Database Users

[Q] how brickable is the tab really?

Hi everyone!
I'm wondering, how risky it is to flash new firmware to the tab? Is it really brickable, I mean, is it possible to really really brick the tab to a point where it's not possible to fix it? I'm asking partly because I'm a rookie, but mostly because it seems that everyone who manages to brick their tab around here, is somehow able to restore it. Or am I mistaken?
Where I live, the tab has a starting price of $1100. And thats gotta be one of the most expensive bricks in xda history. And if I brick mine, I know I won't be able to resist buying a new one, which adds ut to a $2200 pricetag and a very VERY angry gf..
thanks btw to all of you who make this place what it is

As risky as any other device. Simple. The risk doesnt just lay on the devices shoulders, its the user and the rom maker.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App

Okay, I'm so confused with the brick-terminology being used here. In all posts regardig new firmware to the tab you'll see at least to guys saying that they bricked their tab. Only to say that they fixed it/unbricked it moments later.
I thought that if you bricked your device, whatever device it is, then it's dead, period. No more usefull than a brick like the ones you'll find in a brick wall, just a hell of a lot more expensive. Heck, the word "unbrick" shouldn't even exist by this definition.
So, let me rephrase:
If I brick my tab, can't I just unbrick it? And if not, why? Is it even possible for the tab to be totally and permanently bricked forever? Is the tab in any way safer to fool around with than other devices? Do we know anyone who have bricked their tab permanently? Should I be afraid of fooling around with my tabs firmware for real?

I think it's just a question of perception on the part of the person who "bricked" their device (the "brickie"? ). If you flash and find that you have what appears to be a dead device then you may well come on here and say "I've bricked my device!". You may then find that it's not bricked at all as there is a way (previously unknown to yourself) to recover. I remember in the old days on here people would pick up "bricked" phones on ebay etc, knowing that quite often they could recover them. It probably still happens...
But devices certainly can get permanently bricked too as you know. Personally, I would only flash if I had confidence in myself that it would work, having read up on the procedure and seen enough working examples. Others may just dive in and see what happens . Only you can decide if it's worth the risk or not, but these days I think it's quite rare to permanently brick a device if you fully understand the procedures and the risks. A stable recovery ROM makes a big difference. Not sure if the SGT has that yet.

paulshields said:
A stable recovery ROM makes a big difference. Not sure if the SGT has that yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's in the works, just not quite there yet.
As Paul said, there's always going to be a risk it COULD happen. But following documentation and fully understanding the task at hand before diving in helps to limit the risks to a minimum.

Thanks to all of you for enlightening me

When I was flashing the different files to get calling on my ATT Tab I managed to flash the wrong file and get the device not to boot up but there was still the "download mode" to go into and I was then able to flash the correct file. I find it is very rare to actually "brick" a device requiring the device to be replaced or cracked open & reprogrammed manually. Most of the time now when a device is described as a brick it just won't boot the OS like it is normally supposed to.

paulshields said:
I think it's just a question of perception on the part of the person who "bricked" their device (the "brickie"? ). If you flash and find that you have what appears to be a dead device then you may well come on here and say "I've bricked my device!". You may then find that it's not bricked at all as there is a way (previously unknown to yourself) to recover. I remember in the old days on here people would pick up "bricked" phones on ebay etc, knowing that quite often they could recover them. It probably still happens...
But devices certainly can get permanently bricked too as you know. Personally, I would only flash if I had confidence in myself that it would work, having read up on the procedure and seen enough working examples. Others may just dive in and see what happens . Only you can decide if it's worth the risk or not, but these days I think it's quite rare to permanently brick a device if you fully understand the procedures and the risks. A stable recovery ROM makes a big difference. Not sure if the SGT has that yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol @ "brickie" - I guess you have to be British to get that one?
As for "bricking" , quite right, the device isn't "bricked" if it can be fixed by the user.
People have gotten sloppy with the term, but really it means that you could build a house with it if it were fat enough, but it's no more useful than an expensive paperweight.
The worst you can do without bricking is boot-loop/no-boot which can usually be fixed. The point is, if the device shows any signs of life whatsoever, it's usually fixable.

I thought I bricked my tab, I got the infamous "phone-!-pc" screen
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=File:Samsung_Galaxy_S_Black_Screen_of_Death.jpg
I thought I was screwed. However, I still had it connected via USB and Odin still running and I saw that the com port popped up. I though, hmmmm
clicky and bam, its flashing.
Got it back.
This was after a stupid botched flash attempt on my part.
So, I think you REALLY gotta mess it up to be proper "bricked"

I did a lots of tries and I thing that is not that easy to brick, but I can give a suggestion: Backup the EFS folder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I deleted by mistake with root explorer the nv_data and relatives backups, and I had a corrupted IMEI that is not a brick but I think is one of the bad things (and hard to recover if not impossible if you don't have a backup) because if the carriers ban double IMEI the phone (tab) will not work + is not legal
Forgot to say: seems that some SGS firmware upgrades corrupted the IMEI too, I didn't see something flashing the TAB, but restoring the EFS folder will fix (almost always) the problems

I have not tried to brick my GT, but the JM6 gave me a scare... I have been flashing it for a while now.
The one thing you have to give up for now is SWYPE. I se you have a norwegian flag... And norwegian is not included in any flash I have found. So if you ever decide to try flashing. Say goodbye to SWYPE in norwegian for now...

