May have a lead on VC LG Logo Brick, But Need Data

[O.a.T.]

I spent all day yesterday investigation the "LG logo brick" that appears in some cases after flashing the LG Mobile Update version of VC and then rooting and installing custom recovery. I bumped into some interesting cases, but don't know if they are coincidence or otherwise. So I need your help in getting some data if you've successfully installed the latest version of the VC software through the LG Mobile Update tool and successfully rooted and installed a custom recovery. To make collecting the data a little easier please copy and paste the following into your response. Thanks in advance for all who respond.

1. After rooting VC, which Custom Recovery did you install? E.g. Dresilldee or Xionia.

2. Have you experienced the "LG Logo Brick", where your phone gets stuck in an apparent boot loop at the LG logo?

3. Have you completely powered your phone off, and then powered it up?

4. What ROM are you running? E.g. VCROM V007, NROM 1.5.1, stock.

5. If you were bricked with the "LG Logo Brick", have you been able to successfully un-brick using the "Un-Brick Method for Some Forms of Bricks'?

6. Finally, please provide any additional details that you think are relevant to this discussion.

 

[DCJoe]

1. After rooting VC, which Custom Recovery did you install? Xionia CWM.

2. Have you experienced the "LG Logo Brick", where your phone gets stuck in an apparent boot loop at the LG logo? Yes.

3. Have you completely powered your phone off, and then powered it up? Yes, multiple times.

4. What ROM are you running? E.g. VCROM V007, NROM 1.5.1, stock. At first VcRom 007, then NROM. Had bricks on both.

5. If you were bricked with the "LG Logo Brick", have you been able to successfully un-brick using the "Un-Brick Method for Some Forms of Bricks'?
Yes, but it actually unbricked without completing the full install of the cab file. Once I got to the 4% part I couldn't get it going again, so I did the "e-mode" button magic, and that somehow unbricked it. I still can't understand how, what or why. This happened twice yesterday.

6. Finally, please provide any additional details that you think are relevant to this discussion. Personally I think it has something to do with either CWM recovery or the Xionia 007 kernel- those are the common links with VCRom 007 and nRom 1.5.1, at least for me.

 

[O.a.T.]

1. After rooting VC, which Custom Recovery did you install? E.g. Dresilldee or Xionia. Dresilldee.

2. Have you experienced the "LG Logo Brick", where your phone gets stuck in an apparent boot loop at the LG logo? Yes.

3. Have you completely powered your phone off, and then powered it up? Yes.

4. What ROM are you running? E.g. VCROM V007, NROM 1.5.1, stock. First VCROM 007, then NROM 1.5.1, bricked on both.

5. If you were bricked with the "LG Logo Brick", have you been able to successfully un-brick using the "Un-Brick Method for Some Forms of Bricks'? No, but see 6.

6. Finally, please provide any additional details that you think are relevant to this discussion. I can "un-brick" by pulling battery and removing my sd card and letting it sit for a few minutes. Then upon power up, it will sometimes boot directly or sometimes I get it to go into custom recovery where I can reboot successfully. It's hit or miss, and sometimes I've had to do it multiple times, but so far, I've always gotten it up and running. There are some other nuances I've seen, but will confirm those later today, after I retest.

 

[JINXR65]

Here's my complete experience. Hope it helps:


1) Updated to VC using the LG Update tool on my computer

2) Rooted using ADB

3) Installed Custom Recovery (Dresilldee)

4) Performed a Nandroid backup and installed VCRom 007. Forgot to wipe everything. Phone booted to the Nexus splash screen then rebooted itself and was bricked. Tried removing the battery several times and waiting on the LG screen for several minutes.

5) Used "un-brick for some bricks" method to un-brick it using the VC cab. Phone booted up, my stuff from before the VCRom 007 was still there. Home button didn't work so I tried turning it off and turning it back on to see if that would fix it. Phone was bricked again.

6) Used "un-brick for some bricks" method to un-brick it again using the VC cab. Immediately went into Custom Recovery and wiped everything. Phone booted up normally and I went through the initial setup procedure. Got all my apps downloaded and noticed I wasn't rooted anymore. So I tried using Z4Root rather than go through the long process again. Z4Root crashed. I tried turning my phone off and on, but it was bricked again. Couldn't even get into recovery.

