I am sure you all must have come across people who have bricked their phones. It mainly hurts to see some of your favorite developers brick their phones whilst developing kernels/roms/tools/scripts/etc and then you no more can enjoy their work without donating a new phone or money to buy a new one, understandably no dev would want to buy a new SGA again with their money, they would prefer a better device to explore and exploit :silly:.
There are some threads that give a basic idea as to how to avoid bricking. mainly these instructions would ask to follow exact instructions while flashing. But I assume the devs definitely do this and yet end up bricking, this increases my curiosity as to what led to bricking their devices. I am interested in knowing the stages during development that can cause bricking. But this thread is not limited to bricking during development, but in general what all can get your SGA bricked.
If you have ever bricked your device (or know someone who has and how), if you could please list down
how it happened
what did you try to recover
whether it was successful
I will list it out, though there are countless more possibilities...
Wrong kernel
Wrong meta-inf
Wrong recovery
Buggy recovery
Flash failure
Messed up boot loader(could be caused by many things)
Wrong ROM(rom created for another phone)
Using apps which are incompatible for a certain device, like Rom manager
That's all that is coming to my head right now..
(By wrong, I mean, things from another device)
Controversies,controversies everywhere :what:
Prawesome said:
I will list it out, though there are countless more possibilities...
Wrong kernel
Wrong meta-inf
Wrong recovery
Buggy recovery
Flash failure
Messed up boot loader(could be caused by many things)
Wrong ROM(rom created for another phone)
Using apps which are incompatible for a certain device, like Rom manager
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Prawesome!!!
I am also looking for particular instances, from people who have bricked. Directly from the horses mouth if you may
jugalthakkar said:
Thanks Prawesome!!!
I am also looking for particular instances, from people who have bricked. Directly from the horses mouth if you may
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately for you and fortunately for me, I haven't ever bricked my device
Controversies,controversies everywhere :what:
I was a noob back then and installed clockworkmod recovery by rom manager. Was hardbricked and never booted back up. Tried every thing. Was not successful. Luckily gave it to service centre with a lame excuse.
2nd time i bricked it is when i accidently formated sdcard in clockworkmod recovery when i was going to install rom. Luckily was a softbrick, so i fixed it with odin. Good old noob days
Sent from my GT-S5830 using xda app-developers app
Hey guys,
I want to know potential ways to brick my phone so I will be more careful.
Which ones will brick my phone?
1. Flashing recovery for another phone
2. Flashing ROM for another phone
3. Flashing just the kernel for another phone
4. Flashing wrong ROM without the kernel
5. Flashing a mod for another phone
6. Pulling the battery when doing a NAND restore/backup
7. Pulling the battery when installing a mod or a ROM
Or any others you know about. Thanks!
And no, I don't want to brick my phone, this is for prevention
To be honest its seriously not recommended to do any of the things you listed, some of them you may be able to restore your NAND to fix others will kill your phone. Just make sure you follow the guides on here and you'll be fine. But seriously don't install mods or roms that are for another phone.
Sent From My Omega'd Galaxy S3 ...
Don't do any of those....its still a £500 phone and doing any of those things you mentioned will reduce your phone to a rather uncomfortable form of loo roll! If you catch my drift....
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
That depends on the definition of "bricking". For me, a bricked phone is one that can no longer be fixed no matter what you do: it has no use other than an expensive paperweight.
Flashing kernels (even if wrong ones) won't brick your phone. They will render your phone unuseable until a proper kernel is flashed, but it isn't a brick.
Also, wrong ROMs won't brick your phone UNLESS they also contain a bootloader and/or a Partition Information Table (PIT) file, which is quite rare.
So, bricking (by my definition), only happens when you mess with the bootloader and/or the PIT, because those are either impossible or extremely hard to fix.
No matter what you do, DO NOT mess with the bootloader: as long as the bootloader is ok, everything else (including the PIT) can be fixed with some effort.
Simonetti2011 said:
That depends on the definition of "bricking". For me, a bricked phone is one that can no longer be fixed no matter what you do: it has no use other than an expensive paperweight.
Flashing kernels (even if wrong ones) won't brick your phone. They will render your phone unuseable until a proper kernel is flashed, but it isn't a brick.
