Database Users

Howto: Unbrick Semi-Bricked X10 (red flashing led)

It was just a matter of time for me to brick me new phone. It took me 8 days this time but it can be fixed fairly easy.
If you've got a red flashing led (flashing ca. once per second) while charging and flashing three times after pressing the power button, you can try the following.
I had an error like that and fixed it.
After leaving the phone at the charger for about half an hour it turned on at random but was stuck at the Sony Ericsson bootscreen. I think it has something to do with wiping battery stats, so be careful with this option in XRecovery.
This is how I got it working again:
First of all ensure your battery is not damaged. Try it in a different phone or try a different battery.
If it works, ensure your usb-port is working.
Afterwards do the following:
1. Boot up a windows computer
2. Download and install Sony Ericsson Update Service (SEUS) - you will find it easily with the search machine of your choice
3. Get some adhesive tape, press the back button and tape it down (be sure it is pressed all the time)
4. Connect the phone to your Computer, you should see the flashing LED again, don't panic
5. Start SEUS and chose the X10
6. Wait(!)
7. Get a cup of coffee and wait again
8. The LED will turn green at some time, windows will recognize the device. Complete the update of system software (even if it says your phone is up to date)
9. You will have to reboot the phone. Your LED will be flashing red again. Don't panic, your almost done. Leave the phone charging for another hour or two. It should be booting by itself.
After this steps my phone was working fine again. No dead battery, no dead usb-port as mentioned in other forums or other threads.
Just try it, if you flashed a custom rom you have got nothing to lose.

USB port disabled - factory wipe
dawn2k said:
First of all ensure your battery is not damaged. Try it in a different phone or try
After this steps my phone was working fine again. No dead battery, no dead usb-port as mentioned in other forums or other threads.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for this thread. I've seen many similar issues and was just hit with this RED LED of death - 3 blinks then nothing...
Messing with chargemon and charger in /system/bin/ - has certainly not been good, but I'm not convinced it was the entire problem, at least in my case I was running a version of Wolfbreak CM 6.5 v5 and let the battery get below 5% charge.
I should have turned it off, waited until I could charge again but I didn't! When I tried to recharge, the phone initially was giving green led's so it might have been possible to salvage easily.. I made a terrible mistake of going to xRecovery and waiting until the battery was so dead, there was really no way of recovering from this state and totally drained out the battery.
So I purchased a new BST-41 battery for AU $25. Maybe that was expensive for a clone, others are available for $4 on ebay but hey, have a look at this thread regarding Original VS. Fake BST-41 Battery - quite interesting!
This got my X10 working again... BUT I am unable to get into SEUS, Flashtool or make the charger work. The USB port appears to have been disabled and am unsure about the best way to reset to an operational state.
Will update this thread when I have found more
EDIT 1: It's all in the above post...
5. Start SEUS and chose the X10
6. Wait(!)
7. Get a cup of coffee and wait again
8. The LED will turn green at some time, windows will recognize the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With the exception of maybe having to mess around with this a bit, it will eventually work. I didn't tape the button down because you need to release it but I've just seen green flashes.. I'm very close to getting this phone working again with SEUS and the back key..
EDIT 2: xRecovery > Factory Reset > Full wipe - you will be warned of loosing all user data - The moment you wipe the user data, the phone will recognise the charger and turn to a green LED. From this point let it reboot, it will go silly and you may even get a WLOD - White LED of death.
If you have got USB to connect, follow the standard method of using SEUS to restore a factory ROM and take it from there. TRY to remember not to let the battery go below 5% without a charger and invest in some spare battery's from eBay - cheap after all
Connect via WiFi is only possible with LT15 (Arc) - SO-01c (Arc) - Neo (MT15) - Play (R800) - USB must be enabled for a connection to happen to the PC and this is where I'm still stuck..
EDIT 3: Turns out the problem is - USB Port needs to be re-soldered, it is broken contact and is intermittently connecting to the USB port.

