Database Users

[Q] Probablility of Bricking my phone? <- Noob

Whats the probability of bricking my phone if I root it and install some apps vs rooting it and installing roms? I tried to look around for info on this and found an article on another site that says it's kind hard to brick a phone since there are 3 safety measures in place? Sorry, a tad paranoid here, first smart phone.

close to 0 unless you really start to do some really wrong things

Its tough to be beyond recovery. The only surefire way I've seen is clicking "phone" instead of "pda" in odin. This forum is great and everyone is very helpful. Before flashing a new rom, read a much as possible. You should be fine.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

keith.mcintyre26 said:
Its tough to be beyond recovery. The only surefire way I've seen is clicking "phone" instead of "pda" in odin. This forum is great and everyone is very helpful. Before flashing a new rom, read a much as possible. You should be fine.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
ok thanks, is it easy to flash to stock? I saw the way to do it in odin wasn't sure if there is something even easier.

The probability of bricking your phone if inversely proportionate to the amount of reading you do before you flash something!
If you stick to the proven, tested, well documented stuff and read, then re-read, the directions you will be fine.

If this is your first android device, I would strongly encourage reading a lot and a few times before attempting...Fascinate is a bit different from other android devices as well the way the system works...I have had eris, droid, incredible and the x...and with the fascinate still read and re-read everything before attempting. One tiny missed step could cause hours of hassle and recovery time...
Just to give you some directions...here are good threads to read:
-ROOT, Recovery, Update and More...
-How to flash Voodoo Kernels and more...
Also, don't be afraid to ask questions... it's always better to ask, then mess something up.
What are you trying to do?

tats_06 said:
If this is your first android device, I would strongly encourage reading a lot and a few times before attempting...Fascinate is a bit different from other android devices as well the way the system works...I have had eris, droid, incredible and the x...and with the fascinate still read and re-read everything before attempting. One tiny missed step could cause hours of hassle and recovery time...
Just to give you some directions...here are good threads to read:
-Links Removed Reason: New User
Also, don't be afraid to ask questions... it's always better to ask, then mess something up.
What are you trying to do?
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Click to collapse
I want to root the phone to get rid of annoying bing and install the wireless tethering app. Then I wanted to install voodoo to hopefully fix the lag which I sometimes get. I'm just concerned about the ease of reverting to stock. I am kinda interested in custom roms or themes but not entirely sure of the benefits of the roms or the safety of installing either.
On a side note dang how did you afford all the phones or did you just trade them up as you went?

Slacker101 said:
I want to root the phone to get rid of annoying bing and install the wireless tethering app. Then I wanted to install voodoo to hopefully fix the lag which I sometimes get. I'm just concerned about the ease of reverting to stock. I am kinda interested in custom roms or themes but not entirely sure of the benefits of the roms or the safety of installing either.
On a side note dang how did you afford all the phones or did you just trade them up as you went?
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Click to collapse
I have 3 lines with vzw, so I do have updates once in a while
My eris, I had less than 30 days and traded it in for droid...then sold droid on ebay and bought the incredible....then returned the incredible within 60 days because of bad battery and poor call quality....then got the x...well the x was just too big, so i returned it and bought an incredible off ebay... that one was actually perfect...and finally got the fascinate with one of line upgrades...and sold incredible .....that's quite a history now that I look at it
As far as mods, follow the links I posted above...on the voodoo one, definitely read and re-read to make sure you understand and won't miss steps. If anything, you can always restore back to stock using odin...although hoping you will not end up to need it.

tats_06 said:
I have 3 lines with vzw, so I do have updates once in a while
My eris, I had less than 30 days and traded it in for droid...then sold droid on ebay and bought the incredible....then returned the incredible within 60 days because of bad battery and poor call quality....then got the x...well the x was just too big, so i returned it and bought an incredible off ebay... that one was actually perfect...and finally got the fascinate with one of line upgrades...and sold incredible .....that's quite a history now that I look at it
As far as mods, follow the links I posted above...on the voodoo one, definitely read and re-read to make sure you understand and won't miss steps. If anything, you can always restore back to stock using odin...although hoping you will not end up to need it.
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Click to collapse
I went from eris to droid to fascinate. I took a gamble on ebay by starting the bid on a fascinate at $175. I won it for the initial bid and sold my droid on craigslist for $200 so I actually made money getting a better phone. Win.

