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Recover Bricked Magic

I have a google ion and plan to load some roms on to it to try out. I am worried about trying things that may go horribly wrong and might leave me with a bricked phone.
My question is, is it always possible to recover a bricked/partially bricked phone? Has anyone heard of a android phone being permanently unusable after screwing around with the software like this?
Thanks in advance.

nirvanaxp said:
I have a google ion and plan to load some roms on to it to try out. I am worried about trying things that may go horribly wrong and might leave me with a bricked phone.
My question is, is it always possible to recover a bricked/partially bricked phone? Has anyone heard of a android phone being permanently unusable after screwing around with the software like this?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As long as you can get into fastboot you can always recover. When you cant get into fastboot your device is a brick that we cant recover anymore.

bricked
Once it is bricked, is it not technically feasible even for HTC guys to revive the phone?
Or
HTC will deliberately refuse to fix it saying "Warranty void due to rooting/reflashing" ?
I am under the impression that once it is bricked while reflashing, one can go to HTC customer care center and get it reflashed back to factory settings.
Please correct me if I am wrong.

It's pretty hard to brick a smartphone... if you do something wrong (like invalid themes, apps, wrong board firmware) it will just bootloop and you can fix it by flashing your nandroid backup (Make a recovery before starting your flash!).

[email protected] said:
Once it is bricked, is it not technically feasible even for HTC guys to revive the phone?
Or
HTC will deliberately refuse to fix it saying "Warranty void due to rooting/reflashing" ?
I am under the impression that once it is bricked while reflashing, one can go to HTC customer care center and get it reflashed back to factory settings.
Please correct me if I am wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it's possible but I think they have to replace the flash memory chip. Dunno if every technican does that..I work my self as a technican (not for htc thouh)

so SPL data is recorded in special chip? so if you screw SPL only way to restore is by changing "SPL chip"?

thank you. I feel a bit safer about hacking my phone. I guess things are pretty safe if I follow the guides that are out there.

Why,or how do phones get bricked?

Everybody out there is asking, how to unbrick this, how to unbrick that? Or if you're in the Evo 3D thread, how do I brick my Evo 3D?
What I'd like to know is, why, or how does a phone get bricked? If you have a USB with corrupted files, you can just totally wipe it and start fresh. If there's no hardware troubles, why isn't there a way to just do a wipe of everything and start fresh?
And also, how is it that a phone gets bricked in the first place? I've heard about things with Emmc boot, getting stuck there, wiping bootloader, etc. But I've flashed multiple different bootloaders, and you have to dabble with Emmc boot while getting S-OFF, so why is it impossible to get out of these if you get stuck in them? Isn't it just software holding you back?
Honestly, if you really just wanted, couldn't you just use an ultra powerful magnet to the NAND Memory to ultra wipe everything? I mean phones aren't assembled with bootloaders or any data in them, in a sense they're factory bricked when they're first created... no?
Ah well, I suppose that's all.
Hungry for information,
TBG

Phones get bricked when you go somewhere in the software that you can't get out of,or you edit the software wrongly, so it doesn't work right anymore. Of course,you could always break something,and kill your phone.
Sent from my U8150 using xda app-developers app

But why is it you can't do a total erase and obliterate every trace of memory from the phone and re-write it? I know the on board memory in a phone doesn't come pre programmed with memory...

thebeastglasser said:
But why is it you can't do a total erase and obliterate every trace of memory from the phone and re-write it? I know the on board memory in a phone doesn't come pre programmed with memory...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No but things like the eMMC chip DO come pre-programmed. If you simply wiped every trace of memory from any phone then it would have no idea how to boot up, how to interface to the USB, how to do anything.
Most of the time a 'Bricked' phone is actually caused by someone not reading properly first and not following the instructions correctly, or by thinking they know better than everyone else and can skip a step or take a shortcut.
On the HTC Desire S there was a problem with the eMMC chips 'frying' - normally caused by people who insisted on pulling their batteries after a lock-up and then re-inserting them quickly before the circuitry had discharged fully

