GB/MR2/whatever causing brick scare question - Thunderbolt Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

So from what I gather the bricking problem has affected a lot of different devices. If mine hasn't bricked yet after 2 months of flashing(about ten or flashes) will I be pretty safe to flash to MR2 and Gingerbread?

Here's my personal experience. I have flashed nearly every available GB ROM/radio combination multiple times with no issues whatsoever. Now, I could very well just be extremely lucky and my device could brick tomorrow. Nobody can really say for sure. Nothing is really a sure bet when it comes to stuff like this, no two devices are exactly alike and can and most likely will react to the same setup in completely different ways. I personally(as well as others) believe that the bricks come from subpar quality hardware used in some devices. However, as far as I know, the cause of the bricking has not been 100% established and possibly never will be. There are always going to be certain risks associated with flashing ROMS and kernels, it just comes with the territory. Hope this helps you.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

cargo54 said:
So from what I gather the bricking problem has affected a lot of different devices. If mine hasn't bricked yet after 2 months of flashing(about ten or flashes) will I be pretty safe to flash to MR2 and Gingerbread?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Consensus is bricks are caused by hardware failure or stupidity. The latter can be prevented. Flash away.
Courtesy of my rooted Bolt

sweet I've been wanting to update to GB so badly.

I've been wanting to update to GB but haven't because I'm afraid of the brick issue. So far so good with the MR2 leak. Just waiting for the official GB release and I'll update.

Related

Work Phone - Should I Install a Rom?

Well my work just got a bunch of iPhones and the CEO got one of the. He had the Samsung before so I got it as an upgrade over my crackberry.
Now I really want to install a custom rom/kernel on the phone but I am hesitating because its really not my phone and my work owns it.
What do you guys think should I stick with stock or should I root the phone and install a rom?
Stock. There's nothing like explaining to the boss how you f'd up company equipment.
I dont know if one should/should not install custom roms on a work phone, as I don't have one. But I can tell you that if you do decide to root and install one of the custom roms, it's not that hard to unroot and go back to stock later on when you need to return the phone. There are several threads here that will guide you through the process too.
jenisiz said:
Stock. There's nothing like explaining to the boss how you f'd up company equipment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess your right I just hate being stuck on 2.1 when I know I can have a nice Froyo install. It's just so hard not to do because I have done it with all my other devices.
dsf767 said:
I guess your right I just hate being stuck on 2.1 when I know I can have a nice Froyo install. It's just so hard not to do because I have done it with all my other devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hear you...but who's to say he won't ask for it out the blue someday?
Idk, at this point, the fascinate is practically impossible to brick. You also say you have experience rooting and customizing other phones, correct? I say go for it. The only reason I could see not to is due to security issues. Work passwords and etc.. I really don't know too much about all of that tho.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA Premium App
I have a rooted android work phone. All you have to do is read what ppl are saying about the roms and FOLLOW DIRECTIONS and youll be fine.
dsf767 said:
Well my work just got a bunch of iPhones and the CEO got one of the. He had the Samsung before so I got it as an upgrade over my crackberry.
Now I really want to install a custom rom/kernel on the phone but I am hesitating because its really not my phone and my work owns it.
What do you guys think should I stick with stock or should I root the phone and install a rom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Used my fascinating voodoo powers
I seriously discourage doing anything to it. It's not yours for one, and (no disrespect to the devs ofcourse, their work is amazing) there really isnt anything spectacular for this phone at the moment due to samsung's failure to provide any source code. To be more specific... our kernels suck.
And oh yea this shouldve been in the Q&A section so be ready for ashasaur to move this thread. (hes really good at doing that )
Depends on your comfort level, and of course, your corporate policies.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA Premium App
I would say root your phone at the most. It's fairly easy to recover from just rooting, but flashing roms/kernels/modems is much more risky. At least with rooting, you could fairly easily freeze the bloat with TiBu and have a more functional phone. Thawing everything and un-rooting would have you a stock phone back fairly quickly, and you could also still receive OTA updates as well.
I say go for it if anything goes wrong all you have to do is odin back to stock it removes everything its as simple as plugging the phone in load the stock file and click start I've done this countless times
We pick our work cell phones specifically because of the potential customization we can do. I hate being stuck with some company's version of what they think will be useful to me in my job. I can Odin this phone back to stock/factory defaults in less than 5 minutes if need be, so customizing this phone and expanding its abilities, and recovering from those customizations quickly, were what attracted me to it.
Android is Android, whether it's Samsung's stock version or one of the dev's version of it. Your phone is still going to perform the same tasks you need it to for your job. As long as you are both competent with the technologies involved and confident in your ability to restore to stock, I don't see why you should hesitate from exploring the options that are out there, especially when Froyo source drops and we see an explosion of dev-created customizations/enhancements.
Really? If your asking for advice on whether to mess with a business owned phone, it makes me wonder are you the ceo's mail clerk?
SuperClean2.9.1vNitroDark
Personally for a work phone, I'd update it for better usage in my work.
Increasing battery life usage duration.
Less irritating buggy glitches.
Removing the idiotic TW/BING/VZW craps. (too many add-on hacks from google default causing reliability and dependability problems)
Adding Backup and Restore nandroid for possible failures and migrations.
I suggest DJ05 + SuperClean + Blaze v2.3.1R2.