Yeah, the loss of the Norwegian keyboard is the only thing stopping me from flashing jm6. Lucky for me, I'm very patient.
Sent from my HeTC Desire using XDA App

Apparently, you can brick it. I succeeded !
I flashed with Odin and a custom made PDA package including boot.bin but no repartition.
Odin flashed without problems but the Tab did not reboot and simply 'died'.
Black screen all the time, no recovery/download mode, not seen by the PC, does not charge on ac/dc (neither the charger or the PDA ever gets hot, no sound on connection, ...).
I'm letting the battery discharge completely (but how long can that take when it's not using any energy...) to test again tomorrow but I will probably RMA it on monday.

One thing that concerns me is not being able to remove the battery to force the phone to shut down completely.
As an example when I originally 'bricked' my SGS using Kies, no matter how many times I powered the phone it simply refused to go into Recovery or Download mode. All it would do was show me the two icons on screen.
The only way I managed to totally shut the phone down was by removing the battery and wait 30 seconds before returning. Only then would the SGS allow me to access the 3-Button Recovery/Download Mode.
So..... has anyone come across a situation where you needed to remove the battery and if so how did you manage to recover?

Beards said:
One thing that concerns me is not being able to remove the battery to force the phone to shut down completely.
As an example when I originally 'bricked' my SGS using Kies, no matter how many times I powered the phone it simply refused to go into Recovery or Download mode. All it would do was show me the two icons on screen.
The only way I managed to totally shut the phone down was by removing the battery and wait 30 seconds before returning. Only then would the SGS allow me to access the 3-Button Recovery/Download Mode.
So..... has anyone come across a situation where you needed to remove the battery and if so how did you manage to recover?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The worst I have done is get the device in the "Phone---!----PC" mode where you can't enter "Download Mode". It seems that simply flashing a new PIT file and then forcing it off, it will then enter download mode again.

alias_neo said:
The worst I have done is get the device in the "Phone---!----PC" mode where you can't enter "Download Mode". It seems that simply flashing a new PIT file and then forcing it off, it will then enter download mode again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A little un-nerving isn't it... I have deep thoughts of not being able to get the Tab to drop out of memory by not being able to remove the battery and flush.

Beards said:
One thing that concerns me is not being able to remove the battery to force the phone to shut down completely.
As an example when I originally 'bricked' my SGS using Kies, no matter how many times I powered the phone it simply refused to go into Recovery or Download mode. All it would do was show me the two icons on screen.
The only way I managed to totally shut the phone down was by removing the battery and wait 30 seconds before returning. Only then would the SGS allow me to access the 3-Button Recovery/Download Mode.
So..... has anyone come across a situation where you needed to remove the battery and if so how did you manage to recover?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that when you leave/turn "USB Debugging" on in Applications -> Development, it is fairly save. As long as you are near a computer with adb installed and you have your usb cable within reach, you can reboot the device into recovery with adb reboot recovery or just reboot with adb reboot.
Another way is of course to let the battery run out of power, charge it and reboot.

appelflap said:
I think that when you leave/turn "USB Debugging" on in Applications -> Development, it is fairly save. As long as you are near a computer with adb installed and you have your usb cable within reach, you can reboot the device into recovery with adb reboot recovery or just reboot with adb reboot.
Another way is of course to let the battery run out of power, charge it and reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you saying that the Tab will accept an "adb reboot" in it's unresponsive black screen state or some other? I'v not yet come across a state where just holding power didn't turn it off.

appelflap said:
I think that when you leave/turn "USB Debugging" on in Applications -> Development, it is fairly save. As long as you are near a computer with adb installed and you have your usb cable within reach, you can reboot the device into recovery with adb reboot recovery or just reboot with adb reboot.
Another way is of course to let the battery run out of power, charge it and reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Running down the battery is an option... but it would take an age seeing as you're not doing anything with the phone except looking at two icons on a black screen.
alias_neo said:
Are you saying that the Tab will accept an "adb reboot" in it's unresponsive black screen state or some other? I'v not yet come across a state where just holding power didn't turn it off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That thought passed me by as well.

alias_neo said:
Are you saying that the Tab will accept an "adb reboot" in it's unresponsive black screen state or some other? I'v not yet come across a state where just holding power didn't turn it off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did . I was fooling around with the button definitions of the tab, I lost all my buttons so to speak (also the powerbutton) and couldn't get into the system. A simple adb reboot got me out of there without any problem.
Yes, I believe adb can connect with the Tab in very unresponsive states and still issue commands. I've seen it also with my old galaxy S. A bad flash and a blank screen still gave me access to the system shell with adb.
My lesson learned is: alway have "USB Debugging" turned on.

Real TRUE Brick this time

[PROBLEM SOLVED]
Ive been flashing back and forth to different builds trying which is better. I made sure I took the cautions not to flash builds that would brick my phone. There were 4 times that I soft bricked my phone but I was able to revive it. However, my little game has come to an end with this last one. The fault was this guide: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=817186.
Little did I know, by doing a repartition and not loading anything to the NAND resulted in the bootloader not being installed. (Devices like this should have a ROM programmed to recover from these errors, think Gigabyte) Upon reset, the phone went out and didn't turn back on. ODIN reports success. Now the phone cannot turn back on, no matter what battery pull method I use, I get nothing on the screen. So much for fail-safe protocols Samsung has implemented, if there are even any. Poorly engineered!
EDIT:Thanks for all your suggestions guys. So yes this phone was definitely bricked beyond any software repair. I was going to JTAG it but I figured there MUST to be some hardware bootloader implemented. I went ahead and did the USB JIG and surprise, it booted from the hardware bootloader. I used ODIN to flash JFD and it works now. So my guess is samsung did implement a fail safe, which is the USB trick and forces the phone to boot from hardware. If that is true, this phone is brick proof, provided that all electronics still work.
EDIT 2: I am wrong about the bootloader being hardware. Some say it is flashable, so it is possible you can get a real TRUE brick and must need JTAG to revive it. Fortunately for me, I was able to use the USB JIG method to get it back up and running. Too bad, a new phone would've been nice.

