Hard Bricked LG E980 USB device not recognised

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twill1987

Senior Member
Jun 2, 2012
81
16
My LG E980 is bricked. I can access download mode and that is it! I am unable to boot into recovery,
and the hard reset screen simply sits there forever. My computer only recognizes my device as an "unknown usb device."
I'm unsure what can be done about this, but I feel like this is better than the infamous QHSUB icon displayed when the device cannot be recovered.
Does anyone have a remedy for this problem?? I have GOT to fix this phone and can't afford to Jtag the device, but I'm losing hope that this is possible, PLEASE help. :crying:
 

shabbypenguin

Inactive Recognized Developer
May 30, 2010
4,895
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There is never a time when this device cant be recovered. even the qhusb is a fairly simple fix. ill go ahead and make a sdcard boot image tonight. do you have a 32gb sdcard? (or larger) and an sdcard reader, if you have those two things i can make an unbrick.img that you flash toi the sdcard and put in the non-booting phone and it will get you to download mode/recovery mode. ill have to check out what partitions are where as i dont wish to include my efs along with it all :).
 
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stulzerl

Senior Member
Sep 7, 2010
216
37
Tampa, Florida
My LG E980 is bricked. I can access download mode and that is it! I am unable to boot into recovery,
and the hard reset screen simply sits there forever. My computer only recognizes my device as an "unknown usb device."
I'm unsure what can be done about this, but I feel like this is better than the infamous QHSUB icon displayed when the device cannot be recovered.
Does anyone have a remedy for this problem?? I have GOT to fix this phone and can't afford to Jtag the device, but I'm losing hope that this is possible, PLEASE help. :crying:

Happened to me.

1. With the phone on download mode and plugged in the computer; uninstall the unknown device on your computer using device manager. The computer should try to get the drivers for your phone.

2. If it doesn't. Repeat step one and install the drivers first.

That worked for me hopefully I'll work for you.:)

Sent from my LG-E980 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
 

twill1987

Senior Member
Jun 2, 2012
81
16
There is never a time when this device cant be recovered. even the qhusb is a fairly simple fix. ill go ahead and make a sdcard boot image tonight. do you have a 32gb sdcard? (or larger) and an sdcard reader, if you have those two things i can make an unbrick.img that you flash toi the sdcard and put in the non-booting phone and it will get you to download mode/recovery mode. ill have to check out what partitions are where as i dont wish to include my efs along with it all :).

I do have a 16gb sd card, but I can pick up at 32 gb sd at my local best buy. I have an Asus laptop running windows 8 and it has an SD card reader. I am a little confused (semi-noob) as to how this will work because my phone will boot up, and the led changes colors on the home button for about 4 seconds and then the light stops flashing. The phone is stuck on the LG boot screen, and there is no way out of it but to pull the battery or to reset with power button. Of course no recovery as previously mentioned. I really just want to get back to stock, but I can't manage to get both the windows 8 computers I've tried to detect the phone in download mode. Ever since I switched to the Candykat rom 4.4 the computer wasn't able to recognize the phone, even when the phone was fully functional inside the rom.
I have tried it on my dads windows 7 laptop as well with no dice. Instaled LG drivers, uninstalled LG Drivers, uninstalled device from the Device Manager. I've done everything I could think of. I previously was in a Philz touch recovery, but every rom I tried to flash wouldn't work. I tried to flash another recovery from inside it and then the device bricked like it is now. What a head ache. If you think this method would work, I am more than willing to try it, just unfamiliar with what I need to do on my end.
 

twill1987

Senior Member
Jun 2, 2012
81
16
Okay

Happened to me.

1. With the phone on download mode and plugged in the computer; uninstall the unknown device on your computer using device manager. The computer should try to get the drivers for your phone.