New MR2 GB Radio

Hey guys first time posting here, wanted to know if this one was safe? I know that the first gb radio was bricking, but is this new one safe?
I was really hoping to run bamf 2.0 safely.
I haven't bricked in the 52 minutes since flashing......
But I didn't brick during the two weeks I was running the other one either. It's sort of wait or flash at your own risk (which it always is really) at this point. I don't remember seeing a definitive diagnosis on why the other radio was causing bricks. There wouldn't be a way to verify if that problem is fixed if they didn't know what the problem was to begin with...
Yeah, I know there's always a risk.
But like you see the radios in the obligatory radio thread of the tbolt? All the froyo ones are safe I think I'll wait till the gb ones are like that.
So after all that chaos that happened a few days ago here it finally is. I would personally like to thank all of you guys that were sensitive to the situation and refrained from downloading, flashing, and or distributing this radio when it was stolen and pre-maturely leaked. Good things always come for those who wait.
Was chingy trying to say, that this was significantly safer?
I'm glad you asked that, Icey.. I was getting ready to start something with the same question.. I just rooted my bolt yesterday and I really don't wanna brick it on day 2! hehe
That being said, if this is a little safer, i'll try it!
If anybody is reading this who is smarter than me, AND THAT DOESN'T TAKE MUCH, can you give me any insight on what my procedure needs to be to get from my current Das BAMF 1.7 over to a gingerbread rom with the new radio??? Like I said, i just rooted yesterday and i'm a little more nervous, hesitant and unsure on this bolt than I was on my old Evo.. Especially since i'm brand spankin' new on ADB... Any insight from you geniuses would be GREATLY much appreciated!
Thanks in advance!
dont read into the brick issue to far or you will never get the phone running like a beast, the new radio,imo's 3.0 kernel and the bsmf with sense3.0 rocks this phone
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App

[Q] Really worried about bricking phone

I rooted my phone about a week ago. Things are going smoothly but I keep reading all these horror stories about people bricking while running Gingerbread ROMs. Im running BAMF 3.0 RC3 with the MR2 radio. Do I really have anything to worry about? Im not one to experiment with different kernels, etc. I'm really starting to think I should un-root before something goes wrong. Any comments would be appreciated!
csaunders_24 said:
I rooted my phone about a week ago. Things are going smoothly but I keep reading all these horror stories about people bricking while running Gingerbread ROMs. Im running BAMF 3.0 RC3 with the MR2 radio. Do I really have anything to worry about? Im not one to experiment with different kernels, etc. I'm really starting to think I should un-root before something goes wrong. Any comments would be appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it was meant to happen it will happen.
People who had never rooted their phones have had bricks too. But it's always a possibility when messing with things you are not supposed to. Plus what are you more likely to see the hundreds of people who's phones run flawlessly or the handful who have some flaw with theirs. I was worried too but I'm now starting to lead towards it not being a radio issue but just a hardware failure. Maybe for peace of mind though you should unroot or revert back to froyo till something guaranteed stable comes out.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App
Are there any special ways to unroot since I have GB/MR2 radio? Will this work?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1009423
csaunders_24 said:
Are there any special ways to unroot since I have GB/MR2 radio? Will this work?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1009423
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure, but you could always flash back to Froyo and a Froyo based radio before you un-root
Sent from my Mecha using XDA Premium App
Never mind I found what I was looking for. That tread says I can. Thanks! Just sucks cuz I love the way GB and Sense 3.0 look!
If you don't flash anything new, you should be fine where you are. You're probably more likely to brick trying to unroot than sticking with what you have now.
Sent from my Thunderbolt using XDA Premium App
Agreed - you're most likely to have problems when you're flashing a Rom/radio or rooting/unrooting. People haven't been having problems with the current GB radio from what I've heard
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
Your phone wont just up and become a brick out of the blue one day. Bricking occurs while you are actually trying to flash a new rom or something like that. Since you successfully flashed yours, you should be good to go for life now. Problem for you is if you somehow break compatibility with future software because your phone is no longer stock, you may have to unflash/unroot which could then cause you problems.
The only reason for me to root is so I could have free WiFi hotspot, which is a convenience thing really. I dont mind wired tether at all. Well I realize I only need to tether like 3 times per year, when I'm on vacation or something. And even then most hotels offer free wifi anyway. So it was really serving zero purpose for me. PDAnet can fill in the holes and at least I have the peace of mind knowing my phone works the way it was meant to. Bloatware? Meh, I can ignore it. Thunderbolt seems to ship pretty clean.

