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[Q] Hard Bricked? Sidekick 4g

Soo I have a big problem,
My sidekick 4g suddenly shut off and directly went into Download Bootloader. It would only stay in that window for about 3 seconds then restart. So I tried doing Odin but it would never stay in download mode long enough. After a while, the phone stopped turning on and now it does not even charge. I believe I have hard bricked the phone. When I leave it on the charger. I see no indication that it is charging but the battery gets warm. Is there any hope for me to fix this phone?
Please let me know ASAP. Thanks!

helodavelo said:
Soo I have a big problem,
My sidekick 4g suddenly shut off and directly went into Download Bootloader. It would only stay in that window for about 3 seconds then restart. So I tried doing Odin but it would never stay in download mode long enough. After a while, the phone stopped turning on and now it does not even charge. I believe I have hard bricked the phone. When I leave it on the charger. I see no indication that it is charging but the battery gets warm. Is there any hope for me to fix this phone?
Please let me know ASAP. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does the device even show up as a USB vendor/product id? See that with `lsusb` on Linux or the Device Manager on Windows.
It might be worth trying ayoteddy's FOOL PROOF WAY TO GET INTO DOWNLOAD MODE here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1186954
Perhaps if you trigger the phone to enter download mode that way, it won't just continually reboot...
Beyond that, I think you'll be looking at hardware-level fixes. If the phone isn't literally fried, it can almost certainly be repaired with JTAG. But that would involve a JTAG interface which I am guessing you don't already have.
You might be able to find someone who will JTAG for you for free, or for a fee. A local phone repair shop might have this capability.
If you're damn good with a soldering iron, or have a friend who is, there's also AdamOutler's "UnbrickableMod":
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1347984
That mod is not for the feint of heart, you need to take the phone almost entirely apart and do soldering work within the area of a grain of rice... but it is possible.
But all the options assume that the only problem with the device is a bad flash -- damaged boot loader, bad kernel/recovery, etc. The way you describe your phone's demise, a hardware failure certainly seems like a possibility.
Good luck, I hope your device is not dead.
FWIW, SK4G goes for ~$100-200 on eBay these days depending on condition. Locally you could probably find lower prices.

Wow thanks for all the info but i tried ayoteddy. Since the phone doesnt even power on , i cant do what teddy says. And no, after a few failed odins, the comp doesn't even see the phone. But that's also because the phone doesn't turn on. I even put a charged bat. Still no go

helodavelo said:
Wow thanks for all the info but i tried ayoteddy. Since the phone doesnt even power on , i cant do what teddy says. And no, after a few failed odins, the comp doesn't even see the phone. But that's also because the phone doesn't turn on. I even put a charged bat. Still no go
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It really sounds like a hardware failure.
If you are committed to trying everything to rescue your particular device, you could double down and try a new battery. You risk wasting whatever money you spend on it, of course.
If I recall correctly, the SK4G can't operate properly without some battery current, even when plugged into USB. And the other symptoms seem to leave the door open on battery problems -- sudden power down, brief signs of life which eventually cease, hot battery. The sudden failure of a lithium battery would hardly be unusual.

I have seen an issue very similar to this before. It turned out to be a loose connection inside the phone. Might want to disassemble and reassemble carefully to ensure that the connections are secure. Youtube has dis-assembly videos to guide you. You don't have to completely disassemble the phone, just til you reach the main board and secure the connections to it. If you don't feel like you can hand the task of dis-assembly you could always search for a local phone repair business, or even computer repair shop (they often do some phone repairs). Hope this helps

Hey there, I am trying to fix a SK4G with the exact same problems... download mode will show up, but then the screen will go blank again. I'm gonna look into what blk2dr suggested... did you ever fix yours, OP?

