[Q] Device "soft bricked" - Help needed! - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi guys, I was trying to flash a custom ROM for the first time onto my ASUS ME301T, as I was fairly sure ASUS was not going to update these devices anymore.
Anyway, now the device will not start. It will power on, and the first of the two ASUS start-up screens will appear (the non animated/static one). In the top corner, it reads "The Device is Unlocked" as was required when attempting to flash the 4.4.4 ROM. Beyond this, nothing happens. If I attempt to power down the device it simply reboots itself shortly after. The only way to turn it off is to insert a paperclip into the physical reset hole, or to let the device run out of battery.
Now before you tell me to go into recovery by holding power and volume down... I've tried that hundreds of times.. As well as power+vol up, although I don't know what that does. I cannot access recovery mode, as far as I know anyway. Further, the device is not detected by either of my computers (desktop or laptop, windows and mac) so I can't attempt to flash it through USB (unless there is a way to do this?).
The device does not heat up, the screen simply stays on the ASUS static logo. It doesn't power off unless I hold the button, and it quickly restarts. To provide context as to what I did to cause this issue.. It was working fine on its factory ROM, no issues, and I attempted to do another system reset to fix an issue I was having with TWRP. However, I accidentally selected the middle open, not RCK, not reset, but something like "boot into Linux" or something, I can't exactly remember. Anyway, like an idiot I freaked and powered off the device.. My guess is that this is was caused the issue?
Anyway, making this post here as this is my first time looking into/attempting to flash a device. Would appreciate some expert help before I use my tablet to prop up the books on my bookcase
Help me try to unbrick my tablet! (I'm not too hopeful though..)
Cheers

