[UNBRICK] HTC Unbricking Project

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dexter93

Inactive Recognized Developer
Jul 1, 2010
11,607
2,341
We are proud to announce that the Amaze 4G is now UNbrickable. Users with the QHSUSB_DLOAD issue can now fully recover their phones and get them fully functional.

Unbrick-proj-Amaze.jpg


Note: This will fix only devices which were bricked by turning S ON. And bricks caused by a damaged hboot via interrupted OTA update/RUU flash on a S-ON device. Any devices bricked with other ways are currently *not* supported. We are working on it

The "core" of the unbricking project dev team:
MOVZX
RussianBear
Fuses
Dexter93

Testing stuff and irc support:
globatron
Deceptivechaos
dburgd84
Snake_skw

Other stuff:
dmcb123
xIndirect
Hawke84

Thanks to trevE, xHausx and the rest of the evo3d team that gave us the basic info to work on and made us curious to see if we could get something out of it. Also thanks to ief and his team @revolutionary for helping us understand the bootloaders better. We should also not forget to thank cxb01 of malshenzu.com and xda members arthurire and untrueparadox who helped in translation.
 
Last edited:

dexter93

Inactive Recognized Developer
Jul 1, 2010
11,607
2,341
Prerequisites
  • 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

DISCLAIMER: We do NOT guarantee that this method will work for you, or that it is flawless. We are also not responsible if your phone is completely dead after the procedure, or your house burns down because your phone exploded. You are doing this in YOUR OWN RISK.

Instructions

NEW: Detailed video on the process. Its displaying the process on a Sensation, but its pretty much the same thing. Thanks to kgs1992 :)


  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 39 30  |...@........1.90|
    00000030  2e 30 38 30 38 00 00 00  38 32 36 30 20 53 50 4c  |.0808...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  32 64 61 64 30 66 36 32  |60.... .2dad0f62|
    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 1.90
  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. 1.90, 1.93) and "X" with the one you got from the detect script. Plug the device in ONLY when asked to
    Code:
    sudo ./emmc_recover --flash rubyV.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.

Notes on the procedure:

  • 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


Downloads

For Amaze 4G( Ruby):
32bit version MD5: bf5029e39ba13061e96a98509c6ae27f
64bit version MD5: 58b74be539eb6db0c9973dd045aa9edf

Don't have a linux distro installed on your pc? We highly recommend this livecd
 
Last edited:

Alan Corona

Senior Member
Aug 16, 2010
246
73
32
Grand Prairie
What exactly does this mean. The s-off method will back fire or that it has defects

Sent from my HTC Amaze 4G
S-Off
Eng-Hboot
On: Android Revolution HD 2.2.1
Sense 3.6
Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich.
 

Flipnfr3ak

Senior Member
Feb 4, 2011
534
34
Ewa Beach
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
What happens? You didn't answer my question.

Sent from my HTC Amaze 4G
S-Off
Eng-Hboot
On: Android Revolution HD 2.2.1
Sense 3.6
Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Did the wire trick.....then just all of a sudden it didn't turn on....stayed black with a new battery and some other things.that hyuh the crew told me to do....but in the the wire trick bricked my phone

Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using Tapatalk
 

mischivo

Member
Dec 27, 2011
48
6
Toronto
www.paulkounine.com
What is this?

I really wish there was more information posted about what this would do. I'm assuming it's a tool to unbrick bricked devices? If so, that would be amazing. It would also make me fearless going forward with future ROM installation and tinkering. :)
 

lebmb

Senior Member
Apr 3, 2007
902
47
Washington, DC
I really wish there was more information posted about what this would do. I'm assuming it's a tool to unbrick bricked devices? If so, that would be amazing. It would also make me fearless going forward with future ROM installation and tinkering. :)

be patient, it's been on the sensation forum for a lil over 2 months now
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1522351

i can't wait my self cuz i gota vivid in need of some tlc lol
on my amaze the s-off went smooth with no issues
 
  • Like
Reactions: eadrang

Alan Corona

Senior Member
Aug 16, 2010
246
73
32
Grand Prairie
Did the wire trick.....then just all of a sudden it didn't turn on....stayed black with a new battery and some other things.that hyuh the crew told me to do....but in the the wire trick bricked my phone

Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using Tapatalk
I'm sorry for your loss.

Sent from my HTC Amaze 4G
S-Off
Eng-Hboot
On: Android Revolution HD 2.2.1
Sense 3.6
Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich.
 

nat4u

Senior Member
Jan 16, 2010
54
11
Unbricking

I consider myself an advanced noob, I have flashed phones for years and never managed to brick my device. If you all follow the directions and read everything than you will have success, if you decide to go about it blindly then you will fail.

call it the noob unbricker.............lol
 

krook6023

Retired Forum Moderator
Feb 9, 2009
1,633
1,278
Midwest, USA
OnePlus 8
I consider myself an advanced noob, I have flashed phones for years and never managed to brick my device. If you all follow the directions and read everything than you will have success, if you decide to go about it blindly then you will fail.

call it the noob unbricker.............lol

Bricks happen. I have been fortunate to never brick any of my devices, and you are right reading and understanding the directions is paramount. However I have seen very talented developers brick their devices, and seen it happen to very veteran members.

