone like trying to S-OFF/S-ON, flash a ROM etc. I'm currently reading the internets in an attempt to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. These are the questions I'm trying to get an answer for:
When the phone boots, is it not in read only mode? At least when it gets to the boot animation part.... And if so, even if the power button is pressed... shouldn't the phone just turn off and that's it?
Since the phone seems to be as responsive as a... well, brick... If I send the phone to HTC to repair it, will they be able to tell it was S-OFF and all that?
Does this sound like something that JTAG could fix?
Thanks in advance for any help or info.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It reminds me Desire S problem - fried emmc chip... If your phone has no valid warranty, I'm suggesting to see phone's internals and inspect emmc chip.
The phone still has warranty, I will try to have it repaired/replaced. The only thing I'm concerned about is the fact that it was S-OFF and running a custom ROM... And I don't have the knowledge or equipment to try to take it apart and fix it myself
If you have warranty just use it they won't be able to ckeck if phone was unlocked or not since it can't boot up.
Well the thing is..i've been using my HTC ONE S for a while now...
Then after a while i tried to root my phone via recovery.
I unlocked the bootloader successfully since when i boot on bootloader my phone said on the top of the screen "UNLOCKED".
Then when i tried to get to recovery...it was stuck on entering recovery..nothing happened.
Installed CWM v6 touch and non-touch same results.
I was going to try TWRP but i went to bed.
Next morning during the day my phone ran out of battery. i mean 0%
i tried to turn it on when i leave it on the charger like an hour.
after an hour the pone didnt boot up..it just dead.
the pc doesnt recognize it at all...the charger makes a "bip" everytime i plug in the phone the led blinks a couple of times before fade again
tried hard/soft reset, tried to put it on bootloader, pressed Vol - and Power button, i keep em pressed for like a minute and nothing happened.
It doesnt show up a Qualcomm dispositive. i mean is not bricked, i never installed a custom ROM/RUU/
he worked like a charm the entired day before ran out of battery.
Tried to replug the battery nothing happened same results.
Sometimes when i tryed to only press the power button the screen flash a bit and then dies.
At the end i let the phone the entire night charging(more than 12hours)
Same results......
my phone doesnt have warranty....
I NEED HELP!
cold tdythis
mike_san said:
Well the thing is..i've been using my HTC ONE S for a while now...
Then after a while i tried to root my phone via recovery.
I unlocked the bootloader successfully since when i boot on bootloader my phone said on the top of the screen "UNLOCKED".
Then when i tried to get to recovery...it was stuck on entering recovery..nothing happened.
Installed CWM v6 touch and non-touch same results.
I was going to try TWRP but i went to bed.
Next morning during the day my phone ran out of battery. i mean 0%
i tried to turn it on when i leave it on the charger like an hour.
after an hour the pone didnt boot up..it just dead.
the pc doesnt recognize it at all...the charger makes a "bip" everytime i plug in the phone the led blinks a couple of times before fade again
tried hard/soft reset, tried to put it on bootloader, pressed Vol - and Power button, i keep em pressed for like a minute and nothing happened.
It doesnt show up a Qualcomm dispositive. i mean is not bricked, i never installed a custom ROM/RUU/
he worked like a charm the entired day before ran out of battery.
Tried to replug the battery nothing happened same results.
Sometimes when i tryed to only press the power button the screen flash a bit and then dies.
At the end i let the phone the entire night charging(more than 12hours)
Same results......
my phone doesnt have warranty....
I NEED HELP!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Run the OEM RUU first ( you need to know what network the phone is locked too and choose the matching RUU, should you have a few options to choose from then choose the highest number or latest version, if it's unlocked choose the HTC RUU again the latest or highest definition).
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2094414
If all else fails ...
Send it back to HTC service centre. Best outcome they'll repair it for free, worst outcome they will tell you how much it'll cost to be repaired and if you choose not to repair then you have to pay P&P for device to be returned. The choice is yours!
Hope that helps.
Optimus.prime.htc said:
Run the OEM RUU first ( you need to know what network the phone is locked too and choose the matching RUU, should you have a few options to choose from then choose the highest number or latest version, if it's unlocked choose the HTC RUU again the latest or highest definition).
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2094414
If all else fails ...
