Database Users

So....totally bricked my tab.....

So, as I cant leave things alone.....come on, who can right?.
Verizon Tab....
Im a Droid X kinda guy, we dont have Kernals (thanks Motorola ) so sometimes this stuff gets confusing, so many options right....
Flashed the VZW Kernal after a few attempts, worked, started messing with Roms, ok cool. Started backing up using CWM, ok cool.
Here is where **** goes wrong....
Started tweaking rom, went to reboot, typical boot loop, no biggie, Odin and Heimdall are my best friends, infact at this point I think my 4 year old has seen me use them enough that she can do it, lol.
decided to nuke and repave, but the usual factory files failed halfway through, wtf?, so I got the Phone---!---PC icon, whoops.....
Did some heavy ready/searching, seems there is not to much out there for detailed info on this.
Found a few posts scattered, one was a system dump, and the person said he flashed everything to repair, so I decided to follow instructions, big giant huge EFF-UP !!
What I know now, after all is said and done......
I flashed the bootloader.
Well, now I know.
So, it happens that VZ tech was nice enough to still send me a replacement, I tell them the truth, they know my DX has the GB leak, wifes Dpro is rooted/rom, etc.
Lesson....
um, dont flash boot loader? ha ha ha.
Oh, I did crack the Tab open, took battery out, looked inside, real ***** getting back cover off, looked real good at cover, possible to airbrush/change colors though...

The tab is not really bricked if you can power it on. There is still a way to "unbrick" it.

oldmacnut said:
I got the Phone---!---PC icon,
Oh, I did crack the Tab open, took battery out, looked inside, real ***** getting back cover off, looked real good at cover, possible to airbrush/change colors though...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Phone-!-pc icon is download mode, so you were not bricked. Usually, just reconnect to the pc and flash again.
Where did you get the three blade screw driver to open your tab?

rangercaptain said:
Phone-!-pc icon is download mode, so you were not bricked. Usually, just reconnect to the pc and flash again.
Where did you get the three blade screw driver to open your tab?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tab doesn't turn on anymore after accidentally flashing bootloader, no response. not even if I plug it into wall. button commands dont work either.
I have a wood shop, and alot of tools.

oldmacnut said:
Tab doesn't turn on anymore after accidentally flashing bootloader, no response. not even if I plug it into wall. button commands dont work either.
I have a wood shop, and alot of tools.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're not the first to do that. Use three wall charger for at least four hours, and try again.
In the stickie section (you can see that part of the forum if you view with a pc) there are some instructions involving some button sequences and the usb cord. But you may have to send tab away to samsung for a clean flash with a JTAG Box.
What is the name of the 3-blade screw driver, and where can I get one? It seems gorilla glass is a farce.

rangercaptain said:
You're not the first to do that. Use three wall charger for at least four hours, and try again.
In the stickie section (you can see that part of the forum if you view with a pc) there are some instructions involving some button sequences and the usb cord. But you may have to send tab away to samsung for a clean flash with a JTAG Box.
What is the name of the 3-blade screw driver, and where can I get one? It seems gorilla glass is a farce.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
New one arrives tomorrow, Im not going to worry about the bricked one, Ill send it back.
Dont remember the name of the screwdriver, I have alot of strange small tools, large collection of bits, you can get away with a regular small bit.
Taking the back off was a huge *****, you wont break anything, just a pain. Battery is huge, and a good majority of the weight.

$50 if you can tell me how to unbrick i9000 without USB jig

Okay, so I bricked my phone trying to update it, and by all accounts I now need a USB jig to ressurect it.
The problem is I live in the middle of nowhere with no mail delivery, and have to drive almost an hour just to get to my Post Office box. I'm also not the most patient of people, and I need my phone.
I've ordered a USB jig, but it'll probably take at least a few days to reach me.
In the meantime, if you can figure out a way for me to revive my phone without the jig, and without ripping it open and soldering stuff, I will pay you $50 (via PayPal).
I fell like there must be a way. After all my Windows machine responds by trying to install some driver when I plug it in (SEC S5PC110 Test B/D).
I think that something is going on there, but it's just not showing anything on the screen to give me any clues. I've tried all manner of combinations of attempting to power it up, but with no result.
So what do you think? Are you up for a challenge? If you can crack it, before the jig arrives, I'll give you $50.