Not poorly engineered, just poorly made user input.

Yes true, but samsung should have taken into account accidents like this will happen then they dont have control over who administers their update. People have bricked their phones by doing the factory update. When I design systems like these, I always make sure there is a fail safe backup that the user cannot modify. I am sure samsung has one and maybe they just dont let us access it.

I sometimes encounter the same error message but I never repartition. Luckily, i never clicked on it in Odin.

But you have to realize that most of those bricks are because people modified their phones from factory (ie. Voodoo and OCLF). Odin, a program used by internal Samsung engineers, was never meant for the public and shouldn't be used unless you know how to use it.
I agree, there should be an absolute fail safe if worse comes to worse, but the point I am making here is Samsung isn't wrong in this case.

When you violate warranties and experiment you tacitly accept responsibility for your actions. To not do so is not an act of rebellious ire...it is an act of denial.
Manufacturers do not, nor can not prepare for all scenarios because the possible number of scenario's to cover are legion. I don't see it as realistic especially for them to prepare for brick scenario's created by using a leaked internal engineering tool that the community has figured out largely through trial and error either. OTA and Mini Kies bricks they are responsible for, for obvious reasons, and Samsung and T-Mobile have taken responsibility for these scenarios because they are ones of their making.
XDA is not a place where people file warranty complaints (though some do complain). It is a place where people experiment, hack, and customize smartphones. Though some manufacturers do a better job than others at getting out of our way here (Samsung hasn't done so bad here relative to say Motorola), I don't think any of them particularly "care" about such community efforts in any meaningful sense. And why should they?
By modifying our devices aren't we quite clearly saying we're taking matters into our own hands? You have to balance your strong desire to tinker with the reality of where responsibilities lie.
These phones are some of the most difficult Android phones to brick. Anecdotally and statistically shown to be. Not impossible of course, but quite difficult. I feel for your bad experience but at least consider shouldering some of the blame.

Thank god i am too scared to use odin. The deepest i go is clockwork recovery, but good luck with your paperweight.
Too bad the SGS is so light, it wouldnt make a good paperweight, or even a brick.
but seriously, the warranty is there to protect users which this happens to, assuming it wasnt voided by hacking the phone. Are you asking samsung to take into account that you would hack the phone and provide a way back after you have a bad hack and probably make themselves liable by providing that way back in case it does not work properly?

I want to be clear that I am not blaming samsung for this but I thought samsung could have done a better job. Ill admit, this phone was the first phone that impressed me in years and as an engineer, I am hardly ever impressed; other engineers will get my point. I wish they had some soft of fail safe mechanism. For us who like to tweak things, I get we get what we deserve. But what about those who dont like to tweak and still brick their phones? i.e. those who use Kies Mini and still brick. I still have warranty on the phone and I'll try to take it up with Tmobile, hope they don know much about flashing. BTW, I tried using the other program but no go. All the drivers were installed, rebooted computer...nothing. I think it is because I have W7 64 and not 32?

Have you tried the jig method of getting into dl mode?

engineer14 said:
Thank god i am too scared to use odin. The deepest i go is clockwork recovery, but good luck with your paperweight.
Too bad the SGS is so light, it wouldnt make a good paperweight, or even a brick.
but seriously, the warranty is there to protect users which this happens to, assuming it wasnt voided by hacking the phone. Are you asking samsung to take into account that you would hack the phone and provide a way back after you have a bad hack and probably make themselves liable by providing that way back in case it does not work properly?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Keep on flashing, and eventually Odin will probably save your butt
Don't be scared of it, it works great. And it is safe to use.
========================================
I'm really sorry about your phone man, I didn't know that you had to NAND before re-partition, thank god I've never checked that but I might have in the future had you not shared this with us, so thanks a lot!
I guess your loss is everyone elses gain

No I havent tried the Jig method. The thread says that I need to have at least the samsung screen, so some kind of activity. This phone is just off, nothing comes on, no buttons, no screen...just dead. I think when I followed that guide, it told be to repartition and then reboot with the "PDA" field empty. So the phone rebooted when it finished formatting without installing anything. Now the NAND is at a "blank" state and I do not have any bootloader on there. Anyone know of a method to install a bootloader without the phone turning on?

I might be a little too far out of my element here but I think I found a guide to remove the sdcard and format it via pc one time when I was in a similar situation. I am at work currently and I also cannot remember if I have the link saved.

Maybe some phone expert in your city may help you to install the bootlaoder. I think it's called jtagging, I'm not sure though.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

trdexalbee said:
I want to be clear that I am not blaming samsung for this but I thought samsung could have done a better job. Ill admit, this phone was the first phone that impressed me in years and as an engineer, I am hardly ever impressed; other engineers will get my point. I wish they had some soft of fail safe mechanism. For us who like to tweak things, I get we get what we deserve. But what about those who dont like to tweak and still brick their phones? i.e. those who use Kies Mini and still brick. I still have warranty on the phone and I'll try to take it up with Tmobile, hope they don know much about flashing. BTW, I tried using the other program but no go. All the drivers were installed, rebooted computer...nothing. I think it is because I have W7 64 and not 32?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just call Tmobile and tell then that you were upgrading to froyo 2.2 using Kies mini and it froze...