root? so Warranty it, not saying its the most "ethical way"
out of curiosity what was the last, well as samsung would put it, hac...ERRRR unsupported warranty voiding modification known to us as upgrade/flash eg. via cwm odin rom app add on modem kernel etc. that was done to the ol SK? or is it just straight up faulty craftsmanship from samsung...nooooo on a SK4g??? is that possible? lol moving a rom around from folder to root of sd once (zip prev passed md5 check) my 2nd or was it 3rd t839 had a lil hiccup that i didnt realize at the time made my custom Roms zip like 47kb smaller then it previously was and should of been, when flashing is 2nd nature and ur just moving it within the same sd card its already checked out on the md5 sum and ur dealing with a 200+/-mb file, whos gonna notice that minor change? to make a really long story just kinda long, into voodoo cwm flash, let it marinate... phone ran great for 4 days, then i decided i was going to clear cache davlik fix permish and reboot...yea went into cwm wiped wiped and half way thru fix permish phone crashed rebooted back into recov, when i tried to reboot sys it had your same exact issue. DL mode for just a second...then all black yet slightly backlit screen. could never get it to stay long enuff to odin back to stock, fullproof DL mode was a no go and of course the battery died, wouldnt recharge. i played dumb went to tmo store dude tesed phone with new batt my batt in other sk etc etc...anyways he charged my battery up enuff it flared back into dl mode for a few sec...my fix? hours and days headin into weeks of jackin with this thing i went with my cure all root REUPwarranty fix...flash a bad freakin bootloader thru odin and kill it once ad for all, DL mode only needs to be on about 4 sec, not long enough to go back to stock rom but long enuff to kill that B. prefered bootloader is i9000 haha works like a champ everytime to every rooted phone that had issues i needed a warranty exchange on(only been 4) seeing how i get a new phone every 3months on avg and always pay full price the ratio is tiny. yeah i know the trickle down effect raising costs from manufacture in long run yadayada. all is true, but i figure ive been kicked in the groin so many times by samsung,lg,moto,htc etc they can eat 1 every now and then. as a tmo employee in 07/08 i paid 500 upfront for the mda that got back ordered for 6 months had 2 bad dead spots in the touch screen within a month and screen went completely white in 3mnths. some employee/warranty fine print screwed me out of a new phone. and dont even get me started on the sidekick. 399 bucks for a phone that basically got abandoned 3 months later cuz it was junk compared to what it should be and breaks in high quanities. theyll still tax u 20 bucks and make u keep ur old battery and cover charger etc so im not losin any sleep, for real kill it for good, run it to the store get ur new err rebuilt refurb SK4g in 2 days then save up for a t989 s2 dl gmote/spashtop and poweramp on ur SK4g and let her roll as a wireless keyboard/mousepad for ur pc and let the voodoo and Pamp rock as a killer mp3 player. thats all the T-urd-839 is really good for anyways, oh yea and a mediocre bt controller for playin games on my S2's lol do the warranty, its samsung/TMOs fault for lettin this junk product get released, abandoning it and overcharging so many of us. Just do it, do it lol

pull battery, connect usb, hold power, volume up, volume down, camera, and tackpad and insert battery. It should FORCE the phone into download mode.
try it lol~

Skyrocket randomly restarts and vibrates at 2 second intervals?

This has been happening for a few days now, the phone turns off and endlessly vibrates until I pull the battery, and then it does it again and again but it'll work for a few hours before it happens again... I've tried different roms but its still happening and it's getting very frustrating

does it do it on stock? And are you over clocked?
CM9 Skyrocket

droid512 said:
does it do it on stock? And are you over clocked?
CM9 Skyrocket
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm back on gingerbread now cuz ICS was unstable and im not overclocked

Sounds like a stuck power button. There is a thread on this somewhere
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

mindmajick said:
Sounds like a stuck power button. There is a thread on this somewhere
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean like physically? Seems fine the phone just starts doing it randomly while it's just sitting on the bed. Right now it's not even turning on at all no matter what I try :/

...

Here is one example:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1801226
I know there is a good one that goes through the logic of it... but the symptoms seem the same.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

It's in download mode now, I'm going to try downloading stock Rogers ICS and see if the problem persists, if it does I still have 5 months of warranty so hopefully that'll be covered

Ok. You can try jamming on the power button repeatedly too...
Good luck!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

Looks like the skyrocket's done for good.. I'm going to take it in to the store tomorrow but what do you think they'll say when they fix it and find out it's rooted?