xtempore said:
I fell like there must be a way. After all my Windows machine responds by trying to install some driver when I plug it in (SEC S5PC110 Test B/D).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SEC S5PC110 TEST B/D
You have to use resurection software
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1330491

Man are you dump. We're a community and help each other, no reason to bribe someone. As the guy above me said, use unbrickable resurrector.

dark_knight35 said:
Man are you dump. We're a community and help each other, no reason to bribe someone. As the guy above me said, use unbrickable resurrector.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Resurrector requires soldering - I don't have the tools or skill to do that.
Offering money is not a "bribe" - it's an incentive.
"Dumb" is spelt with a silent "B", not a "P" - and actually refers to someone who cannot speak. Using it to refer to someone who is stupid is actually very stupid in itself - and spelling it incorrectly... enough said.

Try using odin...
Sent from my GT-S5830 using xda premium

Ok, can you get into download mode?

xtempore said:
Resurrector requires soldering - I don't have the tools or skill to do that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
soldering will depend on the mode your phone is currently in , find out first be following this link to download detector http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1257434

Sorry. I should have been clearer in my original post.
By "bricked" I mean NOTHING shows on the screen. It is completely black. It's not stuck in download mode.
I don't have a Linux box so can't do any Linux things. I have a PC (Vista) and a Mac.
I don't have the equipment or skill to solder things.
And because of where I live, I don't have access to people who might have these things.

What happens if you connect your phone to your PC and run the batch file in this archive:
http://www.2shared.com/file/b_2EYcvS/adbDownload.html

xtempore said:
By "bricked" I mean NOTHING shows on the screen. It is completely black. It's not stuck in download mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its currently in a test mode, and the only way to get it into download mode seems to be by what Adam Sandler had done....
anyway you can try the following ( which I doubtful about its success) , meant to get into download mode.
1) First remove Ext SD card and Sim card , also remove battery and reinsert Before any attempt.
IF you have ADB already installed on your PC
click on run and type cmd
now type:- adb reboot recovery or adb reboot download
phone will go into recovery mode or download mode as typed
2)
1. Take Battery out
2. Whilst putting battery in press Vol-Down+Power+Home button
Press the three buttons, and keep them pressed while inserting the battery, and and the phone should get into download mode instantly.

ADB gives "error: device not found"
I've tried every imaginable combination of buttons, taking out battery, removing SIM, trying all sorts of things plugged into USB, plugged into charger, unplugged, ...
I'm currently installing Ubuntu to try Adam Outler's ModeDetect USBID Detector

Tried various things, including installing a VBox Ubuntu, so I could try out some Linux-only solutions. But still nothing has worked.
In fact from what I've been reading, I think even the USB jig won't kick it back into life.
How would I go about finding someone that can repair this sort of thing? I'm in the Crowsnest Pass, AB. My nearest major city is Calgary. I don't even know where to start trying to find a place that can fix this.

xtempore said:
Sorry. I should have been clearer in my original post.
By "bricked" I mean NOTHING shows on the screen. It is completely black. It's not stuck in download mode.
I don't have a Linux box so can't do any Linux things. I have a PC (Vista) and a Mac.
I don't have the equipment or skill to solder things.
And because of where I live, I don't have access to people who might have these things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Save 50$ for a new motherboard. Don't lose time.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using xda app-developers app

Unbrickable Resurector worked for me without opening my phone. It was also totally off and didn't show a reaction. Resurrecting is a thing of half an hour.

xsenman said:
SEC S5PC110 TEST B/D
You have to use resurection software
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1330491
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was one of the developers behind the unbreakable mod.
There is one failure mode that reaches the TEST B/D.
If you have TEST B/D, you can skip the hardware mod, and just use the unbrickable mod software.