I had a black screen once. I was flashing in odin and knocked the cable loose. I think I had to remove the battery, open odin, plug the usb cable in, then install the battery and possibly hold a key down on the phone. I believe the download screen then came up. Otherwise the phone would not respond nor would any lights come on

trdexalbee said:
I want to be clear that I am not blaming samsung for this but I thought samsung could have done a better job. Ill admit, this phone was the first phone that impressed me in years and as an engineer, I am hardly ever impressed; other engineers will get my point. I wish they had some soft of fail safe mechanism. For us who like to tweak things, I get we get what we deserve. But what about those who dont like to tweak and still brick their phones? i.e. those who use Kies Mini and still brick. I still have warranty on the phone and I'll try to take it up with Tmobile, hope they don know much about flashing. BTW, I tried using the other program but no go. All the drivers were installed, rebooted computer...nothing. I think it is because I have W7 64 and not 32?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depending on which drivers you installed (and there seem to be quite a few floating around) you might need to disable Driver Signature Checking in 64bit Windows OS's if the drivers are not signed. The easiest way I've found to do this is with EasyBCD . Install it, run it, click Advanced Options and enable loading of unsigned drivers. Do this before loading a potentially unsigned driver and you're good to go.
Just a tip, and my lengthy diatribe on responsibility was more to stem the potential tide of trolling such a thread is likely to generate than dump on you. I know what it's like to brick things. I've been bricking stuff for 30 years lol.

masterotaku said:
Depending on which drivers you installed (and there seem to be quite a few floating around) you might need to disable Driver Signature Checking in 64bit Windows OS's if the drivers are not signed. The easiest way I've found to do this is with EasyBCD . Install it, run it, click Advanced Options and enable loading of unsigned drivers. Do this before loading a potentially unsigned driver and you're good to go.
Just a tip, and my lengthy diatribe on responsibility was more to stem the potential tide of trolling such a thread is likely to generate than dump on you. I know what it's like to brick things. I've been bricking stuff for 30 years lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To disable driver signing, you ONLY need to run a single command and then reboot. And this applies to both Windows 7 and Vista.
Also to the OP.
You say you have no bootloader, but can't find ANYWHERE in this thread that says you were attempting to flash a bootloader. In fact, you can **** up partitioning, and your bootloader is still in tact. Been there, done that.
Do this. Plug the phone in, and leave it charging for about 30 minutes. Pull the phone off, hold the volume buttons, and plug the phone into a computer. See what happens. I had a ****ty situation end up happening to me, that I couldn't get the phone on for about 30 minutes. I had already even called T-Mobile for a replacement.

Thanks for all your suggestions guys. So yes this phone was definitely bricked beyond any software repair. I was going to JTAG it but I figured there MUST to be some hardware bootloader implemented. I went ahead and did the USB JIG and surprise, it booted from the hardware bootloader. I used ODIN to flash JFD and it works now. So my guess is samsung did implement a fail safe, which is the USB trick and forces the phone to boot from hardware. If that is true, this phone is brick proof, provided that all electronics still work.

trdexalbee said:
Thanks for all your suggestions guys. So yes this phone was definitely bricked beyond any software repair. I was going to JTAG it but I figured there MUST to be some hardware bootloader implemented. I went ahead and did the USB JIG and surprise, it booted from the hardware bootloader. I used ODIN to flash JFD and it works now. So my guess is samsung did implement a fail safe, which is the USB trick and forces the phone to boot from hardware. If that is true, this phone is brick proof, provided that all electronics still work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This "hardware" bootloader as you are calling it, is the exact bootloader that you can flash and TRULY brick your device. It is NOT a failsafe in the way in which you are referring. Please, please don't call it this. There are plenty of users on this forum that are clueless. The jig method, is a hardware jump point that Samsung has built in to allow you to get to download mode situations where the button method does not work.
As I mentioned earlier, you didn't flash a bootloader. Nor did you full on brick your device. Glad your device is back to normal now though.

my apologies then, it would be easier if samsung gave us the schematics, but that would never happen. So when we use odin to flash, we are not flashing the bootloader as well? Is the bootloader located on another ROM that is not easily accessible? I guess ROM would be the incorrect term since you stated you can "flash" the bootloader.

Stuck in bootloader --> Volume down is broken/stuck

Edit: Im stuck in bootloader with the only option to press power on is fastboot. and from there i cannot select any options because the navigation is broken. Im looking to restore it to factory so i can take it to the sprint store to have replaced. Please help me! Most likely an autorun from fastboot or a computer pushed through usb command promt that i can take over the phone. PLease HELP!

Have you tried the ruu? Its an executive file that you run from your computer and it restores your phone to stock. I've never had to run it so I cant tell you the exact details of how it works, but that could do the trick. I think there is a way also via using fastboot commands, but someone more intelligent then I will have to provide you with links. Also have you tried putting unrevoked forever s-on on your sd card and naming it PC36100.img then butting into hboot and letting it scan for that? Once it finds it, it should flash it on its own, then once youve done that, you can pull your sdcard again, delete that PC36100.img and put the PC36100.img that returns you to stock on your sdcard then boot into hboot again. It should find that image then flash you back to stock.