SGS2X said:
Looks like the skyrocket's done for good.. I'm going to take it in to the store tomorrow but what do you think they'll say when they fix it and find out it's rooted?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
EDIT: Is there any way to get my files off the internal SD without being able to turn the phone on? can't get into download mode or recovery because the phone just turns off 3-4 seconds in

SGS2X said:
EDIT: Is there any way to get my files off the internal SD without being able to turn the phone on? can't get into download mode or recovery because the phone just turns off 3-4 seconds in
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no.
try this test, when it goes through the bootloop, keep the power button depressed w/out releasing it and see if it displays the same charactersistics as your bootloops, also count the seconds each situation has, if they are the same then the problem is the sticky power button

As posted earlier, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1801226
It's the power button that is messed up, hands-down.
Try and try and try and sooner or later you'll probably get it. I could care less about the phone as I have a replacement coming, but I wanted to get my data off of it.
Open up you're phone if you're comfortable and mess with the power button directly some, either you're going to fix it long enough to get your data or break it completely...doesn't really matter at this point.
Just put the battery in and right after the phone vibrates hold the power button and see how lucky you are at getting it to last the full 8+ seconds instead of the usual 2 before it reboots and vibrates.
Once you get it working, don't touch that *****. As gently as possible, set it down and get your USB in, turn on Mass USB and debugging and copy your stuff. Put the timeout to the max or download an app so you don't have to touch the power button ever and just touch the screen every once in awhile if you don't have an app. Don't forget to reset your flash counter and reflash stock ODIN if you're rooted or on anything custom (Use ADB to reboot through all this)
Honestly...I let my phone restart on its own for a total of like 8 hours (I didn't care and honestly hoped it burnt up or something and was completely fried) and I watched it for a good chunk of the time and it never booted up on its own. After I took it apart twice and beat the hell out of the power button a good while I finally got it to work.
Repeatedly mashing it after 'attempting' to clean it and then pulling the battery/reinserting and seeing if it worked is how I finally got mine.
Now it's just a paper weight till the new one comes.
Edit: I find it weird that a lot more of these problems are popping up. I noticed a bunch of threads on various sites towards the end of June that had popped up and now some are here too recently. I guess the Skyrocket's cheap-feeling Power Button is indeed...cheap.

It isn't the power button. I posted this problem months ago and took it in to a device center. It was actually a battery issue where it connects into the phone. The charge going into the phone doesn't stick, causing it to flicker power and thus restart constantly. They never ended up getting my old one to turn on and never saw it was rooted and what not. Ended up just giving me a refurbished one.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda premium

aceownstheworld said:
It isn't the power button. I posted this problem months ago and took it in to a device center. It was actually a battery issue where it connects into the phone. The charge going into the phone doesn't stick, causing it to flicker power and thus restart constantly. They never ended up getting my old one to turn on and never saw it was rooted and what not. Ended up just giving me a refurbished one.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well if it never turns on, then its not the sticky power button problem, the sticky power button has a reboot symptom at a consistent interval

