Think you've broken your phone? Read this to return it back to normal.​
I've seen a lot of questions about people accidentally screwing up their phones or doing something similar around here and on the OG Evo forums. This thread is for those of you who want to return it back to normal. This is also useful to redirect people to if they have those questions.
If your phone won't start up at all and the LED won't light up at all when it is plugged in:
-Take out battery and put it back in
-If that doesn't work, swap out a battery with one you know works
-If that doesn't work, take out the SD card and try again
*If taking out the SD card fixed it, your SD card is bad and you need a new one.
-If that doesn't work or you know it isn't the battery or SD card, your phone is probably bricked.
If your phone doesn't start up but a red LED blinks when you plug it in:
*Download Android ADB Files if you don't already have them
-Plug your phone in to your computer. With a terminal/cmd, navigate to /android-sdk-(OS You're Using)/platform-tools and type "adb reboot"
-If that doesn't start up your phone, try the steps before except this charge your battery or replace with a working battery
*If your phone doesn't get get past the HTC splash screen, use "adb reboot bootloader" instead of "adb reboot" so you reboot into bootloader.
If your phone starts up but gets stuck at the HTC splash:
-Go into bootloader with vol-down+power and go to recovery. Wipe everything and then flash a ROM or backup from there that you know has worked before
-If that doesn't work, flash this from bootloader: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1193540
-If you can't access your SD card, replace it with a working one
If your phone won't go into recovery:
-Flash the TWRP PG86IMG through bootloader again:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1192077
-If that doesn't work, try the S-OFF tool again and reflash the recovery
-If that doesn't work, try putting back S-on (download fastboot and type "fastboot oem writesecureflag 3" or "fastboot oem lock" into cmd/terminal) and then flashing PG86IMG. Then try S-offing again and flashing the recovery.
If your phone won't get past the boot animation:
-Go into bootloader with vol-down+power and go to recovery. Wipe everything and then flash a ROM or backup from there that you know has worked before
If your phone gets bootloops:
-Pull the phones battery and put it back in, then:
Go into bootloader with vol-down+power and go to recovery. Wipe everything and then flash a ROM or backup from there that you know has worked before
-If that doesn't work, flash this from bootloader: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1193540
If anything else strange is happening to your phone:
-Reboot phone
-If that doesn't work, wipe data and go back to a working ROM/Recovery
-If that doesn't work, flash the PG86IMG RUU:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1193540
If you want more accurate instructions on how to fix a problem, ask in this thread.
It's nice that you're trying to help people out, but I'm sure that everyone does all this anyway when they have seemingly unfixable problems lol
freeza said:
It's nice that you're trying to help people out, but I'm sure that everyone does all this anyway when they have seemingly unfixable problems lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ure right, but this could help some noobs. Should be sticky imo.
- Coz i just saw it in 3D with the Shooter -
dashrink said:
Ure right, but this could help some noobs. Should be sticky imo.
- Coz i just saw it in 3D with the Shooter -
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah it should definitely be a sticky. Surprising even with all this information all the n00bs still ask the same damn questions about stuff that has been posted here time and time again
I have HBOOT 1.5 and suffering from stucking at splash screen. In fact, before stuck at splash screen, I did not tried to s-off, rooted, and flash any roms. Just a fully reboot result in stuck at splash screen. I have tried every method you mentioned above, just stuck at the splash screen:-(
I googled all the world, and someone said maybe eMMC chip damaged? It is happened on EVO 4G, but maybe also on EVO 3D? I hope it is not true, I always hope my situation is just a soft brick, anyone can tell me if it is possible brick the phone( stuck at the splash screen) due to eMMC chip damaged? Thanks in advance!
freeza said:
It's nice that you're trying to help people out, but I'm sure that everyone does all this anyway when they have seemingly unfixable problems lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heh, you'd be surprised with all the threads about people asking how to fix their phone after 'x' happened.