Also, wrong ROMs won't brick your phone UNLESS they also contain a bootloader and/or a Partition Information Table (PIT) file, which is quite rare.
So, bricking (by my definition), only happens when you mess with the bootloader and/or the PIT, because those are either impossible or extremely hard to fix.
No matter what you do, DO NOT mess with the bootloader: as long as the bootloader is ok, everything else (including the PIT) can be fixed with some effort.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, that's exactly the answer I was looking for. So it's impossible to hardbrick my SGS3 unless I flash the bootloader?
Glebun said:
Thank you, that's exactly the answer I was looking for. So it's impossible to hardbrick my SGS3 unless I flash the bootloader?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, or the PIT (Partition Information table).
Never, EVER, flash any of these, unless you know EXACTLY what and why you are doing it: PIT, Bootloader, Recovery.
Flashing kernels and simple ROMs (such as the stock ones) don't brick your phone.
Simonetti2011 said:
Flashing kernels and simple ROMs (such as the stock ones) don't brick your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What bout custom ROMs, like CM10?
Glebun said:
What bout custom ROMs, like CM10?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to know if they include a recovery and/or bootloader before flashing.
Usually they DON'T, but you have to check.
Besides, you don't need CMW ( = recovery) to use CM10 ( = ROM), although some badly informed people will tell you that you do.
Glebun said:
Hey guys,
I want to know potential ways to brick my phone so I will be more careful.
Which ones will brick my phone?
1. Flashing recovery for another phone
2. Flashing ROM for another phone
3. Flashing just the kernel for another phone
4. Flashing wrong ROM without the kernel
5. Flashing a mod for another phone
6. Pulling the battery when doing a NAND restore/backup
7. Pulling the battery when installing a mod or a ROM
Or any others you know about. Thanks!
And no, I don't want to brick my phone, this is for prevention
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, even though it's only for prevention;
this is the ultimate way of bricking a device:
Take a picture or download a picture of the desired device, make sure it fits onto a brick, then glue the picture onto a brick, voilà, you now have a bricked device.
Now to serious things:
All the things you wrote are correct.
Hope I could help!
LG familyguy59/Beatsleigher
familyguy59 said:
Now to serious things:
All the things you wrote are correct.
Hope I could help!
LG familyguy59/Beatsleigher
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean? I just asked a question. Are you saying that all of the actions I listed will hardbrick my device? So who should I believe then?
Glebun said:
What do you mean? I just asked a question. Are you saying that all of the actions I listed will hardbrick my device? So who should I believe then?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They can potentially brick your device, because they use different drivers, files, etc. ... and the partitions are stored in different parts of the memory, changing these partitions can confuse the device and therefore brick it.
I said "serious things" because the first thing I wrote, was a n00b joke, I saw on the forums a while back...
Believe what you wish, all I'm saying is this:
if you flash something to your device, that was intentioned for a different device, then it's your responsibility, because most devs/modders warn you, and I did here, now. Everything you do to your device voids your warranty, and potentially harms your device, what you do to your phone is your thing, all we can do is advise you not to do things, it's your responsibility..
Hope I could help!
LG familyguy59/Beatsleigher
---------- Post added at 11:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:11 PM ----------
Simonetti2011 said:
That depends on the definition of "bricking". For me, a bricked phone is one that can no longer be fixed no matter what you do: it has no use other than an expensive paperweight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can always repair a bricked device with a JTAG, it's just the cost and the time consumption, that scares people off
LG familyguy59/Beatsleigher
I'd just pull the battery while flashing a bootloader. Guaranteed brick with little chances of recovery. You need to be fast though, that bootloader is really small and flashes fast
familyguy59 said:
They can potentially brick your device, because they use different drivers, files, etc. ... and the partitions are stored in different parts of the memory, changing these partitions can confuse the device and therefore brick it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So Simonetti2011 is wrong?
familyguy59 said:
They can potentially brick your device, because they use different drivers, files, etc. ... and the partitions are stored in different parts of the memory, changing these partitions can confuse the device and therefore brick it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are incorrect.
Only a PIT file can change partitions.