Send it back to HTC service centre. Best outcome they'll repair it for free, worst outcome they will tell you how much it'll cost to be repaired and if you choose not to repair then you have to pay P&P for device to be returned. The choice is yours!
Hope that helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The thing is when i connect my phone to the pc it does nothing. to run the RUU i need to be able to at least install the drivers
mike_san said:
Well the thing is..i've been using my HTC ONE S for a while now...
Then after a while i tried to root my phone via recovery.
I unlocked the bootloader successfully since when i boot on bootloader my phone said on the top of the screen "UNLOCKED".
Then when i tried to get to recovery...it was stuck on entering recovery..nothing happened.
Installed CWM v6 touch and non-touch same results.
I was going to try TWRP but i went to bed.
Next morning during the day my phone ran out of battery. i mean 0%
i tried to turn it on when i leave it on the charger like an hour.
after an hour the pone didnt boot up..it just dead.
the pc doesnt recognize it at all...the charger makes a "bip" everytime i plug in the phone the led blinks a couple of times before fade again
tried hard/soft reset, tried to put it on bootloader, pressed Vol - and Power button, i keep em pressed for like a minute and nothing happened.
It doesnt show up a Qualcomm dispositive. i mean is not bricked, i never installed a custom ROM/RUU/
he worked like a charm the entired day before ran out of battery.
Tried to replug the battery nothing happened same results.
Sometimes when i tryed to only press the power button the screen flash a bit and then dies.
At the end i let the phone the entire night charging(more than 12hours)
Same results......
my phone doesnt have warranty....
I NEED HELP!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you mean you tried to replug the battery, does it mean you were able to open the casing of your oneS? It seems your problem is you have a bad battery, or else your battery is dead.
kasuma_asuma said:
When you mean you tried to replug the battery, does it mean you were able to open the casing of your oneS? It seems your problem is you have a bad battery, or else your battery is dead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah i was able to open the phone, the battery is connected via pin to the motherboard (i though it was solder to the main base)
I'm going to try to charge the battery with an external charger, then plug in to the phone and see what happens.
Is all because of a bug on CWM....TWRP the best!
Testing
mike_san said:
yeah i was able to open the phone, the battery is connected via pin to the motherboard (i though it was solder to the main base)
I'm going to try to charge the battery with an external charger, then plug in to the phone and see what happens.
Is all because of a bug on CWM....TWRP the best!
Testing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, as I can recall on the battery pin, you'll just have to connect the red and black pin to an external power supply, good luck mate! you can do it! :highfive:
HTC One M8, S-Off, Skyfall latest on 4.4.4, stock kernel, TWRP 2.8.1.0. Have been running Skyfall latest since a few days after its release, and TWRP 2.8.1.0 similarly. No problems to report so far.
I was using my phone today as one would, browsing Facebook through the app, and my phone freezes. Screen goes black, power off. Phone was probably at 80-85% battery when this happened.
I am no stranger to freezes and hard reboots, so I expected the phone to come back up shortly after this. It did not.
Tried to reboot via ADB. Couldn't detect the device.
Tried to reboot into recovery by holding Vol Down and Power. No response.
Tried to reboot into a soft reset by holding Vol Up and Power. No response.
Tried to force a battery recalibration by plugging in the phone to a charger* and holding Vol Up, Vol Down, and Power for two minutes. No response. (*the charger was not the stock HTC charger, as I don't presently have access to that, but was rather a generic charger rated for [email protected])
Somehow, miraculously, after leaving the phone plugged in for a few minutes more and fumbling a bit with (I think) the Power and Vol Up, the phone powered on, rebooted twice, and then entered the OS normally. Was stable for what seemed like about 5 minutes. After receiving a few text messages and in the middle of responding to one, it froze and powered off as before.
Last system-level tweaking that I did was to accept the latest SuperSU upgrade a few days ago. That needed to reboot into recovery, install a zip, and reboot again. All appeared to work correctly, and phone booted back up afterwards without issue. Appeared to be stable until today. I'm not blaming the SuperSU update just yet, and it seems an unlikely culprit given that the phone booted back up without issue and was stable for several days following.
Thoughts? Would greatly appreciate any troubleshooting ideas beyond these.