subaochen said:
I have HBOOT 1.5 and suffering from stucking at splash screen. In fact, before stuck at splash screen, I did not tried to s-off, rooted, and flash any roms. Just a fully reboot result in stuck at splash screen. I have tried every method you mentioned above, just stuck at the splash screen:-(
I googled all the world, and someone said maybe eMMC chip damaged? It is happened on EVO 4G, but maybe also on EVO 3D? I hope it is not true, I always hope my situation is just a soft brick, anyone can tell me if it is possible brick the phone( stuck at the splash screen) due to eMMC chip damaged? Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess something hardware related could only be the case then. If you've tried everything you could, that is probably the case. Go to sprint and tell them something happened during an OTA. (IK it is hardware related, but that will still get you a better chance of them replacing it)
If you want to have S-On for when you take it back to sprint, open up a terminal and type "fastboot oem writesecureflag 3" and it will remove -revolutionary- and change s-off to s-on.
Although I have figured this out through other posts, etc.....
+1 for sticky
would of been great to be reassured there is a light at the end of tunnel if
I messed up before I jumped into rooting/flashing. And a good place to calm the nerves when you bootloop for the first time....
Sent from my clean sharp shooter
HBoot 1.50 Softbrick
My phone is bricked!
But yay for fixability, (and your optimism: I vote for stickying your post!)
It WON'T:
Go into Recovery (and it's HBoot 1.50)
Let me touch the screen, or buttons.
Bring up the start-up unlock screen.
It CAN:
Recognize when charging / when the battery is in;
Recognize the power button to turn the screen on/off.
Boot up to the main page where icons come up (But only the status bar is seen)
And Shake to take pictures! I accidentally took my first, being the screen I can get to.
Probable Causes:
I think I froze something I shouldn't have (Settings widget?), with Ti Backup.
Or that senseless Rom I put in... Now it doesn't sense me! All the thing wants to do is take pictures of its selfish self.
Solutions?
Thanks!
You're responses are much appreciated!
RUU
/10char
I vote for sticky, too.
I am no noob. I didn't do anything to my phone prior to bricking. I had my phone fully charged in the evening and woke up to a brick. The phone worked great from the time I bought it ... great the whole time it was rooted ... great with each iteration of SteelH's ROM. Then I woke up to a brick.
Even though I knew all of the steps to take (and did each one to no avail) I still felt helpless and started a thread in Q&A praying there was something to make it come back to life.
Now I'm just sad.
RemWhale said:
My phone is bricked!
But yay for fixability, (and your optimism: I vote for stickying your post!)
It WON'T:
Go into Recovery (and it's HBoot 1.50)
Let me touch the screen, or buttons.
Bring up the start-up unlock screen.
It CAN:
Recognize when charging / when the battery is in;
Recognize the power button to turn the screen on/off.
Boot up to the main page where icons come up (But only the status bar is seen)
And Shake to take pictures! I accidentally took my first, being the screen I can get to.
Probable Causes:
I think I froze something I shouldn't have (Settings widget?), with Ti Backup.
Or that senseless Rom I put in... Now it doesn't sense me! All the thing wants to do is take pictures of its selfish self.
Solutions?
Thanks!
You're responses are much appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you get into the boot loader at all? I've always heard that if it powers on it can be fixed. Also see if ADB works and look up a list of commands. A full data wipe should get you back up and running.
An RUU sounds like something I should put on my SD card; What is /10char?
Where do I find them?
@ Drewmungus:
I can get into boatloader, and fastboot, but the recovery is shot; it just restarts the phone. When I reboot the phone, should I try to adb/push something?
Many Thanks for you responses!
RemWhale,
Here is the fix (which was also above):
Download TWRP 1.0 and read the instructions on installing it on your phone. Once it is installed, recovery should work. If it doesn't,
Boot into bootloader with vol+power down. Then hit fastboot and connect your phone to your computer. Download the PG86IMG in the OP, and flash it how you would on hboot 1.5.
Problem from bad freezing or Recent ROM
yousefak said:
RemWhale,
Here is the fix (which was also above):
Download TWRP 1.0 and read the instructions on installing it on your phone. Once it is installed, recovery should work. If it doesn't,
Boot into bootloader with vol+power down. Then hit fastboot and connect your phone to your computer. Download the PG86IMG in the OP, and flash it how you would on hboot 1.5.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After all this, my battery shorted or something, but I did get a new one from Sprint today. I tried it out these solutions! My report:
Recovery through SD Card:
For newest versions: teamw.in/project/twrp/67
Successfully put PG86IMG.zip and recovery-twrp-shooter-1.1.1.img onto my SD card, and went to Bootloader; it said "Updated succesfully.";
when I restarted my phone, I still could ONLY see the background pic and status bar, but nothing else. It was the same.