The reasons why phones get bricked :
-Because of a nooby brain
-Corrupted ROM that is not Welly built
-Flashing wrong updates, kernels, ROMS...
-Messing up build.prop
.....many numerous other reasons.
You will understand what bricking means only when you brick your beloved phone
That moment is just like a Mini-Heart attack.
Sent from My Premium Calculator HD

No trust me, I semi bricked my old E4G for Sprint as well as my Transformer Prime and was stuck in fastboot with my Evo 3D... trust me, I'm kind of the definition of mini heart attack...
But why can't you get out of a "hard brick?" And what is it that defines a hard brick that makes it so that you can't do anything else?
EDIT: And does abhardbbrock have to be a hardware error? Or can it be a software error?
EDIT2: Although I suppose I already knew it could be a software error... It can happen easily while getting S-OFF on the EVO 3D.

Probably the most obvious case of "hard brick" is when you can't even start the phone, or open the bootloader, which means that there is no way to reverse the situation as you can't get access. Not sure what's the actual reason these things happen though.

thebeastglasser said:
No trust me, I semi bricked my old E4G for Sprint as well as my Transformer Prime and was stuck in fastboot with my Evo 3D... trust me, I'm kind of the definition of mini heart attack...
But why can't you get out of a "hard brick?" And what is it that defines a hard brick that makes it so that you can't do anything else?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most of the time a hard brick is the result of a part of memory getting wiped that you don't have access to flash to e.g emmc chip,if it gets damaged you can't just flash it as its preprogrammed
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium

zacthespack said:
Most of the time a hard brick is the result of a part of memory getting wiped that you don't have access to flash to e.g emmc chip,if it gets damaged you can't just flash it as its preprogrammed
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ALRIGHT, now that makes sense. Thank you for clarifying. I salute you sir.

Yup, when a device is hard bricked, memory that contains drivers for the boot sequence has been erased or corrupted. Thus, the device quite literally doesn't know how to boot. Data has been erased that can only be manipulated during hardware assembly.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

flashing gapps
DD-Ripper said:
The reasons why phones get bricked :
-Because of a nooby brain
-Corrupted ROM that is not Welly built
-Flashing wrong updates, kernels, ROMS...
-Messing up build.prop
.....many numerous other reasons.
You will understand what bricking means only when you brick your beloved phone
That moment is just like a Mini-Heart attack.
Sent from My Premium Calculator HD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if im using goo manager and check for updates,, does that automatically show me the updates for my phone {verizon s3} and my rom or are they for every phone???

Micromax a76
i have successfully changed my recovery , then i booted my phone with custom UI from zip file... it worked ... then i made factory reset ... my phone stucked in boot loop ... i tried to get into my recovery mode but its not working , phone is going in default factory mode which is in chineese i translated it but it consist of option of testing hardware only .... what to do? how can i get into recovery mode ? is there a way to install custom recovery via USB ? micromax A76

AbleAmazing said:
Yup, when a device is hard bricked, memory that contains drivers for the boot sequence has been erased or corrupted. Thus, the device quite literally doesn't know how to boot. Data has been erased that can only be manipulated during hardware assembly.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it was built and programmed this way, probably so people won't root their phone its a win win cause you don't get to change what you get and if you do and **** this up its your fault and you need to buy a new one(from them) cause who will stay without a phone now days?

Welp, my phone got hard bricked for no reason... I just tried to turn it on, but I get nothing but a LED flash... and that's only if it is charging. My phone is a Moto G, and I have had no problems with it until recently... I can't even get the files to show on my chromebook... I am screwed, aren't I?