This is what happened to my phone too. I ended up sending it away for repair because the USB port was broken. The phone would say it was charging but it actually wasnt. Im still waiting to get my phone back.

I thought it wasn't possible to brick an xperia x10, forgive me if I'm ring?
Sent from my X10 TripNMiUI using XDA App

shakeyabooti said:
I thought it wasn't possible to brick an xperia x10, forgive me if I'm ring?
Sent from my X10 TripNMiUI using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It wasn't bricked, it was faulty connection in the USB port not allowing their phone accept a charge. The red LED is from an uncharged battery.
Sent from my X10i using XDA Premium App

Thanks OP, this worked perfectly. I'm glad I risked it with an amazing deal on craigslist. Kudos.

shakeyabooti said:
I thought it wasn't possible to brick an xperia x10, forgive me if I'm ring?
Sent from my X10 TripNMiUI using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only if you have access to the bootloader.

Ok.. i think i bricked my x10.
My x10 always gave me problem at startup. I had to remove battery wait 5sec. Then again try booting. After few attempts it would boot. So i decided to reinstall 2.1. Downloaded seus. Installation till 90%. And unknown error window.
Service Center won't take it as its from different country.
When i try to boot it. It blinks green led and that's it.
Any suggestions?

vu2ikl said:
Ok.. i think i bricked my x10.
My x10 always gave me problem at startup. I had to remove battery wait 5sec. Then again try booting. After few attempts it would boot. So i decided to reinstall 2.1. Downloaded seus. Installation till 90%. And unknown error window.
Service Center won't take it as its from different country.
When i try to boot it. It blinks green led and that's it.
Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you get in flashmode?
If so then try and flash with FlashTool

@arkedk thanks for the quick reply.
I m total noob. Can u please point me to the "how to" flash x10?
EDIT: i found this thread which discuss the flash at length.. will try and get back.

red led flashing three times
arkedk said:
Can you get in flashmode?
If so then try and flash with FlashTool
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes. i could successfully flash the phone with 2.1.B.0.1 version just now. without error. but now i when i try to start the phone, it doesn't. instead, i get the red led flashing three times.
i put it for charging. the green led lights up showing it has started charging. but after roughly 15-20 seconds the green led fades off.
1. flashing was successful which means usb is not broken right?
2. have i bricked my phone?
3. How can i get my lovely x10 back to life?

Have you flashed with SEUS or flashtool?
Try reflashing the rom as a first step.
If flashing with flashtool, does the sw detect your phone? Could you post the output to the screen as flashtool tries to flash? That would help!
Sent from my X10 TripNMiUI-IRIS using XDA App

acmbc said:
Have you flashed with SEUS or flashtool?
Try reflashing the rom as a first step.
If flashing with flashtool, does the sw detect your phone? Could you post the output to the screen as flashtool tries to flash? That would help!
Sent from my X10 TripNMiUI-IRIS using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used the flashtool, as SEUS was the only culprit who made my x10 to hibernate (i am still trying to wake it up )
sorry, i donno how to attach photo.. here is the link where i have uploaded that.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/5771350239/

vu2ikl said:
I used the flashtool, as SEUS was the only culprit who made my x10 to hibernate (i am still trying to wake it up )
sorry, i donno how to attach photo.. here is the link where i have uploaded that.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/5771350239/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like you had a successful flash. How much battery did you have when you flashed?

If the battery had drained dry flashtool wouldn't have finished flashing, would it though?
Can you have you tried to reflash?
Sent from my X10 TripNMiUI-IRIS using XDA App

arkedk said:
Looks like you had a successful flash. How much battery did you have when you flashed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
battery was very very low. but the phone is connected to laptop while flashing..wouldn't that be enough?
@acmbc: should i reflash?
when i kept x10 for charging, the green charging led lights up for 10-15 seconds and then goes off.. still kept it charging for couple of hours. and then tried rebooting. this time green led flashed. phone vibrated but nothing.
ok..i gotta confess. i tried the crazy solution mentioned on talk.sonyericsson which asked to keep battery in freezer for an hour and then try charging it. i did that. and when i put x10 for charging. for 20 seconds the green light was on.. but then it went berserk.. vibrating continuously. at once i took out the battery. and now i am scared as it is repeating this cycle when i charge it. green light->off->vibrate continuously.