2. If it doesn't. Repeat step one and install the drivers first.

That worked for me hopefully I'll work for you.:)

Sent from my LG-E980 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

I will give your method a shot, but I have done this a lot already. The only thing I can think of is I usually unplug the phone from the computer right after deleting the drivers and uninstalling in device manager. Maybe I should just leave the phone plugged in and see if the computer automatically downloads the drivers, but I don't think it will because I've tried to update the drivers before. It gives me an error code "10" and says the device has malfunction or stopped working :( This phone has been undetectable via USB since flashing the candykat 4.4 rom. Every computer I've tried (3) and every USB cable (3 again) has displayed it as an "unknown device"
 

luisoman2000

Senior Member
Jul 4, 2012
1,242
270
I will give your method a shot, but I have done this a lot already. The only thing I can think of is I usually unplug the phone from the computer right after deleting the drivers and uninstalling in device manager. Maybe I should just leave the phone plugged in and see if the computer automatically downloads the drivers, but I don't think it will because I've tried to update the drivers before. It gives me an error code "10" and says the device has malfunction or stopped working :( This phone has been undetectable via USB since flashing the candykat 4.4 rom. Every computer I've tried (3) and every USB cable (3 again) has displayed it as an "unknown device"

I've had similar issues when i had my optimus g. I had to use a pc with xp to flasht he phone, dunno why though. You could give that a shot.
 

shabbypenguin

Inactive Recognized Developer
May 30, 2010
4,895
5,361
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I do have a 16gb sd card, but I can pick up at 32 gb sd at my local best buy. I have an Asus laptop running windows 8 and it has an SD card reader. I am a little confused (semi-noob) as to how this will work because my phone will boot up, and the led changes colors on the home button for about 4 seconds and then the light stops flashing. The phone is stuck on the LG boot screen, and there is no way out of it but to pull the battery or to reset with power button. Of course no recovery as previously mentioned. I really just want to get back to stock, but I can't manage to get both the windows 8 computers I've tried to detect the phone in download mode. Ever since I switched to the Candykat rom 4.4 the computer wasn't able to recognize the phone, even when the phone was fully functional inside the rom.
I have tried it on my dads windows 7 laptop as well with no dice. Instaled LG drivers, uninstalled LG Drivers, uninstalled device from the Device Manager. I've done everything I could think of. I previously was in a Philz touch recovery, but every rom I tried to flash wouldn't work. I tried to flash another recovery from inside it and then the device bricked like it is now. What a head ache. If you think this method would work, I am more than willing to try it, just unfamiliar with what I need to do on my end.

I dont know lg's download mode, kdz, tot etc all that well. im more of a samsung guy. however qualcomm since the s4 chipset has allowed for sdcards that are properly formatted to boot the os instead of the internal emmc. here is a decent guide, just need to make teh image for this device. this will let your device boot no matter how bad it gets :) you are welcome to try with 16gb, the rule of thumb i know of is as big as teh emmc is use that same size or larger sdcard, however some people have had sucess withs maller, just not many that i know of. http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2439367

however afaik the only way to reflash teh bootloader partitions is via kdz/download mode so perhaps the sdcard will let you get into that mode and then you can flash, so long as you keep your sdcard like that it will boot fully, but in order ot get your sdcard back you need to repair teh files on your phone :).
 
Last edited:

twill1987

Senior Member
Jun 2, 2012
81
16
I dont know lg's download mode, kdz, tot etc all that well. im more of a samsung guy. however qualcomm since the s4 chipset has allowed for sdcards that are properly formatted to boot the os instead of the internal emmc. here is a decent guide, just need to make teh image for this device. this will let your device boot no matter how bad it gets :) you are welcome to try with 16gb, the rule of thumb i know of is as big as teh emmc is use that same size or larger sdcard, however some people have had sucess withs maller, just not many that i know of. http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2439367

however afaik the only way to reflash teh bootloader partitions is via kdz/download mode so perhaps the sdcard will let you get into that mode and then you can flash, so long as you keep your sdcard like that it will boot fully, but in order ot get your sdcard back you need to repair teh files on your phone :).

Wow, that sounds awesome. I followed most of that. I access download mode on the device by pressing vol up and down simultaneously and plugging in the usb cable. I am more willing to try this, and if it works I will pay you from my paypal. I guess all I need now are those files to run to the sd card. I read the tutorial you posted for the samsung and downloaded the windows disk manager. I am eager to try this method, though it is admittedly very new to me.. If you can post those files, I will follow the instructions you give and pay you a little bit of money for your help!
I am a broke college student so it won't be much, but I really appreciate your response and information on this method with the qualcomm s4.
 

twill1987

Senior Member
Jun 2, 2012
81
16
Just wrote it to sd card

Here is the unbrick image. follow the guide for your platform (gunna guess windows) and write this to your sdcard after backing it up. from there you need to restore your partitions by flashing them :).