tats_06 said:
I have 3 lines with vzw, so I do have updates once in a while
My eris, I had less than 30 days and traded it in for droid...then sold droid on ebay and bought the incredible....then returned the incredible within 60 days because of bad battery and poor call quality....then got the x...well the x was just too big, so i returned it and bought an incredible off ebay... that one was actually perfect...and finally got the fascinate with one of line upgrades...and sold incredible .....that's quite a history now that I look at it
As far as mods, follow the links I posted above...on the voodoo one, definitely read and re-read to make sure you understand and won't miss steps. If anything, you can always restore back to stock using odin...although hoping you will not end up to need it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah alright, yeah the plan is to not need it unless I have to take the phone in for some reason xD. Right now I just realized I'm not sure how to get this damn hard case I bought off the phone... anyway is odin the only way to unroot?

keith.mcintyre26 said:
I went from eris to droid to fascinate. I took a gamble on ebay by starting the bid on a fascinate at $175. I won it for the initial bid and sold my droid on craigslist for $200 so I actually made money getting a better phone. Win.
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Click to collapse
That does sound like a win!!!! I sold my incredible for like $360 and got fascinate for $199...not bad either

If your worried about bricking your phone your good. Its when people think they know what they are doing, that's when you mess **** up. Just remember PDA not PHONE when using Odin... PDA PDA PDA PDA PDA PDA.... NOT PHONE....
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

I GIVE UP!!! Update Problem

Alright so my problem started on Thursday morning when I got the update...got excited and tried to update but like most of us....failed. So I got to work and found out that I needed all the .apks and excited me decided to delete the system apps but never back them up. So I got the system apps from a thread on here....Deleted the duplicate app folder and I started to get a whole mess of FC's. So I said *SH!T* and it went down hill from there...lucky enough this forum was here. Downloaded an update.zip with the EMEA Update...Flashed that and I lost Wifi,So all Up Friday trying to fix this...Did POSSIBLY everything I could DD'd A Bunch of System,Flexrom, and boots.....So I said...F it....Going to Staples to Buy a new since my 14 days are up at BB...WORD OF ADVICE....READ THESE THREADS FIRST .....The Jerk in me wants to return the Non-Wifi Acer to Staples to get my money back but I just don't want anything to come back on me....Hmmmmm
What do you guys think would be the best Idea...Keep the Non-Wifi a500 or go Purchase a New one and Switch-a-roo?
EDIT: Thanks to this Thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1101859 I successfully fixed my a500 and I just ordered a New a500 on Best Buy but I was able to cancel it....I'm SOOOO THANKFUL FOR THIS FORUM!!!! Lol

Honestly...when rooting and changing things, we all assume the risks. I personally think it would be wrong to defraud a store due to hacking gone bad.
Sent from my A500 using XDA Premium App

lawmangrant said:
Honestly...when rooting and changing things, we all assume the risks. I personally think it would be wrong to defraud a store due to hacking gone bad.
Sent from my A500 using XDA Premium App
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If we get good support by Acer there is no need to make things like that, but there is no way to get back to stock
btw, BB return iconia to acer, BB will not lost a dollar if you dont want your tablet anymore, because there is a satisfaction guarantee

to set up wifi u need to replace new wifi modules(which came with system.img) to that what u have in your flexrom.img/update.zip
that problem was already been discussed in several threads

As a last resort you could always look to the truth.
If you have decided to be honest and not to defraud them and buy new tab all well and good.
But you have another option.
Be honest! Take it to them and tell them what you done, you never know, I am sure they know this has happened before with returns, and at least you are being straight with them.
They just might respect that and change it for you, after all it is no cost to them and once returned to factory they can put it right again.
Good luck...

Glebaka said:
to set up wifi u need to replace new wifi modules(which came with system.img) to that what u have in your flexrom.img/update.zip
that problem was already been discussed in several threads
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Believe me I tried and before I head to the store I'm gonna try again....
I'm using the update.zip from this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1097224
My thing is...I tried to use the Chinese update like most of us have and I can never get it to Flash it constantly gives me the Android error at Recovery,so if somebody wants to help with that then I would appreciate it.

ryanb0225 said:
Believe me I tried and before I head to the store I'm gonna try again....
I'm using the update.zip from this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1097224
My thing is...I tried to use the Chinese update like most of us have and I can never get it to Flash it constantly gives me the Android error at Recovery,so if somebody wants to help with that then I would appreciate it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My guess is that your Chinese update.zip is corrupted. Try downloading it again. It should be around 349MB and you should be able to unzip it and examine the contents. The extracted folder should be around 465 MB.

