[Q] Droid Bionic Bricked on JB Update - Motorola Droid Bionic

Hi all,
Backstory/Details (skip to bottom for a tl;dr and my questions)
I tried updating my Bionic to the Jelly Bean OTA update (using the file from this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2235946). I had the ICS OTA update with root (orignally rooted GB, took it over to ICS). I tried the update on my system and got a hash fail. I've dealt with this on previous updates, so I booted into my phone and tried to unfreeze my apps. My root was not working and hadn't been for a while (su was there and had the right permissions, but no apps could access root even after updating all of the related apps), so I used Razrs Edge to get it working again. I then tried to use Titanium Backup to unfreeze my apps, but it wasn't working. Thus, I just went into /system/apps and renamed the frozen APKs back to the originals. After that, I booted into recovery (without going back to my system) and "successfully" updated to JB using the OTA update on my SD card.
After the update my phone would never boot. It just got stuck at the boot screen (the one with this logo, after the startup sound http://cdn.androidpolice.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/image611.png). I tried wiping the cache, doing a factory reset, re-applying the update. Nothing would get it past the startup screen.
After reading around, it sounded like no one else had issues. Therefore, I was stuck with a useless phone. I read into using RSD Lite to flash a full partition image, and thought it sounded like it would work. Unfortunately, I could not find a JB .fxz image. I read warnings about how you can't go from ICS to GB and hoped that that was not the case with JB/ICS. I decided to roll the dice and try to flash an ICS image.
Needless to say, trying to flash the ICS image using RSD Lite bricked my phone. It is now stuck at the Fastboot screen, and won't do anything. From what I can gather, doing an RSD Lite load using a JB .fxz would probably fix my phone, but I can't find it anywhere.
tl;dr: My JB OTA update semi-bricked my phone, tried to flash an ICS build using RSD Lite, bricked my phone
Does anyone have any advice on how to fix this? Anyone have (or know where to get, or know how to make) a Jelly Bean image that I can flash?
I'm currently using my OG Droid as my temporary for a month before I can upgrade to a new phone. Thus, I'm willing to be pretty risky with my Bionic if need be.

HalfBrian said:
Hi all,
Backstory/Details (skip to bottom for a tl;dr and my questions)
I tried updating my Bionic to the Jelly Bean OTA update (using the file from this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2235946). I had the ICS OTA update with root (orignally rooted GB, took it over to ICS). I tried the update on my system and got a hash fail. I've dealt with this on previous updates, so I booted into my phone and tried to unfreeze my apps. My root was not working and hadn't been for a while (su was there and had the right permissions, but no apps could access root even after updating all of the related apps), so I used Razrs Edge to get it working again. I then tried to use Titanium Backup to unfreeze my apps, but it wasn't working. Thus, I just went into /system/apps and renamed the frozen APKs back to the originals. After that, I booted into recovery (without going back to my system) and "successfully" updated to JB using the OTA update on my SD card.
After the update my phone would never boot. It just got stuck at the boot screen (the one with this logo, after the startup sound http://cdn.androidpolice.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/image611.png). I tried wiping the cache, doing a factory reset, re-applying the update. Nothing would get it past the startup screen.
After reading around, it sounded like no one else had issues. Therefore, I was stuck with a useless phone. I read into using RSD Lite to flash a full partition image, and thought it sounded like it would work. Unfortunately, I could not find a JB .fxz image. I read warnings about how you can't go from ICS to GB and hoped that that was not the case with JB/ICS. I decided to roll the dice and try to flash an ICS image.
Needless to say, trying to flash the ICS image using RSD Lite bricked my phone. It is now stuck at the Fastboot screen, and won't do anything. From what I can gather, doing an RSD Lite load using a JB .fxz would probably fix my phone, but I can't find it anywhere.
tl;dr: My JB OTA update semi-bricked my phone, tried to flash an ICS build using RSD Lite, bricked my phone
Does anyone have any advice on how to fix this? Anyone have (or know where to get, or know how to make) a Jelly Bean image that I can flash?
I'm currently using my OG Droid as my temporary for a month before I can upgrade to a new phone. Thus, I'm willing to be pretty risky with my Bionic if need be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did RSD give you an error message when you attempted to flash back to ICS?
Back when the first GB update came out, a bunch of people (myself included) had issues with the new update and the trick to flashing back was to use the new cdt.bin (since you couldn't go back from that one). The new cdt.bin file is in the root of the update zip file. Once you have the file, you either need to tweak the XML file that you pushed into RSD or use moto-fastboot.exe instead of RSD and push all of the partition images to the phone manually. That might work here.

matthimrod said:
Did RSD give you an error message when you attempted to flash back to ICS?
Back when the first GB update came out, a bunch of people (myself included) had issues with the new update and the trick to flashing back was to use the new cdt.bin (since you couldn't go back from that one). The new cdt.bin file is in the root of the update zip file. Once you have the file, you either need to tweak the XML file that you pushed into RSD or use moto-fastboot.exe instead of RSD and push all of the partition images to the phone manually. That might work here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Being in the same situation here -> Updated to JB without OTA Rootkeeper made me loose root. Out of haste, I tried FXZ'ing back to ICS. So I followed this thread, and this "almost" worked. I failed at step 6, so then I replaced the cdt.bin file from the JB update into the extracted ICS fxz folder, and it got passed that but failed on a couple of other steps. I edited the XML file to skip those, and when it finished it would never boot up past the M logo.
Thankfully, I was able to still boot into recovery and I just applied the JB update on my SD card. I'm now 100% stock JB, and waiting for a JB root exploit so I can (hopefully) restore my apps through TB.

Thanks for the suggestion matthimrod, my RSD Lite flash failed on cdt.bin the first time.
As you suggested, I edited the XML and used the cdt.bin from the JB update. However, I'm currently failing on the 15th step, boot.img. (error text for searches: "Failed flashing process. 15/21 flash boot "boot.img" -> Phone returned FAIL"). I looked at the JB update and it looks like they patched the boot partition.
Sounds like it worked for Bizmania to just skip it, so I'll try that right now and post back.
Edit: the updated cdt.bin and commented-out boot.img followed by re-updating to JB worked perfectly. Thanks for you help.

I did the same thing, This worked for me -
Download and extract this
6.7.246 FXZ File
Download and extract this to the previous location
moto-fastboot-win32.zip
Boot into fastboot mode
Connect to PC with USB
On PC, open command window and navigate to folder created above. I renamed the folders and made them easy to navigate to.
Use commands
Code:
moto-fastboot.exe flash preinstall preinstall.img
moto-fastboot.exe flash system system.img
Once finished reboot to stock recovery (This system WILL NOT BOOT) and install the Jelly Bean zip from SD Card
Reboot
Won't get root back but you'll have a working device.
Spent the past several hours trying to figure this out and just now got my phone to boot into JB.
If your battery is dead, tear apart an old WALL charger, cut the cord and attach pos to pos and neg to neg put a piece of tape over your battery terminals (don't think this would be good for the battery) and put battery in to hold it in place. Not sure how to tell which wire is pos, guessing always works for me lol.
NOTE: A stock wall charger does not seem to put out enough power to fully boot the phone, so remove the wires and tape and charge the battery normally to at least 10% then boot, this made my phone loop while trying to first boot and I thought something was wrong with the system
Edit: Seems at some point I corrupted my internal sd card, the OS was able to reformat. Not sure if it is related or not.

help stuck in fastboot mode
Earic3938
Can you please explain about getting the files to the command prompt. In a more step by step not sure how to open them up in command.

DroidForLife33 said:
Earic3938
Can you please explain about getting the files to the command prompt. In a more step by step not sure how to open them up in command.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The files are on your computer, command prompt is just a different way to look at them.
Use the "dir" command to view files in current directory/folder, "cd" to change folders ex.. cd [folder name], cd followed by two periods(cd..) would move up a folder. You're just looking at the files in a different way (other than windows), all the same files are there.
I renamed my folder to V246 just to make it easy to find and put it on the root of C: to change directory to C you can type cd C:\
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}

Thanks
I'm re-flashing the Jb update now thanks for the help Ill just wait till a root method comes out.

DroidForLife33 said:
I'm re-flashing the Jb update now thanks for the help Ill just wait till a root method comes out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, think that's kinda what all of us in here are waiting on, lol
Glad I could help!!

Thank you so much!
After I botched the Jelly Bean update (made a huge mistake and tried to restore data through TWRP; it's apparently not like CWM) which overwrote some of the Jelly Bean system files, this thread helped me pull my Bionic back from the dead.
It took many hours and a lot of breath holding, but I am now running Jelly Bean unrooted and somehow managed to have my data stay pretty much in tact.
I wish I could tell you exactly what worked, but I tried so many things I really can't. I do know that using moto-fastboot.exe was the key. I also know I needed to have the recovery.img rewritten to the phone, but I honestly don't know which one worked. LOL
Once that recovery.img copied over everything else fell into place.
Thanks again this community ROCKS!

matthimrod said:
Did RSD give you an error message when you attempted to flash back to ICS?
Back when the first GB update came out, a bunch of people (myself included) had issues with the new update and the trick to flashing back was to use the new cdt.bin (since you couldn't go back from that one). The new cdt.bin file is in the root of the update zip file. Once you have the file, you either need to tweak the XML file that you pushed into RSD or use moto-fastboot.exe instead of RSD and push all of the partition images to the phone manually. That might work here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This worked for me. Thanks for the help. I thought that I had finally bricked my phone and was ready to go to Verizon and take my lumps!

Thank you so much!
eric3938 said:
The files are on your computer, command prompt is just a different way to look at them.
Use the "dir" command to view files in current directory/folder, "cd" to change folders ex.. cd [folder name], cd followed by two periods(cd..) would move up a folder. You're just looking at the files in a different way (other than windows), all the same files are there.
I renamed my folder to V246 just to make it easy to find and put it on the root of C: to change directory to C you can type cd C:\
View attachment 1889262
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I FREAKING LOVE YOU! Thanks a bunch dude! You helped me so much, it boots! And works, sure, i couldn't get it to install JB, ill figure it out later, but i did manage to bring it back to my old ICS rooted! Your awesome dude, my dad would have been pissed if it weren't for you!:victory:

Had over to the HoB (House of Bionic) at droidrzr.com if you ever get in trouble again. I have the JB update and fxz posted on my threads as well.
Sent from my SCH-I605 using Xparent Skyblue Tapatalk 2

Eric, i'm 99% sure that i'm following your instructions as closely as possible. I think, however, that perhaps given my particular bricking that my bionic isn't actually communication with my laptop while running the commands that you list. While the command runs I don't see any kind of feedback or acknowledgement from the phone that it's getting data.
When I try to run the .zip while in recovery it aborts at a signature error.
Looking like i'll be firing up the old OG droid as well!
Anybody?
Thanks!
BobZ

@ eric...
hit the thanks button, but had to post.
Thanks for your help, saved my bacon with this fix.

Droid Bionic Soft-brick Fixed After Jelly Bean Update Attempt Failed
Thought I'd share my experience in case others might find it helpful. Also wanted to thank eric3938 for his post on 16 April 2013 -- it's what saved my Droid Bionic!
I had started with a Droid Bionic with Gingerbread. Updated to ICS when it came out, then rooted it sometime afterwards. I took the OTA Jelly Bean update, but it failed. Then I remembered that I had installed Bionic Bootstrap to get Nandroid backup ability. A bit of research confirmed this was likely the cause of the upgrade failure. I then attempted to follow a set of instructions on how to get a rooted, ICS droid bionic ready for the OTA, lost my place due to an interruption, and decided I needed to restore from one of the nandroid backups, but they kept failing!
I then figured a factory reset was in order, and since I wasn't sure if the phone would boot out of the nandroid backup menu, decided to use the bionic bootstrap factory reset option. BIG mistake! After that reset, the phone would only end up with an image of an android on its back with an exclamation mark inside a red triangle over its open belly.
I spent a lot of time searching for fixes and trying a lot of different things:
1. Downloaded the 4.0.4 image from sbf.droid-developers.org/cdma_targa/list.php, and copied it to the external sd card from the phone with my laptop. Put the sd card back in the phone, booted into recovery and tried to install the update from the external sd card. Update would start, authenticate, and then fail with an error 7, with a message indicating that a file could not be found in the /system/bin folder.
2. Downloaded the 4.1.2 update from sbf.droid-developers.org/cdma_targa/list.php, put it on the external sd card and tried applying it. The update process would not authenticate the update.
3. Tried using RSD Lite 5.7, but could not get it to apply either the 4.0.4 or 4.1.2 images. I would always get a failure at some point.
4. Found the House of Bionic site (droidrzr.com/index.php/topic/5764-samurihls-house-of-bionic/). After reading through the information there, downloaded hob 10.1 and, following instructions, proceeded to attempt to flash 4.0.4 back to the phone. The hob (HouseOfBionic) program would successfully drive the flash with RSD, and the phone would appear to take the flash, but would either remain at the fastboot menu when hob said it would reboot, or would boot and end with the android on its back underneath the read triangle.
The battery of the phone ran down at this point and I could no longer flash anything. I read about the USB Factory Cable Adaptor on the HouseOfBionic site, so I ordered one. It arrived in about 3 days! When it arrived, I tried additional variations with hob, but no joy.
I was about to concede failure when I stumbled across the post by eric3938. From a high-level perspective, his experience seemed very similar to mine, so I decided it was the best option I had. However, after reading about the security issues that prevent regressing from Jelly Bean, I decided that instead of using files from the 4.0.4 release, I would use the files from 4.1.2 release. I then proceeded to do the following:
1. Downloaded and un-zipped the moto-fastboot-win32.zip file from the link in the post by eric3938.
2. Copied the preinstall.img and system.img files out of the 4.1.2 zip into the folder where I had placed the moto-fastboot exe.
3. Booted the phone into fastboot mode.
4. Opened a command window and pasted the following commands, one at a time, into the window and executed them:
moto-fastboot.exe flash preinstall preinstall.img
moto-fastboot.exe flash system system.img​
Un-plugged the phone from the USB cable and then plugged it back in (to reboot it). The phone booted, but then just appeared to hang at a black screen with the four hard buttons at the bottom lighted up. Every time I would remove power and re-apply power, I would get the same results.
I finally pulled the USB cable out, then, while depressing the volume down button and holding down the power button, I inserted the USB cable and then released the power button (while continuing to depress the volume down button). This brought me to the boot option menu. I chose the recovery option. When the recovery menu appeared, I chose the 'apply update from external source' option and selected the Jelly Bean update zip file. IT WORKED!!!
The update authenticated and then began to install. When the update completed it rebooted a couple of times and the crashing sound of the android eye was music to my ears!
A couple of additional notes:
1. At one time during the process, I lost the ability to communicate with the phone from my laptop. I was afraid I had rendered the phone useless, but, after uninstalling the Motorola Driver Manager, rebooting, reinstalling the Motorola Driver Manager, rebooting, and trying again, found I had restored communication with the phone.
2. I discovered that with the factory cable adapter, I could leave the battery out of the phone and not have to pull it at times get to the fastboot menu -- this saved a lot of wear and tear on my fingers!
3. After going through the Jelly Bean setup process, I noticed I did not have 4G network access -- only 3G. I did some more searching and found a suggestion to pull the battery and SIM card, wait a few minutes, reassemble the phone and try again. That did it. I now have 4G network access.
I hope no one has to go through this with their phone; but, if they do, I hope this is helpful.

okay so I"m STUCK. literally, more stuck than I've ever been. i've always been able to fix a softbrick on any device, whether mine or not but I'm stuck and I'm thinking this might work for me considering the failure reports I'm getting (won't go into detail). But I have a couple questions. you just extracted the files from the verizon file (JB or ICS?) and flashed those right? and then got some hardware button reaction, and then flashed the update through stock recovery, correct? and idk if you know this, but there is no difference in moto-fastboot.exe and the regular fastboot used for linux correct? thank you so much for your help, you may save my phone. luckily i have a factory cable so don't have to worry about battery issues. ....btw I got sideload error 7 and none of the recommended issues applied to me, nor was I able to boot my phone to double check those were the problems. THen also, I got an error every time during RSD's FXZ'ing of ICS and JB. SO we're kind of in the same situation. although i know for a fact my error was during the installation of the bootloader, so the preinstall & system img flashes may help me.

lemonoid said:
okay so I"m STUCK. literally, more stuck than I've ever been. i've always been able to fix a softbrick on any device, whether mine or not but I'm stuck and I'm thinking this might work for me considering the failure reports I'm getting (won't go into detail). But I have a couple questions. you just extracted the files from the verizon file (JB or ICS?) and flashed those right? and then got some hardware button reaction, and then flashed the update through stock recovery, correct? and idk if you know this, but there is no difference in moto-fastboot.exe and the regular fastboot used for linux correct? thank you so much for your help, you may save my phone. luckily i have a factory cable so don't have to worry about battery issues. ....btw I got sideload error 7 and none of the recommended issues applied to me, nor was I able to boot my phone to double check those were the problems. THen also, I got an error every time during RSD's FXZ'ing of ICS and JB. SO we're kind of in the same situation. although i know for a fact my error was during the installation of the bootloader, so the preinstall & system img flashes may help me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I extracted the files i mentioned from the verizon Jelly Bean file and flashed those (from Windows 7).
Before you start the flashing process, take the sd card out of your phone and copy the Jelly Bean zip file to it. Then reassemble your phone.
After flashing the two files, you'll then have to manually manipulate the phone to get back into stock recovery. Then install the Jelly Bean zip file update from recovery.
Best of luck!
---------- Post added at 09:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:36 PM ----------
wburchard said:
I extracted the files i mentioned from the verizon Jelly Bean file and flashed those (from Windows 7).
Before you start the flashing process, take the sd card out of your phone and copy the Jelly Bean zip file to it. Then reassemble your phone.
After flashing the two files, you'll then have to manually manipulate the phone to get back into stock recovery. Then install the Jelly Bean zip file update from recovery.
Best of luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By the way, once you go to Jelly Bean on Droid Bionic, do not EVER install Bionic Bootstrap (or ClockWorkMod) -- I just had to reflash my preboot and system image partitions. Research I've done indicates SafeStrap is the replacement for CWM and Bootstrap.

lemonoid said:
<snip> and idk if you know this, but there is no difference in moto-fastboot.exe and the regular fastboot used for linux correct? <snip>.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Moto-fastboot.exe for Windows is able to handle large files > 2GB (particularly important with flashing webtop). The regular fastboot.exe for Windows cannot.
The fastboot for Linux has no such problems, IIRC.
---------- Post added at 06:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:23 PM ----------
wburchard said:
<snip>
By the way, once you go to Jelly Bean on Droid Bionic, do not EVER install Bionic Bootstrap (or ClockWorkMod) -- I just had to reflash my preboot and system image partitions. Research I've done indicates SafeStrap is the replacement for CWM and Bootstrap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
More correctly - Safe Strap is the only bootstrapping method to replace your stock recovery and install alternate ROMs that is currently working on the JB build on the BIOINIC.
SafeStrap and bootstrap have coexisted for quite a while, for many devices - it was personal preference before as to which one you could use, or else you were limited by the ROM developer, who would only make a ROM compatible with one or the other (usually not a problem, but there were a few ROMs that were finicky).
However, as of JB, Bootstrap (currently, and AFAICT, for the foreseeable future) no longer works, but SS still does.

You forgot to mention the factory cable
These instructions should be etched in stone. Because they are so damn helpful to anyone who's bricked this phone. One thing you forgot to mention. BTW nice with the hack, but if it's a borked / bricked phone this hack may not work at all. The best solution for everyone out there (and it only costs about $10 - $20) is a factory cable or adapter to use in the USB port. This is kind of equipment they use at Motorola when they first unlock the phone, and it limits the need for any battery to be in the phone. From what I understand it works on almost all of the Motorola droid phones. So for anyone who wants to unbrick their phone my first recommendation is a Factory Cable or Factory Adapter. It will save you alot and I really mean alot of heartache. Which is a good thing, because the one thing you don't want is the phone going dead during a flash procedure.
eric3938 said:
I did the same thing, This worked for me -
Download and extract this
Download and extract this to the previous location
Boot into fastboot mode
Connect to PC with USB
On PC, open command window and navigate to folder created above. I renamed the folders and made them easy to navigate to.
Use commands
Code:
moto-fastboot.exe flash preinstall preinstall.img
moto-fastboot.exe flash system system.img
Once finished reboot to stock recovery (This system WILL NOT BOOT) and install the Jelly Bean zip from SD Card
Reboot
Won't get root back but you'll have a working device.
Spent the past several hours trying to figure this out and just now got my phone to boot into JB.
If your battery is dead, tear apart an old WALL charger, cut the cord and attach pos to pos and neg to neg put a piece of tape over your battery terminals (don't think this would be good for the battery) and put battery in to hold it in place. Not sure how to tell which wire is pos, guessing always works for me lol.
NOTE: A stock wall charger does not seem to put out enough power to fully boot the phone, so remove the wires and tape and charge the battery normally to at least 10% then boot, this made my phone loop while trying to first boot and I thought something was wrong with the system
Edit: Seems at some point I corrupted my internal sd card, the OS was able to reformat. Not sure if it is related or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Related

ROM Manager no boot loader

Hi,
Full version as a note. Droid 1
Flashed clockworkmod recovery (2.5.0.1), went fine. Made a backup of stock rooted ROM, worked fine. Next flashed bugless beast .6, while clearing data & cache, no problem.
Now i want to flash to cm - trying out different ROMs - trying to reboot into recovery or flash another ROM both fail to get me to a bootloader. Instead i see the motorola boot logo for 30-45 seconds, followed by what looks like a regular boot (motorola M, then Droid eye, & booted.). I have also tried fixing permissions.
If anyone has any idea why this is happening or can direct me to a forum link it would be greatly appreciated. Sorry if this is in the wrong section, and yea I've tried looking through the forums for a while.
Thanks
just a little baby sized pump...
This happened to me too after working perfectly for several months. All of the sudden I just couldn't get to clockwork. I am running CM7 Nightlies. After not being able to fix the issue for several days I decided that a full wipe via the .sbf method was in order. I've got everything up and running again but it was an annoying process. Can anyone out there help us to understand why this happened so we don't have to deal with this again?
Do you have a link for the method you described about? That would be really helpful!
An ever so slightly larger bump
I really am not trying to be lazy, but all the .sbf methods I've read so far seem require you getting to a boot loader. If I could get to a boot loader this wouldn't be a problem, as I made a back up of my stock ROM. I have a functioning bugless beast ROM, just no recovery / boot loader, and no way to flash back to my recovery.
And possibly solved..
One: Please pardon my ignorance, doing these things on my Eris was far easier, or at least what I got used to.
Two: Please also ignore the word boot loader in my previous posts, as it was the recovery console that I could not get to load. Sorry Again.
Three: Its magically working. My methods were unscientific to say the least, but the Droid is now in "ClockworkMod's Recovery v2.5.0.1".
Things I finally did:
NOTE - I DO NOT BELIEVE ANY OF THIS TO BE THE PROPER ORDER OF THINGS. PLEASE VERIFY WITH SOMEONE FAR MORE INTELLIGENT THAN ME. THE FOLLOWING REFLECTS THE PROCESS I DID, AND SHOULD PROBABLY NOT BE FOLLOWED UNLESS A MOD ACTUALLY SAYS THIS WAS CORRECT
1. Pulled Battery, hold power button down for a few seconds, and then put back in
2. Hold Up on D-pad while holding the Power Button
3. You see the following
Code:
bootloader 2c.7c
battery ok
ok to program
connect usb
data cable
4. Connect USB data cable to PC running RSD Lite. You will also want a .sbf recovery file from a trusted source.
5. Select the .sbf in RSD Lite. Tell it to start. I used the clockwork recovery only .sbf
*** Where things got officially weird for me ***
6. The .sbf file I told it to load seemed to work, as the progress bar moved. The phone almost instantly rebooted, back to the ROM I was running minutes earlier. Clockwork had not been working previously trying to reboot into recovery, but almost instantly upon trying this time, I was in recovery mode.
NOTE - The USB cable was still plugged in as well. I don't know which combination of things actually got this to work, but it did.
Hope this helps someone else out.

Help Getting Back To Stock - Guides aren't working for me.

I need some help please. I seem to be in a pickle, though I’m not bricked. (At least, not yet.) So I rooted my phone last night, using [GUIDE][NOOB]Step-By-Step Instructions for New Stock Bionic Owners. Everything went great, and I got root. I followed the guide to get the .901 update, which went fine. Tried the ROM suggested, and liked it. Thought I would try Eclipse v2.1. I installed it, but I like Visual Voicemail, so I decided to use my Nandroid that I did right after root and revert back. Here is where problems started.
After the restore, it wouldn’t boot. Passed the Moto Dual Core logo and hung up. Allowed 10 minutes and after nothing, I flashed back to the backup I made after installing Eclipse. It booted fine. So I decided to go back to stock rom, debloat it how I like it and just run the debloated stock. Here is where problems started. I can’t find a flashable copy of the stock. Just a couple of guides on using RSD Lite. This is for Bricked Bionic’s, but I decided to try it, since one of the guides said it works to get back to OTA.
Downloaded the RSD Lite and the full system file to flash. I put my phone into the mode to flash (Power + Volume Down), unpacked the file with RSD Lite and tried to flash. Got an error.
Failed flashing process. Failed flashing process. 1/15 flash cdt.bin"cdt.bin"-> Phone returned FAIL.; phone connected.
Now, when I reboot my phone, it goes back to the Fasboot Flash Mode screen saing (Failed). I can boot into recover (Volume Up + Volume Down + Power) and do a Normal Boot, and it boots fine.
I tried a Factory Reset, and it just reset’s on Eclipse v2.1.
I want to simply get back to stock. Rooted or unrooted, I don’t care. I’ll reroot if I need to.
I also tried to download the STOCK Deodexed files. The links are dead. Figured if I went back to one of those stock images, I could unroot and see if everything was ok.
Suggestions?
Hmm..I think your mistake was in safeboot when you tried to go back to original back up you were suppose to toggle safe system so that it would be disabled. From there you would've been able to restore your original system and boot up just fine. It was mentioned in the guide through some posts.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk
ms0chez said:
Hmm..I think your mistake was in safeboot when you tried to go back to original back up you were suppose to toggle safe system so that it would be disabled. From there you would've been able to restore your original system and boot up just fine. It was mentioned in the guide through some posts.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I need to turn Safe Mode off in SafeStrap and flash? I had thought about that, but I was worried about totally bricking the phone. I'm pulling SafeBoot now, and will try the flash.
EDIT...
SafeMode is off, and rebooted. I'm back to .875 Stock Rooted. So far, so good.
I can either flash from here (haven't tried yet) or stay here. When I boot, I'm still booting into Fastbook with (Flash Failure). Any way to get that off, other than flashing back to stock and locked through RSD Lite?
Your mistake was trying to restore from the un safe system. You can toggle safe system and you'll be ok. Or, reinstall a ROM to your safe system.
To clarify: don't flash a ROM with safe system disabled. toggle back to safe mode, and then pickup my directions from the format /system step. You can try another ROM no problem then.
I bet you can find the visual voicemail APK and add it whichever ROM. Copy paste into system/app directory.
Thanks. I'm used to flashing with the Thunderbolt and the XOOM. Not used to safestrap, just normal CWM.
Any idea how to stop the phone from booting into Fastboot? Having to do it the long way still. I'd be happy staying this way, if I can get that resolved.
Actually the problem was you tried to restore to a backup of a pre .901 system which has different radios which flashing doesn't like.
As for the flash failure, get the fxz files and put them in a folder with adb and fastboot. Then run this command in a prompt:
fastboot flash device_tree.bin
When you get a flash failure you just need to flash something to fix it; flashing device_tree.bin won't affect anything.
Its one solid file with a weird extension. Is there a way to unpack it? I am out right now and don't know the extension by heart.
Its a zip, just extract it
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App
Now, I'm scratching my head. (Again) I've worked with ADB with my Xoom, so I'm not a noob at that part. ADB doesn't see my phone. My computer does, and the phone know's it's plugged in. However when I try to flash the file, it can't find the device. I checked "adb devices" and it's not on the list.
So I decided to go ahead and flash completely back to stock with RSD Lite. Still get's the same error message. (I did check the MD5 SUM on the file. It's correct.) Safe Mode is off in Safestrap. Here is what the Fastboot screen looks like on my phone.
AP Fastboot Flash Mode (S)
0A.61
Battery OK
OK to Program
Transfer Mode:
USB Connected
Since I've not seen the Fastboot screen on this phone until this started, I don't know if the (S) has meaning. Like, it thinks the phone's still in SafeMode?
I noticed one of the options in safestrap is to disable safestrap. Thought about trying that, but.... Unsure.

[Help] Atrix HD won't enter recovery mode no matter what!

I've got an Atrix HD and I've been trying to flash HoloBlur since a while now.
I'm presently on 4.1.1 (98.4.20.MB886.ATT.en.US).
I used the Motochopper tool to gain root access. Success.
I used the Motoapocalypse tool to unlock bootloader. Success.
I've used the Myth Tools to flash the inbuilt CWM as well as other versions of it. I've also tried installing CWM through fastboot. All of the methods which I use tell me that the recovery was flashed successfully. However I cannot enter recovery mode at all. I've used to Myth Tools to enter recovery. Failure. I've powered down and tried the Vol-Up and Power button combination. Failure. I just get the image of the dead Android.
Also, in the fastboot mode, pressing the Vol-Up or Vol-Down buttons does not do anything.
I know for sure that I'm rooted. The Super User app is fully active. I've removed AT&T bloatware to confirm this. The app is fully functional.
I also am certain that the bootloader is unlocked. I've verified this through the fastboot mode.
I don't have a clue about what am I doing wrong. I just cannot enter recovery mode at all.
Any help regarding this will be greatly appreciated!
Reinstall cwm through adb? Is the phone still working?
Sent from my MB886 using Tapatalk 4
salafra 367
The phones working perfectly fine. The only problem is that I can't enter recovery mode no matter what. I've tried flashing recoveries through fastboot, adb, toolkits, everything. The phone merely shows the dead Android when it enters recovery.
Rabie Haider said:
The phones working perfectly fine. The only problem is that I can't enter recovery mode no matter what. I've tried flashing recoveries through fastboot, adb, toolkits, everything. The phone merely shows the dead Android when it enters recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try starting from scratch using RSD Lite to flash yourself back to stock. Then begin the process again, minus unlocking the bootloader, since you already did that.
I really don't want to do that. Since I dont have access to any recovery at this time, I cant make a Nandroid backup. Which means in case things go bad with the flashing, Ill be stuck with a bricked phone.
did u rename the file install_recovery.sh?
devilsking said:
did u rename the file install_recovery.sh?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. However I just tried doing this.
I downloaded CWM Touch 6.0.3.6 from m0ndul's thread.
I extracted the package. Copied the recovery image to moto-fastboot folder as well as recovery folder for Myth Tools.
I entered fastboot and used 'fastboot flash recovery recovery.img'. Fastboot gave me success notification.
I restarted the phone and entered recovery. The phone shows the dead Android image.
So then I renamed the file to 'install-recovery.sh' in both fastboot and Myth folders.
Both fastboot and Myth Tools give me success notification.
However on entering recovery the same dead Android image comes up. :crying:
You should definitely RSD or MythTools back to complete stock and do the process over again, as mentioned above. It is the only conceivable fix to this strange problem at the time. As long you don't unplug the chord during RSD flashing then nothing will go wrong, I've had to do it about 3 times. I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that if an RSD flash was unsuccessful you wouldn't be able to use that nandroid backup in the first place, fastboot would be pretty much the only place you can go.
Even if it didn't work (very highly unlikely), this is another way to do it that will definitely work: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=40929335
Here's all you need: http://sbf.droid-developers.org/dinara/list.php The third ATTUS and the Mexico Retail are the only two that will work.
I have the AT&T model as well and I have used the Mexico Retail zip every time without fail.
Replace the XML file inside of the zip with this one so that it flashes properly: https://www.box.com/s/num1eshkf0c2or2h4160
It is completely safe, just don't do it during shceduled power outages, storms, don't touch the data cable, and let it do its thing until it boots back up.
Can you boot your phone? If you can, install Root Explorer and change the recovery file name by adding .bak to the end, then try to install cwm.
Neighbor808 said:
You should definitely RSD or MythTools back to complete stock and do the process over again, as mentioned above. It is the only conceivable fix to this strange problem at the time. As long you don't unplug the chord during RSD flashing then nothing will go wrong, I've had to do it about 3 times. I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that if an RSD flash was unsuccessful you wouldn't be able to use that nandroid backup in the first place, fastboot would be pretty much the only place you can go.
Even if it didn't work (very highly unlikely), this is another way to do it that will definitely work: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=40929335
Here's all you need: http://sbf.droid-developers.org/dinara/list.php The third ATTUS and the Mexico Retail are the only two that will work.
I have the AT&T model as well and I have used the Mexico Retail zip every time without fail.
Replace the XML file inside of the zip with this one so that it flashes properly: https://www.box.com/s/num1eshkf0c2or2h4160
It is completely safe, just don't do it during shceduled power outages, storms, don't touch the data cable, and let it do its thing until it boots back up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SOLVED!
I followed instructions from the CWP thread by some other members.
I've had dozens of Androids and I've flashed things hundreds of times but nothing got as messy as AHD did.
In short, bootloops, nuclear warfare and whatnot later, I'm running HoloBlur.
Thanks a million for your assistance.
Rabie Haider said:
SOLVED!
I followed instructions from the CWP thread by some other members.
I've had dozens of Androids and I've flashed things hundreds of times but nothing got as messy as AHD did.
In short, bootloops, nuclear warfare and whatnot later, I'm running HoloBlur.
Thanks a million for your assistance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you fix it?
UPDATE:
Nevermind... JUST Remove ~/system/etc/install-recovery.sh it keeps on overwriting the recovery when you boot.
Just That?
MGA2009 said:
How did you fix it?
UPDATE:
Nevermind... JUST Remove ~/system/etc/install-recovery.sh it keeps on overwriting the recovery when you boot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just that?
you did the whole thing to replace files on the rsd thing? or this is the noobsafe method to get into the recovery?
BTW i'm noob...
clopezloud said:
Just that?
you did the whole thing to replace files on the rsd thing? or this is the noobsafe method to get into the recovery?
BTW i'm noob...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's way to install custom recovery since renaming that file is the necessary step before flashing custom recovery.

can't flash. Hangs on all writes during flash.

I have a droid bionic that I acquired used that had some major stability issues when I got it. It appeared to be on stock ICS when I got it, so I tried to reflash through rsdlite. The flash just stuck on step 1 of the flash. I've tried HOB method, and every other method I've come across, but all writes to the phone just hang indefinitely. All of the erase steps complete though, and when I've unplugged the USB cable after hanging and plug back in, it will move on to the next erase, copy, write step and hang on the write. So now I have a phone that appears to have every thin wiped during the deletes, and no system of any kind. From day one, when entering recovery I would get several lines about not being able to mount cache etc. The only thing that flashed successfully was a radio flash.
I appreciate any help, but please don't direct me to any more guides unless it is relevant to the can't mount... errors I'm getting. I need to find the reason why no write operations complete and just hang. That's where my problem really lies.
Genaugmen said:
I have a droid bionic that I acquired used that had some major stability issues when I got it. It appeared to be on stock ICS when I got it, so I tried to reflash through rsdlite. The flash just stuck on step 1 of the flash. I've tried HOB method, and every other method I've come across, but all writes to the phone just hang indefinitely. All of the erase steps complete though, and when I've unplugged the USB cable after hanging and plug back in, it will move on to the next erase, copy, write step and hang on the write. So now I have a phone that appears to have every thin wiped during the deletes, and no system of any kind. From day one, when entering recovery I would get several lines about not being able to mount cache etc. The only thing that flashed successfully was a radio flash.
I appreciate any help, but please don't direct me to any more guides unless it is relevant to the can't mount... errors I'm getting. I need to find the reason why no write operations complete and just hang. That's where my problem really lies.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i recently had issues with rsdlite but eventually got it working with jb4.1.2.
i am using 5.7 and erased a couple things from the xml file to get it working. if you dont care of root install 4.1.2
podagee said:
i recently had issues with rsdlite but eventually got it working with jb4.1.2.
i am using 5.7 and erased a couple things from the xml file to get it working. if you dont care of root install 4.1.2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried to flash individual parts of the the fxz but it still hangs on every write operation no matter what method I try. I'm becoming convinced it's a hardware fault. I've tried several versions of rsdlite. I can't get one package to complete a write operation. I've seen others with similar problems, but none that couldn't get make at least some progress with a flash, even if they had trouble getting it fully flashed. Unfortunately, the erase commands for the different methods I tried did complete without issue, so now I have no system at all it seems.

problem with factory reset

hello, i recently bought used droid 4, found it to be with some leftover data (sms, and such) so first thing i did was a factory reset only to
find it after a while in extact same state. weird thing is that when i factory reset it after removing some apps or changing anything at all it acts
as if i restored some backup instead of wiping device. it spams me with errors every few seconds too which is quite troublesome to say the least.
i searched the internet for an answer (still looking) to this problem but so far got nothing. i mean there are lots of ppl with similiar issue
but no real answer anywhere i looked. i thought maybe flashing some stock rom (dont wanna try anything custom yet since i got lapdock
too and havent checked if webtop works with custom roms yet). is it the right direction in my case or is there some simplier answer to my problem?
thanks in advance
update: cant root it, cant install official update through rsdlite, cant update through other unofficial ways,
it acts as if everything went fine and each time im back to square 1. it aint my first or second journey with rooting,
changing rom but im not really sure what else can i do. also rsdlite cant detect any information about device (imei,
os version, flex drm boot etc are all filled with N/A
install from sdcard also failed - signature verification failed. keeps gettin better. downloading another rom from
official moto website... not expecting anything though
wyklocnik said:
hello, i recently bought used droid 4, found it to be with some leftover data (sms, and such) so first thing i did was a factory reset only to
find it after a while in extact same state. weird thing is that when i factory reset it after removing some apps or changing anything at all it acts
as if i restored some backup instead of wiping device. it spams me with errors every few seconds too which is quite troublesome to say the least.
i searched the internet for an answer (still looking) to this problem but so far got nothing. i mean there are lots of ppl with similiar issue
but no real answer anywhere i looked. i thought maybe flashing some stock rom (dont wanna try anything custom yet since i got lapdock
too and havent checked if webtop works with custom roms yet). is it the right direction in my case or is there some simplier answer to my problem?
thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
uncheck restore data Hard Reset - DROID 4 by MOTOROLA - Verizon Wireless Support
update: cant root it, cant install official update through rsdlite,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
updates.zips are not installed with rsdlite, XML/firmware is install with rsd lite, but adroid version can not be downgraded
cant update through other unofficial ways,
it acts as if everything went fine and each time im back to square 1. it aint my first or second journey with rooting,
changing rom but im not really sure what else can i do. also rsdlite cant detect any information about device (imei,
os version, flex drm boot etc are all filled with N/A
install from sdcard also failed - signature verification failed. keeps gettin better. downloading another rom from
official moto website... not expecting anything though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what official site? use files from my page How to Use RSD Lite to flash a .XML Stock Rom (firmware)
thanks for taking interest
tried factory reset with options You mentioned unchecked, same thing as before.
i did use xml with rsdlite and zip through built in recovery.
tried to find this page i downloaded files but theres too much in yesterdays history, trying those from Your link now.
also tried to update rom ota, but of course theres an error. oh my droid runs 4.0.4, i havent mentioned it before.
also, found in the net schematics for factory cable, was thinking if its worth a shot this way:
http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-labs/146492-how-why-make-your-own-motorola-factory-cable-4.html
Factory cable only allows you to power device with low battery/no battery
Sent from my Amazon OtterX using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 10:33 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:31 AM ----------
Update zips only update specific system versions, you have to use correct one, and must be complete stock.
Sent from my Amazon OtterX using Tapatalk
from what i read in this post about factory cable it says it boots phone different way than normal thats why i thought maybe
itll be able to successfully update with it. also after every reset of this droid its not a simple matter of apps coming back thru wifi.
wifi is disabled and theyre there right from the start. i can remove some widgets or apps from home screen, i can delete texts,
and after reset theyre all back where they were. its as if every change i made havent been saved. i dont even have to reset phone,
i just need to reboot it to have it all back
phone needs to be in AP Fastboot mode when flashing with rsd lite.
verify md5 checksum for xml file before flashing.
yes, it was in ap fatboot mode, didnt verify the md5 tho.
more importantly, file i downloaded from site You linked passed verification! guess what i found wasnt official updates after all...
i hope this works
wyklocnik said:
from what i read in this post about factory cable it says it boots phone different way than normal thats why i thought maybe
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Factory/Fastboot cable only uses the alt power (4) pin to power device, there are several pre-made ones
itll be able to successfully update with it. also after every reset of this droid its not a simple matter of apps coming back thru wifi.
wifi is disabled and theyre there right from the start. i can remove some widgets or apps from home screen, i can delete texts,
and after reset theyre all back where they were. its as if every change i made havent been saved. i dont even have to reset phone,
i just need to reboot it to have it all back
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try reformatting internal sd card, before wiping
---------- Post added at 10:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:53 AM ----------
wyklocnik said:
yes, it was in ap fatboot mode, didnt verify the md5 tho.
more importantly, file i downloaded from site You linked passed verification! guess what i found wasnt official updates after all...
i hope this works
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there are no official moto download sites, all moto firmware is pulled by people with special access, and reuploaded
try reformatting internal sd card, before wiping
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is it any different than checking "erase internal storage" when reseting phone?
anyways did it but atm have to recharge battery before trying to wipe it again.
also rom was succesfully updated thru recovery with no errors and after reboot im... back to square 1...
wyklocnik said:
is it any different than checking "erase internal storage" when reseting phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
formatting is different than wiping data, in menu>settings>storage>unmount>format
anyways did it but atm have to recharge battery before trying to wipe it again.
also rom was succesfully updated thru recovery with no errors and after reboot im... back to square 1...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did system version change?
same story after formating internal memory.
no changes whatsoever. same homescreen, same widgets/apps present. same system version.
and of course new error every 5 seconds. guess the phone is messed up good.
talk about luck. its second droid 4 i bought. first i bought over a month ago on auction site, it was new. i paid, guy never sent it.
now this one. its like a curse
formatting internal won't wipe, user data, but will wipe backup data.
tried xml with rsdlite now.
after first reboot its supposed to go into the recovery mode right?
it went back in to ap fastboot... and after rsd transfered all the files then it went to bootloader... and now program says reboot is in process while phone sits in recovery mode...
wyklocnik said:
tried xml with rsdlite now.
after first reboot its supposed to go into the recovery mode right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it happens sometimes
it went back in to ap fastboot... and after rsd transfered all the files then it went to bootloader... and now program says reboot is in process while phone sits in recovery mode...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
select wipe data, then select reboot
done, nothing changed.
also, when rsd works it acts as if it doesnt wait for the phone with operations.
it writes reboot, phone starts to reboot, and long time before it boots back either in ap fastboot mode or into recovery
rsd says its already transfering files, it says reboot again (before phone even gets into fastboot or recovery after 1st reboot) and so on.
wyklocnik said:
done, nothing changed.
also, when rsd works it acts as if it doesnt wait for the phone with operations.
it writes reboot, phone starts to reboot, and long time before it boots back either in ap fastboot mode or into recovery
rsd says its already transfering files, it says reboot again (before phone even gets into fastboot or recovery after 1st reboot) and so on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
which fastboot version? 0A.74 , 0A.77?
which xml file?
0A.74
cdma_maserati_9.8.2O-72_VZW-18-2_1ff.xml
looks like you have a failure to write data, don't think there is a fix.
could try my Unbrick Moto device with moto-fastboot.exe
but unlikely that it will work

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