Update 1: After leaving it plugged in for a few minutes, I tried the battery calibration approach again. The device powered on and showed the initial boot splash (the one with the development notice in ugly red). I then released all buttons, and after a few seconds the screen went black. Would not respond afterwards. Beginning to suspect this may be a power issue.
devmage said:
HTC One M8, S-Off, Skyfall latest on 4.4.4, stock kernel, TWRP 2.8.1.0. Have been running Skyfall latest since a few days after its release, and TWRP 2.8.1.0 similarly. No problems to report so far.
I was using my phone today as one would, browsing Facebook through the app, and my phone freezes. Screen goes black, power off. Phone was probably at 80-85% battery when this happened.
I am no stranger to freezes and hard reboots, so I expected the phone to come back up shortly after this. It did not.
Tried to reboot via ADB. Couldn't detect the device.
Tried to reboot into recovery by holding Vol Down and Power. No response.
Tried to reboot into a soft reset by holding Vol Up and Power. No response.
Tried to force a battery recalibration by plugging in the phone to a charger* and holding Vol Up, Vol Down, and Power for two minutes. No response. (*the charger was not the stock HTC charger, as I don't presently have access to that, but was rather a generic charger rated for [email protected])
Somehow, miraculously, after leaving the phone plugged in for a few minutes more and fumbling a bit with (I think) the Power and Vol Up, the phone powered on, rebooted twice, and then entered the OS normally. Was stable for what seemed like about 5 minutes. After receiving a few text messages and in the middle of responding to one, it froze and powered off as before.
Last system-level tweaking that I did was to accept the latest SuperSU upgrade a few days ago. That needed to reboot into recovery, install a zip, and reboot again. All appeared to work correctly, and phone booted back up afterwards without issue. Appeared to be stable until today. I'm not blaming the SuperSU update just yet, and it seems an unlikely culprit given that the phone booted back up without issue and was stable for several days following.
Thoughts? Would greatly appreciate any troubleshooting ideas beyond these.
Update 1: After leaving it plugged in for a few minutes, I tried the battery calibration approach again. The device powered on and showed the initial boot splash (the one with the development notice in ugly red). I then released all buttons, and after a few seconds the screen went black. Would not respond afterwards. Beginning to suspect this may be a power issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well the good news is that you aren't bricked, if the phone gives any signs of life then you are not bricked. Have you always installed SuperSu updates through recovery? I always select I believe it says "normal" and let it do it's thing and until now (knock on wood) haven't had any issues updating binaries that way. I would go back to stock and see if your problems continue or flash the previous SuperSu and see if it still happens.
devmage said:
HTC One M8, S-Off, Skyfall latest on 4.4.4, stock kernel, TWRP 2.8.1.0. Have been running Skyfall latest since a few days after its release, and TWRP 2.8.1.0 similarly. No problems to report so far.
I was using my phone today as one would, browsing Facebook through the app, and my phone freezes. Screen goes black, power off. Phone was probably at 80-85% battery when this happened.
I am no stranger to freezes and hard reboots, so I expected the phone to come back up shortly after this. It did not.
Tried to reboot via ADB. Couldn't detect the device.
Tried to reboot into recovery by holding Vol Down and Power. No response.
Tried to reboot into a soft reset by holding Vol Up and Power. No response.
Tried to force a battery recalibration by plugging in the phone to a charger* and holding Vol Up, Vol Down, and Power for two minutes. No response. (*the charger was not the stock HTC charger, as I don't presently have access to that, but was rather a generic charger rated for [email protected])
Somehow, miraculously, after leaving the phone plugged in for a few minutes more and fumbling a bit with (I think) the Power and Vol Up, the phone powered on, rebooted twice, and then entered the OS normally. Was stable for what seemed like about 5 minutes. After receiving a few text messages and in the middle of responding to one, it froze and powered off as before.
Last system-level tweaking that I did was to accept the latest SuperSU upgrade a few days ago. That needed to reboot into recovery, install a zip, and reboot again. All appeared to work correctly, and phone booted back up afterwards without issue. Appeared to be stable until today. I'm not blaming the SuperSU update just yet, and it seems an unlikely culprit given that the phone booted back up without issue and was stable for several days following.
Thoughts? Would greatly appreciate any troubleshooting ideas beyond these.
Update 1: After leaving it plugged in for a few minutes, I tried the battery calibration approach again. The device powered on and showed the initial boot splash (the one with the development notice in ugly red). I then released all buttons, and after a few seconds the screen went black. Would not respond afterwards. Beginning to suspect this may be a power issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make sure you aren't trying to power it on while still plugged in. The charging animation bug really rears its ugly head sometimes when trying to do that.
