[UNBRICK] HTC Unbricking Project

• a linux box/live cd with automount disabled and without unity
• the appropriate package for the device
• the latest RUU for your device
• a device bricked by writing security flag 3 with an unsigned hboot, or caused by a damaged hboot via interrupted OTA update/RUU flash on a S-ON device
• a usb cable
• some basic linux experience
• patience

1. Boot the linux box and download the appropriate package for the device.
2. Extract the package in the home directory
3. Open up a terminal
4. Remove SIM, microSD card and battery and connect the device using the USB cable. This procedure must be done without battery
5. Detect the device using the script provided. Type this in the terminal
   
   Code:

   ./brickdetect.sh

   You should get something like sdX. We are interested on that "X"
6. Unplug the usb cable from the device
7. Backup the hboot currently in the phone by using this command. Plug the device in ONLY when asked to
   
   Code:

   sudo ./emmc_recover --backup b_hboot.img --device /dev/sdX12

   Replace the "X" with the letter the script gave you
8. Follow the on-screen instructions from emmc_recover
9. Hexdump the b_hboot to check the hboot version
   
   Code:

   hexdump -C b_hboot.img |less

   The output should be like this:
   
   Code:

   00000000  05 00 00 00 03 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 10 40  |...............@|
   00000010  d8 fc 0f 00 d8 fb 0f 00  d8 fb 1f 40 00 01 00 00  |...........@....|
   00000020  d8 fc 1f 40 00 00 00 00  12 00 00 ea 31 2e 38 33  |...@........1.83|
   00000030  2e 30 30 31 31 00 00 00  38 32 36 30 20 53 50 4c  |.0011...8260 SPL|
   00000040  00 00 00 00 00 f0 20 e3  53 48 49 50 00 00 00 00  |...... .SHIP....|
   00000050  00 f0 20 e3 00 f0 20 e3  48 42 4f 4f 54 2d 38 32  |.. ... .HBOOT-82|
   00000060  36 30 00 00 00 f0 20 e3  39 34 61 63 34 34 62 66  |60.... .94ac44bf|

   This is the typical hex of a hboot. We are interested to check if that is the hboot partition and if it is, to get to know the version. In this case it is 1.83
   
   
   Side note on the hboots for the Holiday
   Hboot 1.85.2525 is the ICS Juopunutbear hboot based on 1.85.0025. In this package it comes as "hol1.85ics" - use that in the version name instead of "1.85"
   Hboot 1.85.2121 is the GB Juopunutbear hboot based on 1.85.0021. In this package it comes as "hol1.85gb" - use that in the version name instead of "1.85"
   ​
10. If in the above step you failed to identify the hboot, unplug all devices connected to that pc, reboot and try again
11. Unplug the device
12. Check again it is the right version, because if you do a mistake here, you won't be able to go back
    You can only flash the same version as the one in the device.
    
    
    !!!!!DO NOT ATTEMPT TO FLASH ANOTHER VERSION OR DOWNGRADE!!!IT HAS BEEN PROVEN FATAL!!!!
13. Flash the hboot on the device. Replace "V.VV" with hboot version (eg. 1.83, 1.84, 1.85gb, 1.85ics) and "X" with the one you got from the detect script. Plug the device in ONLY when asked to
    
    Code:

    sudo ./emmc_recover --flash holV.VV.nb0 --device /dev/sdX12 --backupafter hboot_f.nb0

14. Follow the on-screen instructions from emmc_recover. A successful flash should have this output:
    
    Code:

    511+1 records in
    511+1 records out
    1047808 bytes(1.0 MB) copied

15. Unplug the device, put SIM, microSD card and battery in and power on
16. Congratulations, the device is unbricked.
17. FLASH THE RUU IMMEDIATELY AFTER RECOVERING!! The device will be unstable after the recovery if you don't flash it.

• If the device doesn't power on, get a copy of the hboot_f.nb0 and b_hboot.img (should be located in the home directory) and contact us
• The connection between the device and the pc will be unstable, and will time out. You have to be quick when doing the above, specially while flashing. If the connection times out don't panic, just unplug and replug the device
• Unity and automount are known to cause issues in ubuntu 11.04 and 11.10. We recommend getting rid of both, or use a 12.04, or 10.04/.10 liveCD
• USB3 ports do not work properly. Please plug the device in a USB2 port
• How to disable automount on ubuntu
  Code:

  gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.media-handling automount false

davezaff said:

No.....in qualcomm dl mode......fastboot will not work when it is in this mode. I believe jtag is needed but hopefully there is a way around it.

Sent from my HTC PH39100 using xda premium

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lebmb said:

stuck in ruu mode vivid, when plugged in it's black htc screen with 4 triangles, check pics
not sure how it got there, but i'm willing to guess that it had something to do with ics upgrade/attempt to s-off.
bootloader is locked, ics ruu stops at 34%
when flashing rom.zip from ruu through fastboot it stops here

(bootloader) start image[tz] unzipping for pre-update...
(bootloader) start image[tz] flushing...
(bootloader) signature checking...
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,tz,0
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,tz,100
FAILED (remote: 90 hboot pre-update! please flush image again immediately)
finished. total time: 116.140s

Fastboot getvar all returns this
fastboot getvar all
(bootloader) version: 0.5
(bootloader) version-bootloader: 1.85.0025
(bootloader) version-baseband: N/A
(bootloader) version-cpld: None
(bootloader) version-microp: 0360
(bootloader) version-main: 3.26.502.54
(bootloader) serialno: REMOVED
(bootloader) imei: REMOVED
(bootloader) product: holiday
(bootloader) platform: HBOOT-8260
(bootloader) modelid: PH3910000
(bootloader) cidnum: CWS__001
(bootloader) battery-status: good
(bootloader) battery-voltage: 3861mV
(bootloader) partition-layout: Generic
(bootloader) security: on
(bootloader) build-mode: SHIP
(bootloader) boot-mode: RUU
(bootloader) commitno-bootloader: b215ac78
(bootloader) hbootpreupdate: 11
(bootloader) gencheckpt: 0
all: Done!
finished. total time: 0.527s

looks like no radio, lol interesting
hopefully this can help, if not i will have to send to HTC but they had my incredible S for a month now with no solution yet lol so i dont wana wait another month for this guy.
ready to give this a shot

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FAILED (remote: 90 hboot pre-update! please flush image again immediately)

CRACING said:

Hello,

Anybody got success in unbricking vivid? One that bricked while OTA update to ICS.

Thanks...
Best Regards

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zando2712 said:

Hi @dexter93, I know this is a very old thread. I need to unbrick a Vivid but the download link no longer works. By any chance you have that package so I can download.

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