So... why can't you just change those little parts to working one that are preprogrammed and why aren't phones made like PC??? You do some s*** with OS... just reinstall it

How to repair soft bricked android?
Okay so first of all I will let you know why a phone gets bricked-
>Corrupted Rom
>Some system files got deleted
>Rooting
>Modding
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MY CASE
I always keep two phones with me like one for my experiments and one as a backup. In this case I'll be talking about my LYF WIND 3 that got bricked.
>Actually I was trying to install TWRP onto that phone but first I had to root it, and due to the upgraded android security, I wasn't able to do via KingoRoot so I tried I-ROOT and it did the job but instead of kingo-superuser I got some ****ty superuser so i tried granting permission to the actual SUPERUSER and while doing so I accidentally double rooted my phone (First with I-ROOT and then with KingoRoot), which was kinda stupid, so it just deleted some system files and my phone wouldn't boot after that. It just got stuck on the boot logo.
>The second time I was trying to replace the boot animation and logo but did something wrong so the same situation arose again.
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CURE
So my phone uses a Qualcomm CPU so i just guessed I'll flash it again.
*After Intense Googling*
I found this software QFIL (Qualcomm Flash Image Loader)
I downloaded this file and the drivers for my device. *Google it you'll find for yours too*
Then I downloaded the Stock Rom for my device *Google it again*
Now I just went over to Flat Build in that software and loaded the firehose file and the rawprogram.0 and Patch.0
Now I had just put my device in Download Mode (Volume Keys and Power Key)
Connected via USB and it detected it and then just clicked on DOWNLOAD
It takes about 5 minutes.
After this your phone gets good as new (Unroot, Full Reset)
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How to brick Galaxy S6

Out of curiosity, is there way to brick this device to stage that for example warranty service can`t find out that it is self-inflicted?

Surely, flashing a bootloader not intended for the device is the best way to brick it?

i will do in that way :
flash engeniereng bootloader
flash a rom not suitable for your device ( ex. rom for 9200hk )
if still works, flash wrong pit file or modified wrong one )

Why would someone do that anyway???

XxM4tzexX said:
Why would someone do that anyway???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can tell you why someone would do that. This is purely hypotethical but here is one reason. Let´s say that you have rooted your device and lost your warranty. After that your camera starts to make buzzing noise and focusing don´t work. ie. this case: http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s6/help/galaxy-s6-camera-randomly-makes-loud-t3123724
Now you want to get that camera fixed for warranty, but they don´t accept it because Knox is tripped. But now if whole phone is bricked and be sent to warranty service, they have no other choice but flash stock firmware and untrip Knox and device will gain full warranty again. Or that is my theory anyway. I mean sometimes these devices just stop working maybe due faulty motherboard or something similar. Please remember this is totally hypotethical...

PeK_m said:
I can tell you why someone would do that. This is purely hypotethical but here is one reason. Let´s say that you have rooted your device and lost your warranty. After that your camera starts to make buzzing noise and focusing don´t work. ie. this case: http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s6/help/galaxy-s6-camera-randomly-makes-loud-t3123724
Now you want to get that camera fixed for warranty, but they don´t accept it because Knox is tripped. But now if whole phone is bricked and be sent to warranty service, they have no other choice but flash stock firmware and untrip Knox and device will gain full warranty again. Or that is my theory anyway. I mean sometimes these devices just stop working maybe due faulty motherboard or something similar. Please remember this is totally hypotethical...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dark ideas! I like it!

I bricked my G920F trying to get back to stock-rom. Nothing would work, Odin failed time after time (cm.bin). I could flash TWRP and used ADB to get back to stock-recovery, connected to smart-switch and performed emergency restore. Failed again.
I took it to a Samsung servicepoint (talking about Holland) and they immediatly found the custom flag. Phone wil be send over to Samsung now and, according to the lady at the servicepoint, Samsung does not even check. They just reflash it and send it back under full waranty. All I can do now is hoping she is right....
Still figuring out why everybody but me can restore a bricked phone through ODIN.

Thoughts about soft and hard brick ?!