The Stig 04 said:
Well the good news is that you aren't bricked, if the phone gives any signs of life then you are not bricked. Have you always installed SuperSu updates through recovery? I always select I believe it says "normal" and let it do it's thing and until now (knock on wood) haven't had any issues updating binaries that way. I would go back to stock and see if your problems continue or flash the previous SuperSu and see if it still happens.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would love to go back to stock if I could get the device to turn on.
This was the first SuperSU update that I can remember having installed, so yes, I've always installed through recovery. The update even prompted me that, for HTC devices, better luck is had via updates through recovery.
dottat said:
Make sure you aren't trying to power it on while still plugged in. The charging animation bug really rears its ugly head sometimes when trying to do that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm unaware of this bug. When disconnected, the device still refuses to reboot via any of the usual reboot patterns (Power, Power + Vol Up, Power + Vol Down, Power + both Vols).
devmage said:
I'm unaware of this bug. When disconnected, the device still refuses to reboot via any of the usual reboot patterns (Power, Power + Vol Up, Power + Vol Down, Power + both Vols).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK. So couple more questions....
Does the power light blink for a second and then go out when you connect power or does it stay on?
What type of device does your computer see the phone as when you connect it? Please try if you have not. Watch device manager while doing so.
dottat said:
OK. So couple more questions....
Does the power light blink for a second and then go out when you connect power or does it stay on?
What type of device does your computer see the phone as when you connect it? Please try if you have not. Watch device manager while doing so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Power light does not blink at all on connection. This is true both when connecting to a USB power adapter and to the computer.
My computer does not recognize a device. ADB does not report that a device is connected. Also, I use a Mac, so System Information does not report any USB device being connected. For comparison, I tried with my wife's Samsung S5, and it reported correctly in both places, so I know the cable and computer are working correctly here too.
devmage said:
Power light does not blink at all on connection. This is true both when connecting to a USB power adapter and to the computer.
My computer does not recognize a device. ADB does not report that a device is connected. Also, I use a Mac, so System Information does not report any USB device being connected. For comparison, I tried with my wife's Samsung S5, and it reported correctly in both places, so I know the cable and computer are working correctly here too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you check dmesg on your Mac and see if you have any qualcomm devices show up near the end of the file? . Plug the phone in right before running the command.
dottat said:
Can you check dmesg on your Mac and see if you have any qualcomm devices show up near the end of the file? . Plug the phone in right before running the command.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nothing from Qualcomm, nor anything related, upon plugging in the phone.
Using
Code:
sudo watch 'dmesg | tail -n 15'
(OS X requires dmesg be accessed with sudo), I saw the following come up upon plugging in the S5 mentioned before:
Code:
USBMSC Identifier (non-unique): 0x00000000 0x4e8 0x685b 0x232, 2
With the same watch in place, I saw no output at all for the M8.
devmage said:
Nothing from Qualcomm, nor anything related, upon plugging in the phone.
Using
Code:
sudo watch 'dmesg | tail -n 15'
(OS X requires dmesg be accessed with sudo), I saw the following come up upon plugging in the S5 mentioned before:
Code:
USBMSC Identifier (non-unique): 0x00000000 0x4e8 0x685b 0x232, 2
With the same watch in place, I saw no output at all for the M8.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would suggest warranty route through HTC. You have got a brick.
dottat said:
I would suggest warranty route through HTC. You have got a brick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is my fear. Thank you for your help.
dottat said:
OK. So couple more questions....
Does the power light blink for a second and then go out when you connect power or does it stay on?
What type of device does your computer see the phone as when you connect it? Please try if you have not. Watch device manager while doing so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Background: Rooted, S-Off (via Sunshine), was running CleanROM (on the 444 firmware) and tried installing Vanir 444. ROM installed no problem, Gapps installed no problem, installed SuperSU 2.40 at the end and rebooted.
I've run into the exact same situation as the OP. Tried all the button combinations/adb stuff and the phone only boots to the initial white HTC screen but then goes blank. I've tried everything to get into bootloader but nothing seems to get me there. The phone vibrates when it "turns on" after the hard reset but nothing after the white HTC screen except a black screen.