Besides, the location of files are standardized across firmwares.
that is why I wrote (page 1 of this thread) that the ROM being flashed must inform if they contain PIT's or recoveries. Stock ROMs (and all ROMs based on Samsung stock ROMs) do not change the PIT, recovery or bootloader.
If the user is going to flash a ROM that is not stock-based AND the developer of the ROM won't tell what it does, then simply avoid that ROM.
I stand correct: as long as the PIT and bootloader are untouched, the phone can be revived with very little effort (matter of minutes).
A JTAG can certainly be used in most cases, but not only it will take a few days (to get the thing delivered), but it will also be quite expensive and demand a lot of technical knowledge. So, I usually consider a device that requires a JTAG to be revived as bricked since I'd rather send it to an authorized service center than try to do it myself and make things worse.
My (most of ours, I guess) S III has a 1 year warranty. I figure that I can mess with it pretty bad and if it gets FUBAR I'll simply send it a service center.
So far, I'm yet to brick my SII, my SIII or even a HTC Kaiser which came with Windows Mobile 6.0 and got an upgrade to Android 2.3.7! I've flashed more ROMs than I can remember, I've wiped, I've lost data, but I have never bricked a single phone.
the thing is that whatever I do I read a lot beforehand and if I think - no matter how little - a ROM can be insecure, I simply don't do it.
My experience has taught me that something others consider a "must-have", I consider a waste of time and unnecessary headache and trouble: one such example is CWM.
There are dozens of people here with USB and MHL problems and 99% of them have CWM. That is NOT a coincidence.
I loved overclocking my S II, using SiyahKernel for that, but the device driver support in it (specially for wifi) was so bad that it was a waste of time.
What most people don't get is the definition of BRICKING. Will an improper stock ROM render your phone unusable? YES. Can it be fixed in 5 minutes? YES. Is that bricking? NO.
UNUSABLE <> USELESS
I am on jellybean can I directly flash any ics custom rom from cwm and then wipe and this wont brick my s3 I am asking this question because I had a galaxy note which was on ics and I flashed cm10 on it I had made a backup of the stock rom I found it to be little unstable so I restored the nand backup of stock rom this hard bricked my device
Simonetti2011 said:
That depends on the definition of "bricking". For me, a bricked phone is one that can no longer be fixed no matter what you do: it has no use other than an expensive paperweight.
Flashing kernels (even if wrong ones) won't brick your phone. They will render your phone unuseable until a proper kernel is flashed, but it isn't a brick.
Also, wrong ROMs won't brick your phone UNLESS they also contain a bootloader and/or a Partition Information Table (PIT) file, which is quite rare.
So, bricking (by my definition), only happens when you mess with the bootloader and/or the PIT, because those are either impossible or extremely hard to fix.
No matter what you do, DO NOT mess with the bootloader: as long as the bootloader is ok, everything else (including the PIT) can be fixed with some effort.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did You Mean If I Flashed Custom ROM Made Specially For My Phone (Codec For i9300) My Phone Will Not Hard Brick?
THE.W!ZARD said:
Did You Mean If I Flashed Custom ROM Made Specially For My Phone (Codec For i9300) My Phone Will Not Hard Brick?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that means if you flash ANY custom ROM, you won't hard brick, because they don't touch the bootloader
Glebun said:
What bout custom ROMs, like CM10?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CM10 is safe. It does not include any of these information that can brick your phone.
---------- Post added at 09:33 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:27 AM ----------
Glebun said:
that means if you flash ANY custom ROM, you won't hard brick, because they don't touch the bootloader
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, typically but keep in mind that if you flash rom from different phone model then it might soft brick your phone or some core services might not work.
I kinda did it to myself a couple of weeks ago. I have international i9300 and I flashed a rom for att. everything went smooth but my phone reception was not working. I was like WTF. then I checked rom correctly and I find it was for ATT. I was terrified that I might have broke my phone's reception forever. But then I again flashed CM10 for i9300 international and I am back into game again.
So when you flash any rom, try to double check phone model and reviews in discussion thread.