RUU_Shooter_S_Sprint_WWE_2.08.651.2_Radio_0.97.10.0808_NV_SPCS_1.31_003_release_208230_signed
RUU failed - Error 155 - Unknown Image Error:
One of these error messages will appear when you'd use the incorrect RUU to update and the image file size is larger than the Flash ROM size. In this case, It means I need to download the correct RUU version and try again. But where?
Factory Reset
Nothing. I still get MY emails, which you can see in the attached picture of the screen I get to below.
Re-Unlock Bootloader...
Take out SD Card; Cmd: "fastboot oem lock" - Cmd: "fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlock_code.bin"
(No icons on home page at all? How strange...) Hey! I'm back in!
Made a Phone call! Installed some widgets! Restored contacts!!!!
The day is saved; All is well.
Not able to tell if I have any ROMs on it at the moment...
It appears I had the wrong RUU and/or PMG86.zip; I have HBoot 1.50; is there one for my newer version? Should I start a new post for my resolved situation? BTW, thanks for trying! Please add "Re-Unlock Bootloader" as a resolution.
Please, Thank me if his helps you too! Others will find be more hopeful.
meatgel said:
I vote for sticky, too.
I am no noob. I didn't do anything to my phone prior to bricking. I had my phone fully charged in the evening and woke up to a brick. The phone worked great from the time I bought it ... great the whole time it was rooted ... great with each iteration of SteelH's ROM. Then I woke up to a brick.
Even though I knew all of the steps to take (and did each one to no avail) I still felt helpless and started a thread in Q&A praying there was something to make it come back to life.
Now I'm just sad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try Re unlocking the Bootloader -That was the only thing that could solve my problem! It erased the problem, whatever it was - Let me know if it works!
RemWhale said:
Try Re unlocking the Bootloader -That was the only thing that could solve my problem! It erased the problem, whatever it was - Let me know if it works!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was a brick. I couldn't power it on and the charge light wouldn't come on. I changed batteries, changed power cords ... the guys at the Sprint store did the same stuff and then took it apart to see if it was water damage (LOL). They said they'd never seen one that wouldn't even show the charge light for a second.
I got a replacement in the mail. Hboot 1.50.
RemWhale said:
After all this, my battery shorted or something, but I did get a new one from Sprint today. I tried it out these solutions! My report:
Recovery through SD Card:
For newest versions: teamw.in/project/twrp/67
Successfully put PG86IMG.zip and recovery-twrp-shooter-1.1.1.img onto my SD card, and went to Bootloader; it said "Updated succesfully.";
when I restarted my phone, I still could ONLY see the background pic and status bar, but nothing else. It was the same.
RUU_Shooter_S_Sprint_WWE_2.08.651.2_Radio_0.97.10.0808_NV_SPCS_1.31_003_release_208230_signed
RUU failed - Error 155 - Unknown Image Error:
One of these error messages will appear when you'd use the incorrect RUU to update and the image file size is larger than the Flash ROM size. In this case, It means I need to download the correct RUU version and try again. But where?
Factory Reset
Nothing. I still get MY emails, which you can see in the attached picture of the screen I get to below.
Re-Unlock Bootloader...
Take out SD Card; Cmd: "fastboot oem lock" - Cmd: "fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlock_code.bin"
(No icons on home page at all? How strange...) Hey! I'm back in!
Made a Phone call! Installed some widgets! Restored contacts!!!!
The day is saved; All is well.
Not able to tell if I have any ROMs on it at the moment...
It appears I had the wrong RUU and/or PMG86.zip; I have HBoot 1.50; is there one for my newer version? Should I start a new post for my resolved situation? BTW, thanks for trying! Please add "Re-Unlock Bootloader" as a resolution.