[Q] Of TF101 and Possums

I have a TF101 that's seemingly dead after being dropped. Currently, it does not power on. When plugged in with the ac charger, it shows no sign of charging, i.e., no light of any kind - amber, green or otherwise. I assume the mainboard has gone south.
When I connect it to my laptop, however, Windows 7 gives a chime and recognizes it as an MTP device, and even lists it as a TF101 in device manager. Linux also acknowledges that much. I can pretty much browse and access the content of the internal SD card like an external HD. Holding the power button long enough will unmount the device in either OS, which suggests that the device has turned itself off, and thus still responding to physical commands, or functioning on some level.
So it appears dead but not really. Being totally unfamiliar with this model, I'm not sure what possibilities the current state of affairs might indicate insofar as the device's vitality. Any input as to what this means is greatly appreciated.
If is it determined that the mainboard is done for, can anyone point me to a source for a replacement? If this kind of info solicitation is proscribed by regulation, my apology. Thank you.

My guess is, if the board was dead, you wouldn't be able to mount the device at all. It would suggest that it's actually alive and well, but the graphic/monitor part is dead, so you have no display at all. Mine also shows no signs of life (assuming I don't check the display) while it's charging and not on the dock. Only the dock has charging status lights as far as I can tell.
Sadly I can't help you further than that. I know they sell replacement parts on ebay and such, but I never even opened mine up, so I have no idea how easy it would be to replace any part. I know there's repair videos on youtube for the tf101, it might give you a clue if you open it up and run some tests.
Also check this out.

Lethe6 said:
My guess is, if the board was dead, you wouldn't be able to mount the device at all. It would suggest that it's actually alive and well, but the graphic/monitor part is dead, so you have no display at all. Mine also shows no signs of life (assuming I don't check the display) while it's charging and not on the dock. Only the dock has charging status lights as far as I can tell.
Sadly I can't help you further than that. I know they sell replacement parts on ebay and such, but I never even opened mine up, so I have no idea how easy it would be to replace any part. I know there's repair videos on youtube for the tf101, it might give you a clue if you open it up and run some tests.
Also check this out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On second thought, I'm not too keen on replacing the MB just yet. Cracking the thing open is no big deal. I am dexterous enough. However, I am more intrigued by what is possibly going on.
If you guessed right, and transferring PC knowledge to this, the board would have a video chip integrated, with the other part consisting of an inverter and the LCD. If the integrated video circuit is dead, then connecting the device via HDMI to a TV would show nothing. If the device shows up, for instance, it's just the display part from the inverter on and so forth.
But I'm hesitant to go down that route. If it's the video part, then I should be able to do everything else like putting it in APX Mode, or flashing as with a normal device. Unfortunately, my computer never registered such activities; the tablet does not respond beyond the symptoms I described above.
As a matter of fact, I'd entertain any mad proposal on what should be tried on the thing at this point, just for the fun of it. I stand to lose little. So you can use your imagination and shoot some crazy ideas my way, and we'll see what.

So you tried with HDMI and it didn't work? You're right about APX though unless you're missing the drivers.. so maybe there really is some damage to the board. Sadly I don't have any crazy/mad suggestions at this point

My normal approach to possums (and the only legal thing I can do with them once captured) is to kill them or get someone else to kill them for me. :good:
As for your TF101, I seem to remember reading on another forum that when these devices are dropped and show the symptoms you describe, it can be caused by a ribbon cable that connects the display to the motherboard being jolted loose. It might be worth opening it up and check both ends of the appropriate cable for secure fit.

