Need help with bricked LG MS323 L70 - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi all, I will try to be as detailed as possible.
I have a MetroPCS LG MS323 which I bought as a second phone to use when I travel as my regular phone is CDMA and I wanted a GSM phone that I could use with a sim card. While on an overseas trip I paid a cellphone place to unlock the phone so I could use other carriers' sim card, it was working fine since then. However, as I don't use the phone on a regular basis it ended up sitting and the battery lost its charge. When I tried to charge it by usb, it started bootlooping (vibrate, LG logo, repeat). After that I pulled the battery and charged it using an external charger. The phone is not rooted. I tried the factory reset key combo, but it gets stuck on the screen which says factory reset processing........ endlessly. I tried to download kdz file and flash with LG flash tool but phone cannot get into download mode. When I press vol key and plug usb cable, it says LOADING.......... press volum up key until download mode starts But it gets stuck there and download mode never starts.
I downloaded adb and fastboot to a Windows 7 laptop, and LG drivers, but when I connect phone and open a terminal adb devices shows no phone connected.
I also downloaded Laf.img for this phone and Laf recovery tool for Windows but again I cannot seem to get computer to see the phone. If I try to use the tool it says "waiting for device"
One difficulty is to trying to plug phone to computer the right way.
Most of the threads say to have phone in battery charge mode with usb debugging enabled, but I can't select any settings if the phone is bricked.
If I just plug the phone to usb when it is turned off it shows a picture of battery but no sign of charging, and computer doesn't detect phone.
If I plug phone to usb first, then hold vol and power key the LG logo will go black and it vibrates, in that case sometimes the Windows laptop will see 2 folders, verinfo and image.
When I plug usb cable to Linux computer and phone is off, same thing just picture of battery but terminal only shows sda1 sda2 sda3 etc no sdb no sdc just like not detected.
If I hold vol down then plug usb it vibrates and stuck on LG logo.
I have also tried to plug usb, then press vol down and power until phone vibrates, then try to let go buttons before LG logo shows up. but it doesn't mount.
If I hold vol up and power, then plug usb. it vibrates and goes to LG logo.
Last night somehow I got it to mount on the linux computer but the file manager was going crazy opening multiple windows and a list of folders would show up for a second, disappear and reappear as if the system was trying to read the folders but having difficulty. Today I am not able to get it to mount.
I have downloaded a linux livecd with adb and fastboot, I haven't tried it yet because I am not sure the path to flash an img file from a different directory on the hard drive on the windows laptop.
I have downloaded aboot.img but don't know how I can flash it if I can't see the phone on any computers.
I have spent days searching for solutions but have not seen the exact same problem, other threads suggest things but often the symptoms are slightly different or with a different phone. So, first of all I need to know what kind of brick I have, because other solutions I have seen posted for completely black screen, or phone detected as qhsusb qualcomm etc. which seems like a different problem.
So the 2 main things are 1, to know which kind of brick because many of the solutions I see posted seem like a different problem.
second, what is the best way to plug to computer so I can see the phone?

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I burned a live CD of FWUL and ran adb from linux, still says adb devices nothing shows up. usb cable is plugged in and phone is turned off. Am I doing this wrong? I held down power and vol down until phone vibrates and LG logo appears. adb devices - "list of devices attached" still has nothing showing.. I don't know why even in Linux I can't see any device attached. Also I tried with pressing vol up and power until phone vibrates.
ls /dev/sd* only shows sda sda1 sda2 etc
I have also looked at past threads about unlocking the L70 bootloader, but the bootloader.zip no longer links and the phone does not have busybox installed.
I tried to see it Windows Device Manager but it does not show up anywhere.

