Bricked!

[gordol]

HELP!!! My DX just bricked itself. On screen right now is:

Bootloader
30.04

Code Corrupt

Battery OK
OK to Program
Connect USB
Data Cable

Immediately prior to this, it froze up while using File Expert to delete a couple directories from my SD card, which failed. Immediately prior to that, I uninstalled a trial of Beyond Pod and installed Car Cast, which gave me an ominous error "Cannot write to SD card".

Plugging it into the PC, after "OK to Program", it now says "Transfer Mode: USB" but it does not show up in Windows Explorer.

This is my only phone, I do not have the luxury of spending time diagnosing it, I need to replace it. Immediately. As such, I'm going to Verizon directly after work. And... as much as I've liked the Android over the past 16 months, there is a 50/50 chance I may go back to an iPhone. The only reason I went Droid in the first place is because Verizon didn't have the iPhone when I got rid of the Crapberry.

 

[jerseyboy357]

Well it looks like you are SBF-ing currently but dont have the current Moto drivers installed since your PC is not reading.
Get those here...USB and PC Charging Drivers - Motorola Mobility, Inc. USA

And also depending on what system version you had prior to the "incident" have the proper SBF file to flash. If you were on .621 get the .621 SBF file here...1FF-p3a_shadow_cdma_shadow-user-2.3.4-4.5.1_57_DX8-51-120111-test-keys-signed-Verizon-US.sbf.gz - 4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download

If you were on .602 or below, get the .602 SBF file here...602.sbf - 4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO FLASH AN SBF FILE LOWER THAN 621 IF YOU WERE ON 621. YOU WILL BE GOING IN CIRCLES WITH A TRUE BRICK

P.S.- Droid X's dont brick themselves. I'll stick around to see how your progressing.

 

[gordol]

Well it looks like you are SBF-ing currently but dont have the current Moto drivers installed since your PC is not reading.
Get those here...USB and PC Charging Drivers - Motorola Mobility, Inc. USA

And also depending on what system version you had prior to the "incident" have the proper SBF file to flash. If you were on .621 get the .621 SBF file here...1FF-p3a_shadow_cdma_shadow-user-2.3.4-4.5.1_57_DX8-51-120111-test-keys-signed-Verizon-US.sbf.gz - 4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download

If you were on .602 or below, get the .602 SBF file here...602.sbf - 4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO FLASH AN SBF FILE LOWER THAN 621 IF YOU WERE ON 621. YOU WILL BE GOING IN CIRCLES WITH A TRUE BRICK

P.S.- Droid X's dont brick themselves. I'll stick around to see how your progressing.

I installed the Moto drivers when I rooted, so it should be seeing the thing. I also do already have the SBF files, but I was going to take my time to learn how to use them before doing anything with them.

Since I now have no phone at all (no spare cell, no landline) I also have no time to diagnose and hope I can bring it back to life. In the last couple of hours of lost sleep, I've decided that if VZW provides me with a free(ish) replacement I'll stay with Android. But if not for any reason (like that I voided the warrenty by rooting) then I'll probably go back to iOS as my primary. And then see if I can resurrect the X as a secondary / backup.

I'll have sporatic access to email while at work Monday, but no access to a working phone or my own computer until I get home again.

 

[jerseyboy357]

Alright well just keep updated on what happens. Help is here when you need it. Unless of course you leave us for Apple lol

 

[gordol]

This morning, more out of "what if I..." than anything else, I reset with a battery pull, and it booted. Then froze up with the same symptoms I've seen several times now for a corrupted SD card. So I pulled the card and now I have a working phone. But no SD card. I am reasonably confident that the problem is not the card, but with the phone. This became a real problem AFTER updating my rooted X from .602 to .621.

So since I have a working phone, I have the time to diagnose, or maybe ask a different question: Should I flash to a different ROM, and if so, which one and what is the best procedure?

 

[jerseyboy357]

Well if you're saying the problems went away after removing the SD, but saying you think it's the phone itself not the SD, I'm not sure what direction to point you to.

I guess to be safe, I would tell you to flash the .621 sbf to get back to a clean factory, non-rooted slate. Then install ur SD(or a different one) and see if any issues arise. If they do then you can blame the device/.621 update, giving vzw just cause for a replacement/change of device.
Rooting/ROM-ing right now would not be your best option. Not at least until you find the source of the problem.


Sent from the X of B

 

[gordol]

Well if you're saying the problems went away after removing the SD, but saying you think it's the phone itself not the SD, I'm not sure what direction to point you to.