Ill try that. My down button is definatly either stuck, disconnected or something. When i press the up button and power it will Vibrate 5 times.
Ok i got the zip to load but my down and up buttons do nothing. is there a way i can have recovery auto run? or edit the hboot so that it automatically runs the recover.img?
Update: It's stuck in bootloader i guess... I restart and the volume down is stuck im pretty sure so it always goes to that. I have it hooked up to my computer, can i push commands through usb to it in bootloader menu...
Fastboot
...
....
Sim-lock
etc.
my only working option is to click power and have the fastboot initiate and then give me an option [1] ........ that i am unable to highlight or get to because of the stuck down button.

y0ungcitty said:
Ill try that. My down button is definatly either stuck, disconnected or something. When i press the up button and power it will Vibrate 5 times.
Ok i got the zip to load but my down and up buttons do nothing. is there a way i can have recovery auto run? or edit the hboot so that it automatically runs the recover.img?
Update: It's stuck in bootloader i guess... I restart and the volume down is stuck im pretty sure so it always goes to that. I have it hooked up to my computer, can i push commands through usb to it in bootloader menu...
Fastboot
...
....
Sim-lock
etc.
my only working option is to click power and have the fastboot initiate and then give me an option [1] ........ that i am unable to highlight or get to because of the stuck down button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
all you need is fastboot mode, from there you can run the RUU

xHausx said:
all you need is fastboot mode, from there you can run the RUU
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What driver do i need for the device?
For some reason its not showing up as ready to do it.

The htc sync drivers
y0ungcitty said:
What driver do i need for the device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Both my volume keys are broken so I took my evo apart and used a thin metal to push the spring that controls the keys and load up a nandroid. Hope this helps.

alexisprz said:
Both my volume keys are broken so I took my evo apart and used a thin metal to push the spring that controls the keys and load up a nandroid. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Load up nandroid?? im so out of the whole evo scene. can i have a link or procedure.... sorry for being a big noob.

If I can remember, running the stock ruu exe will do everything for you without any need for you to do anything with the phone to help it. Just make sure you have the htc sync program installed. Next make sure the phone is on and running (not in hboot or recovery). Plug the phone into the computer with the data cable. Make sure it's only in charge mode. Run the ruu exe. Be patient because it might take some time to start up. Make sure you have nothing running in the background on the pc. No antivirus or anything and I do mean anything. Don't touch or move the phone or cable while the ruu is running or you might risk bricking the phone if the connection between the phone and pc is interrupted. Don't let the computer go to sleep or standby. Make sure your phone's battery has a full charge. The ruu will make the phone reboot into upload mode. Then it will upload all the stuff the phone needs to be put back to factory. It might reboot the phone a few times. This is normal. You don't have to worry about the broken volume buttons interfering with ruu.
Lastly, make sure you remove your sd card before you get to the store to let the tech check it out. Don't offer any additional information. Just tell them the volume buttons stopped working and you did a full factory reset before you got there.
After running the ruu, don't sign into google account so your personal information won't be on the phone and none of the programs you bought will show up in the market. You should have a backup old phone with you so you or they can activate it for you in case they want to keep or swap it out. If they give you a refurb, power it up and test it at the counter to your satisfaction BEFORE you leave the counter and store. I noticed something wrong with the refurb they gave me and I'm glad I didn't walk away. The tech fixed the problem with the refurb (uneven backlighting on the screen). I was able to use my old screen with the refurb's guts and my screen didn't have any flaws in it.
You do what you want but this is my suggestion based on my experience with exchanging a defective phone. I have full insurance and or tep so it was a hassle free experience.

herbthehammer said:
If I can remember, running the stock ruu exe will do everything for you without any need for you to do anything with the phone to help it. Just make sure you have the htc sync program installed. Next make sure the phone is on and running (not in hboot or recovery). Plug the phone into the computer with the data cable. Make sure it's only in charge mode. Run the ruu exe. Be patient because it might take some time to start up. Make sure you have nothing running in the background on the pc. No antivirus or anything and I do mean anything. Don't touch or move the phone or cable while the ruu is running or you might risk bricking the phone if the connection between the phone and pc is interrupted. Don't let the computer go to sleep or standby. Make sure your phone's battery has a full charge. The ruu will make the phone reboot into upload mode. Then it will upload all the stuff the phone needs to be put back to factory. It might reboot the phone a few times. This is normal. You don't have to worry about the broken volume buttons interfering with ruu.
Lastly, make sure you remove your sd card before you get to the store to let the tech check it out. Don't offer any additional information. Just tell them the volume buttons stopped working and you did a full factory reset before you got there.
After running the ruu, don't sign into google account so your personal information won't be on the phone and none of the programs you bought will show up in the market. You should have a backup old phone with you so you or they can activate it for you in case they want to keep or swap it out. If they give you a refurb, power it up and test it at the counter to your satisfaction BEFORE you leave the counter and store. I noticed something wrong with the refurb they gave me and I'm glad I didn't walk away. The tech fixed the problem with the refurb (uneven backlighting on the screen). I was able to use my old screen with the refurb's guts and my screen didn't have any flaws in it.
You do what you want but this is my suggestion based on my experience with exchanging a defective phone. I have full insurance and or tep so it was a hassle free experience.
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I already have a pre activated but i cannot get the phone to start without going into the Power+Down Menu... Can i run RUU from that? im not able to get it running on Android