Sometimes bricks happen even of you do everything right.

I have a healthy fear of doing something for the first time. Until I understand it completely, I will keep reading/researching especially the "OMG HELP" posts...s o I can see what steps people are missing. But I promise, you don't have to be a noob or not follow the directions to brick your phone...bricks happen.
 
  • Like
Reactions: nat4u

lebmb

Senior Member
Apr 3, 2007
902
47
Washington, DC
Bricks happen. I have been fortunate to never brick any of my devices, and you are right reading and understanding the directions is paramount. However I have seen very talented developers brick their devices, and seen it happen to very veteran members.

Sometimes bricks happen even of you do everything right.

I have a healthy fear of doing something for the first time. Until I understand it completely, I will keep reading/researching especially the "OMG HELP" posts...s o I can see what steps people are missing. But I promise, you don't have to be a noob or not follow the directions to brick your phone...bricks happen.

I couldn't agree more, even going back to my days with the kaiser, luckily mtty was able to revive it. same thing with 1 of my hd2s, another hd2 decided to lose its usb port when i flashed windows mobile from android, so all in all in happens to the best of us.
on a lighter note, i have a vivid that i got as is and i'm willing to bet that it is soft bricked by someone trying to s-off but i could be wrong, so i'm waiting for this tool to come out, if not htc has an rma already for me so hope they can fix it :)
good luck to everyone, stay positive and hey life goes on
 
  • Like
Reactions: nat4u

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  • 34
    We are proud to announce that the Amaze 4G is now UNbrickable. Users with the QHSUSB_DLOAD issue can now fully recover their phones and get them fully functional.

    Unbrick-proj-Amaze.jpg


    Note: This will fix only devices which were bricked by turning S ON. And bricks caused by a damaged hboot via interrupted OTA update/RUU flash on a S-ON device. Any devices bricked with other ways are currently *not* supported. We are working on it

    The "core" of the unbricking project dev team:
    MOVZX
    RussianBear
    Fuses
    Dexter93

    Testing stuff and irc support:
    globatron
    Deceptivechaos
    dburgd84
    Snake_skw

    Other stuff:
    dmcb123
    xIndirect
    Hawke84

    Thanks to trevE, xHausx and the rest of the evo3d team that gave us the basic info to work on and made us curious to see if we could get something out of it. Also thanks to ief and his team @revolutionary for helping us understand the bootloaders better. We should also not forget to thank cxb01 of malshenzu.com and xda members arthurire and untrueparadox who helped in translation.
    13
    Prerequisites
    • 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

    DISCLAIMER: We do NOT guarantee that this method will work for you, or that it is flawless. We are also not responsible if your phone is completely dead after the procedure, or your house burns down because your phone exploded. You are doing this in YOUR OWN RISK.

    Instructions

    NEW: Detailed video on the process. Its displaying the process on a Sensation, but its pretty much the same thing. Thanks to kgs1992 :)


    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 39 30  |...@........1.90|
      00000030  2e 30 38 30 38 00 00 00  38 32 36 30 20 53 50 4c  |.0808...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  32 64 61 64 30 66 36 32  |60.... .2dad0f62|
      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 1.90
    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. 1.90, 1.93) and "X" with the one you got from the detect script. Plug the device in ONLY when asked to
      Code:
      sudo ./emmc_recover --flash rubyV.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.

    Notes on the procedure:

    • 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


    Downloads

    For Amaze 4G( Ruby):
    32bit version MD5: bf5029e39ba13061e96a98509c6ae27f
    64bit version MD5: 58b74be539eb6db0c9973dd045aa9edf

    Don't have a linux distro installed on your pc? We highly recommend this livecd
    2
    Release bump :)
    1
    I really wish there was more information posted about what this would do. I'm assuming it's a tool to unbrick bricked devices? If so, that would be amazing. It would also make me fearless going forward with future ROM installation and tinkering. :)

    be patient, it's been on the sensation forum for a lil over 2 months now
    http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1522351

    i can't wait my self cuz i gota vivid in need of some tlc lol
    on my amaze the s-off went smooth with no issues
    1
    I consider myself an advanced noob, I have flashed phones for years and never managed to brick my device. If you all follow the directions and read everything than you will have success, if you decide to go about it blindly then you will fail.

    call it the noob unbricker.............lol

    Bricks happen. I have been fortunate to never brick any of my devices, and you are right reading and understanding the directions is paramount. However I have seen very talented developers brick their devices, and seen it happen to very veteran members.

    Sometimes bricks happen even of you do everything right.

    I have a healthy fear of doing something for the first time. Until I understand it completely, I will keep reading/researching especially the "OMG HELP" posts...s o I can see what steps people are missing. But I promise, you don't have to be a noob or not follow the directions to brick your phone...bricks happen.