I know I've posted this, but not all in one place, so here's a concise history of the issue:

A few weeks ago, I rooted my X under firmware .602, and things were good. When .621 came out, I installed the OTA Rootkeeper and followed its instructions on how to keep/protect root when upgrading the firmware. As I was looking for a specific bug fix (hard key backlight issue) I updated the firmware, and then restored root via OTA Rootkeeper. Then things started going downhill.

The SD card is, I firmly believe, a symptom and not a cause. Not only do I trust the brand card (SanDisk), but the same thing has happened on multiple cards purchased from multiple locations and from multiple factory batches. Two of the three cards are 16GB and one is 32GB. The last two times, Windows actually did NOT tell me there was a problem with the card so there may not have been any actual corruption despite what the phone was doing - the media scanner running constantly for hours after a change to the media contents on the card. Other applications would take fraking forever to load or do anything and usually go to Force Close state. Meanwhile, the CPU is being pushed hard on something, causing severe battery drain and heat - so hot, I had to improvise a heat sink a couple of times.

Today, I can now say that the cause is not directly related to the card, as I started to get the same symptoms without a card inserted and the media scanner was not running. I happened to accidentally catch it early enough in the run that I was able to use Go Launcher's built-in task manager to kill a bunch of running items, which seems to have cooled things down for a while. The media scanner was not one of those runaway processes this time.

I guess to be safe, I would tell you to flash the .621 sbf to get back to a clean factory, non-rooted slate. Then install ur SD(or a different one) and see if any issues arise. If they do then you can blame the device/.621 update, giving vzw just cause for a replacement/change of device.
Rooting/ROM-ing right now would not be your best option. Not at least until you find the source of the problem.

I am now looking for guides on how to sbf the DX. I suppose my other option is to go sideways and ROM to an alternate firmware such as CM7/9 or the other big-name one I can't recall right now. But back to stock first should be my first step.

 

[jerseyboy357]

Yea I would definately SBF it and leave it allone for a day or two until it settles with the card in and see if theres an issue. If so then its replacement time now that Ive read what youve wrote. Hang in there Gord.

 

[gordol]

SBF just finished, and... it did not wipe the phone. All of my installed apps and settings are still there, except that I need to carrier-program it and root does appear to be gone, as two apps that need or use root are telling me that's missing now. I'm going to try it like this and see if that's enough. I can go for the wipe later if needed.

 

[jestersyx]

That 621 SBF saved my life yesterday -- I was one of the unlucky ones that tried to SBF back to 602, and it was nasty.

 

[gordol]

SBF just finished, and... it did not wipe the phone. All of my installed apps and settings are still there, except that I need to carrier-program it and root does appear to be gone, as two apps that need or use root are telling me that's missing now. I'm going to try it like this and see if that's enough. I can go for the wipe later if needed.

I had to go for the wipe. And I had to format the card, again. With a freshly formatted card (formatted by the Droid, not by Windows), it locked up on me again. So I plugged it into power overnight and in the morning, it was responding as it should. Now to add back in apps and data. One thing I am not putting back on is my music. That's going back to the iPod, because getting my music to the Droid is what led me down the path that ended with the massive problem.

 

[gordol]

Well, a few apps won't reinstall, Google Play (what a stupid rename) thinks they're incompatible. Other than that, so far so good now.

 

[jerseyboy357]

Yea this whole Google Play thing is gona take a bit to settle in.

 

[bnematus]

Howdey, I bought a reconditioned Droid x for my daughter to replaced her I touch. The Droid seemed like a better device for her to WiFi with than the I touch because the android market seems much better than I tunes. I havent even started it up yet. It is unlocked. I know someone said I need to touch the (four corners) to get past the activation screen. And I have a gmail account to attach it to. Also I heard to set it to airplane mode. Any other pitfalls. I am reading the forums to figure out this rooting and stuff. I am a bit technoslow.

 

[gordol]

If she has her media in iTunes already, she will not be happy with the Droid. It does not sync natively and if you want to sync Smart Playlists your choices are limited. And the supposed best one keept corrupting my memory cards before I figured out the cause.

If you are "techslow" then rooting may not be best either. I am not "techslow" and, well, read my thread starter from February at the top of this thread. And if the phone is on firmware .621 there is no root anyway.

WiFi... Mine keeps dropping it despite a strong signal, and takes freaking forever to connect to my remembered home network when I turn on WiFi. Compare to my even older 3rd gen iPod Touch and new iPad2 that go from WiFi off to fully connected before the DroidX has even SEEN my home network.

Maybe one of the newer Droids is better at this, but the X is not the device you are looking for.

Me, I'm getting an iPhone as soon as I can afford it.