I don't know. Something worse could happen but there's also a chance it might work. I am guessing ruu would tell it to reboot into upload mode. If the phone couldn't get into that mode the ruu might stop. This is just speculation. If you knew that the tech wouldn't bust you for having root, then I'd say to just take it in. It's a big risk in my opinion.
I don't know if there is a img file to fastboot flash a stock recovery. I don't know if that would help. Need to figure out a way to get the s-on and push stock back into it, or at the very least get s-on in hboot.
I'm thinking that because if the button is broke, and you can't get the phone past the hboot screen, then maybe the tech might not want to waste anymore time on it and just order a replacement. The hboot screen would be the only thing he could get into. I don't know but I think it could be helpful, maybe, if adb or something else could push an original rom into it at the screen it's stuck in. I think if you tried, if it wasn't working, the phone and adb wouldn't be communicating like normal and adb would not continue. I am guessing pushing a stock recovery wouldn't turn s-on. It would be great if it did.
I would say that talking with one of the devs that has got their hands dirty in hboot and fastboot, might give better advice. Perhaps they know of a way to force things into the phone that the general public wouldn't normally need to know or do. I am no expert. I suggest talking to people that developed in those areas. Didn't toast work with that?
I don't know what else to suggest. I'm running out of ideas.

I just had another idea. What if you could get a pc36img.zip, or whatever it's called, into root of the card and the phone will want to flash it. Only snag I can think of is I think hboot will ask if you want to flash or update or whatever it's called. That might be the down button. Maybe someone could run with that idea?
I would say read the rooting articles and see if you can adapt what they are saying to push stock everything back in instead of trying to root.
Even if you can't get the updated rom to install, if it can be pushed into the phone and the phone is made to boot like normal, the phone "should" try to apply it if anyone can get it to boot normally. I'm thinking that's another way to cover your ass.
If all else fails, then I would suggest to say a little prayer before going to the store and hope for a tech that isn't going to be a **** about it. Don't get an attitude towards the employees because that could make things much more difficult for you. A seasoned dev or a tech might be the only people that could help. Going into the irc channel for the evo and hanging around in there might get you hooked up with someone that could help more than the people that hang in the forums. I don't see serious devs hanging around the forum and bullshitting with the people there. Go where they might be, in irc. Be cool with them, don't be aggressive or flaky. If you are nice/cool with them, they might take the time away from what they are working on to help you.

herbthehammer said:
I just had another idea. What if you could get a pc36img.zip, or whatever it's called, into root of the card and the phone will want to flash it. Only snag I can think of is I think hboot will ask if you want to flash or update or whatever it's called. That might be the down button. Maybe someone could run with that idea?
I would say read the rooting articles and see if you can adapt what they are saying to push stock everything back in instead of trying to root.
Even if you can't get the updated rom to install, if it can be pushed into the phone and the phone is made to boot like normal, the phone "should" try to apply it if anyone can get it to boot normally. I'm thinking that's another way to cover your ass.
If all else fails, then I would suggest to say a little prayer before going to the store and hope for a tech that isn't going to be a **** about it. Don't get an attitude towards the employees because that could make things much more difficult for you. A seasoned dev or a tech might be the only people that could help. Going into the irc channel for the evo and hanging around in there might get you hooked up with someone that could help more than the people that hang in the forums. I don't see serious devs hanging around the forum and bullshitting with the people there. Go where they might be, in irc. Be cool with them, don't be aggressive or flaky. If you are nice/cool with them, they might take the time away from what they are working on to help you.
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thanks! were can i go to find this irc? ive gotten a recovery image on the evo's root micro sd in a pc3600 or w.e zip and gotten it to ask me if id like to run it but it wont go any further than that because i cant chose the option. I have a bit of nail glue and im thinking about trying to glue a hair pin to the down button and giving it a pull while i try and run or maybe i can break the button and say oh well... and then from there do it. I dont have any hex or w.e screw driver that are small enough to open the case and do the option described in page one of this forum. Thank you everyone for the help! and keep the ideas coming. I refuse to let this turn out bad, worst comes to worst ill replicate water damage or something and fry the damn thing. then bring it in as a brick.

Any guru's have a quick idea because i want to do this swap.. im so sick of the palm pre. Its like a baby compared to android.

The irc info should be on one of the stickies at the top of the forum. Shouldn't it say something like join us at #evo or something like that.
This is where you can be opening a can of worms, so you've been warned. You can go to sears I think and the tool section and I think they might sell those wierd screwdrivers. I found one that worked for my macbook's harddrive brackets. It's long, has a black handle and generally different colored caps on top of the handle. I kinda doubt radio shack would have it but you could try. Oh, and get a guitar pick to use a the tool to separate the two halves of the phone. I wouldn't use anything else or it might f up the plastic and be obvious you was inside. Maybe look for an evo teardown video somewhere to show you what to expect. Don't force anything!

herbthehammer said:
The irc info should be on one of the stickies at the top of the forum. Shouldn't it say something like join us at #evo or something like that.
This is where you can be opening a can of worms, so you've been warned. You can go to sears I think and the tool section and I think they might sell those wierd screwdrivers. I found one that worked for my macbook's harddrive brackets. It's long, has a black handle and generally different colored caps on top of the handle. I kinda doubt radio shack would have it but you could try. Oh, and get a guitar pick to use a the tool to separate the two halves of the phone. I wouldn't use anything else or it might f up the plastic and be obvious you was inside. Maybe look for an evo teardown video somewhere to show you what to expect. Don't force anything!
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Thanks I baught a T5 screw driver that will be here the 10th or the 11th and im excited to crack it open haha. Ill let you know the updates of what happens and how the sprint reps react. To w.e damage i decide to throw at it

y0ungcitty said:
Thanks I baught a T5 screw driver that will be here the 10th or the 11th and im excited to crack it open haha. Ill let you know the updates of what happens and how the sprint reps react. To w.e damage i decide to throw at it
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Came in. and i opened the phone up jiggled the down button got it unstuck and then I was able to re-flash a custom rom so im just going to use this phone untilll it really ****s the bed again.