Please, Thank me if his helps you too! Others will find be more hopeful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, did you try going into recovery at all? I should have included that you should have reflashed the ROM and the kernel to fix it. That probably would have gotten you fixed after the first step.
usb does not work
i flashed the miui rom and now my phone has no usb so i cant do any commands i cant use the rom i had to restore a back up of an old rom and still no usb no usb in fastboot nothing and im not sure what to do its not the cables
babybear293 said:
i flashed the miui rom and now my phone has no usb so i cant do any commands i cant use the rom i had to restore a back up of an old rom and still no usb no usb in fastboot nothing and im not sure what to do its not the cables
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try another cable? Are you sure its not the cable?
Plug in the USB while the phone is off and tell me if you can do 'adb restart'. If your phone starts, that means the USB works it should be fixable by flashing the PG86IMG.
If it doesn't work when the phone is off, there is something wrong with your USB port or the cable you are using. There could also be something wrong with your comp/usb power source.
was using zedomax's root method and got a bunch of errors "too many devices, more than 1 emulator" and now it won't finish booting. Gets just to the point where the unlock ring should come up and then nothing...
I can pull down the status bar and thats about it ...please help. I have the insurance, but will they be able to see that i started rooting it...
I would try to install the RUU to get it back.
It's probably not Bricked.
You can also check out the more full unlocking procedure http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1690919
I believe one or both these procedures could be started while in the bootloader.
I'd try the RUU first though.
Look in the Sticky thread in Dev for the RUU (an EXE you run on the PC).
greek goddess said:
was using zedomax's root method and got a bunch of errors "too many devices, more than 1 emulator" and now it won't finish booting. Gets just to the point where the unlock ring should come up and then nothing...
I can pull down the status bar and thats about it ...please help. I have the insurance, but will they be able to see that i started rooting it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This happened to me as well. Then i realized i have both my old Epic4g AND my new EVOLTE plugged into my computer. I unplugged my epic and voila. it worked just fine. If it still doesnt work, try restarting your PC and redo the process.
Thanks guys for your answers. problem is resolved, but I will what happened in case anyone else has this problem.
I couldn't get the drivers to install on my laptop so I went to the desktop and ran the root. The error messages I got were like this: after the second reboot (supposed to reboot 3 times) it would say "device offline" and it filled the whole screen with that line. Then it said "error too many emulators" and then it would say it was done and that is as far as it would go. It did not boot a third time. I could reboot it, but it would only get as far as the screen JUST before the unlok ring comes up, and that's it.
After posting this thread I read another thread where someone suggested holding the volume down and power to bring up stock recovery and doing a factory reset from there (rookie mistake, I have had the Epic Touch for a while and forgot about the Evo's stock recovery). That got me back. THANK GOD! But still no root.
I didn't want to give up trying to I went back to my laptop and still without necessarily "installing" the drivers, went ahead and tried running the root and VIOLA! It worked flawlessly!
So I don't understand what was going on with the desktop though with the "device offline" and "too many emulators" thing, so if anyone could shed some light on that, I would appreciate it.
glad to hear you got it fixed but if you would have had to filed a claim then you can always say you lost it or something like that.
Some of you might have seen my earlier thread, my ReZound is rooted. HTC sent out the ICS update my phone attempted to install it and afterwards it would not advance past the white HTC screen. After many hours of playing around with it (being semi-noobish to all things rooting, but decently knowledable with technology) I realized that on the H-boot screen it was telling me that the Image was missing. I assumed that the HTC update deleted it? After thinking about it, I thought that maybe installing a custom ROM would fix this, so I grabbed Scotts Clean ROM. Sure enough I did and I was finally able to advance past the white HTC screen. It looks as if everything is working fine with the phone now EXCEPT I have no data and no calling connection. Im assuming that my phone is just that messed up from the attempted upgrade this morning that im missing files needed for the connection.
My next thought was to just say heck with it and do a factory reset hoping to get back to a bone stock phone that at least functioned, but when I try the factory reset it doesnt work....
Any ideas of what I should do next? Ive spent 5-6 hrs trying to fix this phone today, I really hope to get something figured out. Thank you everyone for your help!
