[Q] Has anyone truly, irrepairably bricked their NC? - Nook Color General

There are so many threads where folks *thought* they had bricked their NC but they were able to finally get it going again.
Short of physically breaking your NC, is there any way to truly brick it?

I got to a point where I could not get my Nook to boot stock or rooted, it would only run from SD-I think I formatted boot when I should not have. I tried every fix I could find and nothing would work. So I boxed it up and into a BN store, the Guy disappeared for 40 minutes and then came back with it working. He didn't want to tell me what they did but I assume they either keep up with the forums or have some other tool for bringing them back.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

When you got it back, was it stock 1.01 or 1.1 or something else? Did they charge you anything? Warn you not to mess with it anymore?
I'm trying to get an understanding of possible B&N attitude to our doings....

i didnt tell them what I had been doing with it. i just told him that I received a notification to update to 1.1 and after I did the update it never booted up again
i am assuming that he knew what i was doing but just did not say anything. he did not charge me anything for bringing it back to life. he brought it back at first with 1.0.1 then I said it was the 1.1 update that caused the problem so he went back for another 10 minutes and came back with 1.1 on it and said he had to sideload that. he never at any point gave me any trouble or warnings - just kept trying to get me to buy screen protectors and covers!
i would love to know what they did to bring it back as i had tried everything i could find on the web!

So you just went to a local BN, and a bookstore clerk fixed it for you?
Either this was a very easy (yet still somehow secret) fix for him to apply, or BN has an outstanding internal training program, or your guy was in touch with his inner talented IT self.
I really would have expected that you'd need to send your NC to some warranty depot across the country to get fixed. I really wouldn't think that the local BN clerk could fix it. I really thought it'd fall outside the scope of their positions.
Thanks for this!

Morantz said:
When you got it back, was it stock 1.01 or 1.1 or something else? Did they charge you anything? Warn you not to mess with it anymore?
I'm trying to get an understanding of possible B&N attitude to our doings....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
odly enough in the book on how to use your nook there is a part about rooting your nc for full market use, and no one at the B&N seemed to care that i did it with mine. they actually all want me to root theres for them =DDD

Yeah, I was really surprised. I figured they were going to have to send it out or they were just going to give me a replacement. I didnt expect them to fix it right there. I am glad they did though! I am sticking with custom nookie froyo 0.6.8 on SD for now!

Thank you for the quick replies! Mine is working fine, but it is great to know that if something happens I can't seem to fix, they will help!
I'm using Honeycomb 4 Release 2 on EMMC atm. I'm loving it! Will be glad when video is fixed on it, but I don't really watch videos much... So it is running everything I want and more!

I am positive it's unbrickable, though I've been attempting to revert it back to stock for 3 weeks now without any success. Not giving up yet.
If anyone cares, I compiled a thread on issues related to SD apps (CWR, roms) not loading successfully:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=972012

The clerk at B&N was happy to talk about rooting the Nookcolor with me. Unlike at Verizon where I feel like a marked man when I walk through the door.

you got pretty lucky i think. most of them wouldve had no idea what to do. he probably has one himself he toys around with and pretty much knew what you did. no company is going to train theyre everyday clerks to unbrick a machine like that.

I think you are right on that

Related

"Jumping in Head First" or "I'm Thinking About Buying a Droid"