Question About ICS Leaks

I read a reply in a thread which explained that the current ICS leak runs the CPU full speed, instead of scaling it, whenever the screen is on. This was the member's explanation for why some people notice their phones running hotter than on GB.
Is this true? And to the extent that it is true, is it true of the preceding leaks as well? I guess what I'm wondering is whether this is something that HTC might be hoping to resolve before going live with an OTA.
cpurick said:
I read a reply in a thread which explained that the current ICS leak runs the CPU full speed, instead of scaling it, whenever the screen is on. This was the member's explanation for why some people notice their phones running hotter than on GB.
Is this true? And to the extent that it is true, is it true of the preceding leaks as well? I guess what I'm wondering is whether this is something that HTC might be hoping to resolve before going live with an OTA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your guess is as good as mine and I too read that same reply. I've been trying to figure this out since the leak came out. Some people aren't having any problems and some people are having all sorts of problems. I haven't been in the Rezound thread long but I'm not new to flashing and I've been going back on forth on doing the leak or waiting for either the source for kernel help or the official ota. I was thinking maybe it was "noob" mistakes but from alot of the posts it seems that experienced flashers are having problems as well. Scott has a kernel thread in the Dev section if you wish to follow that, if you aren't already. I know that all phones are created equal and there are some built better than others. So far I've been pretty fortunate in my phones. I've never had to take a phone in for repair that I didn't eff up myself.... Obviously, I'd like to think by the time we get the official ota all things will be resolved but you never know. When I had my Evo 3D it took the latest ota to solve alot of battery issues that we had. I know I don't answer your question but I too have similar ones myself. Be well.
The current leak/kernel that is having problems is part of a release candidate, we can only hope HTC resolves it before the update is finalized. I wouldn't be surprised if another leak/release candidate shows up in the near future, each one has fixed more issues found in the earlier leaks.
jjwalter--
If I was in your shoes I would not take the leak. My phone is worse than bricked.
I can put the .11 GB kernel back on the phone with my old software, but the WIFI doesn't seem to work with the ICS radio firmware, and the thing's running hotter than ever.
I had no heat or battery life issues on the current GB -- all my problems began when I flashed the .22 leak. And as long as I'm stuck with these radios I don't think they'll get better. Your mileage may vary, but if it was up to me I wouldn't get in that car again.
cpurick said:
djwalter--
If I was in your shoes I would not take the leak. My phone is worse than bricked.
I can put the .11 GB kernel back on the phone with my old software, but the WIFI doesn't seem to work with the ICS radio firmware, and the thing's running hotter than ever.
I had no heat or battery life issues on the current GB -- all my problems began when I flashed the .22 leak. And as long as I'm stuck with these radios I don't think they'll get better. Your mileage may vary, but if it was up to me I wouldn't get in that car again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the heads up. From past flashing experience I have never seen a leak with a radio and firmware update. It's usually just a rom. With a leak this close I'm sure the ota isn't too far off and I'll just keep hanging around and root and flash once that drops. Thanks again.
I know if I were HTC/Verizon/ATT/Motorola... I'd be leaking any new builds right here on XDA. You couldn't find a better group of knowledgeable testers anywhere. In my mind, these leaks are on purpose, and I'd also guess there will be future releases that fix the issues the group here has found.
im running the latest leaked version and i have no heat problems whatsoever. i play hd games, on youtube for hours, etc...hottest its gotten was 120 degrees thats it. im running stock. as far as im concerned GB is dead to me
My phone doesn't get hot playing games on the leak, but you put that mofo to stream some music and it about burns through my pants in class, and then half my extended battery is gone. It is definately due to the scaling issue
Yea I see a lot of people saying they have heat and reboot issue but they are the same people asking newb questions if ya wipe everything, check the md5, flash the ruu, and do it right you will not have problems 99% of the time. Don't be afraid to update just because a couple user experience problems its not like some guy in his mom's basement made this leak its a leak from google got out god knows how but still built with their algorithm, software, and knowledgeable engineers. I would update sense 3.6 is way better than 3.5 and ics has a lot more backup options and a better user experience. I recommend you do just make sure to do a backup before you do so you can revert back if need be.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA
What are the across the board issues with ics at the moment on the rezound? I'm thinking about coming from the bionic/thunderbolt, no Ril and hardware acceleration, etc.
1454 said:
What are the across the board issues with ics at the moment on the rezound? I'm thinking about coming from the bionic/thunderbolt, no Ril and hardware acceleration, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There aren't any for me. Runs perfectly on my phone. Everything works the way it should.
a.mcdear said:
There aren't any for me. Runs perfectly on my phone. Everything works the way it should.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, I'm with ^ Everything is running top notch for me as well.
What are the bluetooth issues mentioned in the ics rom threads? I saw it said there was one known issue, but didn't specify.