HI there.
i read this :
Soft Brick
Soft brick is the state of android device due to some software problems like bootloops or device freezing at some point during boot. This may occur if some software problem occurred in the device mainly during OS upgrade or flashing something such as a custom ROM, camera mod or app in your custom recovery mode. A soft-bricked device is only half-dead. Because of this, your device is not booting anymore or is constantly crashing but can be recognised by a computer.
When your phone is soft brick, don't be panic. You can revive your Android device as long as it is only soft-bricked. The basic solution for this issue is flashing a clean and working version of Android to your device. While, during this process, you may need to restore a backup, flash a custom ROM or stock images to your device.
Hard Brick
Hard brick is the state of android device that occurs when your device is unbootable without a bootloop. A hard Brick device generally show little to no signs of life. If this happens, you had better to buy a new device since your device is showing you a black or grey screen at this point.
A phone get hard-bricked due to trying install ROM not made for the device or use ROM Manager incorrectly. Hard brick is more difficult to resolve and you may require an expert to give you professional advice. However you can recover from hard brick by using JTAG or send your Phone to JTAG service center to get it fixed, which means you no longer need to buy a new one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is it true that even hard bricked device can be high percent recoverable?
I own service and want to know the things good and be normally good. If i have to i will take loan to buy nessesary stuff to be successful.
Is that with JTAG true for tablets too? I have buyd from AliExpress Phone Box 2017 version but still havent used it.
If i have to be more specific. Have one client`s tablet here. It is recognised by Windows as MTK something and gone after seconds from device manager then recognised again and that...
history : it was virused and install OS to it was really needed. I shot in the dark and install it some OS for these parameters:
mt6582 1G+16G and flashed it successfull with SP Flash Tool but now the device does not boot and is half recogniseable in Device Manager. I did that because the device/'beauty' chinese tablet/ has no ID on the back side of it.
I hope this time someone to tell something good and usefull.
Thanks

diretouch said:
HI there.
i read this :
Is it true that even hard bricked device can be high percent recoverable?
I own service and want to know the things good and be normally good. If i have to i will take loan to buy nessesary stuff to be successful.
Is that with JTAG true for tablets too? I have buyd from AliExpress Phone Box 2017 version but still havent used it.
If i have to be more specific. Have one client`s tablet here. It is recognised by Windows as MTK something and gone after seconds from device manager then recognised again and that...
history : it was virused and install OS to it was really needed. I shot in the dark and install it some OS for these parameters:
mt6582 1G+16G and flashed it successfull with SP Flash Tool but now the device does not boot and is half recogniseable in Device Manager. I did that because the device/'beauty' chinese tablet/ has no ID on the back side of it.
I hope this time someone to tell something good and usefull.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it is "possible" to recover hard bricked devices with a JTAG but there are no guarantees it will work and no way to guarantee each customer that there device will be fixed.
As for the MTK device you are trying to repair, you can't just flash a firmware from another mt6582 device, there is quite a bit more involved than just the same CPU. Firmware from another device must be ported to work with the other hardware on the device.
You need to identify more about the device than just it's CPU if you want to find a firmware that will work without modifications.
I DO NOT PROVIDE HELP IN PM, KEEP IT IN THE THREADS WHERE EVERYONE CAN SHARE

Can you help me identify the device ? Please...
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0Bxome1ZSCRIaSW5fNTZrY3NsU2s?usp=sharing

diretouch said:
Can you help me identify the device ? Please...
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0Bxome1ZSCRIaSW5fNTZrY3NsU2s?usp=sharing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If that's the device after you flashed it, it seems to be booting fine. Is it having issues where some features and functions aren't working correctly?
I DO NOT PROVIDE HELP IN PM, KEEP IT IN THE THREADS WHERE EVERYONE CAN SHARE