Related

[Q] HTC Eris boot problem inquiry

Hello all. I'm a brand-noob (my phrase, thank you) here.
I have received a Verizon HTC Eris phone that boots to the red triangle with exclamation point (three droids on skateboards prior to the triangle screen). I have no information on what was done on this phone prior to my receiving it. I have read here that the three droids means that it has been rooted, and that the red triangle means a stock recovery is on it.
I can only "Up Volume + Power" to get this - "E:Can't open /cache/recovery/command". Other than that, I can't seem to get to anything else on the phone.
Now, upon connecting via usb to my computer (Windows 7), I can get Windows to recognize the "Android Phone", but not specifically an HTC Eris. I do not have HTC Sync installed. I have used ADB to root another phone (MyTouch), but this phone does not show up when I check for devices via "adb devices".
I am hoping someone can offer some simple steps that I can do to work towards fixing the phone. Thanks everyone for your time. !
This may help you:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=992916
Good luck.
Thanks for the reply phone_cell. I had already read/seen that post.
I cannot see any boot information at all, it shows the skateboarders, then the red triangle. The phone shows up on my computer, but only as an "android storage device". I'm not sure how I can check anything via my computer. I have installed PDAnet prior, and read that it should have installed the phone drivers. ? I installed HTCSync on a different computer and it doesn't see the phone.
If there is no way to fix this phone, then I understand. I would like to think that there are ways (standard methods ?) to check and/or re-install a phone (any phone) back from something like this. ? ...Thanks again for your time and expertise!
I was happy to try to help you. I recommend you send a PM to bftb0. If your Eris can be brought back to life, bftb0 will know what to do.
Bummer. bftb0 does not receive private messages, or at least not from me. Maybe someone could relay the forum post.
I am still digging and digging to try and figure something out. If I could get my computer to communicate properly with the phone, I'm sure I could re-install/fix the boot problem.
Anyone have ideas on how to install a usb device that's stuck in recovery?
As always, thanks thanks thanks. And thanks.
I made a post asking bftb0 to lend you a hand.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=15386610&postcount=33
Are you able to get it into fastboot mode? To do so, the phone needs to be completely off first...pulling the battery if needed. From there, first hold down the green send/call button then press and hold the red power/end button at the same time. Holding both should bring you to the fastboot screen which has three small skateboard andy's at the bottom and the word FASTBOOT highlighted in red. If you get there, post what the top two green lines say. Post #4 in the thread phone_cell gave shows an example of what you'll see. I would also try and follow bftb0's directions in post #5 about using the "Official" RUU utility to install usb drivers but make sure to stop before actually flashing anything to the phone. After that, download the fastboot tool and then with the phone connected through usb, see if the command "fastboot devices" lists your device ID.
Getting that far is promising and you can proceed with bftb0's directions in that thread to flash with HBOOT, load a recovery, hopefully eventually get a custom ROM flashed.
Hey MongooseHelix (great nick). Thanks for your reply.
No, the phone does not boot into fastboot, or anything else. There's plenty of resources here for all the different methods for booting and such. I've read hundreds of threads and pages. I've tried them all (and to success on other phones). It only gives me the recovery-stuck-ness.
The more I think about it, the more I think it has something to do with me not having this certain phone installed on my computer prior to receiving it. ? What would other people do to remedy something like that..? Find a working model to get the drivers working? Hmmm. Thanks and thanks again folks.
If you haven't already, how about installing the android-sdk(try the exe if on windows):
http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
Then run the SDK Manager.exe from the SDK directory. I'd download the latest SDK tools, SDK platform-tools, and the USB driver for Windows. Make sure to add the tools and platform-tools directories to your path...instructions at the end of Step 5:
http://developer.android.com/sdk/installing.html#sdkContents
With the phone on and connected through usb, see if running "adb devices" from the command prompt recognizes the Eris.
Yes, I had the android-sdk installed prior to receiving this phone. I did run it and update everything within it (per everything I researched online). But, the phone still doesn't show up via "adb devices". I feel like because the phone is stuck in recovery, it's not letting the computer do anything hardware-wise with it. ? Not sure.
Not sure what else to suggest. Without access to recovery, fastboot, or hboot along with not being able to connect through a comp, it unfortunately sounds like it might be hard-bricked. I'm certainly no expert at reviving an Eris so someone may know a way to to fix things...maybe bftb0 will come work his magic. Good luck and if I find or think of anything else I'll let you know.
The red triangle screen is indeed a splash screen for the stock recovery.
The next question is whether you are able to proceed beyond the "splash screen" and attempt to perform a "factory reset" procedure using the stock recovery menus.
There are two ways you get past the stock recovery splash screen, and it depends on which version of the stock recovery is installed on your phone have.
(1) press & hold Vol-Up+End simultaneously (with the "red triangle" splash screen showing)
or
(2) press the Home(soft-key)+End simultaneously (with the "red triangle" splash screen showing)
Do either of those cause the <2e> recovery menu to appear on the screen? If so, perform a "factory reset" using that menu, and THEN see if you can get alternate startup modes to occur (after powering off the phone before each trial):
End (only) => Does anything boot now?
VolDown+End => HBOOT
Send+End => FASTBOOT
VolUp+End => Recovery boot (red triangle screen again) **only works if HBOOT > 1.49.xxxx
Please do not say "I tried everything" in your reply. It is extremely non-specific, and conveys no information about what you actually attempted.
bftb0
Many thanks for the reply. !
With the recovery splash screen showing, upon holding "Volume Up + End (power)" I get = E:Can't open /cache/recovery/command Now, I am able to clear that message by pressing "Volume Up + End" again, however it just goes back to the recovery splash screen.
I held down Home (on the glass) + End (power) and nothing happened.
?? Any suggestions ?
Also... my reference to "tried them all" in my earlier post meant that I have tried just about every combination of simultaneous key pressing upon powering up (booting from no power) the phone. I am also familiar with the recovery menus on other phones - I have not seen it show up on this one (per my most recent post as well).
cjslugbug said:
I get = E:Can't open /cache/recovery/command
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That message is quite normal. However, what usually happens is that the (stock) recovery <2e> menus appear immediately after that message.
I guess this suggests that there is something wrong with the phone (hardware) or the recovery.
I'll give it some thought (check this thread every so often), but I don't see an immediate way out of your situation.
bftb0
Well, I certainly appreciate the replies. Thanks!
Does
VolDown+Send+End
do anything interesting - either from a phone off condition, or when the "can't open /cache/recovery/command" message is on the screen?
Was there a (properly formatted) SD card in the phone when you performed all the prior button-pressing experiments?
Booted with "Volume Down + Send + End" = same, straight to recovery splash screen.
I then "Volume Up + End" to get "e:can't open /cache...." and tried "Volume Down + Send + End" = no changes.
I have an sd card in it that I used to root a MyTouchSlide recently. It has ClockworkMod recovery on it (update.zip). I have done every procedure I've mentioned in this thread with and without the sd card in the phone.
I just reread the whole thread.
I understand that you tried all the standard button-press-startup methods, and the only thing you can get to work (partially) is the first part of the standard recovery boot. What you didn't say explicitly is, what exactly happens when the standard button-press operations fail:
- nothing at all (screen stays black, not a single LED blips, etc)? or,
- every start sequence results in the recovery splash screen? or,
- the three skating droids appear but the screen freezes that way? or,
- other?
Here is what you are up against:
The standard recovery does not start up an "adbd" daemon, so worrying about drivers is not likely to get you anywhere: under normal circumstances, "adb" simply doesn't work with a standard recovery.
There are two exceptions to this:
(1) The (leaked) HTC "Root ROM" does start an adbd daemon (but "adb shell" won't work)
(2) The Leak-V2 recovery had a race condition that allowed less than 20% of the folks who tried it to get an adbd daemon to persist. (Search for "tereg" root). It's a huge long shot.
Whether either of these apply to you is indeterminate, as we know neither the bootloader version that is on your phone, nor the version ofthe (damaged?) recovery on the phone.
One more question, and then some straws to grasp at:
- when you plug the phone into the charger, do you see the amber/green LED light up?
- repeat every one of the "standard-button-press" sequences, but make sure that before each start sequence, you pull the battery, press all buttons, wait 10 secs, and then reinsert the battery. Long shot, but what have you got to lose?
bftb0
- what exactly happens when the standard button-press operations fail:
The three skating droids appear (for a few seconds, as per a normal-type boot is beginning) but then the screen freezes to the recovery splash screen.
- when you plug the phone into the charger, do you see the amber/green LED light up?
Yes, I see the amber/green light. The light seems to operate as if it is charging normally.
I will try your 10 + second-battery-pull-button-combinations method here in a while.
Really appreciate the thoughts/help on the matter. !!!