hd2k10 said:
As posted earlier, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1801226
It's the power button that is messed up, hands-down.
Try and try and try and sooner or later you'll probably get it. I could care less about the phone as I have a replacement coming, but I wanted to get my data off of it.
Open up you're phone if you're comfortable and mess with the power button directly some, either you're going to fix it long enough to get your data or break it completely...doesn't really matter at this point.
Just put the battery in and right after the phone vibrates hold the power button and see how lucky you are at getting it to last the full 8+ seconds instead of the usual 2 before it reboots and vibrates.
Once you get it working, don't touch that *****. As gently as possible, set it down and get your USB in, turn on Mass USB and debugging and copy your stuff. Put the timeout to the max or download an app so you don't have to touch the power button ever and just touch the screen every once in awhile if you don't have an app. Don't forget to reset your flash counter and reflash stock ODIN if you're rooted or on anything custom (Use ADB to reboot through all this)
Honestly...I let my phone restart on its own for a total of like 8 hours (I didn't care and honestly hoped it burnt up or something and was completely fried) and I watched it for a good chunk of the time and it never booted up on its own. After I took it apart twice and beat the hell out of the power button a good while I finally got it to work.
Repeatedly mashing it after 'attempting' to clean it and then pulling the battery/reinserting and seeing if it worked is how I finally got mine.
Now it's just a paper weight till the new one comes.
Edit: I find it weird that a lot more of these problems are popping up. I noticed a bunch of threads on various sites towards the end of June that had popped up and now some are here too recently. I guess the Skyrocket's cheap-feeling Power Button is indeed...cheap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright, I will definitely try and try until the phone turns on before taking it into the store. This has actually been happening for a few days now but I didn't really care too much because I was really busy and I thought since it turns on after a few tries, I'll just take the files off and return it to stock later. Also, yesterday someone gave the suggestion of repeatedly jamming the power button and that actually worked twice but after that it never worked again.
Is it possible to remove the back and fix the power button without voiding the warranty (are there any stickers)?
EDIT: I have it disassembled right now, what exactly should I do to the power button? I tried clicking it a few times and blowing at it nd I put the battery in but still the same thing
EDIT 2: Umm what looks to be the litmus paper on the inside is red.. the phone has never come in contact with water so how is this possible..
EDIT 3: Every housing I've seen online (4-5) has a red square on the housing so I'm guessing it comes in red by default? Either way I'm taking it to Rogers right now, they said I could have a refurbished for 35 or I can just repair this one so I'm just going to repair it and hopefully the files will be preserved.
My only concern.. the phone running Juggernaut 5 right now LOL and the internal SD is full of rom zips and kernels so hopefully they don't look at that, or don't care. Once they repair the phone, what can they really do tho? Break it again nd send it back? haha

SGS2X said:
Alright, I will definitely try and try until the phone turns on before taking it into the store. This has actually been happening for a few days now but I didn't really care too much because I was really busy and I thought since it turns on after a few tries, I'll just take the files off and return it to stock later. Also, yesterday someone gave the suggestion of repeatedly jamming the power button and that actually worked twice but after that it never worked again.
Is it possible to remove the back and fix the power button without voiding the warranty (are there any stickers)?
EDIT: I have it disassembled right now, what exactly should I do to the power button? I tried clicking it a few times and blowing at it nd I put the battery in but still the same thing
EDIT 2: Umm what looks to be the litmus paper on the inside is red.. the phone has never come in contact with water so how is this possible..
EDIT 3: Every housing I've seen online (4-5) has a red square on the housing so I'm guessing it comes in red by default? Either way I'm taking it to Rogers right now, they said I could have a refurbished for 35 or I can just repair this one so I'm just going to repair it and hopefully the files will be preserved.
My only concern.. the phone running Juggernaut 5 right now LOL and the internal SD is full of rom zips and kernels so hopefully they don't look at that, or don't care. Once they repair the phone, what can they really do tho? Break it again nd send it back? haha
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would just fiddle with the power hoping for the best.
As far as your roms go, I doubt it'll be a problem. A) They're not going to get the phone to turn on anyway. They're probably just going to repair the button and reflash before they even check anything. Either way, like you said, the worst case is they find it but you already have your replacement...maybe they'll try charging you the phone, throw a hassle and offer to cancel your service and tell them to send you your "unwarranteed phone" and the button repair bill and they can have theirs back. I don't seem them getting you for it. All they might do is check the flash counter which probably hasn't been tripped if you didn't use a bad ODIN.

Juggernaut 5
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Click to collapse
i never seen this rom, where did u get it, is it for the skyrocket, if not could be your prob

hd2k10 said:
I would just fiddle with the power hoping for the best.
As far as your roms go, I doubt it'll be a problem. A) They're not going to get the phone to turn on anyway. They're probably just going to repair the button and reflash before they even check anything. Either way, like you said, the worst case is they find it but you already have your replacement...maybe they'll try charging you the phone, throw a hassle and offer to cancel your service and tell them to send you your "unwarranteed phone" and the button repair bill and they can have theirs back. I don't seem them getting you for it. All they might do is check the flash counter which probably hasn't been tripped if you didn't use a bad ODIN.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
vincom said:
i never seen this rom, where did u get it, is it for the skyrocket, if not could be your prob
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flash counter is at 0, I checked when I managed to get into Download mode before it stopped working altogether. Juggernaut 5 is a rom for the Hercules (T989) and that's not the problem, I've used it before and I only flashed it after the problem started because I thought ICS was the problem, but it stayed even after flashing Juggernaut.