Unfortunately this is the device before flash.
It`s labeled as pc703 in the seller site/bulgarian not China/
The back cover of the device is
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxome1ZSCRIaOGpIWjcxaGg5ek0/view?usp=sharing

diretouch said:
Unfortunately this is the device before flash.
It`s labeled as pc703 in the seller site/bulgarian not China/
The back cover of the device is
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxome1ZSCRIaOGpIWjcxaGg5ek0/view?usp=sharing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you give me a link to the seller site?
Usually these cheap off branded Chinese tablets are almost impossible to identify properly because the hardware varies so much even among separate devices with the same model number. It is like this because there is no actual "manufacturer", these devices are pieced together with cheap discounted components that were bought in bulk and they use whatever they can get to work, even if it involves using completely different components. This makes it virtually impossible to say exactly which firmware you need.
When a device is bricked and the device is one of these cheap devices that can't be identified properly and has no available stock firmware or stock source code and has no support from the manufacturer, typically, the only solution is to just try different firmwares and hope one works or piece together your own firmware with pieces of others that might compatible.
You'd have to have a lot of time and android development skills to make your own firmware.
You've got a difficult road ahead, I'd suggest they replace the device because the cost of repair will be more than the device costs.
When you flashed the device with SP Flashtool, did you happen to pull anything important from the device or did you by chance make a backup of some sort before you flashed it?
I DO NOT PROVIDE HELP IN PM, KEEP IT IN THE THREADS WHERE EVERYONE CAN SHARE

Man usually understand his mistakes after he did it.
Maybe I will never take again unknown tablet for service. The problem is that the customers are waiting and I am tired of buy customers devices either second hand or new.
The site should be 4sales.BG
That said the woman.
The 'cool' is that I find there version not with 1g+16g
Good night.

In simple words, Soft brick is messing a little with your Android from which you can recover easily.
Hard Brick is like screwing up your device completely, yes, you can recover, but it needs lots of technical process.
---------- Post added at 09:33 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:31 AM ----------
In simple words, Soft brick is messing a little with your Android from which you can recover easily.
Hard Brick is like screwing up your device completely, yes, you can recover, but it needs lots of technical process.

Technical or not that`s not bad. Just want to have the nessesary tools if they are not too expensive. I just wont desolder very very small smd resistances and transistors
If someone can help in my chinese tablet case i will be a little more not unhappy.

Phone is dead after flashing

Hello
I've just flashed my Philips Xenium v787 and installed an official ROM here mediafire.com/file/o91r1zl8nuvsy7u/Philips_V787_MT6753.zip but after flashing is successfully completed, i tried to turn on my mobile but it won't load up and i tried to charge it but no sign!!
Please help.

Caboz said:
Hello
I've just flashed my Philips Xenium v787 and installed an official ROM here mediafire.com/file/o91r1zl8nuvsy7u/Philips_V787_MT6753.zip but after flashing is successfully completed, i tried to turn on my mobile but it won't load up and i tried to charge it but no sign!!
Please help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you say official ROM, do you mean a stock ROM ripped and put on the internet, or a custom ROM used for customization? Does anything pop-up on the screen when you press the power button (i.e. battery indicator)?

CrafterJG said:
When you say official ROM, do you mean a stock ROM ripped and put on the internet, or a custom ROM used for customization? Does anything pop-up on the screen when you press the power button (i.e. battery indicator)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I meant a stock ROM on the internet. Nothing shows up at all, tried to charge the phone and there's no sign, and then tried to get into the recovery mode using power off and volume up + down buttons and nothing happens at all. I'm afraid that my phone could be completely damaged :crying:

Caboz said:
I meant a stock ROM on the internet. Nothing shows up at all, tried to charge the phone and there's no sign, and then tried to get into the recovery mode using power off and volume up + down buttons and nothing happens at all. I'm afraid that my phone could be completely damaged :crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It sounds like your phone may be "bricked". This happens when you load a faulty recovery image onto your device, whether it's incompatible with your device, or a bad recovery. Don't fret, though, as this is sometimes fixable. A simple google search for how to unbrick an Android device delivers a wealth of results, but sometimes a device-specific search may be more relevant to your situation. Best of luck! :good:
- CrafterJG