EDIT: I feel like an idiot... Because of putting the battery in and out for resets I left the back off the phone. I now have service. Main issue now is that when I try to call out, as soon as I type a number on the dialer it freezes up and restarts itself....
The phone still tries to look for the old image on the restart and gives me issues every time on startup still also. Id like to be able to get this back to not needing a ROM....
If it were me, I would download the official RUU for ICS found here: http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/0...cream-sandwich-ruu-for-final-ota-3-14-605-12/ IIRC, mirror #3 was the fastest. Then follow the directions from that site:
After downloading the file, rename it to "PH98IMG.zip" (no quotes)
Place the renamed file onto the root of the SD Card
Power down your device
Reboot into the bootloader by holding VOL DOWN + Power
The flashing process should begin automatically
Let the device reboot, and you should be done.
That will get you up and running. Then you can go about rooting it again if you like.
Hey all, this is my first post on this forum. I registered just to let my voice be heard.
Let me just say that I have done extensive research into these problems but I don't want to brick my phone so I want to know the direct steps for me.
OK my problems are:
Upon turning on the phone the original Motorola logo is gone and is instead replaced by:
"Unlocked. PwrReason: PWR_KEY_PRESS. OS will boot in 5 seconds. Press a key to stop countdown. Avaliable Modes are: " and lists 14 different modes I can choose
This happened after I accidentally deleted my pds folder or something of the sort. I must've partitioned something accidentally and as a result my phone did not boot the next time around. It booted after I did a battery pull but gave me the next problem.
Upon booting into CM10.1 I noticed that the soft keys would not work. The entire screen was recognized as one big touch surface.
I deduced that some file was deleted which makes the screen recognize the soft keys, so I proceeded to do some research into it. The methods I saw to do were doing some sort of pdsfix which is not recommended unless necessary, which in my case is very necessary. I can boot into Romracer's recovery (5.0.2.7 I believe it is) as well as my OS. Everything is working except for those problems I listed. I am not sure if my phone can boot into fastboot but I can try. Please post your answers because I really need to get my phone working perfectly again. At this point, it is only useful for texting and a little music (and settings). I can't go into much else without restarting the phone each time (you must know why).
EDIT 15/04/13
-----------------------------------------------------------
I just flashed pdsfix(gingerbread).zip and I am now able to use my phone at normal speeds and even overclock if necessary. I was running epinter's CM10.1 Rom
Fixed half the problem!
Okay so after many hours of trying, I managed to install the drivers for fastboot on my computer and did the fix for the pds file.
First I downloaded moto-fastboot.zip and extracted to my C:/ drive.
Then I tested if my device was recognized. It didn't recognize it at all, so I went into device manager.
In device manager there was my problem. I saw fastboot with a yellow exclamation sign. I right-clicked it and directed it to where I had previously downloaded fastboot drivers. (Found them here: FASTBOOT DRIVERS
It installed nicely and when I tried the commands listed in Method 2 on this page PDS Partition Fix it worked perfectly!
So I proceeded to restart the phone, no issues. But the Motorola logo at the very beginning is still not there. It says unlocked at the top left and displays the same options as before. The phone is still fully functional without it, but I want to get it back. I will be doing more to fix this though.
But the best part is that, my soft-keys are working perfectly! :laugh: I do notice a little lag in the system but that will be fixed soon. Hope this helped anyone who didn't know what to do.
P.S. If you find a way to restore the Motorola logo on boot, please tell me!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1423763
Logo and animation
Mojar7070 said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1423763
Logo and animation
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perfect! Thanks much for finding that for me. I now have the problems fixed except that my cpu won't clock above 608 mhz even when I put the min clock slider higher than that value.
I suspect that perhaps I flashed the froyo pdsfix instead of gingerbread. Maybe that is causing the problem. I'll try and post my results soon.
My Atrix 4g is fixed!!
Wow I can't believe I finally fixed it! It was as I suspected. After downloading the pdsfix(gingerbread).zip I rebooted my phone into fastboot and proceeded to flash the zip. And who would've guessed it? I am now able to clock at usual speeds including the 1000MHz of old ^_^. I am sooo glad I found this forum. If anyone had similar problems you can try the steps I did.