[Q] G-Tablet - boot loop? - Need help!

So a buddy of mine bought one of the Viewsonic G-Tablets, and attempted to root(if this is the right term), and I think he may have bricked it. After reading many threads here, and watching some videos, I'm quite confident now that we could get it back to working order, but after hours upon hours of attempts, I cannot seem to solve the issue.
Model: UPC300-2.2
OS Ver: 2.2
Tap UI Version:
1.0-2638
Kernel 2.6.32.9-00000-10.8.2-dirty
Build: FRF91
As of right now, the damn thing will not turn on outside of recovery mode. If you try and power it on, the screen never powers up.
If I power up in recovery, I also don't get a power up screen, until I run NVFlash. After running NVFlash, it will create partitions and boot up into the OS. Every functions at that point, but if I turn it off, and turn it back on, it repeats its previous offense; no screen power.
When I turn it on though, although no power, it does make a bing on my PC, to indicate USB is getting feed, but it does not try and mount the device.
I am not positive what he has done to get it into this mode, or what I can do to get it out of this mode. I've tried a handful walkthroughs and troubleshooting threads but they have not resolved this problem. Is this common? What are my steps to try and resolve it? He's coming up to the end of his RMA time, and he will soon try and see if he can RMA it, so I don't have a lot of time to futz with it, so I'm reaching out for help.
If there is any other information you need, please request, I just posted the basic info I found on the About tablet page
Thanks!
Can anyone confirm if this is an actual boot loop? What would make it so I have to nvflash each time to load this tablet; is it fixable, or is there an issue somewhere else with the device, that may just mean its bricked.
when you try to boot into recovery are you holding the volume up button and the power button at the same time untill it boot into recovery if it does boot then you need to wipe user data and wipe cash if not try to load clockwork mod do a search in the main viewsonic fourm to learn how to do this I hope this is some help Good Luck