vu2ikl said:
battery was very very low. but the phone is connected to laptop while flashing..wouldn't that be enough?
@acmbc: should i reflash?
when i kept x10 for charging, the green charging led lights up for 10-15 seconds and then goes off.. still kept it charging for couple of hours. and then tried rebooting. this time green led flashed. phone vibrated but nothing.
ok..i gotta confess. i tried the crazy solution mentioned on talk.sonyericsson which asked to keep battery in freezer for an hour and then try charging it. i did that. and when i put x10 for charging. for 20 seconds the green light was on.. but then it went berserk.. vibrating continuously. at once i took out the battery. and now i am scared as it is repeating this cycle when i charge it. green light->off->vibrate continuously.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's your problem. You must never flash with low battery. always flash with at least 50% or more. And no you're not getting power from the computer in flashmode only the battery is supplying that power.
If the flash was successful you could try and hook the phone up to the charger (wall charger) and let it sit there for a while. This might get it back to life.

how do i charge my half bricked phone
arkedk said:
There's your problem. You must never flash with low battery. always flash with at least 50% or more. And no you're not getting power from the computer in flashmode only the battery is supplying that power.
If the flash was successful you could try and hook the phone up to the charger (wall charger) and let it sit there for a while. This might get it back to life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok.. thanks. i thought phone would get the power from computer.
but now i have one more question in front of me.
How do i charge my phone.
coz. when i connect x10 to wall charger it shows green light for some time and then starts vibrating untill i get the battery out.
if i connect x10 to the computer which i am doing now, it is flashing red light every 5 seconds.

vu2ikl said:
ok.. thanks. i thought phone would get the power from computer.
but now i have one more question in front of me.
How do i charge my phone.
coz. when i connect x10 to wall charger it shows green light for some time and then starts vibrating untill i get the battery out.
if i connect x10 to the computer which i am doing now, it is flashing red light every 5 seconds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like you had an unsuccessful flash then. If you got any other means of getting the battery charged then try that and see if you can flash it again.
If not, I'm afraid you'll have to take it to the service center.

I read the post from the op..
If the battery gets severely drained it may look like the phone is dead.
Just plug it in and sometime up to a hour later it will power up.

[Q] enabling usb Debuging when x8 is off

Hi
Im having a problem flashing my xperia x8
I have no recovery installed
Im trying to flash an official firmware using flashtool
now my problem is flashtool is requiring me to enable usb debugging and I am unable to do so because I can not access the phone (when switched on it shows a triangle with an "!" and the phone picture next to it)
I have also tried updating or reflashing via sony update service but it does not install gives an error saying that the battery is low
I would like to Know if there is a way to enable usb debugging while the phone is off so I am able to flash using flashtool
thank you for all your help, time and hard work

Anyone?

I think it is not possible. Simple charge your phone. I you cant do this take baterry from your friend or charge manually. I have same problem. I cut cable from other charger and put it into -, + signs to 15minutes. Then phone flash normally.
Send from my Xperia X8 using Tapatalk

MrCzAjNiK said:
I think it is not possible. Simple charge your phone. I you cant do this take baterry from your friend or charge manually. I have same problem. I cut cable from other charger and put it into -, + signs to 15minutes. Then phone flash normally.
Send from my Xperia X8 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok I have done what you said (I charged the battery with an external charger)
after charging it I tried the sony ericsson update service
And it still told me the battery is low
so I'm guessing I should replace the battery ?
Thanks for your help

super79 said:
ok I have done what you said (I charged the battery with an external charger)
after charging it I tried the sony ericsson update service
And it still told me the battery is low
so I'm guessing I should replace the battery ?
Thanks for your help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
(Oops, accidentally pressed thanks button )
SEUS requires 50% battery or more. Try charging it for a longer period of time and try again.