so what did u end up doing, fool around w/the power button or did u bring it in

Charging animation on while phone is unplugged and powered off

When I turn my phone off, entirely (even after removing/re-inserting the battery) the charge animation still appears, signifying there is still some battery drain occurring....and it really does, too. It lasts for about a week in this state from fully charged, to entirely dead. This isn't the most concerning part, though....the only logical assumption is that the phone actually thinks it's being charged
I've done a FULL wipe of all partitions and a factory flash, but that hasn't helped....any suggestions? It's pretty annoying that if I don't want the battery to discharge I have to actually unplug the battery entirely, even in a full power-off state (or at least as fully powered off as this particular phone can get at the moment)
(please excuse the slow upload. the video will be live shortly)

148 views, 0 replies....
BUMP!!

hp420 said:
148 views, 0 replies....
BUMP!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
go to samsung service

leap_ahead said:
go to samsung service
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Click to collapse
It's well out of warranty, I'm not paying to have it fixed, and there is no way anyone at Samsung that will get on the phone to help me will be of any more assistance than I will find here

hp420 said:
It's well out of warranty, I'm not paying to have it fixed, and there is no way anyone at Samsung that will get on the phone to help me will be of any more assistance than I will find here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
why that ? you have other phone ?

leap_ahead said:
why that ? you have other phone ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, my current phone is a Nexus 4. The phone with issues is a NS4G and I dropped sprint like a bad habit earlier this year, so it's just a reference device now.

Uhmmm... Dust into connector? Since the current pins are hard wired to the recharge circuit, maybe there's a short and the battery it's powering it up.
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium

ozone89 said:
Uhmmm... Dust into connector? Since the current pins are hard wired to the recharge circuit, maybe there's a short and the battery it's powering it up.
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the input Dust has occurred to me in the past, and I've done a fair job of cleaning it. Just for the sake of saying I did it, I dusted it again, and this time I even unscrewed the back cover and dusted everything I could reach...much more of a teardown and I'm wandering down a road I don't want to go down....reassembly isn't my strong point. I can take anything apart without a problem...putting it back together is another story entirely lol
Anyway, I cleaned everywhere I could reach thoroughly...still happening, unfortunately.
Thank you for the input, though. You are correct that a big enough dust bunny could cause a short

[Q] LG G2 will not power on, seemingly no reason

Here is what happened exactly:
So the phone is sitting on my windowsill so i can get service and receive texts messages. i get a text so i walk over, pick up my phone, unlock it, and i pressed on the textbox to start typing my reply message. as soon as i press the text box my phone freezes, and thinking its no big deal i hold down the power button to turn off my phone (took about 10 seconds to power off). Now my G2 will not do anything at all, wont power on, wont charge, the red light doesn't even come on with the charger plugged in.
Things I've tried:
holding power/power+down/power+up for 2 minutes+
disconnecting the battery for 5 minutes and trying ^ again
disconnecting every component and reconnecting then trying ^^ again.
disconnecting battery, plugging in charger
disconnecting battery, plugging in charger, then reconnecting battery with charger still attached
charging with lg charger for 12 hours
additional details that may be useful:
at&t D800
rooted
cwm recovery
optimus g3 custom ROM
literally never have had an issue with this phone before
a new battery is on its way in case that is the issue

blacklight215 said:
additional details that may be useful:
a new battery is on its way in case that is the issue
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Scratch that, i actually canceled the purchase of the new battery because i think i may need a new mobo instead. I'm not gonna buy anything until i get a second opinion at least.