https://mega.co.nz/#!YB5xWQ7Y!Qcnx9UmcNn-f6skfiIFN-jd0EeYxdmrQGA1zzP5hfA0

Okay so I bought the 32 gb sd card. Just wrote the .img file you sent me to the sd card.
I powered on the phone and nothing happened, I got the same LG screen where the led flashes and then stops.
I followed that guide, but am I supposed to go to download mode instead of just powering on the device?
I got a little confused by the samsung jargon lol. I just want to know after I've written the unbrick.zip to the sd card
how do I get my phone to recognize the card is there? And once I am able to do that how do I "restore my partitions by flashing them?"
I do have the factory firmware set to flash through lg flashtool, but the phone can't be detected of course due to the usb issue.
Just want to say thanks for walking me through it this far, I feel like I'm close hopefully but unsure what to do next.
 

shabbypenguin

Inactive Recognized Developer
May 30, 2010
4,895
5,361
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Okay so I bought the 32 gb sd card. Just wrote the .img file you sent me to the sd card.
I powered on the phone and nothing happened, I got the same LG screen where the led flashes and then stops.
I followed that guide, but am I supposed to go to download mode instead of just powering on the device?
I got a little confused by the samsung jargon lol. I just want to know after I've written the unbrick.zip to the sd card
how do I get my phone to recognize the card is there? And once I am able to do that how do I "restore my partitions by flashing them?"
I do have the factory firmware set to flash through lg flashtool, but the phone can't be detected of course due to the usb issue.
Just want to say thanks for walking me through it this far, I feel like I'm close hopefully but unsure what to do next.


you wrote the image to the sdcard? i wonder if its because you still have the low level bootloaders that it may not be booting from the sdcard, normally this is done to fix qhusb errored devices. as for restoring the partitions all you would need to do is one its booted up push the unbrick image to the phone and use rooted adb shell to write it back onto your phone.
 

twill1987

Senior Member
Jun 2, 2012
81
16
Possible hope??

you wrote the image to the sdcard? i wonder if its because you still have the low level bootloaders that it may not be booting from the sdcard, normally this is done to fix qhusb errored devices. as for restoring the partitions all you would need to do is one its booted up push the unbrick image to the phone and use rooted adb shell to write it back onto your phone.

I meant I used the windows tool to write the debrick.img to the sd card. But no dice, the device isn't recognised.
However! I installed a driver clean up tool and now if I plug in the device it is recognized as Android Original ADB Interface.
The LG Flashtools even says the port is ready! But I get the error code "10" "device cannot start, A request for the USB device descriptor failed."
So now I am stuck on that instead lol. This just sucks.
 

shabbypenguin

Inactive Recognized Developer
May 30, 2010
4,895
5,361
36
that sucks about the sdcard, it must be because you arent "truly" bricked. sorry i thought it would help ya :/.
 

miloethedog

New member
Apr 27, 2014
1
0
What is the driver repair tool you used? I know this thread is old but I'm having the same problem. I was trying to root my E980 and now my computer wont recognize my device. The phone works perfect, its just when I plug it in to the computer it isnt recognized. How can I fix this?
 

belltomb

Member
Sep 24, 2010
6
1
+1

Just wondering if anyone's come across a solution to this besides a sledge hammer... been having the same "Code 10: Device failed to start" when in Download Mode, though Windows finds a driver fine when the phone is stuck on the LG screen... doesn't help much, though, 'cause it won't receive adb commands. I manually installed the LG USB Composite Device driver, which added a modem and a COM port, both of which Windows recognized to be active, but the LG FlashTool USB Viewer showed no open pipes. I'm a relative noob, so please feel free to point out the obvious, like an alternative to adb that the phone can always receive or a way to brick it the rest of the way so the MicroSD trick will work. :p
 

abced123

Senior Member
Jun 18, 2007
383
15
I came across this problem like the OP and just wanna let everyone know that you have to use computer with USB 2.0 port then the driver issue would be fixed.
 

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    There is never a time when this device cant be recovered. even the qhusb is a fairly simple fix. ill go ahead and make a sdcard boot image tonight. do you have a 32gb sdcard? (or larger) and an sdcard reader, if you have those two things i can make an unbrick.img that you flash toi the sdcard and put in the non-booting phone and it will get you to download mode/recovery mode. ill have to check out what partitions are where as i dont wish to include my efs along with it all :).