Chris95X8 said:
(Oops, accidentally pressed thanks button )
SEUS requires 50% battery or more. Try charging it for a longer period of time and try again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol thanks
I have charged it over night and it still is giving me that error

Hard Bricked my phone

I already posted this in Q&A, but I thought it would get noticed more in this section.
Ok I believe my phone is "Hard Bricked", because it doesn't power up at all. The Green led light will show if i take the battery out and plug it into the computer. This happened as was trying to start the process to unlock my bootloader. I was using RSDlite, loading the "zomgunlock" sbf file, put my phone into rsd mode plugged it in, pressed start and next thing i know it turned off and won't turn back on. Can someone help me?

ninjajtm said:
I already posted this in Q&A, but I thought it would get noticed more in this section.
Ok I believe my phone is "Hard Bricked", because it doesn't power up at all. The Green led light will show if i take the battery out and plug it into the computer. This happened as was trying to start the process to unlock my bootloader. I was using RSDlite, loading the "zomgunlock" sbf file, put my phone into rsd mode plugged it in, pressed start and next thing i know it turned off and won't turn back on. Can someone help me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What version are you on? And can you boot in rsd?
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

its version before 4.1.83, but i know i can't get to RSD or to get something showing on the screen

Was it low on charge?
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

No its not from a low charge, it was on already 80%

Oh, does your phone get recognized when plugged into a cp?
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

no it doesn't seem to be recognized, i tried doing the combos green led light on (volume up + power , etc.)

But the phone stays off?
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

It stays off unless I take the battery out of the phone and hook it to the computer, that is when I get the green light indicator

Hi,
I am a NOOB but was reading another post that had a similar problem. Not sure how to make a link to it.
The issue the other fellow had was that when he plugged in to the USB port it was actually draining his battery rather than charging it.
There are specific drivers on the Moto website that you need for the computer to charge the phone.
The short way around it is to charge at the wall.
The title of the post I am referencing is "[SOLVED] Atrix will not power on, green light flashes, plugged in and.... nothing!" initially posted 24th Feb 2011 last post was today.
If your issue is more complicated than this then I apologise for wasting your time.
Worst case no further harm done.

I'm pretty sure my battery is pretty good atm but I'll try anything to get my atrix working again

That happened to me when I was trying to flash the unlock bootloader for mine. I'm using the Atrix on Orange running on U4_4.2.0. Completely bricked with the same green light but nothing happening. Told Orange and got a new one luckyly, next day!

Yea well im on my second from at&t bcuz of a hardware problem, unless I'm able to get a third one. .i ned to find out how to fix this, and the battery charger method didn't work for me

Sydpark said:
Hi,
I am a NOOB but was reading another post that had a similar problem. Not sure how to make a link to it.
The issue the other fellow had was that when he plugged in to the USB port it was actually draining his battery rather than charging it.
There are specific drivers on the Moto website that you need for the computer to charge the phone.
The short way around it is to charge at the wall.
The title of the post I am referencing is "[SOLVED] Atrix will not power on, green light flashes, plugged in and.... nothing!" initially posted 24th Feb 2011 last post was today.
If your issue is more complicated than this then I apologise for wasting your time.
Worst case no further harm done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
USB port on a computer won't drain a connected device. Problem there was he was trying to charge a drained battery on USB 2.0 which doesn't supply enough power to charge properly. The solution to his problem was to charge with the proper Motorola AC wall charger.

Yea I know but I tried the fixes anyway since there was no harm

If it's an AT&T phone take it to a repair center and they will replace it if its less than 1 year old. You don't even need the crappy insurance.