Mike_NZ said:
My normal approach to possums (and the only legal thing I can do with them once captured) is to kill them or get someone else to kill them for me. :good:
As for your TF101, I seem to remember reading on another forum that when these devices are dropped and show the symptoms you describe, it can be caused by a ribbon cable that connects the display to the motherboard being jolted loose. It might be worth opening it up and check both ends of the appropriate cable for secure fit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey I totally agree that killing it may be the only option right now. And I don't mind that, just that I'd prefer the scalpel to the cleaver, and doing it in such a way that I would learn something about it that may be of benefit to me and incidentally, to others. I did open the thing, and you're again right, people have run into this problem of the LCD cable being jarred loose on impact from Asia to the Western Hemisphere to Eastern Europe. But it's not that, as I did unseat and reseat the cable on both ends, for naught.
As to the APX drivers, I did try both Easy Flasher and PERI 0.4. They act as if they finish the job. However, the tablet remains consistently inert. Lethe6, am I missing something here? How do you tell if the APX drivers are missing? Normally Windows would show the USB device as in APX mode right? Mine did not do that. When I tried to update the driver in Device Manager, Windows refused to do it claiming it was not necessary. Is there a way to force-install the drivers just to see?
Oh well, I'd just let the issue hang at this point and see what else comes this way.

Yeah if you connect your device in APX mode it should pop up in the device manager, just right-click uninstall then re-install the drivers. I don't remember what's the exact device name but iirc it's something generic. Sorry I can't check I'm on a Mac at work and my TF101 is at home.
What about HDMI? Did you ever get a signal through there? Tried having it connected when assuming to do a full boot?

Lethe6 said:
Yeah if you connect your device in APX mode it should pop up in the device manager, just right-click uninstall then re-install the drivers. I don't remember what's the exact device name but iirc it's something generic. Sorry I can't check I'm on a Mac at work and my TF101 is at home.
What about HDMI? Did you ever get a signal through there? Tried having it connected when assuming to do a full boot?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never had the chance to try the HDMI output. Still waiting for the adapter to arrive. Ebay can be a pain during holiday season. But I'd sure to report the result. When I plugged the thing in, Win recognized it as an MTP device and proceeded to install drivers automatically. After which it showed in Device Manager as TF-101. So apparently the drivers are correct, though they dated back to 2006!!?? However, with other devices like the Acer A500, the USB device symbol normally would appear at the right bottom bar with the designation "APX device." With this thing, nothing - not even the icon. What's your thought on this?

I don't have any other devices that I can boot into APX (HTC won't tell anyone and my other tablet is a craplet, have to ADB on the live FS, which is awesome lol) so I can't compare here, but have you tried these drivers for APX? It's been a while but I seem to remember needing special drivers for APX. The device had a weird name.. like a bunch of numbers and letters... haven't used it since easyflasher though.
When I plug it in APX the device is called "NVIDIA USB Boot-recovery driver for mobile devices" and it's dated 1/31/2011.
When I plug it in Rogue Recovery the device is called "Asus Android MTP Device" dated 7/17/2012.
When I plug it in booted to 4.0.3 the device is called "Transformer TF101" dated 7/17/2012.
So I'm guessing yours never enters APX or has the wrong drivers? Maybe try installing the ASUS Sync software? Not sure but it may bring newer drivers...
I assume you're doing all this undocked as well?

Need Help with APX Mode Brick.

Running (was) a stock rooted N7 v1 on 4.3. Bought a data recovery tool off of the play store to try and recover some photos I had deleted. At some point it rebooted into safe mode, my battery was running low and I shut it off to let it charge. Now it's dead in the water. Stuck in APX mode. I am asking if there is anyway to breathe life back into this tablet.
The tablet does nothing on the screen, period, no matter what you do. When plugged in to a computer it sometimes registers as an unknown device, sometimes APX. None of these get you anywhere. Toolkits on these forums won't recognize the device, installing the android development kit and drivers does nothing, executing commands from the command line is worthless because the device won't register. I do not have any "blobs" and have no clue at this point even what they are or what they could have done for me had I made them.
I've searched this forum and found bits and pieces here and there and wanted to start a thread dealing solely with devices stuck like this and what has or hasn't worked and get others input if warranty service was done and the state your tablet was in when you sent it in (locked/unlocked, rooted etc).
Anyone stuck here will have probably tried the same things as I have but here is is a minor rundown...
1) Every button combo press known to man for short, medium, and extended periods of time.
2) Charging with the Original charger/cable for 1 hour, then button presses then charging for 12 hours.
3) Same as above but with different aftermarket chargers at different amperages.
4) Uninstalling and deleting drivers. Trying different drivers. Getting the Android drivers etc.
5) Trying every toolkit on the forums to no avail because the device won't register.
6) Checking to make sure the battery cables are seated correctly.
7) Screaming and yelling at your new paperweight.
My hope here is that I've missed some important thread about recovery and someone can point me in the right direction. Failing that, if I should get a new mobo or try and send it in for warranty service in the state it's in.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Sent from my Rooted Frameworked SCH-I545 using xda app-developers app