7) Started to use the "un-brick for some bricks" method again to un-brick it. As I was trying to get the phone into Emergency Mode, it booted up into Recovery instead. So I immediately restored my nandroid backup from step 4.

My phone is still not rooted and I doubt I'll even try rooting it again. I had a Hero running all kinds of custom roms before this phone and never had an issue.

 

[jrsndr]

1. After rooting VC, which Custom Recovery did you install? E.g. Dresilldee or Xionia. I installed Xionia custom recovery.

2. Have you experienced the "LG Logo Brick", where your phone gets stuck in an apparent boot loop at the LG logo? Yes

3. Have you completely powered your phone off, and then powered it up? Yes

4. What ROM are you running? E.g. VCROM V007, NROM 1.5.1, stock. I'm running rooted stock.

5. If you were bricked with the "LG Logo Brick", have you been able to successfully un-brick using the "Un-Brick Method for Some Forms of Bricks'? Yes, the first time and then flashed everything again.

6. Finally, please provide any additional details that you think are relevant to this discussion. I only seem to get the LG brick logo when I power off my phone. With Quick Boot, it goes right to Xionia, I can flash and it seems to boot right up. To bring it back, other than the first time I thought I had a brick, is to connect the USB cable, power up and remove the battery and reinsert until it boots. It takes a few times but seems to do the trick.
Before I flashed the custom recovery, running rooted VC stock, this also happened, but only once. I simply pulled the battery and it worked again, may have been nothing.

 

[BKMSTR]

1. After rooting VC, which Custom Recovery did you install? E.g. Dresilldee or Xionia.
Xionia

2. Have you experienced the "LG Logo Brick", where your phone gets stuck in an apparent boot loop at the LG logo?
Negative

3. Have you completely powered your phone off, and then powered it up?
Multiple times, no bricks though when I tried VCRom 007 without first installing VCRom 006 I got stuck at the screen after the Sprint screen, so I had to Nandroid restore back to stock to load up again. But VCRom 006 worked (except for the known Market problems), and having flashed VCRom 007 over 006 it booted up.

4. What ROM are you running? E.g. VCROM V007, NROM 1.5.1, stock.
I tried VCRom 006, 007, and am using and loving NROM. I don't like stock much, so ran it for like 20 min just to make sure I was rooted.

5. If you were bricked with the "LG Logo Brick", have you been able to successfully un-brick using the "Un-Brick Method for Some Forms of Bricks'?
Never Bricked

6. Finally, please provide any additional details that you think are relevant to this discussion.
See #3.

 

[zefie]

i stated elsewhere but /dev/mtd/mtd7 and /dev/mtd/mtd8 are used to commincate with the bootloader. Finding a way to wipe these clean would reset the bootloader commands and it would do a normal boot.

 

[jkboud]

1. After rooting VC, which Custom Recovery did you install? E.g. Dresilldee or Xionia.Xionia

2. Have you experienced the "LG Logo Brick", where your phone gets stuck in an apparent boot loop at the LG logo?No

3. Have you completely powered your phone off, and then powered it up?
Yes, just tried to make sure if it did brick i'd be somewhere i could try and fix it.

4. What ROM are you running? E.g. VCROM V007, NROM 1.5.1, stock.
nRom

5. If you were bricked with the "LG Logo Brick", have you been able to successfully un-brick using the "Un-Brick Method for Some Forms of Bricks'?N/A

 

[xtacocorex]

1. After rooting VC, which Custom Recovery did you install? E.g. Dresilldee or Xionia. - Dresilldee's v 1.1

2. Have you experienced the "LG Logo Brick", where your phone gets stuck in an apparent boot loop at the LG logo? - Yes

3. Have you completely powered your phone off, and then powered it up? - Yes

4. What ROM are you running? E.g. VCROM V007, NROM 1.5.1, stock. - VCROM initially, didn't see it on nROM, but I didn't run the ROM for long, but I do see it on my own ROM

5. If you were bricked with the "LG Logo Brick", have you been able to successfully un-brick using the "Un-Brick Method for Some Forms of Bricks'? I used the O.a.T method of letting the phone sit without battery. I tried using the unbrick using the KDZ method, was getting frustrated with it and finally unplugged the USB cable on the computer end and the charging screen popped up when I reconnected the cable.