Ok I need a link to that Chinese Update I guess becuz I decided against that switch thing, but I tried to load that update from the thread again today but now at the boot up I'm getting a Check-Sum failure...Don't get me wrong the root thing is easy but once I tried to do the whole Terminal thing...It's New to Me...So could somebody give me a Chinese Update link and so some step by step of things I need and to do in order to fix my possibly Bricked a500 I would Greatly appreciate it.....as in help I mean help with the Kernal Modules and img. @_motley can you show me what u did exactly in order to get your device back to Stock...

Giving in again...lol Contacted Acer....sending it in for Repair....Can't exchange at BB since it's over 14 days.

Bring it back to bestbuy I had mine for 30 days they exchanged it with no problem got home an did the update poc
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

temekio2000 said:
Bring it back to bestbuy I had mine for 30 days they exchanged it with no problem got home an did the update poc
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
....Going to try this today, If it works....I THANK YOU lol

I had the same problem as OP described. Tried every possible way, no dice. Brought to BB for the Geek squad to look it. Long and before, I SH** myself as i am ONE friggin day over the 30 day exchange/replace policy...God dammit...I have to give credit for my local Geek squad as the tech spent a good 30 mins going round calling ppl and checking on all things (XDA and Androidcentral) for remedies. I'd told him I had done EVERYTHING that were listed on the boards and still no dice.
The manager didn't bulged so he wasn't able to swap nothing for me. Got the Acer repair number and address, guess I'll be calling them Tuesday morning for some needed RMA. He had told me there might be EEPROM problem...Personally I don't think so, I think I just screwed up during one of the process.
I have two more days to dig deeper into the interweb to see if I can revive this bad boy...LOL...

ryanb0225 said:
Alright so my problem started on Thursday morning when I got the update...got excited and tried to update but like most of us....failed. So I got to work and found out that I needed all the .apks and excited me decided to delete the system apps but never back them up. So I got the system apps from a thread on here....Deleted the duplicate app folder and I started to get a whole mess of FC's. So I said *SH!T* and it went down hill from there...lucky enough this forum was here. Downloaded an update.zip with the EMEA Update...Flashed that and I lost Wifi,So all Up Friday trying to fix this...Did POSSIBLY everything I could DD'd A Bunch of System,Flexrom, and boots.....So I said...F it....Going to Staples to Buy a new since my 14 days are up at BB...WORD OF ADVICE....READ THESE THREADS FIRST .....The Jerk in me wants to return the Non-Wifi Acer to Staples to get my money back but I just don't want anything to come back on me....Hmmmmm
What do you guys think would be the best Idea...Keep the Non-Wifi a500 or go Purchase a New one and Switch-a-roo?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ya. That sounds like fraud. Plus many here took the risks to unload or change software or even root knowing that an update was just around the corner. We all take chances when we root new products. Anyway seems those that rooted had more problems with getting the update than those who took a wait and see approach. That is at least how I am reading it.

Did Acer kill the Iconia?

It just seems like they made it impossible to root , reverting back is fine I suppose and searching for other roms (which may or may not be stable ,use at your own risk) !
Ive seen some of the smartest people in XDA and I cant seem to figure out why other tablets using the same updates have been rooted but not the iconia ? The writing is on the wall for this tablet , expect to see a new version soon (just in time for Christmas)!

First, wrong section; you should know better by now.
Second, just because Acer have made it a bugger to root, doesn't mean the tablet is dead. It's absolutely useable without being rooted, and 99% of consumers don't actually give a monkeys about rooting, or even know what it actually is.
Hell, we get plenty of people on here asking what it is or what it's for...

New iconia is scheduled for Dec release but may get pushed back to january.

Interesting, you are posing that on XDA. We dont believe in Impossible to Root device. That is why people come to XDA; How to break what seem unbreakable or unlock what seem unlock-able. Just give some time, some genius will always find a way to kick some Corporate teeth in.

well wasnt it acer excuse not unlock the bootloader since honeycomb was not open source. I think that was one of their statements, so once we get updated to ICS maybe we all can start with a tweet assault on them again.
Not sure about u guys but I feel more comfortable recommending the xoom or asus tab just cause they are so open, same goes for those nook colors.

Vintage144 said:
It just seems like they made it impossible to root , reverting back is fine I suppose and searching for other roms (which may or may not be stable ,use at your own risk) !
Ive seen some of the smartest people in XDA and I cant seem to figure out why other tablets using the same updates have been rooted but not the iconia ? The writing is on the wall for this tablet , expect to see a new version soon (just in time for Christmas)!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should look at the older phones like the Desire and before that if you think its hard to root here, you'd probably cry at the thought of creating a gold card.
How people complain that a rooting process that takes all of 15 minutes and a couple of reboots is hard is beyond me. In 3.1 and below all you have to do is download a file from the market. In 3.2 you have to run one update file from recovery, install the aforementioned files from the market, then flash one of the ROMs from here - such as the completely stable completely standard 3.2 ROMs, or the excellent and completely stable Thor ROMs. If that's too difficult for people then maybe they shouldn't be attempting it on something that cost them £300.