sorry about the 3rd post in a row
I've ordered a new motherboard that has arrived today in the mail. after i get that in my old phone ill update the thread again.
I have to say though, i am extremely surprised and irritated by the absolute lack of support I've received from this site. i would always come here to find answers in other threads and the community seemed pretty awesome, so its pretty unfortunate that i haven't gotten even a single reply. i guess people only want to help others when they already no the answer...

blacklight215 said:
I've ordered a new motherboard that has arrived today in the mail. after i get that in my old phone ill update the thread again.
I have to say though, i am extremely surprised and irritated by the absolute lack of support I've received from this site. i would always come here to find answers in other threads and the community seemed pretty awesome, so its pretty unfortunate that i haven't gotten even a single reply. i guess people only want to help others when they already no the answer...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you found a solution to this? My phone did the exact same thing yours did last Friday. I tried several button combos and the only thing that gave me some hope was resetting (power + vol. down). I was able to get the LG splash, then the ATT splash and jingle with the LED lights changing colors, but that was it, went back to dead. I'm debating ordering a battery and some tools to try and get this working again.

thestrangebrew said:
Have you found a solution to this? My phone did the exact same thing yours did last Friday. I tried several button combos and the only thing that gave me some hope was resetting (power + vol. down). I was able to get the LG splash, then the ATT splash and jingle with the LED lights changing colors, but that was it, went back to dead. I'm debating ordering a battery and some tools to try and get this working again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, so i got the mobo in my phone and it turned on and everything was working again! however the mobo i bought had a broken battery connection so i could only use it if it was on the charger so i had to send it back. but replacing my motherboard will fix my issue.
as for yours i have no idea, if it wont turn on even with the charger plugged in then replacing your mobo may be a solution.
i still think its pathetic that no one with real experience has replied to this thread, i guess you cant believe what your told about this place unless your question is easy to answer.

blacklight215 said:
Yeah, so i got the mobo in my phone and it turned on and everything was working again! however the mobo i bought had a broken battery connection so i could only use it if it was on the charger so i had to send it back. but replacing my motherboard will fix my issue.
as for yours i have no idea, if it wont turn on even with the charger plugged in then replacing your mobo may be a solution.
i still think its pathetic that no one with real experience has replied to this thread, i guess you cant believe what your told about this place unless your question is easy to answer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where and how much was your mobo? Did you have to solder anything?

thestrangebrew said:
Where and how much was your mobo? Did you have to solder anything?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i got it on eBay, the original price was like $120 but i put in an offer of $75 and they took it. when you buy it make sure you compare the pictures on the posting to your actual Mobo.
All that you will need for the switch is a credit card, a knife, an extremely tiny screw driver, and some double sided tape(the tape is optional).
as you can see in my picture, the board i bought is on the right and the old one is on the left. you have to watch for stuff like that when buying a part like this.
i think I'm about to buy a D800 G2 with a busted screen for $40 in the next hour, if i get it ill let you know how it goes.

Success!!!
Alright so yesterday i did buy that busted G2 and when i met up with the kid i made sure everything worked before i bought it. i got back to work and made the switch(i was going slow and i was debating on swapping the charging component, took about 35 minutes).
I did not wanna put my Sim in the phone until after i had downloaded all my apps and configured all of my settings the way i like them, so about 6 hours later i get a chance to make the final switch over. when i did put in my SIM everything APPEARED to work fine, but when i left my home i realized that my data was not sending or receiving anything at all? i went to the grocery store and bought a glasses repair kit for the screwdriver inside and opened the phone back up, everything appeared to be connected properly.
I left and called AT&T customer support and this guy helped me fix the issue, apparently their system though i was still using the temp iPhone 4 i had. after he switched the old IMEI number to my new Mobo's IMEI, i restarted my phone and it worked perfectly! i highly recommend taking this route if you can get a new board for less than a new G2 costs.
The Mobo i got off the kid is legit too, i guess he bought it only a month or two ago because it has some features i did not have like the knock code. i also got it rooted and flashed TWRP, not sure if ill flash a G3 ROM or leave it like it is.

Pixel 3a always on and bootlooping, any suggestions?