CrafterJG said:
It sounds like your phone may be "bricked". This happens when you load a faulty recovery image onto your device, whether it's incompatible with your device, or a bad recovery. Don't fret, though, as this is sometimes fixable. A simple google search for how to unbrick an Android device delivers a wealth of results, but sometimes a device-specific search may be more relevant to your situation. Best of luck! :good:
- CrafterJG
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well i searched in Google and unfortunately it seems like my phone is hard bricked. However, I'm going to send it to a repair center and see what's going to happen but i feel like i most likely will end up needing to buy a new phone. Thanks anyways!

Caboz said:
Well i searched in Google and unfortunately it seems like my phone is hard bricked. However, I'm going to send it to a repair center and see what's going to happen but i feel like i most likely will end up needing to buy a new phone. Thanks anyways!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Somehow, what you flashed must not have been for your specific device. Flashing stuff that wasn't made for your specific device is the fastest way to hard-brick a device.
From what you posted in your first post, the file that you downloaded and flashed looks like it should be the correct firmware for your device. But, since you didn't download it from the official site for your device, the file that you downloaded may have been modified before it was posted at the place that you downloaded it from or maybe your downloaded file got corrupted or didn't download completely. A corrupted/incomplete file could result in a hard-brick.
Another thing that could have gone wrong is a faulty connection between your device and PC during the flashing process. Or maybe the battery died during flashing or during first boot. This can also cause a brick.
You might be able to repair the device yourself by replacing the motherboard. It could be cheaper than buying a new device or cheaper than the cost of repairs at a shop. Try finding a YouTube video that demonstrates how to disassemble your device to replace the motherboard. You will have to be certain that you are buying the correct motherboard for your specific device model number. After replacing the motherboard, you will have to make certain that you have the correct official firmware file and then flash that firmware onto the new motherboard.
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk

Droidriven said:
Somehow, what you flashed must not have been for your specific device. Flashing stuff that wasn't made for your specific device is the fastest way to hard-brick a device.
From what you posted in your first post, the file that you downloaded and flashed looks like it should be the correct firmware for your device. But, since you didn't download it from the official site for your device, the file that you downloaded may have been modified before it was posted at the place that you downloaded it from or maybe your downloaded file got corrupted or didn't download completely. A corrupted/incomplete file could result in a hard-brick.
Another thing that could have gone wrong is a faulty connection between your device and PC during the flashing process. Or maybe the battery died during flashing or during first boot. This can also cause a brick.
You might be able to repair the device yourself by replacing the motherboard. It could be cheaper than buying a new device or cheaper than the cost of repairs at a shop. Try finding a YouTube video that demonstrates how to disassemble your device to replace the motherboard. You will have to be certain that you are buying the correct motherboard for your specific device model number. After replacing the motherboard, you will have to make certain that you have the correct official firmware file and then flash that firmware onto the new motherboard.
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for you reply.
Yesterday i went to a few local repair shops and one of technicians connected my phone to a charger where you get a light if your device is connected and working properly, then he told me that it's getting enough amps(ampere) to work well but it's probably going to need a software, unfortunately, they couldn't help me, as they don't have the required software for my device (Philips) and they advised me to visit the manufacturer's service center in order to solve this issue.
What I've noticed is that when i connect my phone to my laptop, i can still hear a sound like the one you get when you connect a USB to your laptop, so maybe it's not a hardware issue?
I've called my manufacturer's repair center and they mentioned that for any repair-related issues, it's going to take 3 working days to fix any issue (due to their policy). However, I'm afraid of having my data spied on/accessed if i left my phone over there and I'm really confused whether to buy a new one or just leave it to get fixed.
P.S To everyone who is trying to help me, i do really appreciate it