Cactus42 said:
You should look at the older phones like the Desire and before that if you think its hard to root here, you'd probably cry at the thought of creating a gold card.
How people complain that a rooting process that takes all of 15 minutes and a couple of reboots is hard is beyond me. In 3.1 and below all you have to do is download a file from the market. In 3.2 you have to run one update file from recovery, install the aforementioned files from the market, then flash one of the ROMs from here - such as the completely stable completely standard 3.2 ROMs, or the excellent and completely stable Thor ROMs. If that's too difficult for people then maybe they shouldn't be attempting it on something that cost them £300.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL - that was exactly was I was thinking after reading the first post. I have got a Desire and rooted it with goldcard etc. - long before the newer and way easier methods were developed.
Yesterday I got my Iconia 501 with Stock HC 3.2 on it and rooting it was a real breeze

Seriously? Near impossible to root? This guy must be slow, because this was just insanely easy... been rooted for months and tried nearly every rom at least once, all easy as pie.

germanhoss said:
LOL - that was exactly was I was thinking after reading the first post. I have got a Desire and rooted it with goldcard etc. - long before the newer and way easier methods were developed.
Yesterday I got my Iconia 501 with Stock HC 3.2 on it and rooting it was a real breeze
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same thing with the original mytouch. I had to use a gold card and there were no less than 3 times during the process that i thought i had bricked it. i may be permanently scarred.
There have been many times i have rooted other devices including the iconia that i went searching for more steps because it was too easy.

ya i have the Desire S too and waited for ages for it to be rooted, the Iconia only took me a few minutes, don't really see what the difficulty is, thought this was an old thread haha

ne too lol i was like...all i did was install an app, go to recovery, and flash rom ( give or take a few steps) and i did that the day i got it (sept 2011) and it took a few a mins, this thread confused the heck outta me lol
psycho_somatic said:
ya i have the Desire S too and waited for ages for it to be rooted, the Iconia only took me a few minutes, don't really see what the difficulty is, thought this was an old thread haha
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Cactus42 said:
You should look at the older phones like the Desire and before that if you think its hard to root here, you'd probably cry at the thought of creating a gold card.
How people complain that a rooting process that takes all of 15 minutes and a couple of reboots is hard is beyond me. In 3.1 and below all you have to do is download a file from the market. In 3.2 you have to run one update file from recovery, install the aforementioned files from the market, then flash one of the ROMs from here - such as the completely stable completely standard 3.2 ROMs, or the excellent and completely stable Thor ROMs. If that's too difficult for people then maybe they shouldn't be attempting it on something that cost them £300.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello there... one day I found my camera lense cracked and I sent it in for repair. upon return it had 3.2 on it (my icona a500) since then I have not found a way to root 3.2. I have looked on the threads and until your comment I havent found a way to root 3.2. Would you be so kind as to pm me or post the thread link here please? Its laggy as hell on stock and I want to root and get rid of the bloat ware. Thanks!!

lanisan said:
Hello there... one day I found my camera lense cracked and I sent it in for repair. upon return it had 3.2 on it (my icona a500) since then I have not found a way to root 3.2. I have looked on the threads and until your comment I havent found a way to root 3.2. Would you be so kind as to pm me or post the thread link here please? Its laggy as hell on stock and I want to root and get rid of the bloat ware. Thanks!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A member since 2007 and you cannot find a way to root your acer, you either don't read at all or don't understand what you are reading.. any one that really need to root their acer already did so including myself....

When is there going to be something flashable in this thread
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

BrianDigital said:
When is there going to be something flashable in this thread
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
When you learn to find it and come and post it here? It's pretty well documented, and other than the crap threads that get posted in here like this one, pretty well organized.

tumpy said:
A member since 2007 and you cannot find a way to root your acer, you either don't read at all or don't understand what you are reading.. any one that really need to root their acer already did so including myself....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1136 right here it is 3hreadsown from this one. Giggles even a blonde can find it
This is inbwrong thread sorry for my post all