I don't know what you tried before to revive your tablet and what the tool did to get you into this state, but generally APX mode can be left by pushing the power button *only* for about 10-20 sec, as long as there us enough power within your battery and the hardware / software is working / consistent.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

I don't think I've ever seen anyone in here describe a situation where they observed the tablet in bootloader mode without seeing *something* on the screen.
And as you found out through your reading, using "nvflash" on the N7 is only useful at this time for folks that made prior disaster recovery preparations. So, APX mode is of no use to you (at this date 12/2013).
So, until you see something happen on that screen, drivers on a PC are of no value to you anyway.
It is really unfortunate that the N7 doesn't have a physical charging indicator - that makes it difficult to distinguish between a tablet which is truly borked vs. one that refuses to boot simply because the battery isn't charged.
Holding down a specific button combo (iirc Pwr+VolUp) during an attempt to get "something, anything" to happen will put the tab into APX mode, so it isn't particularly diagnostic that you have observed APX mode once or twice.
Really about the only way to know if the battery in a non-responsive N7 is charged or not is to put it in another tablet or measure the open-circuit voltage. (About 4.15v fully charged & about 3.5v discharged)
The reason that I mention this is that there have been a few reports from users in similar straits as you that report something like "I don't know what happened, but I tried it a few days later and all of a sudden the tablet booted up". Almost every one of those reports involved mentions of low battery conditions, just as your narrative does.
I don't know what file recovery program you used, but I suspect that is a red herring . It might have to have root privileges in order to read raw partitions, and might even want the tablet in safe mode to minimize write activity by *other apps* while it does it's forensics, but it certainly isn't going to recover files by writing in raw mode on a mounted, live filesystem - it would do all it's writing through normal kernel syscalls. That's the long way of saying that a low battery is more likely to be the original source of your troubles.
So what to do now? I think the first order of business is to figure out if your battery is charged or failing to take a charge. If it really is well charged, then a warranty return is probably in your future.
If you can't find a second N7 or a voltmeter, then you could try just leaving it on the charger for a couple of days... but that really is just a "grope about in the dark, wing & prayer" kind of strategy.
good luck
Button sequences & USB Identifiers (VID/PID pairs):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2133986

You are in the same situation I was in - nothing shows up on screen. I got APX drivers to finally install (had to search all over the internet to find them) and that STILL didn't help. I was never able to get it to come back. Nothing ever showed up on the screen.
No combination of button presses helped. I finally gave up and, since my N7 was still under warranty, I RMA'd it back to ASUS. It took about 3 weeks, but I got it back with a new motherboard installed on it.
It was borked and your's sounds the same way as mine. Just either register your N7 on the ASUS website and RMA it that way, or call it in over the phone and RMA it that way. Hopefully, you still have the box your N7 came in because you'll need the serial number.
Others have stated you can get it by opening the back, but that will void your warranty. I do believe you MUST have the serial number, so find the box and get it from there.
Also, you'll definitely lose everything that was there, especially if they replace the motherboard. So hopefully, you backed it up. I backed mine up just before it got borked, so I was lucky.
Good luck!