Hard bricked and possible hardware issue. I need advice please.

I recently received a used epic 4g when a friend replaced his phone, all was good but then yesterday the phone froze. I took the battery out and powered it back on it then took a long time to boot (2 minutes+) and once it finally did boot it was unusable and very unresponsive. I looked online and got into restore mode and then encountered a problem, my buttons at the bottom don't work therefore I could not hit the home button to select an option.
So I then used Odin to restore it (Used stock stuff). After I restored it it was working fine again. Then today i dropped it 2 feet off my bed and it went back to booting slow and then being unresponsive once booted. I then tried to restore it with Odin again but I made a mistake and didn't put the PDA file in and now my phone seems to be hard bricked (noob move I know).
I am considering sending it in for JTAG but I have some questions. Do you guys think the SLOW booting and unresponsive once booted issues were hardware issues? Will it just do that again eventually after I pay for it to be JTAG fixed? Also do you think they would be able to fix the buttons at the bottom? I would appreciate any advice.
Also please don't kick me when I am down, I know not double checking my Odin stuff was a dumb move, that's not what this thread is about.

So to just be sure, you can't power it on at all? The slow booting seems like a ROM problem. If you can get into Download mode you can fix it. If not, then you are definitely bricked and need to take it in.
If you could though, just reodin the proper files WITHOUT rushing.
I've dropped my phone everyday (I've even found out gorilla glass is ass since it cracked) but its always booted unless I did some dumb **** to it.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium

A_Flying_Fox said:
So to just be sure, you can't power it on at all? The slow booting seems like a ROM problem. If you can get into Download mode you can fix it. If not, then you are definitely bricked and need to take it in.
If you could though, just reodin the proper files WITHOUT rushing.
I've dropped my phone everyday (I've even found out gorilla glass is ass since it cracked) but its always booted unless I did some dumb **** to it.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
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Thanks for the reply
Correct I can't get it to power on at all. A second opinion on whether or not there was a hardware issue would nice, it just seems odd to me that the exact same thing would happen again a day later. When I bricked it I accidentally only used a pit file. When I did it right the first time I followed a guide and had a pit file and a PDA file, I assume one of those is(or includes) the ROM but I don't really know a lot about this stuff. I am considering just selling this one on ebay as-is if you guys think its a hardware issue and getting a new phone but if not I'll send it to be fixed.

JoeCow said:
Thanks for the reply
Correct I can't get it to power on at all. A second opinion on whether or not there was a hardware issue would nice, it just seems odd to me that the exact same thing would happen again a day later. When I bricked it I only had a pit file. When I did it right the first time I followed a guide and had a pit file and a PDA file, I assume one of those is(or includes) the ROM but I don't really know a lot about this stuff. I am considering just selling this one on ebay as-is if you guys think its a hardware issue and getting a new phone but if not I'll send it to be fixed.
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try removing the battery. then try to get into download mode with it plugged into the computer only no battery also remove sd card.

tazfanatic said:
try removing the battery. then try to get into download mode with it plugged into the computer only no battery also remove sd card.
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Thanks!! that did it. I had actually already tried that but tried it again when you suggested it I couldn't get it initially but kept trying and eventually tried unplugging it and plugging it back in while holding one and power the whole time and that got it. So was the slow boot thing happening twice just unlucky or is there something else I need to root or whatever?

JoeCow said:
Thanks!! that did it. I had actually already tried that but tried it again when you suggested it I couldn't get it initially but kept trying and eventually tried unplugging it and plugging it back in while holding one and power the whole time and that got it. So was the slow boot thing happening twice just unlucky or is there something else I need to root or whatever?
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My guess is the slow booting was data corruption. A clean install should fix that. After Odining in the stock EL30 run it like that for a few days to see how it is working before looking into rooting it and a custom ROM.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium

kennyglass123 said:
My guess is the slow booting was data corruption. A clean install should fix that. After Odining in the stock EL30 run it like that for a few days to see how it is working before looking into rooting it and a custom ROM.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
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what kenny said

Thanks guys, saved me $50s should i have sent it in. I appreciate it. I watched a few of the videos on rooting it and I saw the recovery program used to root things lets you use the camera button as apposed to the home button for selecting things. Think I should switch to that since my bottom buttons are broken? It looked like I probably wouldn't be able to navigate back in menus after selecting something but that would be better then not being able to select anything.

JoeCow said:
Thanks guys, saved me $50s should i have sent it in. I appreciate it. I watched a few of the videos on rooting it and I saw the recovery program used to root things lets you use the camera button as apposed to the home button for selecting things. Think I should switch to that since my bottom buttons are broken? It looked like I probably wouldn't be able to navigate back in menus after selecting something but that would be better then not being able to select anything.
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If they are still broken after a fresh Odin then yes the newer CWM will work fine for you. There are widgets somewhere (don't remember) to add those buttions to your screen once you get it working right.

If the buttons really are toasted there are two fairly good onscreen button apps available. One is called Zmooth and the other is called Button Savior.