I'm responding to this post in particular because my phone was/is showing the blinking power light when it's plugged in. Hopefully this is a good sign?
TIA for any help!
Matt
sigmaxaa said:
Hi,
Background: Rooted, S-Off (via Sunshine), was running CleanROM (on the 444 firmware) and tried installing Vanir 444. ROM installed no problem, Gapps installed no problem, installed SuperSU 2.40 at the end and rebooted.
I've run into the exact same situation as the OP. Tried all the button combinations/adb stuff and the phone only boots to the initial white HTC screen but then goes blank. I've tried everything to get into bootloader but nothing seems to get me there. The phone vibrates when it "turns on" after the hard reset but nothing after the white HTC screen except a black screen.
I'm responding to this post in particular because my phone was/is showing the blinking power light when it's plugged in. Hopefully this is a good sign?
Thanks TIA for any help!
Matt
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm afraid that I won't be of much help going forward. I sent in the device on a warranty claim.
I will add that, in the day or so following my posts here, I plugged the phone in again and to my surprise it began taking a charge again. I let it charge for about an hour, and tried turning it on - remarkably, it came up normally. It was stable for about an hour more, and then froze and powered off as before, refusing to once again turn on.
I left it alone for another couple of days, during which time my replacement arrived, and tried again. It began taking charge, and I left it as such for a couple hours more. This time knowing that my stable time was limited, and with a replacement phone in hand, I immediately restored the phone to RUU stock and locked it.
Your problem seems different from mine, in that my device was outright refusing to even take power or turn on. Best of luck to you, though!
Thanks for the info...I appreciate the response. I'm hoping that there's something that can be done but after 2 hours, trying every trick I could find via
Google with nothing to show for it, I'm keeping fingers crossed that it's something simple I'm missing. If I could just get into the dang bootloader!
Thanks again!
Sent from my SM-P600 using XDA Free mobile app
---------- Post added at 01:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:34 PM ----------
sigmaxaa said:
Hi,
Background: Rooted, S-Off (via Sunshine), was running CleanROM (on the 444 firmware) and tried installing Vanir 444. ROM installed no problem, Gapps installed no problem, installed SuperSU 2.40 at the end and rebooted.
I've run into the exact same situation as the OP. Tried all the button combinations/adb stuff and the phone only boots to the initial white HTC screen but then goes blank. I've tried everything to get into bootloader but nothing seems to get me there. The phone vibrates when it "turns on" after the hard reset but nothing after the white HTC screen except a black screen.
I'm responding to this post in particular because my phone was/is showing the blinking power light when it's plugged in. Hopefully this is a good sign?
TIA for any help!
Matt
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To add to this, I've let the phone sit for about an hour, untouched, and now the green light is blinking like it does when there's a SMS/email. Pushing the power button doesn't do anything.
devmage said:
I'm afraid that I won't be of much help going forward. I sent in the device on a warranty claim.
I will add that, in the day or so following my posts here, I plugged the phone in again and to my surprise it began taking a charge again. I let it charge for about an hour, and tried turning it on - remarkably, it came up normally. It was stable for about an hour more, and then froze and powered off as before, refusing to once again turn on.
I left it alone for another couple of days, during which time my replacement arrived, and tried again. It began taking charge, and I left it as such for a couple hours more. This time knowing that my stable time was limited, and with a replacement phone in hand, I immediately restored the phone to RUU stock and locked it.
Your problem seems different from mine, in that my device was outright refusing to even take power or turn on. Best of luck to you, though!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For what it's worth for anyone that finds this info useful...can't take credit for this as I found it over in the One M8 forum. Thanks to @mpogr
I quote his post: "The problem was that my phone's screen was going blank after the normal boot screen, so I couldn't see when it gets turned off. I was simply pressing the Vol Up + Power for too long, so it would go into full reboot. I just measured the amount of time it was taking to do this (was ~12 seconds). So I pressed Vol Up + Power for ~10 secs, then released those and pressed Vol Down. That finally brought me into Fastboot.
I could have probably gotten the same result by pressing Vol Down + Power, however, the phone screen was blank all the time, so it was difficult to understand when I should have released the Power button to let it go into Fastboot."
I held Power/Vol Up for 10 seconds (as he described) and then let go and immediately held Vol Down only...after about 3 seconds, bootloader screen came up and I was able to get into recovery and restore a backup.