I am wary of trying to do the battery swap. I went and bought a new version after it crashed but I would be voiding both warranties to try the battery swap.
I do have the serial number if I want to try and get service.
I have done some reading about "deep discharge" battery issues and I suspect this may be a part if it but I have tried leaving it plugged in for days and nada.
I don't know if there is a way to "shock" or jump start the charging process and I am going to put the multimeter on it tomorrow and see what I get.
Thanks for everyone's input. I will keep you up to date.
Sent from my Rooted Frameworked Verizon Galaxy S4 on MJ7 using the XDA App.

Nexus 7 stuck in APX Mode

Hello,
I got an old Nexus 7 from my sister and would like to use, but I cant get it to work. It does nothing, no screen flicker/backlight showing, nothing. The only thing that somewhat works is that I can get ist to show up in Linux as NvFlash with Lsusb.
The Nexus 7 never had a custom rom or root, it was completly stock. It was mostly used in the original dock. I did already swap the battery, I did try all buttom combos I could find on the web, but still I cant anything else than showing up as nvflash. I can hear some noisy if I put my ear near the tegra cpu, once I tried to power it via button pressing.
Do you have any idea on how to revive this thing?

You can try the Nexus Root Toolkit and see if it can Unroot (this flashes the stock os) with the Bricked radio button selected, but I would not be hopeful.
Sent from my LGLS992 using Tapatalk

Nachoztyle said:
Hello,
I got an old Nexus 7 from my sister and would like to use, but I cant get it to work. It does nothing, no screen flicker/backlight showing, nothing. The only thing that somewhat works is that I can get ist to show up in Linux as NvFlash with Lsusb.
The Nexus 7 never had a custom rom or root, it was completly stock. It was mostly used in the original dock. I did already swap the battery, I did try all buttom combos I could find on the web, but still I cant anything else than showing up as nvflash. I can hear some noisy if I put my ear near the tegra cpu, once I tried to power it via button pressing.
Do you have any idea on how to revive this thing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You may have to use nvflash to flash the bootloader. Search with Google. There are some results which may help.

Hi, thank you both for your reply. I will try it next week, since I am currently not at home. @tnsmani dont I need some special files because of the encryption? I havent got those :/

Nachoztyle said:
Hi, thank you both for your reply. I will try it next week, since I am currently not at home. @tnsmani dont I need some special files because of the encryption? I havent got those :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's why I said search with Google.

So I searched Google, but all the results I found say it is not possible to reflash the bootloader without the blob file since it used a device specific key. I guess I am out of luck then :/

Nachoztyle said:
So I searched Google, but all the results I found say it is not possible to reflash the bootloader without the blob file since it used a device specific key. I guess I am out of luck then :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, Nachoztyle...
Mmm, from your description, it certainly doesn't sound promising. If the bootloader is corrupted or erased, the device is hardbricked, and a motherboard replacement would be required to render the device bootable again.
APX/NVflash mode is pretty much a non-starter if you haven't, at some point in the past, created your own unique 'flatline' blobs for your own specific N7.
However...
My own N7, which I sometimes completely forget about whilst it's lying on my desk, frequently runs out of power/charge, and when it does, the device appears completely and utterly dead.
So when I plug it into the charger, nothing happens. This happened recently, a few days ago, actually ~ I tried to power it on, and nothing happened. As usual, I plugged it in to my mains charger; I use an Amazon Kindle charger, output rated at 5volts/1.8amps, which I'm fairly certain is roughly equivalent to the original charger which shipped with the N7 back in 2012.
And nothing happened. I unplugged it and replugged it back in again, several times - and still no screen response.
So, I left it connected to the charger, overnight. The following morning, my N7 booted up.
I've had this happen before with my N7, that when the battery dies, it can take a bit of 'coaxing' back into life, sometimes with several plugging and unpluggings into the charger, and sometimes with different chargers and USB cables.
So, in conclusion then, it might be worth tinkering around with different chargers and/or different USB cables. Even with my 5volt/1.8amp Kindle charger, it can still take a good 12-16 hours before I can actually use it.
Rgrds,
Ged.

Sadly the device was always used stock and the flatline blobs never created.
I will play around with some chargers, I got a couple different ones, including the original one flying around.