Yeah, but a soft brick is not a problem at all. I'm sure all of us have had a couple of them
Glebun said:
Yeah, but a soft brick is not a problem at all. I'm sure all of us have had a couple of them
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes
First off, sorry if this has already been covered somewhere and I'm just not finding it.. I've been searching and reading a lot and l am learning a ton, I just cant seem to find an answer for sure..
Note - I am mostly a 'noob'. I have had other sammy phones (a Galaxy S and a Gnex) and have rooted them and put CWM and TWRP on em, and flashed many kinds of custom roms and stuff,, soft bricked em several times,, had to use ODIN to flash em back to stock and start over, followed instructional threads to hack around using ADB and Fastboot commands for different things, etc..Basic playing around with stuff like that. So I sorta know my way around the basics of playing with at least Sammy brand phones.
I recently bought a nice used S4 to play with. I immediately start looking at root instructions and bootloaders and roms,, and ran dead into the brick wall of it already having the ME7 devil on it and thus me being locked out beyond rooting. Since I wanted an S4 specifically for playing with ROMs, I sold that stock ME7 S4 and bought a different one that someone had already put TWRP on and a custom ROM. So now I should be good to go flashing away.
So my question is, if I ever do want to try running a stock ME7 rom sometime, is there one I can flash while playing around flashing trying out different roms that would NOT somehow lock the bootloader? I'm not talking about accepting a Verizon OTA update, I know better than that. I'm talking about manually flashing roms (I am assuming if I flashed a 100% stock Verizon rom it might screw myself and lock the bootloader,, maybe I am mistaken on that assumption idk). I'm seeing the "bonestock me7" rom here on XDA, would that be safe to try for a stock ME7 experience?
ok i'll shut up now,, sorry for the long post.
You're good to go. Just look in the dev section for one to your liking. I've been running BoneStock but there are others including one from andybones which completely stock. Stay clear of any ROM requiring you to Odin as I'd worry about that.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda app-developers app
Cool. Thanks much for the help!
Basic operations
sohead said:
First off, sorry if this has already been covered somewhere and I'm just not finding it.. I've been searching and reading a lot and l am learning a ton, I just cant seem to find an answer for sure..
Note - I am mostly a 'noob'. I have had other sammy phones (a Galaxy S and a Gnex) and have rooted them and put CWM and TWRP on em, and flashed many kinds of custom roms and stuff,, soft bricked em several times,, had to use ODIN to flash em back to stock and start over, followed instructional threads to hack around using ADB and Fastboot commands for different things, etc..Basic playing around with stuff like that. So I sorta know my way around the basics of playing with at least Sammy brand phones.
I recently bought a nice used S4 to play with. I immediately start looking at root instructions and bootloaders and roms,, and ran dead into the brick wall of it already having the ME7 devil on it and thus me being locked out beyond rooting. Since I wanted an S4 specifically for playing with ROMs, I sold that stock ME7 S4 and bought a different one that someone had already put TWRP on and a custom ROM. So now I should be good to go flashing away.
So my question is, if I ever do want to try running a stock ME7 rom sometime, is there one I can flash while playing around flashing trying out different roms that would NOT somehow lock the bootloader? I'm not talking about accepting a Verizon OTA update, I know better than that. I'm talking about manually flashing roms (I am assuming if I flashed a 100% stock Verizon rom it might screw myself and lock the bootloader,, maybe I am mistaken on that assumption idk). I'm seeing the "bonestock me7" rom here on XDA, would that be safe to try for a stock ME7 experience?
ok i'll shut up now,, sorry for the long post.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Writing the nand memory on this handset is nearly impossible through conventional means, suggest a maintenance jig for the board.
heyazzo said:
Writing the nand memory on this handset is nearly impossible through conventional means, suggest a maintenance jig for the board.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whats the "nand memory"? the area of memory where the recovery/bootloader code is stored? and what do you mean by conventional means? like using CWM or TWRP I assume? what about ODIN? from prior experience ODIN has written over a custom bootloader that I had loaded with a stock one (if I remember right anyway, I think I've lost my custom CWM or TWRP bootloaders by flashing a stock rom via ODIN,, back on the Gnex, I have never tried that with an S4 but assume it would be the same deal). And whats a "maintenance jig"?