[Q] Archos Home Connect 35 Stuck on White Screen

Thanks in advance for reading this and for any suggestions you might have!
I have a Archos Home Connect 35 Gen 8 device. I had it rooted on 2.4.82 firmware just fine. I wanted to update to 2.8.83 to get rid of the update notification I kept getting. I wanted to do it from a fresh clean slate as I wanted to reset my device anyway. First I used the Recovery Menu (White Menu) to restore back to default, then removed the SDE menu via the option to remove it in the SDE menu.
I then followed the guide that chrulri posted that I followed last time, but with 2.8.83 files. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=930197 (Note for Archos 35's you have to hold the power button for ~6 seconds, then double tap it to get to recovery instead of holding Volume Down like on other Gen8's). I was doing this on my MacBook Air at the time. (I rooted it before from my Windows PC). I went to 'Update Firmware" on the recovery menu, then took the SDE firmware file, and copied it over USB to the drive and safely removed the drive, then hit "OK" on the device. It proceeded to do the update it seems but only took 2-3 seconds so I'm fairly sure something didn't go right as it usually takes longer. It then said press ok to Reboot so I did.
After the reboot from that, the device turns on but I get a White screen. No Archos logo or anything. Usually this white screen comes on for a few seconds, then I would get the Archos Logo even if I was booting recovery. No luck. I tried resetting the device by holding power button for 20 seconds, waiting 10 seconds and turning it on, same issue. Recovery will not work either, I tried two dozen times to try and get it to load by doing the usual ~6 seconds holding power button then double tapping and no luck.
I tried hooking the device up USB and in Windows all I get "Unknown Device" in device manager, with DeviceId of USB\Unknown. I attempted to force both Archos' ADB driver and the Universal ADB drive onto it with no success. (I'm pretty sure its my device since normally when a device shows up and its capable of ADB you will get a difference device ID in Device manager like USB\ADBDEV1 or something. On my Mac, when I plug it in, all USB devices (Multitouch pad mouse included) will lock up for ~5 seconds, then in dmesg I can see it has a error on USB device and it disabled the device.
So something weird is going on with my Home Connect for sure. Any suggestions on what to try? I'm thinking somehow the filesystem or firmware on it got screwed up during the SDE flash and it can't boot anything even the recovery now. I have a MicroSD card I can use if there's some recovery feature built into it to get it to boot from the MicroSD slot or something to do a firmware recovery.
My only other option if there is no way to try and get it back would be to try and send it back to Archos for repair simply stating it was updating firmware and this happened. (No actual modified firmware is on it now as well, and i was flashing the Archos approved SDE firmware, so they should be okay with it).
Also the battery was fully charged when doing this. It seems different that the White Screen bug the Archos 101 and others get when the battery accidentally runs too low with older firmware.
Thank you again for your replied!
If you can't get into recovery anymore, then it is over. I would suggest to RMA the device.
divx118
From all my searches through Archos forums and here that seems right.
I'm shocked there's no failsafe recovery mode for Archos. My Asus Transformer TF101 had one, where even if the firmware was screwed and you couldn't get to recovery, a special key combo would boot it up and you'd load some special recovery driver for it (Not adb something with nVidia in it, has to do with Tegra2 chipset i suppose) and upload the firmware to it and it recovered. Even iPhone's have DFU fallback mode as well for when things are totally forked and iTunes will restore the firmware.
Just an update. I did RMA the unit and Archos sent me a brand new boxed up one back. (I have an extra charger and cable now since they said not to include them ). Have my new 35 setup rooted with .83 now.
I think I figured out what happened. After I installed the SDE, before I flashed the new kernel and such, if I booted the Developer Edition option from recovery, it would get stuck at a blank white screen until I power cycled. On my old 35 I had removed the option to boot regular so it booted the Developer Edition that was rooted every time. I think when I restored the original firmware, it of course removes the Developer Edition kernel I had flashed before, but it somehow didn't set the menu back and was trying to boot Developer Edition every time, which it lacked the kernel for, and went to the white screen. Not sure if it explains recovery not working though.
To make sure it doesn't happen again i've left the options all in tact and left it so I manually have to go to recovery if I reboot the system to boot the developer kernel for root. Since the device goes weeks and months without the need to reboot since it's just an Alarm Clock really that's fine with me.