Hello.
For maybe the 5th time I just took apart my old 3a that my son's been using. I was going to replace the battery, but turned out the battery I'd ordered (OEM and fresh from the wrapper) was bad (puffing up). Needless to say, I didn't replace the battery just now. The old one was managing ok, so definitely wasn't dead. I removed it carefully, so figured I could just reinstall it until I got a better one.
Having put the phone all back together (unfortunately, breaking the cable for the fingerprint sensor along the way, but AFAIK, that would have nothing to do with my problem), I found the phone was bootlooping. Not just that, but once I took it back apart, I found that as soon as I plugged in the battery to the motherboard, it started to boot. Holding any combination of buttons didn't stop the bootlooping. I'm just seeing the start screen (it's rooted) and maybe a flash of the Google logo, then back again. I can't turn it off without unplugging the battery.
So now I don't know what to do with the thing. I thought I'd just put it back together and let it limp along for a while, but suddenly it's hosed. Has anyone else experienced this kind of behavior and found any fix?
Thanks

JimDandy68 said:
Hello.
(…) as soon as I plugged in the battery to the motherboard, it started to boot. Holding any combination of buttons didn't stop the bootlooping. I'm just seeing the start screen (it's rooted) and maybe a flash of the Google logo, then back again. I can't turn it off without unplugging the battery. (…)
Click to expand...
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Never took my Pixel 3a apart, but first thing I'd check would be power button - it might be stuck (always pressed), might be "shorted".

Tamsta_T said:
Never took my Pixel 3a apart, but first thing I'd check would be power button - it might be stuck (always pressed), might be "shorted".
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Thanks, @Tamsta_T
I didn't want to complicate the story, but I did also replace the entire power switch. No matter, it does the same thing with the old power switch, the new power switch, everything connected to the motherboard, or nothing connected at all except the battery. Also, whether or not it's plugged in. IIRC, the battery had over 60% charge when I started this morning, and it's been keeping the phone going for a whole day. I feel like something must be up with the motherboard itself, but don't really know.

Could the touch sensor being broken actually cause this problem? That's the only thing that's different. I don't even know how that cable got broken, as I tried to carefully remove it from the motherboard. But it's done, and to test that theory, I'd have to buy another.

JimDandy68 said:
Could the touch sensor being broken actually cause this problem? That's the only thing that's different. I don't even know how that cable got broken, as I tried to carefully remove it from the motherboard. But it's done, and to test that theory, I'd have to buy another.
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JimDandy68 said:
I didn't want to complicate the story, but I did also replace the entire power switch.
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how is power switch connected to the motherboard? Is that connection 100% intact nor damaged? By the way, if fingerprint cable is broken, maybe that connector is damaged too and is causing short circuit?
And can you enter fastboot or recovery mode?

Sorry, this might have gotten buried in my last reply:
it does the same thing with the old power switch, the new power switch, everything connected to the motherboard, or nothing connected at all except the battery
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I don't have the broken fingerprint sensor cable attached at all. Tried it once, but figured that was pointless if not counter-productive.
I've also cleaned all the accessory contacts, including the one for the power switch, using 91% isopropyl. The only thing I haven't done, and the last thing I can think to try, is to really hit the motherboard with compressed air, especially the contact for the power/volume switches. I just know it worked fine after taking it apart multiple times, before this last time.
If it's not some damage to or debris in the power-switch connector, at this point I'm thinking the motherboard's gone bad in some other way.

Asked over in iFixIt, and was informed that it may well be that not having the fingerprint sensor attached could cause POST to fail, so I'm going to try a new one and see if that helps.

JimDandy68 said:
Asked over in iFixIt, and was informed that it may well be that not having the fingerprint sensor attached could cause POST to fail, so I'm going to try a new one and see if that helps.
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New fingerprint sensor, per this recommendation. Phone still endlessly bootloops. Seems to be permanently powered on, cannot stay in bootloader/fastboot mode for more than about 2 seconds. The buttons all register -- e.g., if I hold down all 3, the phone goes black, but only until I release them. There seems to be no way to intervene in the problem. I think I may have to give up on this, unless anyone has further suggestions (beyond a new motherboard, since I've already invested too much time and money in it).