6. Finally, please provide any additional details that you think are relevant to this discussion. - I think zefie is on to something, but I'm trying to figure out how to clear those sectors. One thing I have noticed is that if I power on with a long press of the button and keep holding when the LG logo shows up, it hangs, if I release the power button as soon as I see the LG logo it will transition to the lame Sprint animation. I did root the phone on my Mac, so when the instructions say that rageagainstthecage disconnects/reconnects twice, I don't get those. I am successfully rooted. I also notice that any wipes of /cache and /dalvik in custom recovery are quicker than they were with V9, don't know if that is an issue or my mind playing tricks.

Thought Experiment:
Going off zefie's lead on wiping /dev/mtd/mtd7 and /dev/mtd/mtd8, and a somewhat limited understanding of nandroid. Looking at zefie's nandroid from V8, it appears to backup mtd7 (misc), but not mtd8 (persist). I'm assuming all of us with issues made a nandroid right after rooting that probably has a corrupt misc.

What if we use the method prescribed here to "backup" both of those partitions and then use a hex editor to write zeros to everything that isn't an address. Using fastboot or flash_image to write those .img files to their respective partitions would effectively wipe them.

Another idea would be to use flash_image to flash the misc.img from the V8 nandroid. Don't know what the repercussions would be from doing this idea. This would only clear one of the two partitions.

I expect holes to be shot through these ideas, just getting some thoughts out there for people to noodle over.

 

[junkshow]

1. After rooting VC, which Custom Recovery did you install? E.g. Dresilldee or Xionia.

I have done it multiple times, and have experienced the LG screen brick with Dresilldee, Xionia and stock LG recoveries

2. Have you experienced the "LG Logo Brick", where your phone gets stuck in an apparent boot loop at the LG logo?

Yes, with all three recoveries mentioned above

3. Have you completely powered your phone off, and then powered it up?

yes, usually can recover from LG screen brick by removing battery and SD for a while

4. What ROM are you running? E.g. VCROM V007, NROM 1.5.1, stock.

currently stock ZVC, have also run VCROM 007 since updating

5. If you were bricked with the "LG Logo Brick", have you been able to successfully un-brick using the "Un-Brick Method for Some Forms of Bricks'?

yes, when battery and SD removal fails

6. Finally, please provide any additional details that you think are relevant to this discussion.

I don't think the LG logo brick is specifically related to which recovery you install. I think, as zefie speculates, that it is related to an incomplete "stock" image during the "unroot and return to stock" process.

I'm not sure if this is related, but I have also not been able to update Profile or PRL since the update to VC. It always fails with a Authentication or Socket Open error. That worked correctly on V9. To me, this seems to be further evidence that there is some portion of the filesystem that is being left in a bad state by our "return to stock" and update process.

We don't have RUUs, which is a bummer, but what about these KDZ images? I think I am going to try installing VC via KDZ.

 

[sfhub]

I'm not sure if this is related, but I have also not been able to update Profile or PRL since the update to VC. It always fails with a Authentication or Socket Open error.

Usually the cause of that is something in your NVRAM got messed up. If you want to test that theory, restore the stock recovery image and do a ##786# factory reset. Make sure you restore the stock recovery image first or you might run into the bug that bricks your phone when you reset from within Andriod. In addition to wiping data/cache, ##786 tries to restore your NVRAM items. I'm sure there are other things that can cause it also, so I'm just giving you an option to look at.

That worked correctly on V9. To me, this seems to be further evidence that there is some portion of the filesystem that is being left in a bad state by our "return to stock" and update process.

I didn't go through the full "return to stock" procedure, but I did use KP500 to revert an OTA VC updated unit back to V9, then restored the V9 recovery partition, then applied the VC update using the LG Software Updater Tool and after all that, HFA works fine as does Update Profile and Update PRL.

We don't have RUUs, which is a bummer, but what about these KDZ images? I think I am going to try installing VC via KDZ.

You might want to try KP500. It is doing the same thing as KDZ but has fewer dependencies and is a very small program. They both call the LG Software Updater tool to do the flashing, so they are basically front-ends to that program.

 

[sfhub]

You might want to try KP500. It is doing the same thing as KDZ but has fewer dependencies and is a very small program. They both call the LG Software Updater tool to do the flashing, so they are basically front-ends to that program.