lol sorry for so many questions,, warned ya I was a NOOB
No such thing as a dumb question.
sohead said:
Whats the "nand memory"? the area of memory where the recovery/bootloader code is stored? and what do you mean by conventional means? like using CWM or TWRP I assume? what about ODIN? from prior experience ODIN has written over a custom bootloader that I had loaded with a stock one (if I remember right anyway, I think I've lost my custom CWM or TWRP bootloaders by flashing a stock rom via ODIN,, back on the Gnex, I have never tried that with an S4 but assume it would be the same deal). And whats a "maintenance jig"?
lol sorry for so many questions,, warned ya I was a NOOB
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was always curious about things that I didn't understand. First, try to understand the security that's already on this device, then decide if an update really did kill one qfuse out of say 10-12 on the board depending on the lifecycle they gave this particular set of commo gear. Search MSM 8960 security, then get back to me via PM, I want to help you any way I can.
Hello Guys,
Just wanted to check there is any official method to reload LG D802 boot loader which will remove the signature "ROOTED" in recovery mode. This will help to retain the warranty in case of any hardware failures like speaker, cam etc. Just wanted to know if any method is available
Thanks
ravi.ameer said:
Hello Guys,
Just wanted to check there is any official method to reload LG D802 boot loader which will remove the signature "ROOTED" in recovery mode. This will help to retain the warranty in case of any hardware failures like speaker, cam etc. Just wanted to know if any method is available
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2432476&highlight=remove+root+status - Pretty sure this works for most variants besides maybe VZW to remove that and get you back to stock.
es0tericcha0s said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2432476&highlight=remove+root+status - Pretty sure this works for most variants besides maybe VZW to remove that and get you back to stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, thanks for the great guide! But this doesn't reload the recovery loader. I tried this method and I'm easily able to revert to stock but the recovery loader is triggered as ROOTED and this will kill the warranty. (I'm not soo bothered about the warranty of the software but it matters about hardware. Who knows tomorrow)
Big thanks if we would find a solution for this.
Thanks.
I ran across a thread somewhere where it was mentioned that you have to reload it twice.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=48754417&postcount=9
Sounds like a plan.... first flash would be removing custom like removing root access....and second flash was like racking the device that the device is not rooted and reloading the boot loader itself and resetting the trigger...truly sounds like a plan.... I will try this method....
Sent from my LG-D802
I got an AT&T Galaxy Mega I think its the i527, but I'm using it with MetroPCS. I wanted to flash a custom ROM but I'm totally new to this world. :silly:
Hopefully somebody could help me.
1.- What would happen if I do a factory reset? (would I be able to use it on MetroPCS)
2.- Since MetroPCS and T-Mobile are compatible could I use a ROM like this one?
And by the way, when I plug my cell phone to my laptop it starts to charge but I can't open files its like not recognizing it does anybody know whats up?
btw2: I still have the unlocking code would I be able to use it again?
AlejandroBAAO said:
I got an AT&T Galaxy Mega I think its the i527, but I'm using it with MetroPCS. I wanted to flash a custom ROM but I'm totally new to this world. :silly:
Hopefully somebody could help me.
1.- What would happen if I do a factory reset? (would I be able to use it on MetroPCS)
2.- Since MetroPCS and T-Mobile are compatible could I use a ROM like this one?
And by the way, when I plug my cell phone to my laptop it starts to charge but I can't open files its like not recognizing it does anybody know whats up?
btw2: I still have the unlocking code would I be able to use it again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You may need to install drivers for computer to recognize, but mine does that automatically. If rooted, you may need to re-install.
Factory reset is just going to erase everything.
If it is an ATT model i527, there is no recovery for it yet and I beleive that transends all unlocking.
Do the smart thing for a noobie. Dont flash a darn thing until you educate yourself. Read read read. Google your questions. Put yourself in a situation where you understand what your doing. Dont guess or follow someone else unless you are confident in there level of expertise. Nobody will replace your phone here.
Post all information.
Example......you did not say whether your phone is upgraded to 4.4 or still running 4.2 ?????
1 little detail can mean the biggest difference.
Good luck
As always, I will check back, because I am still learning too.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I527 using XDA Free mobile app