RE: [RoM]UCLD3 Official ATT "Leak" !CLOSED!

RE: [RoM]UCLD3 Official ATT "Leak" !CLOSED!
I just wanted to say TY to the developers of this ROM, especially task. I got burned, but I knew what I was getting into. I'm within 30 days, plus have 1 yr warranty, plus insurance. I got my new phone and I'm happy.
Thanks again guys for trying to bring us something new and exciting.
Just a question: were all of the AT&T leaks affected by this, or just UCLD3?
The general consensus is that LD3 was the culprit, however it is possible that all leaks are affected.
The culprit was the CWM injected kernel in the version task posted. All other leaks and the one-click version of LD3 were unaffected.
nbell13 said:
The culprit was the CWM injected kernel in the version task posted. All other leaks and the one-click version of LD3 was unaffected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And you know this how? Without facts, this statement is useless bro. One thing I do know is the bricking only happened to a few people. Far less then people who didn't have issues. Just like entropy said, without reproducing it would be hard to figure out. But either way. Leaks are just that. Leaks. They are pretty much worthless considering everything else we already have. So really, to figure out exactly the cause we would have to go through the process of brick, then replace/fix the device and so on.
task650 said:
And you know this how? Without facts, this statement is useless bro. One thing I do know is the bricking only happened to a few people. Far less then people who didn't have issues. Just like entropy said, without reproducing it would be hard to figure out. But either way. Leaks are just that. Leaks. They are pretty much worthless considering everything else we already have. So really, to figure out exactly the cause we would have to go through the process of brick, then replace/fix the device and so on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought that's what you had said yourself in your thread (haven't read it in a while)
Task
I have flashed this rom many times and no issues with my phone. Although I have been lurking in these threads as a NOOB, it is apparent to me that you have to:
follow instructions in OP before flashing
Read all the of the thread before flashing
Make sure that you have the entire zip file downloaded before flashing...
Not sure what is the problem, but it is not anything with zip I down loaded.. I did both.The other files such as Shomans or AOKP as they are better than any stock rom...
Thank you for all that you do...
nbell13 said:
I thought that's what you had said yourself in your thread (haven't read it in a while)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think i may have said something about it, but just wasn't sure what was happening. there were too many "it could be this" and "it could be that" stuff being mentioned. but i did however make an attempt for 2 days trying to replicate the brick. i have no qualms about buying a new phone so i wasn't worried at all about bricking. i tried every way that anyone mentioned plus more but i still couldn't get it to brick. so i'm still iffy about the whole thing. i just said screw and took down the thread. considering A TON of people don't like to read OP's and follow directions i thought it would be the best thing to do.
task650 said:
i think i may have said something about it, but just wasn't sure what was happening. there were too many "it could be this" and "it could be that" stuff being mentioned. but i did however make an attempt for 2 days trying to replicate the brick. i have no qualms about buying a new phone so i wasn't worried at all about bricking. i tried every way that anyone mentioned plus more but i still couldn't get it to brick. so i'm still iffy about the whole thing. i just said screw and took down the thread. considering A TON of people don't like to read OP's and follow directions i thought it would be the best thing to do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the hard work on it anyway Task. I read the OP. I read every post in the thread and then I read the OP again. I have flashed and reflashed it several times. Flashed several kernels and still running great.
The original OEM battery and earpiece failed within a day of each other so I am back to using my Atrix until I can get a warranty replacement on the i777.
Thanks again Task...it was fun while it lasted.
task650 said:
i think i may have said something about it, but just wasn't sure what was happening. there were too many "it could be this" and "it could be that" stuff being mentioned. but i did however make an attempt for 2 days trying to replicate the brick. i have no qualms about buying a new phone so i wasn't worried at all about bricking. i tried every way that anyone mentioned plus more but i still couldn't get it to brick. so i'm still iffy about the whole thing. i just said screw and took down the thread. considering A TON of people don't like to read OP's and follow directions i thought it would be the best thing to do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol, I just bought the GNex from Google Play myself... Gonna need to switch back to T-Mobile in the fall when I move back to my hometown... AT&T has **** for signal there That, and I'm finally sick of touchwiz.
nbell13 said:
I'm finally sick of touchwiz.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah that's why I use AOKP I can't stand touchwiz ics
Sent from my SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2 Beta-5
Lol. I installed nova to take care of that. Do want some of the other stuff so have to leave tw in some way but at least I don't have to look at it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2
nbell13 said:
The culprit was the CWM injected kernel in the version task posted. All other leaks and the one-click version of LD3 were unaffected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No - even after the re-repack I believe a few more bricks happened.
Looks like the UCLD3 leak (and maybe all leaks) have the same bug that is in all of the Epic 4G Touch leaks and all Chinese Galaxy Note ICS leaks, along with the SHW-M250S/K/L official ICS releases and source code - it's a nasty one that can cause severe hardbricks if you wipe in recovery.
When I say "severe hardbrick" - I mean that the eMMC chip actually gets damaged to the point where not even JTAG recovery services like mobiletechvideos.com are able to recover the device.
It's looking like UCLD3 has the same issues that SiyahKernel 3.1rc6 had (which was rebased on SHW-M250L sources).
This is probably like some of the xbox360 and ps3 bricking updates -- an update changes something in the way the device operates. In those update -- spinning the media faster or turning on gpu acceleration of the UI, etc.. some devices can't take the change in the baseline for which they were certified and die.
Perhaps they changed voltages, media parameters, etc -- without source, we won't know for sure.
othermark said:
This is probably like some of the xbox360 and ps3 bricking updates -- an update changes something in the way the device operates. In those update -- spinning the media faster or turning on gpu acceleration of the UI, etc.. some devices can't take the change in the baseline for which they were certified and die.
Perhaps they changed voltages, media parameters, etc -- without source, we won't know for sure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sweet.... I want one of them Xbox with ICS
Yea this is one of those oddities. On mine I did do a wipe using the ld3 leaked kernel (trying to get ld3 installed) and although it wouldn't boot it also didn't hard brick. I ended up wiping using Odin and starting over.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2
Entropy512 said:
No - even after the re-repack I believe a few more bricks happened.
Looks like the UCLD3 leak (and maybe all leaks) have the same bug that is in all of the Epic 4G Touch leaks and all Chinese Galaxy Note ICS leaks, along with the SHW-M250S/K/L official ICS releases and source code - it's a nasty one that can cause severe hardbricks if you wipe in recovery.
When I say "severe hardbrick" - I mean that the eMMC chip actually gets damaged to the point where not even JTAG recovery services like mobiletechvideos.com are able to recover the device.
It's looking like UCLD3 has the same issues that SiyahKernel 3.1rc6 had (which was rebased on SHW-M250L sources).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your insights, while I understand very little in the way of repacks and source code, I can grasp (beginning to) smart, safe flashing practices. When you share your thoughts on these subjects, the non-dev community is so much the better for it (though there will never be a silver bullet to the spreading of BS through the grapevine).
And it looks like I'm still the only one who wants Samsung stock roms.
raduque said:
And it looks like I'm still the only one who wants Samsung stock roms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are still plenty of great TW GB ROMs around. Unfortunately, people who want a stable, safe stock ICS ROM will have to wait until Samsung gives you one. Without the developers we wouldn't have ICS on our phone AT ALL, so complaining is without merit (unless you are complaining to Samsung).
raduque said:
And it looks like I'm still the only one who wants Samsung stock roms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Naw I want a Samsung stock rom built for the ATT version also
Sent from my SGH-I777 using XDA Premium App

Categories

Resources