I thought it's only me
I have same problem, googled it 2 days ago - noboday else reported it
same problem - flashed the unlock-able boot-loader - phone turn off, and died...
I progressed a bit more - after replacing battery with a fully charged one, just to find out it's not a battery issue - I prepared the "special cable" - pin 4 connected to VCC.
now - my phone does recognize my phone, as "APX". after providing drivers found in google - it now recognized as "NVIDIA USB Boot-recovery driver for mobile devices".
it doesn't really help, as RSDlite is still not recognizing it, and using NVflash - i get only errors...
I know - i didn't really helped to solve the problem, as I'm "stuck" with it too, just wanted to share my effort...
Tomer

henrys01 said:
If it's an AT&T phone take it to a repair center and they will replace it if its less than 1 year old. You don't even need the crappy insurance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even though this is my second phone?

ninjajtm said:
Even though this is my second phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The phone has a 1 year manufactures warranty.

o ok, thanks for letting me know

[Q] X10i cant turn on, with blinking red led

Here is my cousin's story.
He was trying to upgrade this X10i to 2.3 GB through SEUS, but in the middle of the processing, screen prompt "...usb connetion lost", it was about 25% done on UPGRADING, after that he unplug the handheld, try to restart it... it only stay black with red flashing led... now we have no way to start it up again. how we can bring it back to life??
Thanks ahead for your help...we are all noobie...

Maybe coz of out of battery
Sent from my X10i using XDA App

Battery is too LOW, less than 1% left and your phone can't turn on and keep flashing red color when you charge it. Equal 1% left your phone COULD turn on and then turn off again. So keep charging and everything will fine.

silveraero said:
Battery is too LOW, less than 1% left and your phone can't turn on and keep flashing red color when you charge it. Equal 1% left your phone COULD turn on and then turn off again. So keep charging and everything will fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
connecting usb won't charge the phone?
Sent from my X8 using XDA App

As far as I can remember it doesn't charge in Flash mode.

Can charge through USB but low.
And Flash mode lol. Do you notice that SE told us that be sure that our phone must be fully charge or at least 50%. Flash mode eats battery too much. lol

hard brick??

good day all, few questions for you's
how do i know if my 5603 is hard bricked.?
the phone was being used to text when it just died..wont reboot or get detected by win7 or 8 both with drivers for adb etc..(i have an ion and am good with flashing roms,cwm etc..) no matter what pc or laptop i use when i plug the phone in pc see it as just usb device for about 4 secs..
then its disconnected..
idk much about the led light on bottom its flashing twice quickly for about 4 or 5 times then stops..sometimes lol
have tried sus and pcc with proper technics and no go phone just wont be seen by windows...needless to say in flashtools it just says device maybe in mtp mode but cant change that setting cause phone wont boot..
any ideas? is phone a brick? thanks all
and apologizies if im in the wrong forum can a mod move if necessary thanks
the phone nvr vibrates whether trying to boot into factory recovery if any or any other time.nvr
when plugged into wall charger, at first led(bottom strip light) is red then goes out, if i unplug it it starts to flash repeatedly?
and sometimes no led at all when plugged in..

If it just randomly died In a normal situation (not flashing anything) and the red light flashes it might indicate that the battery died
Sent from my C5303 using xda app-developers app

Something similar happened to me a few weeks ago when I had mine in recovery. I got distracted, and the battery was completely drained. Leave it plugged in, see what happens. Sometimes it takes a while for the LED to show up.

thanks for the help
phone had never been touched totally stock...have had it unplugged for a week or so at least and been on charger for almost 12 hrs
has me stumped..thanks again.

so heres where im at with this phone
pc still wont recognize it..only as a usb device and only for about five seconds then it disconnects..
if i plug it into wall charger, it flashes once red quickly then turns BRIGHT red and goes to normal red for five minutes then the light goes out for two minutes and the whole process is repeated from the quick flash to steady red for five...
any ideas?
still no vibrating at all

Hi,just a thought-duff/dying battery?Does it go thru the charging cycle at all when connected to p.c. I wonder,best and I hope I'm wrong.
sent from my stick of celery in mid Wales

Perhaps this helps.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=43539309
Sent from my C5303 using xda app-developers app