BTW I just updated the reference section in the instructions in my sig to include what to do to Force Flash VC and V8. That is in addition to Force Flash V9, which has always been there.

 

[junkshow]

Usually the cause of that is something in your NVRAM got messed up. If you want to test that theory, restore the stock recovery image and do a ##786# factory reset. Make sure you restore the stock recovery image first or you might run into the bug that bricks your phone when you reset from within Andriod. In addition to wiping data/cache, ##786 tries to restore your NVRAM items.

Yeah, that resolved the issue.

I didn't go through the full "return to stock" procedure, but I did use KP500 to revert an OTA VC updated unit back to V9, then restored the V9 recovery partition, then applied the VC update using the LG Software Updater Tool and after all that, HFA works fine as does Update Profile and Update PRL.

You might want to try KP500. It is doing the same thing as KDZ but has fewer dependencies and is a very small program. They both call the LG Software Updater tool to do the flashing, so they are basically front-ends to that program.

I did the same procedure...my NVRAM got jacked up again, so after the KP500 flash to ZVC I ended up doing a ##786# reset, and now all is well and my phone is very stable. I think that successfully flashing the OTA VC update got my other partitions updated to the correct stuff and fixed my LG logo bricks. Previously I had used LG Software Updater to straight from V9 to VC.

 

[riggsandroid]

So whats the lead? I've encountered this issue and am running through the fix now but see that it happens again to most people again...

Will update with informatino from OP when I finish, and lets hope it works.

UPDATE #1 - That button combination reminds me of the good ol' console days - but update is running, lets hope it boots up.

UPDATE #2 - Got to 95% and cut out, said it lost connection - still stuck at splash. Wife is not gonna be happy...haha.

1. After rooting VC, which Custom Recovery did you install? E.g. Dresilldee or Xionia. Xionia

2. Have you experienced the "LG Logo Brick", where your phone gets stuck in an apparent boot loop at the LG logo? Yes

3. Have you completely powered your phone off, and then powered it up? Yes

4. What ROM are you running? E.g. VCROM V007, NROM 1.5.1, stock. Stock VC

5. If you were bricked with the "LG Logo Brick", have you been able to successfully un-brick using the "Un-Brick Method for Some Forms of Bricks'? Nope, I've run it 3 times now, fails when it attempts to restart.

6. Finally, please provide any additional details that you think are relevant to this discussion. I did NOTHING else to the phone. No custom software.

I know everyone does this for fun, and we are responsible for bricking our own phones, but this problem seems to be pretty common so far in VC roms and I don't think enough warning is provided. Just doesn't seem ready for prime time IMO based on other phones I've dealt with. Again, I don't mean any disrespect or take away from what people here do.

 

[DCJoe]

Are people still having problems? I think I was able to get my phone up to VC without bricking it, which I hadn't been able to before (I tried multiple times, and everytime the update took, but then the phone would brick when I plugged it into the wall, or when I restarted it, etc.). My order of operations this time:

1. From CM7 beta on the V9 baseband, Using Xionia custom recovery, completely wiped everything, data, davlik, cache. Didn't do the "LG style factory wipe", although maybe I should have.

2. Instead of restoring the v8 nandroid, I flashed the "community build" zip, which if I remember correctly was put together a long time ago as a v8 stock zip. I then flashed the v9 stock recovery.

3. When the phone booted up, I did a ##786# wipe. Not sure if this did anything or not, but I figured it would be a good idea to just clear up the NVRAM, as that appeared to have been related to the bricking problems.

4. When the phone restarted, I fired up KP500 and force flashed straight to VC. It went all the way through to 100%. Once it completes the phone has rebooted, so I transferred the v8_v9update.zip file to the sd card, and then adb rebooted into recovery.

5. From the recovery I rooted using the VC root procedure.

6. I rebooted, installed superuser, and then flashed the CWM-Xionia recovery. From there I reinstalled CM7 beta.

For the whole day the phone has been doing great, multiple times turning it on and off, plugging it in and pulling it out. These were the activities that were causing it to brick before. I don't know what, if anything of my new procedure made the difference, but it seems to be working great again, with the VC baseband.

I'll report back if it starts bricking again.