I rooted my tablet right after I got it in May. Then when the 3.2 update came out, I went back to stock unrooted and ran that way until this morning when I realized I wanted to change my navigation buttons. Downgraded, rooted, installed CWM and flashed the rooted stock 3.2 and was back in business in like 20 minutes maybe. Would've been done quicker, but I had to pause to make some more coffee. Didn't even lose any of my data or apps. I don't know how you measure easy, but by my measure, its a cake walk. A cake walk where you actually win cake, instead of awkwardly shuffling around in a circle with strangers thinking that if you win it might all be worth it, only to have some snot nosed little turd walk away with the very cake you wanted, and you go home and weep gently into your pillow because you never win, and no one ever seems to see that all you want is to be loved, oh God, why can't someone just love you...sorry I digress.

lol i rooted mine like the first 15 minutes that it was out of the box. I don't like not overclocking

Vintage144 said:
It just seems like they made it impossible to root , reverting back is fine I suppose and searching for other roms (which may or may not be stable ,use at your own risk) !
Ive seen some of the smartest people in XDA and I cant seem to figure out why other tablets using the same updates have been rooted but not the iconia ? The writing is on the wall for this tablet , expect to see a new version soon (just in time for Christmas)!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And this thread belongs in the DEV area.
Mods must be on Thanksgiving break already

Back to the OT! Did Acer Kill the Iconia?
Here it is.... Plain and simple.... Acer is killing the the Iconia since they are taking their time to produce good accessories for it. Also, what were they thinking in giving the power adapter such a short cord?
Other than that.... I love my A500, and would not mind upgrading to a the Tegra3 version.

Should I risk it?

So just looking for any advice regarding if I should root/unlock boot loader/ flash a ROM or mod after a previous problem I had with the phone.
I got the error message "modem did not power up (0) then Starting RSD protocol support" after my phone died one night. After about 2 weeks of jacking with the phone I went and got an upgrade for the iPhone 4S for the wife and used her iPhone 4 and absolutely hated it, so I attempted one last time to get the Atrix to fire back up. And some way some how a number of button pushes through fast boot and the Android gods had answered my prayers to awake the Atrix back from the dead. Now I'm really itching to flash a ROM but unsure how stable going through the process would be after my prior predicament. Any advice from anyone who has dealt with this issue before and was fine flashing and rooting would be greatly appreciated. I am really wanting to take the plunge and really unleash the full potential of the phone, however I cant go back to the iPhone, stock Android is light years ahead of even a Jailbroken iPhone. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Well, i had this issue before, i just sent it to warranty and got replaced the mobo the issue is hardware problem, so "we" can't do nothing about it.. sry.
Inviato dal mio Atrix con Tapatalk

ckapavik said:
So just looking for any advice regarding if I should root/unlock boot loader/ flash a ROM or mod after a previous problem I had with the phone.
I got the error message "modem did not power up (0) then Starting RSD protocol support" after my phone died one night. After about 2 weeks of jacking with the phone I went and got an upgrade for the iPhone 4S for the wife and used her iPhone 4 and absolutely hated it, so I attempted one last time to get the Atrix to fire back up. And some way some how a number of button pushes through fast boot and the Android gods had answered my prayers to awake the Atrix back from the dead. Now I'm really itching to flash a ROM but unsure how stable going through the process would be after my prior predicament. Any advice from anyone who has dealt with this issue before and was fine flashing and rooting would be greatly appreciated. I am really wanting to take the plunge and really unleash the full potential of the phone, however I cant go back to the iPhone, stock Android is light years ahead of even a Jailbroken iPhone. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only thing you can do that is likely to have any effect on "your issue" is flashing a new radio.
If you are OK with how it works now, feel free to play with roms. These do not flash a new radio. You can go to CM7 or ICS if you like.
Flashing a new radio might help the issue, or it might brick the phone.

I got the error and flashing the stock rom through RSD made the trick. Phone is good as new since then !

DannyBiker said:
I got the error and flashing the stock rom through RSD made the trick. Phone is good as new since then !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Think I might take the plunge and go for a ROM flash then. If all else fails and I do brick it I guess I'll find and buy another Atrix 4G from someone. Thanks for everyone's replies/comments.

100% return to stock?

Hey
I'm sorry if it has already been posted but searching has come up nil.
I haven't used my nook color in nearly a year and decided to try to use it today. For some reason it won't charge unless I jiggle the cord forever so I'm thinking its broken so I want to take it in. Problem is it has a custom rom (CM7) on it and thanks to other tinkering I've done (Which I don't remember specifically) I have no idea how to return this thing to stock.
So my question is, how do I return this to 100% stock? like it just came out of the package?
Thanks in advance.

Look on my tips thread linked in my signature. Particlulaly look at nook repair tools, item A12.