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This probably won't help, but, when you're at this point, you'll try about anything.
Did you fully install the LG drivers on your PC? Obvious seeming question. I was doing an old Droid Bionic a couple months ago and didnt' switch the USB modes (charging, media, file transfer, whatever it had) to each mode before modding .
As a result, I bricked that Droid bad. It took me almost a week and a half to restore it. I'm not sure if LG drivers work the same way, though I've worked on plenty of them. I think I have an LG Leon still in the scrap heap as a result of trying to replace a cracked digitizer that was bonded to the LCD. If anyone needs parts for one, I've got em, cheap I think that's an MS345 if I recall.

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equitube said:
This probably won't help, but, when you're at this point, you'll try about anything.
Did you fully install the LG drivers on your PC? Obvious seeming question. I was doing an old Droid Bionic a couple months ago and didnt' switch the USB modes (charging, media, file transfer, whatever it had) to each mode before modding .
As a result, I bricked that Droid bad. It took me almost a week and a half to restore it. I'm not sure if LG drivers work the same way, though I've worked on plenty of them. I think I have an LG Leon still in the scrap heap as a result of trying to replace a cracked digitizer that was bonded to the LCD. If anyone needs parts for one, I've got em, cheap I think that's an MS345 if I recall.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, yes I had installed latest LG drivers LGMobileDriver WHQL Ver 4.2.0 before trying to flash .kdz file.
A tiny bit of progress to report, after getting a perfect timing to release the power and vol down keys I was finally able to connect to Windows machine. while waiting for drivers to install it was detected as QHSUSB_BULK in device manager, after drivers loaded now it is listed as LGE AndroidNet USB Serial {port (COM4). However when I run adb I still cannot see an attached device. I will look at solutions for the specific type of brick problem which has now been identified.

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fofopuka said:
Thanks, yes I had installed latest LG drivers LGMobileDriver WHQL Ver 4.2.0 before trying to flash .kdz file.
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Click to collapse
What I meant was after initially installing the drivers did you switch the USB mode on your LG to all possible settings? Some drivers (like Moto) install more functions only when first called. you'll know if you switch from say charging to MTP or RNDIS you'll see driver install reopen.
also when you first ran ADB and plugged in the phone you probably should have seen more drivers install.
Forgive me if I seem to insult your intelligence. I'm an IT pro w 30 yrs in tech and I didn't know about the multi driver USB functions.
Tom Sgt aka Rootjunky has a good video on this that i initially didn't watch figuring I'd been installing drivers forever. 5 more minutes of watching it would have saved near 40 hrs of work and research
and when r

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equitube said:
What I meant was after initially installing the drivers did you switch the USB mode on your LG to all possible settings? Some drivers (like Moto) install more functions only when first called. you'll know if you switch from say charging to MTP or RNDIS you'll see driver install reopen.
also when you first ran ADB and plugged in the phone you probably should have seen more drivers install.
Forgive me if I seem to insult your intelligence. I'm an IT pro w 30 yrs in tech and I didn't know about the multi driver USB functions.
Tom Sgt aka Rootjunky has a good video on this that i initially didn't watch figuring I'd been installing drivers forever. 5 more minutes of watching it would have saved near 40 hrs of work and research
and when r
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks, I found his video for the G2 and no, I have never seen that with the drivers before! good to know. You can't insult my intelligence because most of this is over my head and I'm just trying to follow stuff I found with Google on XDA......
I downloaded and installed the Qualcomm drivers to try and identify if I have the 9006 or 9008 variety brick. However now when I plug in the phone Windows waits to install drivers, then says successful, when I look in device manager now I can't find the phone. But I did notice on the taskbar now there appears an icon named "intel graphics media accelerator driver for mobile" perhaps that is the driver Windows assigned to it? Device manager does have Intel Graphics Media Accelerator under display adapters. The other weird thing is that now it shows the battery as charging, which it never did the other times I plugged it into usb.