I've been stuck in the limbo that is WM for what feels like way too long. I was comfortable with it; I knew it. But recently I started a love affair with Android on my TP2 thanks to HaRET and my unending curiosity. So I put an listing up on craigslist asking if anyone had an Android device they wanted to sell at a reasonable price. Within minutes, I had an e-mail from someone almost a hundred miles away saying he had a Droid he would sell for $200.. Seems like a good deal as most of the Droids on e-bay are still >$300. Unfortunately, he wants to do this deal the day after tomorrow, and has committed to driving most of the way to my city to do it.
So I come to this wonderful community that I have lurked in for quite a while in the hopes that you can give me the heads up. What do I need to know, and what do I need to look for?
Naturally, the first thing I am going to do is call the big V and confirm that the ESN is clean. But what about the phone itself? Is there anything I need to look out for? Any known issues? I read something about the back of the screen getting scratched from the sliding mechanism in another thread. Is that just the plastic that gets scratched up, or can the LCD itself get damaged?
I have also read a lot about this "locked bootloader." I think I understand this as not being able to install custom roms, but still allowing you to root. I was under the impression that rooting your device basically took care of that, so now I understand that I was wrong, and will further research what rooting is on my own. But I also see that some people have custom roms available here on XDA and that others are running Froyo on their Droids. Its all very confusing, and under normal circumstances, I would take a few days to read, research, and teach myself. But at the moment, I feel a little under the gun, as this deal won't last forever.
Anything you guys or gals can tell me would probably be more helpful than you think. I feel like I'm trying to make the switch from XP to Ubuntu.. (heh) Any and all posts will be read. Thanks.
The Droid doesn't have a locked bootloader and can be rooted easily. I bought one just like you're thinking of, I don't even have VZW service.
I put Froyo on it and I like it even though I haven't rooted yet.
Kaostick said:
I've been stuck in the limbo that is WM for what feels like way too long. I was comfortable with it; I knew it. But recently I started a love affair with Android on my TP2 thanks to HaRET and my unending curiosity. So I put an listing up on craigslist asking if anyone had an Android device they wanted to sell at a reasonable price. Within minutes, I had an e-mail from someone almost a hundred miles away saying he had a Droid he would sell for $200.. Seems like a good deal as most of the Droids on e-bay are still >$300. Unfortunately, he wants to do this deal the day after tomorrow, and has committed to driving most of the way to my city to do it.
So I come to this wonderful community that I have lurked in for quite a while in the hopes that you can give me the heads up. What do I need to know, and what do I need to look for?
Naturally, the first thing I am going to do is call the big V and confirm that the ESN is clean. But what about the phone itself? Is there anything I need to look out for? Any known issues? I read something about the back of the screen getting scratched from the sliding mechanism in another thread. Is that just the plastic that gets scratched up, or can the LCD itself get damaged?
I have also read a lot about this "locked bootloader." I think I understand this as not being able to install custom roms, but still allowing you to root. I was under the impression that rooting your device basically took care of that, so now I understand that I was wrong, and will further research what rooting is on my own. But I also see that some people have custom roms available here on XDA and that others are running Froyo on their Droids. Its all very confusing, and under normal circumstances, I would take a few days to read, research, and teach myself. But at the moment, I feel a little under the gun, as this deal won't last forever.
Anything you guys or gals can tell me would probably be more helpful than you think. I feel like I'm trying to make the switch from XP to Ubuntu.. (heh) Any and all posts will be read. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The back of the screen has a little layer of plastic to keep from scratching some of the plastic. It tears pretty easily, but it doesnt matter as it will not actually damage the LCDs/LEDs, just scratch the plastic back up a little bit.
The Droid does not have a Locked BootLoader, only the Milestone does. Some people do know how to get around this though.
Rooting a Droid is actually quite simple. All you need (if you are a n00b, like me and you) is to download the DroidRootKit from the web which does the most complicated work for you, while allowing you to do some of the simpler stuff.
When you Root, you are brought back to Android 2.0.1 and you cannot download apps, so you might want to download ROM Manager (Premium or Regular) and back it up for downloading Eclair and Froyo ROMs later.
If you do not want to do that, then you should download a ROM (ie, UltimateDroid) place it on your SD card after Rooting, and install that through SPRecovery or ClockWorkMod Recovery.
People who are running Froyo are either rooted and downloaded a custom ROM, or forced the update through the download at the Verizon site.
The first thing you do when you meet that guy is ask if it is Rooted or ever has been.
Then you ask him if it has ever had water damage or any problems with the LCD screen.
If he says yes to the first question, good.
If he says yes to the second or third question (water damages and/or LCD problems) then DO NOT BUY IT.
(results may vary)