[Q] HDX 7 stuck in boot loop

Help! I have a newer HDX 7 that is stuck trying to reboot. The device powers up to the gray kindle fire screen but sits there for a minute or so and then the screen flashes and it starts all over. The device does not recognize the power button. I've tried the hold the button for 40 seconds to reset but it just keeps going through this loop while holding the power button. When I connected it to my PC (Win7), it does not see the device. If I connect another Andriod device, it sees it imeadiately.
I'm a complete noob with this but I'm actually in IT, just not in this area. This is my sons device so I'm not sure exactly what he was doing at the time it started this but my guess would be playing MineCraft. Amazon's wonderful support says it just needs to be replaced but it's out of warranty. My son and I were just about to start an online coding course so I'd like to get this back up and running so we can start that. Any help would be appreciated. After searching the web, you guys seem to be the only ones able to root or fix any software/os issues with these devices.
Thanks,
Doug
Leav320 said:
Help! I have a newer HDX 7 that is stuck trying to reboot. The device powers up to the gray kindle fire screen but sits there for a minute or so and then the screen flashes and it starts all over. The device does not recognize the power button. I've tried the hold the button for 40 seconds to reset but it just keeps going through this loop while holding the power button. When I connected it to my PC (Win7), it does not see the device. If I connect another Andriod device, it sees it imeadiately.
I'm a complete noob with this but I'm actually in IT, just not in this area. This is my sons device so I'm not sure exactly what he was doing at the time it started this but my guess would be playing MineCraft. Amazon''s wonderful support says it just needs to be replaced but it's out of warranty. My son and I were just about to start an online coding course so I'd like to get this back up and running so we can start that. Any help would be appreciated. After searching the web, you guys seem to be the only ones able to root or fix any software/os issues with these devices.
Thanks,
Doug
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your options are limited given the device is largely invisible via tether (even then there would be little recourse as adb is probably disabled). Did you try a factory reset? Amazon's crippled recovery environment can be accessed via power + vol-up from a cold start. Release the power button after the gray Kindle logo appears. If the recovery menu comes up the only option is 'factory reset'. I realize you may not be able to access recovery given the non-responsive power button.
Any chance you son is old/savvy enough to trying rooting the device? The symptoms suggest either a failed automatic update (rare but it does happen) or botched attempt to root via the wrong method. Obviously a spontaneous hardware failure is also possible albeit unlikely.
Do you know what version of Fire OS was running just prior to the boot loop?
There is still a small chance adb may help even if the device is not recognized by Windows explorer. However, if as Davey said, it is disabled, things are limited.
Again, do you know what version is you were running?
Have you installed adb?
Have you tried recovery?
Sent from my KFTHWI using Tapatalk
Davey126 said:
Your options are limited given the device is largely invisible via tether (even then there would be little recourse as adb is probably disabled). Did you try a factory reset? Amazon's crippled recovery environment can be accessed via power + vol-up from a cold start. Release the power button after the gray Kindle logo appears. If the recovery menu comes up the only option is 'factory reset'. I realize you may not be able to access recovery given the non-responsive power button.
Any chance you son is old/savvy enough to trying rooting the device? The symptoms suggest either a failed automatic update (rare but it does happen) or botched attempt to root via the wrong method. Obviously a spontaneous hardware failure is also possible albeit unlikely.
Do you know what version of Fire OS was running just prior to the boot loop?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, Unless it updated automatically, it was the same version that was on there when it was delivered around 4/14.
No, My son would not have tried rooting this on his own.
I was incorrect when I stated that the system wasn't recognizing the power button. When I try the hold the power button for 40 secs or the Power button + Vol up button to restart, the boot loop gets shorter.
lekofraggle said:
There is still a small chance adb may help even if the device is not recognized by Windows explorer. However, if as Davey said, it is disabled, things are limited.
Again, do you know what version is you were running?
Have you installed adb?
Have you tried recovery?
Sent from my KFTHWI using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have installed ADB on my PC but it doesn't see the device (although I'm not sure I'm using it correctly). What command should I be issuing to see if the device is connected. If I use "adb devices" I get the response in the attached screen shot.
If by recovery, you mean the recovery on the device, the power+volume up button doesn't work.
I appreciate all of the help!
Leav320 said:
No, Unless it updated automatically, it was the same version that was on there when it was delivered around 4/14.
No, My son would not have tried rooting this on his own.
I was incorrect when I stated that the system wasn't recognizing the power button. When I try the hold the power button for 40 secs or the Power button + Vol up button to restart, the boot loop gets shorter.
I have installed ADB on my PC but it doesn't see the device (although I'm not sure I'm using it correctly). What command should I be issuing to see if the device is connected. If I use "adb devices" I get the response in the attached screen shot.
If by recovery, you mean the recovery on the device, the power+volume up button doesn't work.
I appreciate all of the help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Given the delivery date and age of device I STRONGLY recommend you reach out to Amazon for a replacement vs trying to resolve on your own. A new version of Fire OS is currently rolling out which MAY have triggered the behavior you are seeing. Bit of a bummer given your son's course plans but a worthwhile delay IMHO.
I agree with Davey.
Sent from my KFTHWI using Tapatalk

Bricked CAT S50 after general instability

Hello and thank you for anyone bothering to read this.
I got a CAT S50 and was experiencing a bit of instability lately.
I've run LTE_S0201121.0_S50_0.023.00 without a hitch for a while, then it decided to crash several applications, from google play to any other app open.
That's when I decided to do a factory reset and see if it would help. Performed the rest without a hitch, but the errors kept coming back. At one point, the screen went black. I knew the phone was on because the backlit was working. I hard-reseted it (hold the power button for 30 seconds or more) and rebooted. The phone froze on the CAT splash logo screen and that's when I hard-reset it again. But when I tried to turn it on, the phone simply refused to work. No vibrate, sounds or anything. It's dead.
When I plug it on the computer's USB, the PC makes a sound as if it detected the device, but when I go to the device manager, I get this QHSUSB_BULK with the yellow exclamation mark
I want to know if it is possible to unbrick this phone and if so, if there is a tutorial or if someone can direct me to the correct procedure. I looked everywhere for the ftf file for this phone to attempt this with flashtool, but I simply can't find it.
ANY help of any form is greatly appreciated.
Sadly I had the same thing happen to me, just a black screen. It decided to delete recovery mode or I just cant get to it.
Power Off the Phone,
While pressing Press Vol Down + Cam Button insert a Powersource -- hold down Vol Down + Cam
Recoverymenu should start
Then flash the original rom via ADB Sideload or SD Card.
btw. i have flashed the LTE_S0201121.0_S50_0.023.00 but i want test older ROMs!
can anyone link or upload an older ROM ?
Guy i have the same issue, can you please help me
I got the same problem I search lots place but still nothing then normal update rom anyone can help?

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