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fofopuka said:
thanks, I found his video for the G2 and no, I have never seen that with the drivers before! good to know. You can't insult my intelligence because most of this is over my head and I'm just trying to follow stuff I found with Google on XDA......
I downloaded and installed the Qualcomm drivers to try and identify if I have the 9006 or 9008 variety brick. However now when I plug in the phone Windows waits to install drivers, then says successful, when I look in device manager now I can't find the phone. But I did notice on the taskbar now there appears an icon named "intel graphics media accelerator driver for mobile" perhaps that is the driver Windows assigned to it? Device manager does have Intel Graphics Media Accelerator under display adapters. The other weird thing is that now it shows the battery as charging, which it never did the other times I plugged it into usb.
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Click to collapse
have you seen this thread.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2773123
it has the firmware for your model links to drivers and the LG flash tool, (which is warned against newbies (what the hey, it can't get much worse, we were all newbies once, )
Can you boot into fastboot? if so, you could flash the firmware with that.

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equitube said:
have you seen this thread.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2773123
it has the firmware for your model links to drivers and the LG flash tool, (which is warned against newbies (what the hey, it can't get much worse, we were all newbies once, )
Can you boot into fastboot? if so, you could flash the firmware with that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, yes although those links no longer work I have found the drivers and flashtool elsewhere. If I try to run flashtool it cannot see the phone. I cannot get into fastboot, and download mode won't load. I cannot see the phone on any Linux machine. The most I can do it see the phone as E: Qualcomm MMC storage USB device in Device Manager, but no other details. Explorer can see 2 folders, image and verinfo. Is there anything I can do with these folders in Windows? adb and fastboot run from terminal still do not list any attached device. Windows did a search for drivers for QHSUSB_BULK, although in device manager it still says LGE AndroidNet USB Serial Port (COM5).
What I really want to do at this point is push aboot.img to the phone, but for some reason I can't access the phone with Linux or adb. maybe because it did not have usb debugging enabled before it bricked. So many of the threads I have seen require a working phone to implement the steps, is there any way to enable usb debugging when the phone doesn't work?

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fofopuka said:
Hi, yes although those links no longer work I have found the drivers and flashtool elsewhere. If I try to run flashtool it cannot see the phone. I cannot get into fastboot, and download mode won't load. I cannot see the phone on any Linux machine. The most I can do it see the phone as E: Qualcomm MMC storage USB device in Device Manager, but no other details. Explorer can see 2 folders, image and verinfo. Is there anything I can do with these folders in Windows? adb and fastboot run from terminal still do not list any attached device. Windows did a search for drivers for QHSUSB_BULK, although in device manager it still says LGE AndroidNet USB Serial Port (COM5).
What I really want to do at this point is push aboot.img to the phone, but for some reason I can't access the phone with Linux or adb. maybe because it did not have usb debugging enabled before it bricked. So many of the threads I have seen require a working phone to implement the steps, is there any way to enable usb debugging when the phone doesn't work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course, I had forgotten about that. In order to use fastboot, most flashing tools, you HAVE to have USB debugging on.
There are occasional ways around this, though they are few. I do seem to recall oding it on that LG Leon. OR it may have been a Moto e or G, let me look back at previous threads i've asked for help in.
(Hmm, perhaps taking notes, or just leaving a webcam running while I'm doing a new device might be valuable in the future, I think with remarkable hindsight.) :cyclops:
---------- Post added at 02:28 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:26 AM ----------
And no, you can't do anything to Android files in Windows, except see them. they are generally a different file system

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One of the difficulties is just plugging it to a PC. 9 out of 10 times it is not recognized and nothing happens. So far the only way that seems to occasionally work is to plug the usb cable to the Windows 7 laptop, hold vol down and power, release both as soon as it vibrates. Most of the time I can't get it timed exactly right, but if I'm lucky sometimes Windows will detect the usb connection by following these steps. If I try on a Linux machine nothing happens, phone stays invisible. The most I've gotten with Linux is to charge the battery, but will not mount.
It is just a stock phone, not rooted, no busybox, no developer options enabled.