[Q] LG repair costs

My phone is bootlooping and I can't access recovery. I can't restore the phone's stock software because I edited build.prop and it's not showing up as a Verizon phone. I decided to bite the bullet and just pay LG to reset it. However, when I contacted them to do this they told me I need to mail the phone in and they will tell me how much it costs after their tech looks at it. I'm worried if I do this that they'll charge me an exorbitant amount to fix it... Does anyone have any idea how much they usually charge to do this?

Sending the phone off to LG should be your last resort. It sounds like you've not tried everything!

Send it in to warranty. As long as there's no physical damage Verizon isn't going to give a rats a$$

06stang said:
Send it in to warranty. As long as there's no physical damage Verizon isn't going to give a rats a$$
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Well, in another thread a Sprint tech said that LG did not give them a method to flash the stock software if the model check failed. I assumed this was the case for Verizon as well. I'll call them tomorrow and ask, I may have misunderstood what he wrote. I can't seem to find his post now. I'll update this post after work tomorrow if they can recover the phone.
theoneofgod, what is it that you think I haven't tried yet? If you have a suggestion which would save me the trouble of sending this phone in I would be super happy. To recap, here's what I've tried:
1. Using hard keys to factory reset (on TWRP 2.6.3.1 so it actually factory resets instead of booting into recovery)
2. Hitting "adb reboot recovery" over and over as TWRP loads and performs factory reset (this worked for people on 2.6.3.1 on AT&T but doesn't seem to be working on my Verizon phone for some reason. I've tried it dozens of times and even wrote a batch file which spams "adb reboot recovery" many, many times faster than I could type it)
3. Flashing the .tot file through download mode (Model check fails)
4. Flashing the .kdz file through download mode (Hangs at either 4% or 10% and asks me to restart. Never gets past 10%)
5. Entering my IMEI into the LG update tool, letting it download the software for the phone, and letting it try to flash the software (it fails)

What was the reason for bootloop? i also change my model name to make camera app show pics in menu, but it didn't help, and i returned to stock build.prop. So whats your story? Its good to know what i should NOT do with the phone.

Yea a good idea if you share what you've done so readers can be aware of it. Goodluck to your G2 pal and we're sorry for you..

marshygeek said:
Yea a good idea if you share what you've done so readers can be aware of it. Goodluck to your G2 pal and we're sorry for you..
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Np don't mind sharing, thanks for the sympathy this definitely sucks aha. I usually add in qemu.hw.mainkeys=1 to get rid of the software keys when I put a new ROM on. It worked the first time I did it on this phone, my best guess is that I mistyped something. I'm not 100% sure why this is making my phone not show up as a Verizon model during the model recovery check...someone more knowledgeable than me would have to explain that.
Melodycd, I think you should be fine doing that as long as you're careful. I was pretty careless and made a lot of mistakes to get in my position. As long as you don't do ALL of the following things you should be safe:
1. Not have the latest recovery
2. Not have USB debugging enabled
3. Mess up while editing a build.prop file so you bootloop

It doesn't matter what they can or can't do with the phone. They don't care what you did to it as long as it's not physically damaged or have water damage. Software issues can be fixed. If they couldn't flash new software they wouldn't have CLN devices to send out for warranty.
I've sent in several dozen phones that I left rooted (for legitimate defect concerns) and none were charged back. They don't need to know what happened to the phone when you call all they need to know is its not working and to send you out a device. They'll receive yours, flash it or send it back to LG to flash, then send it out to someone else as a warranty device.

06stang said:
It doesn't matter what they can or can't do with the phone. They don't care what you did to it as long as it's not physically damaged or have water damage. Software issues can be fixed. If they couldn't flash new software they wouldn't have CLN devices to send out for warranty.
I've sent in several dozen phones that I left rooted (for legitimate defect concerns) and none were charged back. They don't need to know what happened to the phone when you call all they need to know is its not working and to send you out a device. They'll receive yours, flash it or send it back to LG to flash, then send it out to someone else as a warranty device.
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Okay I'll send it in tomorrow. Thanks man, I was just worried that since the phone says "rooted" in download mode they would flip out about it. Appreciate the reassurance.

ccmbr002 said:
Okay I'll send it in tomorrow. Thanks man, I was just worried that since the phone says "rooted" in download mode they would flip out about it. Appreciate the reassurance.
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I'm just sharing my experience. Over the past 5 years I've been rooting and returning. I can't guarantee anything but i can tell you my experiences and what I've been told by vzw people I know.

I had my g2 repaired when it was rooted. My camera wasn't working atall would just show up black when i opened the app. I sent it in rooted w CWM recovery as i stupidly forgot to remove it. And i had a replacement within 5 days no questions asked.
Not sure if this is because i am in UK or not, but they didn't blink an eye.

Swanseatom said:
I had my g2 repaired when it was rooted. My camera wasn't working atall would just show up black when i opened the app. I sent it in rooted w CWM recovery as i stupidly forgot to remove it. And i had a replacement within 5 days no questions asked.
Not sure if this is because i am in UK or not, but they didn't blink an eye.
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Yep I was just worried because the Verizon phone explicitly states that it is rooted. Just to follow up for those who are on Verizon and are stuck bootlooping and with no way to flash the stock ROM, what 06stang said held true for me (so far). The Verizon rep on the phone couldn't help me (she said she needed me to put my SIM card in my G2 when I was calling her from my old phone) so I took it to a Verizon store. The dude checked it for physical damage, tried to turn it on, and when he saw it bootloop he put in an order to get me a replacement phone. I'll report back in a week or two after I send in my rooted phone and let people know what happens, it seems like they won't charge me as of right now though.