P.S. For the record I was running epinter's CM10.1 Rom for the Atrix 4g. I may go to Neutrino's in the near future, but I am just glad to have my phone back in working order :laugh::laugh:
Hello guys,
At first, sorry for the long text but, that's the odyssey that leads to my problem. If you don't want to read everything, jump to the summary.
It all started when my S3 got wet inside my backpack while it was raining. I know that the first thing we need to do is to pull out the battery when you realize it is getting wet and let it dry for days before turn on. However, I was drunk so I tried the opposite turning it on at the end of the day and it didn't work. Then I pulled out the battery and let it dry for weeks. I've also opened the device and disassembled it. I could see some parts with some kind of white dust. So, I cleaned with a toothbrush and rubbing alcohol. After doing that, I tried to turn on the device without success. One or two days later that battery got stuffed and then I sent it to repair.
There, I pointed that it could be a problem with the main board. The guy performed a fast check with voltmeter and said he could be repaired. He took the device and returned with the S3 turned on in less than 15 minutes. Then, he asked if he could reset the device and where I bought it because it didn't have the stock rom (I changed it to Neatrom). Since it was "working" I said I would take it and do the rest of the job restoring the rom.
When I got home, I charged the phone for ~8 hours following the technician instructions since it was a new battery. The strange thing is that the icon for battery was not the green one, but the white one with the round arrow the whole time. Ok, then I did a clean and restore through CMW menu keeping the neatroom. It started autorebooting. Also tried CM12 but got bootloop. The next day, the battery got stuffed so I pulled it out and waited to whole week and sent to repair.
There, he gave me another battery (which now seems to be original). The battery worked and I did a reset through CWM recovery. At first minutes it was ok then it started rebooting. I thought it could be something with the room since It was not rebooting in recovery menu. Anyway, I also took my notebook there in order to restore the stock rom and, in case of errors, I could give the phone to the technician in the same day. The problem is that the process took forever when it got to the point of booting up the phone after restarting it and then I ran out of battery and had to turn it off.
When I got home, I applied the stock rom again and it booted ok but with the common efs/csc problems (Can't recognize sim card, IMEI/Baseband unknown....). Also, menu and back button seems to be not working. No leds or function. It's probable hardware but I check it later.
Well, I have a efs backup I've created with kTools (efs.img 20mb + efs.tar.gz 0kb) which I tried to recover but it didn't changed nothing. I also have another efs.tar.gz file alone with 1kb which I'm not sure if it's a backup but I think I generated that with Backup_EFS.bat. Tried Restore_EFS.bat but got stuck in * daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 * * daemon started successfully *...
I've already tried odin through PDA and CSC. My country is Brazil and I already tried the open region Stock Rom (PDA:I9300UBUGNK1 and CSC: I9300ZTOUGNK2) and rom from an specific provider.
Summary
- I9300 got wet (rain)
- ~3 weeks drying disassembled + mainboard clean with toothbrush and rubbing alcohol
- Battery stuffed 2 days after assembly and test without success.
- Sent to repair. Something was done there and it revived.
- Phone autorebooting then battery stuffed again.
- Sent to repair. Changed battery
- Tried to apply stock rom (odin). First boot took forever and had to turn the device off.
- Second attempt worked but got IMEI/Baseband unknown, sim card recognition problem
- Tried ODIN through PDA and CSC
At this point I'm downloading A.S_id's rescue firmware and try it's troubleshooting. Later I may try to restore IMEI with -efs rebuild using android SDK....
So many things happened that I'm not even sure what to ask but, if you have a luminous idea on something I've never done, Id kindly ask to let me know.
Did I do something wrong when trying to restore efs? BTW, I also have a full nandroid backup generated by CWM philz touch recovery but it seems it doesn't contain efs partition.
Also, I ask you guys if the IMEI,Simcard,baseband problem can be a hardware problem? I've even seen topics saying about "burning the baseband", is it possible?
I'm just trying to gather all information possible before going to the technical assistance again.
If you read everything, I appreciate your patience and I'd be grateful for any reply.
try to restore the efs.img with PhilZ recovery via custom restore... :good: