The Epic Development Platform AKA UnBrickable Mod

This modification will go like this: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1206216

After that, unbricking your Epic will be like this...

See here for full instructions: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1242466

Of course I don't OWN an Epic so I will work with someone who does.

introduction
I'm not kidding when I say UnBrickable. Modifying the OM pins means you can boot from USB, UART or MMC. This makes the phone quite UNBRICKABLE. There is nothing you can do software wise to prevent the device from booting into this mode. We are communicating with the unrewritable, efused IROM on the processor. It's the thing that makes the system on a chip into a "system on a chip".I am here now to tell you how to turn your Samsung Droid Charge into a KIT-S5PC110 development board. The KIT-S5PC110 development board is the platform used to develop our phones. There are some differences between this mod and the official development platform. The S5PC110 has a removable internal SDCard and no touchscreen.

Why would you want to do this? When you plug in the battery and connect it to the computer in "off" mode, it will become an S5PC110 board awaiting download of a program to run. This occurs long before anything like software or firmware enters the processor. This is the IROM of the device awaiting commands or a power on signal.

Because it is accepting a memory flash, anything may be put onto the device to perform a boot sequence..... Apple iOS (iPhone4 has the same processor) WP7 (mango supports this processor).

This will be a replacement for JTAG once we are able to make some firmware. How could it possibly be better then JTAG? Let's count the ways....
1. The only part required is a wire.
2. No shipping time.
3. No cost for a box to interface the computer.
4. Permanent.
5. Can be done as a preventive measure.
6. Gives the ability to test new Bootloaders temporarily.
7. Allows development of the entire system.
8. Removes worry about flashing and acts as a backup.

After performing this mod:
Remove the battery, replace the battery, your phone will connect to the computer via USB and await commands. Otherwise it will pretty much act like an Epic. See the Special Instructions section.

Modification

You will need:
1. Get someone who knows what they're doing with a soldering iron. If they don't know what flux is, then they don't know what they're doing. You can also speak to myself(my username @gmail.com) or Connexion2005(aka MobileTechVideos.com)
2. soldering iron - make sure it's sharp, if it's not sharp, then sharpen it, flux it and retin it.
3. flux
4. solder
5. tweezers
6. A relay (possibly- for the wire within to use as a bridge)


performing the modification:
1. tear apart your phone... Make sure to take out your SIM and external SDCard before you do this.
1A. Remove the screws.
1B. Separate the top case from the bottom case
1C. disconnect the display connector and free the camera and button assemblies from the case.
1D. Remove the mainboard

****VIDEO OR PICTURES NEEDED*****

2. Perform the mod as follows: Replace the xOM5 resistor from the right position to the left position.
*OR: remove the xOM5 resistor and jumper the center pads of xOM5 to the center pads of xOM0.




Thanks to pre2epic4g for donating the board for teardown!


3. reassemble the phone.


Special Instructions

• This replaces the battery charging sequence. The normal battery charging sequence can be activated by holding power for 4 seconds.
• To turn on the device, and operate in normal mode, you must hold the power button for 5 seconds.
• 3 button Download mode works as usual, however you must not have the S5PC110 drivers installed on the computer. You can use your custom rom menu option, adb reboot download, or use a terminal to "reboot download". 301Kohm Factory Mode JIGs work as well, but you must press power to bypass the S5PC110 mode.

Conclusion

Congratulations. You now have a device which works like a KIT-S5PC110 with an OM Value of 29. Now get to developing some serious custom software. See here for setting up the UART output http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1235219

reading material
Creating your own Samsung Bootloaders: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1233273
KIT-S5PC110 manual: http://www.mediafire.com/?94krzvvxksvmuxh
how to use DNW: http://tinyurl.com/dnw-how-to
Flash using openOCD and DNW: http://www.arm9board.net/wiki/index.php?title=Flash_using_OpenOCD_and_DNW
another DNW example: http://www.boardset.com/products/mv6410.php
ODroid dev center: http://dev.odroid.com/projects/uboot/wiki/#s-7.2


drivers and utilities
This will be an ever expanding list
Windows Drivers http://xdaforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=678937&d=1312590673
Windows Download Tool DNW: http://xdaforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=678938&d=1312590673
Windows Command Line Download Tool: http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=17202523&postcount=27
Linux DNW Utility: http://dev.odroid.com/projects/uboot/wiki/#s-7.2

firmware
One-Click Resurrector: http://xdaforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=705515&d=1314762609
Bootloader Hello World by Rebellos http://xdaforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=698077&d=1314105521

rulyskull said:

Thank you so much can we do this if the device gets bricked? And I have someone I can trust so I'm lucky

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Yes, it works on a bricked device. These methods communicate directly with the processor so there is nothing like firmware or bootloaders in the way.

The board is coated in glue. Its not nearly as risky as it looks. It takes some time, but you're not going to screw anything up if you're decent with a soldering iron.

stir fry a lot said:

Could I unbrick it if I were to screw up on the soldering job?

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Yes. Just don't apply power until its right.