 

[zman519]

1. After rooting VC, which Custom Recovery did you install? E.g. Dresilldee or Xionia. No Stock

2. Have you experienced the "LG Logo Brick", where your phone gets stuck in an apparent boot loop at the LG logo? Yes

3. Have you completely powered your phone off, and then powered it up? Yes

4. What ROM are you running? Stock VC

5. If you were bricked with the "LG Logo Brick", have you been able to successfully un-brick using the "Un-Brick Method for Some Forms of Bricks'? No its just powered/booted up one time after many battery pulls

6. Finally, please provide any additional details that you think are relevant to this discussion. the phone was rooted on V9 with z4root and left stock. then did the LG update tool & rebooted.

 

[junkshow]

Finally, please provide any additional details that you think are relevant to this discussion. the phone was rooted on V9 with z4root and left stock. then did the LG update tool & rebooted.

This confirms my own experience, and in my experience, the only way to get to stable rooted VC is to accept the OTA VC update, apply it, then force flash back to v9, root, flash v9 recovery, reapply VC via LG software updater, root via v9 recovery.

There is something that upgrading from v9 to vC via the LG software updater doesn't do that the OTA update does...don't know what but it is the root cause of the LG logo psuedobrick, IMHO

 

[xtacocorex]

Are people still having problems? I think I was able to get my phone up to VC without bricking it, which I hadn't been able to before (I tried multiple times, and everytime the update took, but then the phone would brick when I plugged it into the wall, or when I restarted it, etc.). My order of operations this time:

1. From CM7 beta on the V9 baseband, Using Xionia custom recovery, completely wiped everything, data, davlik, cache. Didn't do the "LG style factory wipe", although maybe I should have.

2. Instead of restoring the v8 nandroid, I flashed the "community build" zip, which if I remember correctly was put together a long time ago as a v8 stock zip. I then flashed the v9 stock recovery.

3. When the phone booted up, I did a ##786# wipe. Not sure if this did anything or not, but I figured it would be a good idea to just clear up the NVRAM, as that appeared to have been related to the bricking problems.

4. When the phone restarted, I fired up KP500 and force flashed straight to VC. It went all the way through to 100%. Once it completes the phone has rebooted, so I transferred the v8_v9update.zip file to the sd card, and then adb rebooted into recovery.

5. From the recovery I rooted using the VC root procedure.

6. I rebooted, installed superuser, and then flashed the CWM-Xionia recovery. From there I reinstalled CM7 beta.

For the whole day the phone has been doing great, multiple times turning it on and off, plugging it in and pulling it out. These were the activities that were causing it to brick before. I don't know what, if anything of my new procedure made the difference, but it seems to be working great again, with the VC baseband.

I'll report back if it starts bricking again.

Seems intriguing.

Questions:
1 - Where is this community build?
2 - Did you flash the V9 recovery while you were in Xionia recovery using the flash .zip or using flash_image?
3 - How do you do the ##786# wipe? Do you go into the dialer and type that in? (My searching has come up with little on how to do this, my google-fu isn't working this week)

 

[DCJoe]

Seems intriguing.

Questions:
1 - Where is this community build?
2 - Did you flash the V9 recovery while you were in Xionia recovery using the flash .zip or using flash_image?
3 - How do you do the ##786# wipe? Do you go into the dialer and type that in? (My searching has come up with little on how to do this, my google-fu isn't working this week)

1- http://forum.androidcentral.com/lg-optimus-s-rooting-roms-hacks/45757-rom-community_build.html

2. I flashed it using flash_image.

3. From the dialer you enter ##786#. As soon you hit the last pound sign, it enters an LG/Sprint menu. There is an option called something, something reset, I can't remember the exact term. But there are only three options, and the reset one is the only one with that word ("reset") in it. After you select that option you have to put in your MSL code, which is a six digit code that unlocks hidden menus and commands. I found that by doing this:

http://forum.androidcentral.com/lg-optimus-s/44550-msl-recovery.html

You can also call Sprint and tell them you need it. Apparently they will give it to you, although I didn't need to call.

 

[xtacocorex]

2. I flashed it using flash_image.

Maybe I wasn't clear enough on my question, but are you using flash_image when you reboot into the Community build or while you're still in the recovery.

Guess it won't matter too much if things don't work right with the VC radio and the V8 image just while I flash recovery.