sound fix

Im unable to return my nook due to it being a gift, and being outside of return period. My nook color is rooted and has all the goodies done, is there a fix for the standby sound issue? Its kinda annoying that i lose sound everytime it goes to standby
Just so you know, B&N is accepting returns untill Jan 31. Probably those purchased in December I would suppose.
Cheers,
kev
BTW I exchanged mine for that issue just in case there was not a forthcoming F/W fix. I noticed that after B&N did a factory reset on mine the problem was gone, until I rebooted it, so don't fall for that "fix".
Unfort t was bought at best buy in november
I had the same audio issue as you and mine was also a gift. I went into Barnes and noble, even without a reciept and they gave me a new one. Didn't even usevthr credit card to look up the purchase, it was great.
Too bad mang
forsaken82 said:
Im unable to return my nook due to it being a gift, and being outside of return period. My nook color is rooted and has all the goodies done, is there a fix for the standby sound issue? Its kinda annoying that i lose sound everytime it goes to standby
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this steaming music or music on the device?
forsaken82 said:
Im unable to return my nook due to it being a gift, and being outside of return period. My nook color is rooted and has all the goodies done, is there a fix for the standby sound issue? Its kinda annoying that i lose sound everytime it goes to standby
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is an app that wont let the book go to sleep. You can still turn off the screen,but it wont go to sleep. Im sorry,i don't remember the name. It works well though.i used while i had a defective one like yours.
So far there has been no feedback from B&N on this issue. I have heard nothing about any investigation into what the root cause is, so there is no knowing if a F/W fix is indicated. There may have been a running hdwr change or a different F/W build that is the cause on a certain batch of units. Those here have not noted the SN of the failing units, so no way to know which to stay away from. I was hoping, that by now, B&N would have addressed this. That may indicate that it is not fixable with F/W. It certainly qualifies for a warranty replacement though. The longer you wait to return it, the better chance you will get a refurb in exchange. That's not necessarily bad, just mentioning it.
Cheers,
kv
i called tech support, and this is one fo the reasons i love barnes and noble.... they are going to exchange it in store for me. pretty amazing considering it was bought at a best buy! i will never own a kindle for this reason. they impressed me alot with being willing to do this to keep a customer happy!
Is the sound issue just on rooted nooks? Mine is doing the same but thought it was a price for having it rooted. Btw, don't forget to unroot before taking it in.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
suzook said:
There is an app that wont let the book go to sleep. You can still turn off the screen,but it wont go to sleep. Im sorry,i don't remember the name. It works well though.i used while i had a defective one like yours.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The app is called Softlocker and it doesn't really effect battery too much... it also gives instant wake.
forsaken82 said:
i called tech support, and this is one fo the reasons i love barnes and noble.... they are going to exchange it in store for me. pretty amazing considering it was bought at a best buy! i will never own a kindle for this reason. they impressed me alot with being willing to do this to keep a customer happy!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Isn't really that big of surprise... Best Buy is a re-SELLER, and in this case, Barnes & Noble is the MANUFACTURER with a one year warranty. They cannot deny warranty claims at this point because all Nook Colors are less than one year old. It is good to hear that B & N seem to want to have a good reputation for honoring their warranty!
I have read several questions about this problem in this thread. This is pretty well discussed previously here & on other forums. If you need to research it, search should show some results.
Cheers,
kev

[Q] Random restart and other issues on streak 7! =/

Got my streak for about a week now, but problems now start to happen. 2 days ago my streak started to mess up when playing sound. Whenever I turn the volume to max while playing music or playing a game, or just watching a video, the sound that is supposed to be played would stop and instead starts playing a buzz noise. This noise would not stop until I restart the streak.
Also, the streak is now randomly restarting. It was just sitting on my desk and all of the sudden the dell logo appears. Anyone else have this problem? Should I just send it back and get a replacement?
Any help would be great!
I've been watching this thread to see if thar be any responses... nothing.
I have the same issues, I've been trying to find out more about it but I havent come up with much.
That being said I do believe this is a software issue. Froyo and Dells apparent lack of interest seem to be the most likely culprit.
I could ofcourse be completely wrong and we both have brand new toys that are busted :-(
Sent from my Inspire using XDA App
I don't have anything helpful to add other than my Streak 7 has never displayed this kind of bahaviour.
Elvis, what did you decide to do? Did you send it in for replacement? I factory reset mine and so far other than some random lag and random resets, the sound issue is gone.
Z4nd4r, thanks anyway. I wish my streak behaves like yours.
One side question, in the next 2 weeks, before my return window closes, if I install the HC beta on my streak, can I still return it? Or do I have to downgrade it back to 2.2.2 without root before I return?
crzayalex said:
Elvis, what did you decide to do? Did you send it in for replacement? I factory reset mine and so far other than some random lag and random resets, the sound issue is gone.
Z4nd4r, thanks anyway. I wish my streak behaves like yours.
One side question, in the next 2 weeks, before my return window closes, if I install the HC beta on my streak, can I still return it? Or do I have to downgrade it back to 2.2.2 without root before I return?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's always a good bet to return it to stock unrooted if you return. They may not care (people have sent rooted/ROM'd phones in to service without issue in the past), but better safe than sorry. Just my $0.02.
well I still have it, havent decided what to do yet. I found a few instances of the same problem around the net but no one goes into much detail. Im back to stock/unrooted after using streak droid for a bit but after a few days of happy video playing the freezes/restarts came back. I want to put the stock recovery back on and do a full reset...but I havent really looked into doing it, if anyone can point me in the right direction that would be swell.
Okay I see. Thanks Z4nd4r. I think I might just leave it at HC cuz it is too much work to get it back down to 2.2.2
HallucinatingElvis, good luck! Is yours the wifi version? The stock rom for the wifi version is in this forum. One of the top posts. You should be able to find it easily.
Well I just fired off an RMA request to New Egg, I figure if im spending 300 bucks it should be able to play a frickin video without choking. Im simply asking for a new one, hopefully I wont experience the same issues otherwise ill try and see if they'll let me exchange it for something else. I really like the little bastard too...
Ohh aww. Its okay, when you get a new one it will be all better. Best of luck to you.

Won't power on AND this happens when it does

?? any idea and it just stays like that
Have you tried a hard reboot? What is the status of your NC? Rooted? Stock 1.2? CM7? Had you "done" or "loaded" anything just before? Is there a bootable uSD in the slot?
Bit more info would be spiffy here.
With so little to go on, it's hard to say what's happening; but it looks like a problem with the hardware to me. Particularly, the LCD panel seems to be on the fritz.
How old is the Nook? Had it been working fine for more than just a few days before this problem occurred? Any drops or spills in the recent past?
When was it purchased? Seems like the LCD panel is busted. If it's rooted or not, take it to the BN Store and have it replaced.
It was a trade and it was fine it for weeks and then one day started doing this, and now just hardly ever get it too turn on and it does that when it does.
i nor he never moded it in any way, hardware or software. it's stock
Oh and it does it with or without a SD card in it, i recently made the SD card into a clockwork one to try and fix it but no luck since it wont even come on hardly ever and sticks there and sometimes gets to the big U but never past there
manderw82 said:
It was a trade and it was fine it for weeks and then one day started doing this, and now just hardly ever get it too turn on and it does that when it does.
i nor he never moded it in any way, hardware or software. it's stock
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, everything made by man breaks eventually an this one is definitely broken. If there is no sign of obvious trauma or water damage, you can probably get a warranty replacement.
I'd say it's time to take it to your local B&N store and get a new one. I imagine they would like to see the receipt, but I'm not sure.
If you can't get the receipt from your friend, you might have to try to sell it to the guy in this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1145789
You could also try calling B&N Digital Support like the guy in the last post of that thread suggested.
Good Luck
I realize its the screen, even when I put in the SD with clockwork it goes haywire. Where on earth do you get a screen???
manderw82 said:
I realize its the screen, even when I put in the SD with clockwork it goes haywire. Where on earth do you get a screen???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't get a new screen. You get a replacement unit from B&N, more than likely refurbished.
csrabear said:
You don't get a new screen. You get a replacement unit from B&N, more than likely refurbished.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But the refurb Nook Color - I received - along with many others - looks and works like Brand new device.
I guess I am stuck. This was bought way past any exchange period. I think the unit is all bad anyway, besides the screen it will hardly ever turn on.

[Q] I hard bricked and am getting a new one thru warranty, will I be screwed?

So I was on atomic fusion and tried to flash another gb rom. Somewhere during the odin process it seemed to be stuck and I stopped it and tried again to get a red screen of death. I tried everything to get to d/l mode but nothing. So I called att and I have about a week left in my warranty so I went that route. Am I gonna be charged 400 dollars when they find out I was rooted with roms not theirs? I'm really nervous, I should have never flashed to gb, its to freeking complicated for me to understand all the bootloading and kernal stuff. Any thoughts or experiences to help ease the pain? Thanks
Prolly shouldn't have flashed if you weren't confident. In yourself.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA Premium App
If your phone shows any signs of life they will most likely be able to tell that you are not stock.
Your fine, I did the same thing as you are doing. I just acted like a clueless idiot and they never suspected a thing, but it was with Rogers not AT&T.
Sent from my Galaxy S Firefly 3.0
For all the topics asking this question I'm yet to see anyone come back saying that they have been refused, or charged extra after a new one is already sent out. In all likely hood they don't even check because they don't really care. If it is a hardware issues they are gonna have to swap pieces or even the main/motherboard which will come with stock pre-loaded at factory. If it is software they will just use what ever method they designed into the phone to force rewrite over what was in there before.
Now if you were taking it to a service center, where they are going to take a look in hopes of getting that very phone back into a working condition then maybe... just maybe. But if the phone does not boot then they are just gonna add it to the rewrite pile and give you a referb (or new if you ask nicely enough). This is why they always say "you might lose all your data so make a backup before hand."
Thanks, that makes me feel better, now all I have to do is survive a couple days without it. I won't be making that mistake again. What did I do wrong? I had no problem going from phoenix ultimate to atomic fusion. I was gonna try to go to cog5, I thought I was doing it right. All I did was use the odin that it said to use and it seemed to be stuck. What do you do when it freezes up during the odin process? Are you screwed no matter what you do? Should I have used the odin that takes you to stock 2.1 first? I'm really trying to understand all this but there's just so many ways about everything.

Categories

Resources